M.J. Rose

Sometimes I encounter a website that reminds me of a cabinet of curiosity – beautiful, exotic, mysterious, delicious for the eyes. This blog, Res Obscura, is one of these. Even better, it has its own post about actual cabinets of curiosity from the 17th century. These are some of the most visually luxurious images you will ever see….and it’s very interesting to learn the history behind these “Wonder-rooms”. Enjoy.

Cabinets of Curiosities in Seventeenth Century (Res Obscura)

“There is no man alone, because every man is a Microcosm, and carries the whole world about him… There is all Africa, and her prodigies in us.”- Sir Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, 1642

Early modern Europeans envisioned their own bodies as miniature worlds which echoed God’s Creation in every detail. And in the expansionist, acquisitive and globalizing era of the seventeenth century, the wonders of Creation frequently became conflated with the treasures of the tropical world that Europeans were busy exploiting. The physician and mystic philosopher (and favorite author of Virginia Woolf) Sir Thomas Browne opined that we all carry the “prodigies” of Africa within ourselves, while the poet John Donne famously wrote that “both th’ Indias of spice and mine…lie here with me.” The early modern curiosity cabinet (often called Kunstkammer or Wunderkammer, “Wonder-rooms”) stood at the intersection of this dual preoccupation with microcosms and the treasures of Africa and “the Indies.”…

For the complete post click here.

Readers, this is one of the most interesting and mysterious articles I have read in ages. It makes me want to pack my bags for a “blue zone”! What do you think this geographical “fountain of youth” is about? The air, the water, the people, the lifestyle, the napping, or something else more inexplicable or supernatural? Please share your ideas in the comments – we’re excited to hear from you.

The Island Where People Forget to Die

By DAN BUETTNER

In 1943, a Greek war veteran named Stamatis Moraitis came to the United States for treatment of a combat-mangled arm. He’d survived a gunshot wound, escaped to Turkey and eventually talked his way onto the Queen Elizabeth, then serving as a troopship, to cross the Atlantic. Moraitis settled in Port Jefferson, N.Y., an enclave of countrymen from his native island, Ikaria. He quickly landed a job doing manual labor. Later, he moved to Boynton Beach, Fla. Along the way, Moraitis married a Greek-American woman, had three children and bought a three-bedroom house and a 1951 Chevrolet…

Read the rest here at The New York Times.

“If anyone has seen miracles happen, it’s Brian Weiss, author of the best-selling Many Lives, Many Masters. His lifetime of work reveals the very real physical, emotional, and spiritual transformation that is possible when we embrace reincarnation.” (Omega)

Please enjoy this 90-minute talk with Brian Weiss on past-life memories, a reading from his new book, and a group regression…

Click here to watch.