M.J. Rose

Science and scholars are starting to discover what philosophers and religious folks have been talking about for eons: all humans are deeply connected…

Humans: Why They Triumphed
How did one ape 45,000 years ago happen to turn into a planet dominator? The answer lies in an epochal collision of creativity. By Matt Ridley

Human evolution presents a puzzle. Nothing seems to explain the sudden takeoff of the last 45,000 years—the conversion of just another rare predatory ape into a planet dominator with rapidly progressing technologies. Once “progress” started to produce new tools, different ways of life and burgeoning populations, it accelerated all over the world, culminating in agriculture, cities, literacy and all the rest. Yet all the ingredients of human success—tool making, big brains, culture, fire, even language—seem to have been in place half a million years before and nothing happened. Tools were made to the same monotonous design for hundreds of thousands of years and the ecological impact of people was minimal. Then suddenly—bang!—culture exploded, starting in Africa. Why then, why there?

The answer lies in a new idea, borrowed from economics, known as collective intelligence: the notion that what determines the inventiveness and rate of cultural change of a population is the amount of interaction between individuals. Even as it explains very old patterns in prehistory, this idea holds out hope that the human race will prosper mightily in the years ahead—because ideas are having sex with each other as never before.

The more scientists discover, the bigger the evolution puzzle has become. Tool-making itself has now been pushed back at least two million years, and modern tool kits emerged very gradually over 300,000 years in Africa. Meanwhile, Neanderthals are now known to have had brains that were bigger than ours and to have inherited the same genetic mutations that facilitate speech as us. Yet, despite surviving until 30,000 years ago, they hardly invented any new tools, let alone farms, cities and toothpaste. The Neanderthals prove that it is quite possible to be intelligent and imaginative human beings (they buried their dead) yet not experience cultural and economic progress.

Scientists have so far been looking for the answer to this riddle in the wrong place: inside human heads…

For the complete story, click here to go to The Wall Street Journal.

When it comes down to it, most traditions agree that karma, or a related concept, has something to do with reincarnation. But whether or not this turns out to be true, it’s irrelevant in the here and now. We have no proof and no instant gratification. And that’s precisely what makes the sorts of act you’ll read about below truly heroic and selfless. What if we we’re guaranteed tit for tat with a score card? Would our kindnesses remain truly kind, or would they become currency? Mystery is the cog that runs this system…

Australian “Angel” Saves Lives at Suicide Spot
For 50 Years He’s Used Simple Kindness to Persuade Countless Troubled Souls Away From Nearby Cliff’s Edge

(AP)  In those bleak moments when the lost souls stood atop the cliff, wondering whether to jump, the sound of the wind and the waves was broken by a soft voice. “Why don’t you come and have a cup of tea?” the stranger would ask. And when they turned to him, his smile was often their salvation.

For almost 50 years, Don Ritchie has lived across the street from Australia’s most notorious suicide spot, a rocky cliff at the entrance to Sydney Harbour called The Gap. And in that time, the man widely regarded as a guardian angel has shepherded countless people away from the edge.

What some consider grim, Ritchie considers a gift. How wonderful, the former life insurance salesman says, to save so many. How wonderful to sell them life.

“You can’t just sit there and watch them,” says Ritchie, now 84, perched on his beloved green leather chair, from which he keeps a watchful eye on the cliff outside. “You gotta try and save them. It’s pretty simple.”

For the complete story, click here.

When I experience memories that I suspect may have something to do with past lives, I experience them as quite different from memories of this lifetime – my “flashbacks” are much more dreamlike and distant even though they are depicting what I imagine are very real and every-day sort of moments.

Similarly, there is something remarkable about this video of actual New York that appears in every way to be a model of New York. The artist uses a technique called tilt-shift photography to create his videos and the result is magical and dreamlike even though the subject matter at hand is incredibly mundane – just every day scenery. See for yourself by clicking the image below and scrolling down for the video. You’ll be amazed and you won’t want to stop watching…