Do Science and Spirituality Finally Meet?

[Aragorn]

I have really craggy teeth so I was prone to cavities even with brushing. I really needed to not eat sweets. And I had a terrible sweet tooth! I still have all my teeth, and I have a lot of fillings - not amalgam, though. I replaced all that.

Even though the condition of one's teeth does depend on how well and how often you brush them — and what toothpaste you use — the truth of the matter is that it's mainly a genetic thing, and this has already been proven. The quality of the work done by the dentist also matters a lot. Modern techniques, technologies and dental repair products are much better than what they were 20 or 30 years ago, and many dentists back then were very eager to pull, even if the tooth could have been saved. Nutrition also matters — you need your vitamins — as does whether you smoke or not.

Myself, I am (sorely and sadly) missing over one third of my teeth already — it's almost all at the back, though at three of the four corners — and yet I have always taken very good care of my teeth. My brother is also missing a lot of his teeth already. My mom was missing several teeth by the time she was my age, and my dad had to have all of his teeth pulled by the time he was 30.

Anyway, the topic is consciousness, and considering that neuroscientists are now starting to concede to the purely Darwinian development of consciousness being only a narrow-minded fable, I think this article is very important.

[Emil El Zapato]

ok aragorn,

I had a fellow student ask me if i believed one could straighten their teeth without braces, merely by wishing it so. It was a computer science class where the professor was always talking about fly fishing so I don't know how we got into the arena of 'consciousness' but I dutifully said, of course. Even though at the time I really had no idea.

haha, i've got one very every occasion.

[enjoy being]

All that is a bit complex for my simple wee head. Though I don't really trust doctors and psychologists to really ever be on the right track as they don't tend to understand or account for spiritual factors in a childs early consciousness.
I did see some claim within some sort of advert or public notice recently that the first 1000 days of thoughts and stimulations, sets the stage of symbols that a child works with for life. Oh, I changed that a bit, they said, the things it experiences in the first 1000 days are the things it will gravitate to for life.

Teeth, I have nice, part plastic teeth these days, and I am only 43. That was a bit of everything.. diet, smoking, genetics on one side. Oh not everything, I was still good at brushing, just not enough to counter everything bad I was doing to them. That was last year, a massive year of change for me. I've now been non smoking for 15 months or so, no energy drinks for same amount of time. The biggest one was my diet, I had basically been starving myself by being too into thinking about other things and not having 'eating' as a thing in my thoughts. I can cook well and know about food, but had just got into a habit from living alone and being often busy and tired. The process of last year was almost laid in front of me to trip over. Meaning I didn't plan any of it, but looking back it seems well designed. Along the way there has had to be a fair bit of emotional adjustment. Say, the weekend following the weekend I had 16 teeth removed, my 19 year old cat went out in a storm and returned with her lower jaw broken right through the middle, helped along by her having pretty much the same teeth problems as I had..
What has happened to me in the last 12 months makes me ask many questions about conscious or unconscious process. One of the questions has been, do I really care about myself to have done all that by myself? I don't feel I did it, I didn't change this and give up that from fear or ultimatum. Well not those things, I actually gave them up before I had news on the state of my teeth, I was just doing it.. well for no real reason.
The change in diet after I ended up in hospital with jaundice was sort of pushed on me in a sense of ultimatum, but I just seemed to flick the switch and start eating properly.

Anyway, I sensed that it related to the topic, and liked the cross over with the toothy sub topic. I still find the article hard to read, but that is just me, certain kinds of scientific language makes me unable to focus.

[Gale Frierson]

It is said babies start out as a "tabula rasa"--clean slate (mentally). Then as they begin to experience Life, the clean slate becomes overlain with the results of their experiences. Depending on the experience, they begin to formulate ideas of "Is this good, or bad; pleasant or unpleasant, etc.? To begin with they take in everything; then they begin to filter out that which they don't wish to keep in their "experiences banks". To start with they LOVE everything and everybody, but as they mature, they are TAUGHT to dislike or even HATE some things or persons.

[Emil El Zapato]

Absolutely, and therein lay the crimes against humanity that we are all committing!

[Gale Frierson]

Regarding babies and small children, there's a very valuable lesson we can learn. Rodgers and Hammerstein in the musical "South Pacific" had a fascinating set of lyrics which went like this:
You've got to be taught
To hate and fear;
You've got be taught
From year to year;
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made.
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade.
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!
Now, the point is: BABIES DON'T HATE ANYONE
They LOVE everyone.
The teaching point IS: Hatred is LEARNED! It is NOT instinctive!
Some fears are inborn. A newborn has two fears--sudden loud noises
and being dropped.
EVERYTHING ELSE is learned. Many behaviors are necessary. Learning to cross the street safely. And many others.
I think you get the point. Teaching children respect for themselves and everyone else is important.

[Dumpster Diver]

I have really craggy teeth so I was prone to cavities even with brushing. I really needed to not eat sweets. And I had a terrible sweet tooth! I still have all my teeth, and I have a lot of fillings - not amalgam, though. I replaced all that.

Dreamy's "grill"

[Dreamtimer]

They call me Jaws, like the dude from Moonraker. I'm tall too, watch out!

I like how you can see the hands and camera reflected in the gold teeth. We need to get Decker in here with his photo analyzing equipment.



I believe the same regarding babies. They don't naturally hate. I do believe they come in with their consciousness which existed before birth. They come in with a personality. It's shaped by their lives and experience but it's already there from the beginning.