What we see.   

Free will

News :) We are puppets of our physical brain(if we let it).

"The brain unconsciously initiates the process of "voluntary" action. Subsequently we become aware of this. On the basis of these results, some researchers concluded that free will is an illusion."

But then...

"We have free will to abort an action. So, we may better think of volitional action in this case not as free will, but as "free won't." We can stop an action initiated by our brain nonconsciously.

This capacity of "free won't" is generated by free choice. This is our conscious will at work."

So that means our non physical consciousness will fight with our physical brain for taking decisions.

"As long as man is a captive of habit, pursuing the dictates of self and desire, he is vanquished and defeated. This passionate personal ego takes the reins from his hands, crowds out the qualities of the divine ego and changes him into an animal, a creature unable to judge good from evil, or to distinguish light from darkness. He becomes blind to divine attributes, for this acquired individuality, the result of an evil routine of thought becomes the dominant note of his life."

Abdu'l-Baha : Divine Philosophy

and the article about free will www.psychologytoday.com

Is it science a tool for a better world? Could be, with the right moral values.

"The focus on military and commercial applications for science has drawn highly trained experts into fields that generate private profits but do nothing to enhance the public good. Brilliant medical researchers become engrossed in the search for patentable treatments for the diseases of affluence. Drugs that are scarcely more effective than placebos generate billion dollar revenues. The sales promotions for these drugs infiltrate plausible myths into scientific discourse. The best mathematicians in the world design software that gives banks a minute speculative edge over their rivals. Or worse, they concoct risk models that give reckless fantasy the appearance of sober calculation. Engineers spend their careers trying to develop must-have gadgets. Decades of investment culminate in a frenzy of manufactured excitement for the latest smart phone or mp3 player."

The above text is from an interesting article viewing the science today, you can read the rest of it here.

"Religion must agree with science, so that science shall sustain religion and religion explain science. The two must be brought together, indissolubly, in reality. Down to the present day it has been customary for man to accept blindly what was called religion, even though it were not in accord with human reason."

Baha'i writings

"Knowledge is like unto wings for the being (of man), and is as a ladder for ascending. To acquire knowledge is incumbent on all, but knowledge of those sciences which may profit the people of the earth, and not of such sciences are begin in mere words and end in mere words. The possessors of sciences and arts have a great right among the people of the world."

 Baha'i writings

"As web companies strive to tailor their services (including news and search results) to our personal tastes, there's a dangerous unintended consequence: We get trapped in a "filter bubble" and don't get exposed to information that could challenge or broaden our worldview... "

...although sound is but the vibrations of the air which affect the tympanum of the ear, and vibrations of the air are but an accident among the accidents which depend upon the air, consider how much marvelous notes or a charming song influence the spirits! A wonderful song giveth wings to the spirit and filleth the heart with exaltation....

 

Explosive content in 2:47 minutes!

"... our knowledge made us cynical... "

"Behold a beautiful garden full of flowers, shrubs, and trees. Each flower has a different charm, a peculiar beauty, its own delicious perfume and beautiful colour. The trees too, how varied are they in size, in growth, in foliage -- and what different fruits they bear! Yet all these flowers, shrubs and trees spring from the self-same earth, the same sun shines upon them and the same clouds give them rain."
Abdu'l-Baha


Garden of colors, enjoy:)

Rise and make art!

"The art of music is divine and effective. It is the food of the soul and spirit. Through the power and charm of music the spirit of man is uplifted."
Compilations : Baha'i Education

New jewellery :)

I made some watercolor paintings with the Shrine of the Báb from the Bahá’í Gardens in Haifa :) http://www.ganbahai.org.il/en/

Sheena Iyengar studies how we make choices and how we feel about the choices we make. She talks about both trivial choices (Coke v. Pepsi) and profound ones, and shares her groundbreaking research that has uncovered some surprising attitudes about our decisions.

Portrait

Edvard Munch  says: "A person himself believes that all the other portraits are good likenesses except the one of himself."

I did some portraits, it's the first time that I've done portrait photography intentionally, and I love it :)

THE CENTURY OF THE SELF  
 a BBC documentary

"Adam Curtis' acclaimed series examines the rise of the all-consuming self against the backdrop of the Freud dynasty.
Sigmund Freud's work into the bubbling and murky world of the subconscious changed the world. By introducing a technique to probe the unconscious mind, Freud provided useful tools for understanding the secret desires of the masses. Unwittingly, his work served as the precursor to a world full of political spin doctors, marketing moguls, and society's belief that the pursuit of satisfaction and happiness is man's ultimate goal.
To many in both politics and business, the triumph of the self is the ultimate expression of democracy, where power has finally moved to the people. Certainly the people may feel they are in charge, but are they really? The Century of the Self tells the untold and sometimes controversial story of the growth of the mass-consumer society in Britain and the United States. How was the all-consuming self created, by whom, and in whose interests?"

The thing that got stuck in my mind was about the phrase "infinite desires" of humans, which, unfortunately, is so true.

"We should continually be establishing new bases for human happiness and creating and promoting new instrumentalities toward this end. How excellent, how honorable is man if he arises to fulfill his responsibilities; how wretched and contemptible, if he shuts his eyes to the welfare of society and wastes his precious life in pursuing his own selfish interests and personal advantages."
Abdu'l-Baha : The Secret of Divine Civilization

Art jewelry

Jewellery signifies items of personal adornment. I would love that my jewellery be taken as a personal physical adornment, but even more than that, I wanted them to be a reminder to adorn the soul with virtues and qualities.

Any way I was thinking about "Unity" when I made the designs. If it doesn't look right I guess I have to try harder :) My jewelry is made with copper and a type of glass whose colors shift depending on the angle of view.

Just like every soul is unique, so my pieces of jewellery are unique. Even if someone asks me fo...r a previous piece I will be unable to replicate it to the very detail. So if you see something that you like, seize the opportunity!

I used Fused Glass and copper in this model. The glass pieces are designed and fused by me.

 Visit my Facebook online shop page : http://www.facebook.com/pages/Romeo-Dragnea/152928484720197?ref=sgm

"The sciences of today are bridges to reality; if then they lead not to reality, naught remains but fruitless illusion."
Abdu'l-Baha : Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha

How is our consciousness connected to the world?
Japan Science and Technology Agency made an interactive web page that will "Explore the unconscious functions of the brain with visual illusions and mysterious perceptual phenomena. " If you have 30 minutes you will find out new things about you, your mind, your self.

Web page here: http://www.Japan Science and Technology Agency.jp

I guess we see just what we think we see...

Coloured Light
HDR photography

I love the old photography with its style, graphic, light and shadows, black and white, how it transforms the tri-dimensional shapes in a bi-dimensional graphic image. After I saw this high dynamic range technique I learned that the human eye can perceive scenes with a very high dynamic contrast ratio, compared with mediums that we have at this moment.  So this technique is an attempt to compensate for the lack of sensibility of today's mediums and I guess a step in another direction from the black and white photography.

Bahá'u'lláh said, “The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens,” now is the time for humanity to live in unity.
Science today says the same thing.

Jeremy Rifkin. The Empathic Civilisation

The two topics below have a conection... at least for me, the first one is a statement from the baha'i comunity the second one is a from behavioral scientist Dan Pink speaks about what motivates us. Enjoy...

"NEW YORK — A new statement challenging the common assumption that human beings are slaves to self-interest and consumerism has been issued by the Baha'i International Community.
A more profound look at human nature would reveal the ability to respond to a higher calling, suggests the document – issued this week for the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development as it began its annual two-week session.
"The culture of consumerism ... has tended to reduce human beings to competitive, insatiable consumers of goods and to objects of manipulation by the market," it says.
In fact, "the human experience is essentially spiritual in nature: it is rooted in the inner reality – or what some call the 'soul' – that we all share in common," it states.
The document, titled "Rethinking Prosperity: Forging Alternatives to a Culture of Consumerism," challenges the view that there is an intractable conflict between what people want – which supposedly is to consume more – and what humanity needs.
"Much of economic and psychological theory depicts human beings as slaves to self-interest," it says. "The faculties needed to construct a more just and sustainable social order – moderation, justice, love, reason, sacrifice and service to the common good – have too often been dismissed as naive ideals. Yet, it is these and related qualities that must be harnessed. ..."

The discussion, held on 10 May at the New York offices of the Baha'i International Community, was cosponsored by UNESCO – the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization - and the Permanent Mission of Sweden to the United Nations. The 2010 session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development runs through 14 May. Read more about the statement, "Rethinking Prosperity: Forging Alternatives to a Culture of Consumerism" here.


DAN PINK

Unity.
"Unification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which human society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of city-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully established. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is striving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in state sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to maturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of human relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can best incarnate this fundamental principle of its life."
Shoghi Effendi : The World Order of Baha'u'llah

This video is just amazing.
It has 5 parts...

And this is the actor Edward James Olmos at the United Nations, he played the admiral in sci-fi tv series,  Battlestar Galactica. I really enjoyed the series. And I was so happy to see ideas from a sci-fi movie going beyond the script.

April...I've made some pictures two days ago, selected some for you guys and girls :) Here they are. Enjoy! Link here: PICTURES