The Transforming Power of Music

Jose Antonio Abreu is the charismatic founder of a youth orchestra system in Venezuela. This short video on TED Talks clearly shows the power of music to transform the lives of individuals, communities, and an entire country. http://www.ted.com/talks/jose_abreu_on_kids_transformed_by_music.html

I am disheartened anytime I hear of federal, state, or local governments in the U.S. cutting back on "extra" school programs such as music as if they are any less important than other classes. When students study world history, geography, or civics they are introduced to other cultures that are defined by their language, dress, art, music, and writing. In fact, the greatest testaments to some ancient cultures are the writings and art that survived the demise of their civilization.

There is a reason why these modes of expression are called "the humanities." They are intrinsic to the nature of what it is to be human.

Internet radio and podcast shows for March

On the Air - Upcoming podcasts and internet radio shows

The Institute of Noetic Sciences has a weekly internet radio program that features illuminaries dedicated to creating a better world. The March line-up includes:
- March 17th - Anodea Judith - Humanity's Rite of Passage from the Love of Power to the Power of Love
- March 24th - Stanislav Grof - The Future of Psychology
- March 31st - Deepak Chopra - Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul

The show airs live on Voice of America at 9am PT and rebroadcasts at 9pm PT every Tuesday.

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Just Energy Radio, with host Dr. Rita Louise, features weekly interviews with folks who discuss "Where Science And Spirit Meet". The schedule for March includes:
- March 13th - Dan Millman speaking on the Way Of The Peaceful Warrior and Jennifer Farmer discussing Meditation Basics
- March 20th - features filmakers Jay Weidner and Sharron Rose talking about The Mystery Of 2012
- March 27th - Massage therapist Alan Davidson discusses Peaking Your 5 Vital IQ's

Just Energy Radio airs every Friday night from 7-9pm CST.

A reply to Aristotle that would make Plato proud

Connections highlights interesting and delightful folks I'm meeting along The Sage Age journey.

My Twitter friend Dana Ben-Yehuda has delivered perhaps the best response I've ever seen to an idea presented by Aristotle.

My Twitter post was: “Aristotle stated all things fell to Earth because all was made of earthly substances and were attracted to their natural home.”

Dana's response was: "Does this mean that what we call death is really just that our spirit is attracted to its natural home and falls up?"

Besides her keen wit, Dana's reply also alludes to a disagreement between Plato and Aristotle. The two great philosophers are pictured here in a partial of the painting by Raphael, with Plato on the left and Aristotle on the right. The way their hands are pointing indicates the difference in their philosophies. Plato's famous notion of the Realm of Ideas and the templates of the Forms was transcendent and mystical in nature. Aristotle's views were based in realism and observation of actual events.

Plato's suggestion that the repository of the Immutable Forms being transcendent was revisited in more modern times by Carl Jung and most recently by Morphic Fields expressed in Rupert Sheldrake's book The Presence of the Past.

The painting is generally called "The School of Athens", which was founded by Plato. Aristotle attended this school and often argued with Plato and criticized his writings. Aristotle's own writings on ethics, physics, and metaphysics remained the foundation of the Church's scientific attitude until the European Renaissance.