Adamski, George

Adamski, George (1891–1965) Polish-born American well-known among UFO researchers and enthusiasts, alike, for his writings about alleged encounters with extraterrestrials.

In his book written with Desmond Leslie, Flying Saucers Have Landed (1953), Adamski claims that beautiful, benevolent beings invited him aboard their spaceship.

Adamski says the ship’s pilot was telepathically connected to the propulsion system. By controlling thought waves interfaced with advanced technology, the aliens allegedly tapped into elemental harmonic rhythms of the universe.

This, according to Adamski, enabled their penetration and actual travel through space-time. Adamski’s diagram of the circular transportation system is likened to the Hopi medicine wheel.

Adamski also says, however, that the minds of human beings are currently far too chaotic and undisciplined to meaningfully (and safely) harness such a technology, a sentiment which recalls Arthur Koestler’s notion that, by virtue of its apparently random evolution from primitive to complex, the human brain is intrinsically conflicted.

Critics of Adamski are many. Most feel that his accounts fall into the category of hoax, as the following aptly illustrates.

One aspect of the UFO story does seem to be deeply involved in hoax. This is the so-called contactee cult. Many people now located over much of the world claim to have had direct contact with the flying-saucer people. (Adamski and Leslie, 1958; UFO International).
Perhaps the contactee is informed by mental telepathy that he should report promptly to a certain lonely spot in the desert. Upon obeying, he is met by a flying saucer whose occupants are, as a rule, beautifully humanoid and who frequently take him into their confidence by allowing him to photograph themselves and their craft, inviting him in for a look at the control panels, and perhaps taking him for a quick spin, sometimes to Mars or Venus but best of all to the mysterious planet on the other side of the sun, unobservable from mother earth.
Everything about these stories seems to cry hoax. The proof is typically a series of photographs (which could easily be fraudulent) and copious quantities of pseudoscience. Someone who had really contacted visitors from another world should surely be able to do better than that. Why should visitors from another world bother with such obscure representatives of the human race, anyway? Their message is always that man must cease his wars or be destroyed, but why should such an important message be given to someone who is bound to be considered a liar when he delivers it?

Frank B. Salisbury, “The Scientist and the UFO” in BioScience, Vol. 17, No. 1, (Jan., 1967: 15-24, p. 19).

» Alien Possession Theory (APT)

Image Source:

• “UFO Incident” by Flidais Earie at http://www.flickr.com/photos/flidais/431988892 Creative Commons License

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Adherents of all Religions

Adherents of all Religions It is difficult to get accurate figures for the number of adherents in each world religion.

Religion being a very personal issue, often central to one’s self-image, it’s conceivable that many people don’t wish to report their true beliefs to a proverbial Big Brother and thus will check “other” or “personal” on a government census.

Other people may live in tribal societies and are never directly asked what they believe–it is merely assumed that each individual adheres to the general beliefs of his of her group. A good example of this would be the Santals of India and Bangladesh, who according to a 1991 census are about 4.2 million strong. Among this significant population, the religious beliefs of only 23,645 individuals are officially recorded.

Another issue is the problem of defining religion (versus, for instance, a cult, a collective delusion, a myth or a pastime) and trying to assess who, if anyone, has the authority to define it.

On the issue of New Religious Movements (NRM) Eileen Barker says:

When social scientists have been pressed in a court of law to say whether a particular NRM is “really” a religion, they have not always insisted as clearly as they might that science cannot give the definition of a real religion. It is only when the court provides a definition, or we use the form “if by religion you mean. . ,” that we can say whether, according to that definition, the movement is “really” religious.

Eileen Barker, “The Scientific Study of Religion? You Must Be Joking!” in Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 34, No. 3, (Sep., 1995: 287-310, p. 306).

Having noted the above, the following figures should be taken cum grano salis.

2000 CE, in millions:

Christians		2,020
Muslims		1,200
Hindus		860
Buddhists		360
Jews		20
Sikhs		24
Shinto		95
Bahai’is		8
Jains		4
Parsees		0.219
Tribal Religions		100
New Religions		138
Total world population		6,260

Source: D.B. Barrett, ed., World Christian Encyclopedia (1982) in G. Parrinder, A Concise Encyclopedia of Christianity (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 1998, p. 9).

On the World Wide Web:

• Adherents.com (an excellent site providing the reservations mentioned above are kept in mind)

Image Source:

• “Canada World Religion Day Stamp” originally uploaded by Kianoosh Raika at http://www.flickr.com/photos/djkianoosh/474556286/, Creative Commons License

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Adi Da (aka Free-John, Da 1939- )

Adi Da (aka Free-John, Da 1939- ) Originally Franklin Jones, Adi Da is an American guru born in Jamaica, New York. He has also gone under the names of Da Free-John, Bubba Free-John and Heartmaster Da.

Adi Da claims to have reached enlightenment at age three years. In their Dictionary of Cults, Sects, Religions and the Occult, Mather and Nichols note that this achievement did not last. In his college days Adi Da explored different forms of hedonism, to include LSD and open sex.

To this criticism Adi Da replies that his activities were an essential stage within his path of discovery.

Adi Da also says he is an incarnation of the Brahman. Like many New Age enthusiasts, he denigrates organized forms of Christianity. And like most Hindus and devotees of Hinduism, Adi Da counters the Christian claim that Jesus is the only son of God.

For Adi Da Jesus is one of many avatars or “incarnations,” not unlike that which Adi Da, himself, claims to be.

But Adi Da is not just critical of organized Christianity. He, in fact, contests all organized religions, claiming the truth of the spiritual quest may be found in one’s own heart.

To realize this apparent truth, veils of selfishness and ignorance must be recognized and dispelled.

Ironically, his California group gatherings and North American tours exhibit many of the characteristics of organized religion, with Adi Da at the center.

Listed in several cult and manipulation internet indexes, Adi Da has founded the Free Communion Church/Dawn Horse Fellowship and Laughing Man Institute.

While claiming to be beyond any particular system, he studied under and has theological affinities with several Hindu gurus, the most salient affinity being the belief in reincarnation. It has also been suggested that he possesses psi abilities and can read the thoughts of his disciples, an alleged ability known as siddhis in Hindu and Buddhist belief systems.

Some call Adi Da a religious genius, others a profound theologian and yet others suggest he’s the head of a “dysfunctional organization” for sincere but sorely misguided seekers (Source » http://www.adidaarchives.org ).

On the World Wide Web:

• http://www.adidam.org/ (Official web site)
• http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/misc/adida.cfm/ (Mixed opinion)
• http://guruphiliac.blogspot.com/2005/06/big-adi-daddi.html (Negative opinion)

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Adler, Alfred

Adler, Alfred (1870-1937) An important Austrian psychiatrist who graduated from medicine in 1895 and was attracted to Sigmund Freud’s work when he read the latter’s Interpretation of Dreams. 

Shortly afterward, Adler was asked to join Freud’s inner circle within the emerging school of psychoanalysis. 

His Studie über Minderwertigkeit von Organen (Study of Organ Inferiority and its Psychical Compensation, 1907), however, was too controversial for the old master, leading to one of the great schisms in the history of psychoanalysis. 

Adler was the very first to depart from Freud’s circle, followed by C. G. Jung. 

Adler’s lasting contribution to psychology centers on his claim that humans have an innate “drive for aggression.” If a developing child has (or imagines) a defect in their bodies they may develop an inferiority complex, an unconscious sense of inadequacy. 

To compensate for this negative self-attitude, the individual manifests the opposite: an unrealistic superiority complex. 

Adler believes we all do this to some degree. The situation becomes neurotic when one disregards the rights of others and causes injury. It becomes psychotic when one loses their authentic relationship with the world and others. 

Of course, some argue that the definition of an “authentic relationship” is difficult to define and standardize, especially with the growing popularity of social networking websites like facebook and myspace, along with information-sharing sites like youtube and flickr. 

Another critique is that Adlerian thought advances a fundamental biological drive for aggression and recognizes the importance of social factors contributing to the total personality but doesn’t leave much room for human spirituality, arguably the most important and lasting aspect of the self.

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Advertising

Advertising Although the primary objective of commercial advertising is to sell goods and services, this is accomplished in a complex manner.

Social theorists directly or indirectly influenced by Karl Marx usually say that advertising creates a false or illusory relationship between the consumer and the producer.

Freudian-based sociological analyses suggest that when buying, the consumer enters into a fantasy relationship with a corporate producer. The producer substitutes for a lost or desired father figure (i.e. a trusted provider of material goods) or mother figure (i.e. a source of physiological and emotional security).

Other sociologists note that ads often link products, such as autos, to attractive women or men, as if to imply that buying ensures a glamorous, sexually satisfied life-style.

Neo-Marxist theorists maintain that media ads actually contain more meaningful information than media news because ads better depict the cultural biases of a particular era. News, they say, tends to obscure social realities.

This obfuscation of reality in the news is said to occur through:

1. Selectivity - stories that make the headlines are deemed good for ratings and therefore good for profits
2. Modes of reporting - editing and language styles tend to color a story while seeming not to
3. Placement of stories - stories deemed less important and less commercially viable appear at the back of newspapers or somewhere in the middle of the evening news

Meanwhile some say that ads not only reveal but also contribute to and reinforce prevailing cultural biases.

Postmodern thinkers argue that certain types of ads draw on - or conjure up - a mythic past when times apparently were rosy (i.e. the good old days of ‘Mom’s apple pie’ and well-defined ‘family values’). Warm and secure memories, even if based on a kind of fiction, are apparently recaptured by purchasing the advertised product.

Postmoderns also suggest that a new moral synthesis is created by combining real and imaginary images from the past with contemporary motifs. That is, ads help to define a new moral code. An example here might be found in the name of the product “Quick Quaker Oats,” where the positive connotations associated with the word Quaker (i.e. old-style integrity, reliability and intelligence) are combined with those of Quick (i.e. fast-paced modern society).

But rarely does advertising enter into areas still considered taboo or deviant by the so-called moral majority. Gay and lesbian couples are seldom portrayed in advertising (although more recently the idea of casual lesbian sex is being hinted at), just as couples of different color were at one time excluded from ads.

Meanwhile, an aesthetic view of advertising evaluates ads in terms of their artistic value–for instance, people pay at the box office to see films such as The Best Ads From Around The World. And perhaps some of the best new art today comes from graphic artists under contract by government or commercial bodies.

Jungians and spiritual innovators might evaluate ads partly in terms of their archetypal and even synchronistic connection to the psychological, social and spiritual world of the potential buyer.

But amidst all this theorizing we’d do well to keep in mind that business groups or government bodies, the actual driving forces behind the ad, respectively want to sell goods and services or promote some idea deemed important.

Indeed, it seems that the deeply ingrained cynicism of some sociologists seems to so quickly disappear when the critical lens turns on their own discipline. » Athleticism, Barthes (Roland), Baudrillard (Jean), Foucault (Michel)

Image Credit:

• “Am I the only one who is totally pissed off with advertising like this?” by codepo8 at http://www.flickr.com/photos/codepo8/1113640837/ Creative Commons License.

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Aeneas

Aeneas and Dido

Originally uploaded by litmuse

Aeneas The Trojan hero and son of Anchises and Aphrodite. 

In Homer’s Illiad Poseidon prophesizes that Aenas and his descendants will rule the Trojans.

Other writers portray Aeneas as the founder of several Greek centers, such as Delos and Crete.

Aeneas has also been described as the founder of Lavinium and the head of the Latin League.

The poet Vergil in his Aeneid furthers Homer’s emphasis on Aeneas’ piety by representing him, in keeping with fashionable Roman ideals, as a symbol of filial, societal and spiritual devotion–i.e. devotion to parents, to the glory of Rome and its deities.

Henry Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas draws from the Fourth Book of the Aeneid, dramatizing the destroyed marriage of Queen Dido of Carthage and prince Aeneas.

A sorceress had convinced Aeneas that Jove expected him to leave Carthage. The stricken Dido’s sorrowful When I am laid in earth reminds us of the price we might have to pay for listening to dark sorcerers instead of trusting in God and our own good judgment.

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Aeneid

books

Originally uploaded by nameless faceless

Aeneid An epic poem written in Latin by Vergil.

It is casts in mythic verse the journey and adventures of the Trojan hero Aeneas, who in ancient legend founded Rome. » Sibyl

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Aesculapius

Villa Borghese Park
- Temple Of Aesculapius

Originally uploaded by
David Paul Ohmer

Aesculapius Possibly a Greek mortal around 1200 BCE who, like Heracles, became deified.

In Homer’s Illiad he is described as “the blameless physician.”

His cult was centered in Epidaurus and emphasized cure through a prototype of contemporary psychoanalysis.

The poets Hesiod and Pindar speak of Aesculapius as the son of Zeus and Corona.

In the Epiduarian myth, his mother Corona dies while he is an infant.

A Messenian variant, however, says Aesculapius’ mother is Arsinoe and other accounts claim that he is the son of Apollo.

Regardless of his ambiguous parentage, Aesculapius became the god of healing and medicine and, according to legend, was educated by the centaur Chiron.

While in hell he raised a dead person, Hippolytus, to life. This vexed Zeus who retaliated by killing Aesculapius with a thunderbolt.

Although illness in ancient Greece was often attributed to the displeasure of the gods and goddesses, it could nevertheless be cured by divine mercy. The afflicted entered a sacred chamber and allowed visionary or “incubated” dreams to guide them towards health.

The postmodern thinker Michel Foucault saw this as an ancient prefiguration of the psychoanalytic couch.

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Aesir

The valkyries walk to battle with their god Odin

Originally uploaded by Ran Yaniv Hartstein

Aesir The earliest race of Teutonic gods, chief of whom was Odin.

The pantheon included Thor, Tiu, Balder, Bragi (inspirer of poetry), Vidar (lord of silence), Hoder (a blind deity who killed Balder), Hermod (sacred messenger), Hoenir, Odnir, Loki (a trickster god) and Vali (Odin’s last son).

The group held daily councils under the world tree, Yggdrassil, and collectively dwelled in Asgard.

Each deity, however, occupied their own particular region, Odin’s being Valhalla.

Another early race of Scandanavian gods, the Vanir, were in perpetual conflict with the Aesir but the two groups eventually merged. Although the Aesir and the Vanir became an extended family, as it were, the latter assumed the appellation of the former. » Ragnarok

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Afterlife

Fayum Mummy of Artemidorus

Originally uploaded by mharrsch

Afterlife The belief that the spirit or soul continues after death.

This belief arguably dates back to prehistoric times (115,000 – 200,000 years ago) where evidence points to Homo neanderthalensis in Israel and Spain buried with food items, tools and possibly weapons in hand, often in fetal position facing sunrise or sunset.

Some scholars maintain that we cannot know the precise meaning of these ancient burial practices. Others suggest that they point to a belief in the afterlife.

Historically, most if not all world religions are premised on the belief in life after death. Most include some kind of cosmological vision of heavens and hells.

Recent studies on near death experiences (NDEs) support the idea of an afterlife, although skeptical scientists say that NDEs are hallucinations caused by oxygen shortage.

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