The Apocalypse 2012 Part 3

So the earth is going to be no more on 21 December 2012. What will happen to wipe it out?
I have covered the reversal of the sun's and the earth's magnetic fields. What else could happen?

One theory is that there is going to be an alignment of planets such that the combined gravitational force could pull the earth away from the sun or tear the earth apart. In fact there was a small conjunction/alignment in December 2008 with no discernible effect and anyway if all the planets were in the same alignment the combined gravitational pull would be miniscule compared with the normal gravitational pull of the sun and the moon. We have also had alignments in the past with no effect, for example in 1962, and 2000, and more are expected in 2040 and 2675.There will be no alignment in 2012.

This was the cheering news from Dame Burnell speaking at a conference organised by the Scientific and Medical Network, on Patterns of Apocalyptic Thought. I shall be writing up the conference in full by the end of November at Conscious Connection.

To be continued this week -  impact from matter in space and what else?

The Apocalypse 2012 Part 2

Every 300,000 years or thereabouts, the earth's magnetic field reverses - it stops spinning and starts spinning the other way. The last time this happened was 750,000 years ago so this one is overdue. But man has seen 11 such reversals since he first made his own tools, and none of these have been linked with any mass extinctions, let alone the end of the earth. And the whole process takes about 500 years each time!
We may be at the beginning of a reversal process now - but no significant associated problem of any kind is foreseen. 
But note - the spin of the earth does not change - it doesn't suddenly stop spinning one way and start spinning the other! Now there's an interesting thought!

This was the heartening news of Dame Burnell who was speaking at a conference organised by the Scientific and Medical Network, on Patterns of Apocalyptic Thought. I shall be writing up the conference in full by the end of November at Conscious Connection.


To be continued this week - planet alignments and impact from matter in space.

Restorative Justice - The Woolf Within

Am just back from a splendid weekend conference organised by the Scientific and Medical Network on the Science of Empathy, the Spirit of Compassion. I’ve written a piece on my other blog Wisdom of Tolerance already, about the Charter for Compassion that was introduced there by Karen Armstrong, its founder.
We covered so much ground, so much of which is relevant for healing this world. I am preparing a detailed report of the conference for the digital magazine Conscious Connections – for 21st century Cultural Creatives worldwide and will probably come back to this again.

During the weekend a film was shown, The Woolf Within , introduced by Janine Edge, an independent mediator. It made a huge impression on many of us.

I quote: “Peter Woolf was a prolific offender, ensconced in a world of violence and depravity, who, by his own reckoning committed about 20,000 crimes. Then he burgled a house, fought with his victim and ended up in prison yet again. This time though it was different. Peter met with his victim, Will, in a restorative justice session that took place in the prison. The meeting changed both their lives for ever…….”

Do please watch it. Perhaps you now have! What is striking is the compassion that victim and criminal were able to show for each other by the end of the process, despite the obvious difference in their social circumstances. This has to be restorative justice at its best, a lesson for us all in how good can come out of bad in our world.
We are all unique human beings, and all equal, regardless of background, education, color, creed, social circumstances etc. All of us suffer, all of us have the need for compassion from the day we are born to the day we die. Deprive children and youngsters of compassion in their upbringing and they will feel they are unloved, valueless, and marginalized. Through evolution the brain has become highly sensitive to kindness received, Neuroscience tells us that specific brain areas respond to kindness and compassion, Ancient Wisdom tells us that compassion is the road to happiness, and Social and developmental psychology tell us that we are affected by our own history of affiliation – i.e. the relationships we experience in our upbringing. So help people love themselves, then help them to understand the suffering of others, and we can change people and society in profound ways.