Christianity, Paganism
And 12 Guys Who Loved to Fish

by John C. A. Manley | Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Jesus Christ before the fishing boat of Simon Peter
Ever notice how much catching and eating of fish goes on in the New Testament? The Zeitgeist Movement offers an astrological explanation.

The Zeitgeist film shows the hard to debate connections between pagan symbolism and Christian tradition. Just a few key examples…

  • How Easter falls on the Vernal Equinox and Christmas three days after the Winter Solstice.
  • How there are 12 disciples and 12 signs of the Zodiac.
  • The endless references to fish in the four Gospels (representing the current astrological Age of Pisces).

Some of this may

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The Day My Ego Got Electrocuted

by John C. A. Manley | Friday, January 22, 2010

ALT TAG
View from the main entrance to Hidden Valley Ashram — a yoga hermitage where I lived from 1996 to 2000 with 20 monks and about 30 residents.

After two years of serving in the kitchen of a yoga ashram I was “promoted” to the computer lab. After successfully installing a simple graphic card I was given the task of replacing a high-voltage power supply.

I confessed to having no experience in this area (I was a programmer not a technician). So my supervisor assigned Roger, another resident who used to build robots, to look over my shoulder.

Roger was quite busy, however, and didn’t appreciate being asked to split his attention. So when I asked him to confirm I put the blue wire where the blue wire should go he just said: “Yeah, that looks right.”

Assured of my technical prowess, I turned on the power supply. A shock immediately leapt up my arm. Sparks flew. There was a loud bang and

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Did the Haitians Make A “Pact With the Devil”?

by John C. A. Manley | Friday, January 15, 2010

Earthquake survivors in Haiti.
Photo of earthquake survivors in Haiti by Matt Marek from the International Rescue Committee’s website.

In a video clip circulating the internet, Christian TV show host, Pat Roberston, explains how the Haitians “swore a pact with the devil.” This, he suggests, is why they experience so much hardship — such as the recent earthquake.

Apparently the only way those poor African slaves were able to liberate themselves from French rule was by teaming up with the red-suited one.

Call me crazy, but it sounds a little extreme. You’d think overturning oppressive overlords would be considered a godly act — not a demonic one.

I think the real issue here is that people want to explain why these poor people would be a victim of such a massive earthquake.

Again, this is one of those situations where only reincarnation and past-life karma can

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15-Year Old Prodigy or 1500 Years Old?

by John C. A. Manley | Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Akiana Kramarik
Akiana Kramarik before her painting of Jesus titled “Father Forgive Them” (which she painted at age nine) being interviewed on CNN.

You’ve likely already heard of 15-year old prodigy, Akiane Kramarik, who paints pictures of spiritual visions she’s been seeing since she was four. Her depictions of Jesus I find very moving.

It’s my impression that she’s been holding a paint brush for many lifetimes. How else can you explain why one child is born in the slums of some third world country while another is born in Idaho with artistic gifts and spiritual insight way beyond the norm?

I’ve completed two years of fine art training at the Angel Academy of Art in Florence, Italy. I can safely say that for a nine-year-old to teach herself how to paint at the level of Akiane is quite unthinkable.

Not only does she seem to have retained much talent, skill and experience from her previous lives as an artist but she’s also retained memories of

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Experiments with Truth

by John C. A. Manley | Monday, January 11, 2010

Mahatma Gandhi making his own clothes
Mahatma Gandhi described life as an “experiment with truth.”

Len Biendron (www.lenbiedron.com) commented on a previous Metaphysical SF blog post (The Roswell Crash and Politicians’ Birthdays):

…the most easily used reason to “do nothing” is that “the truth” is so very hard to define, let alone discover.

I agree. That’s what makes the pursuit of Truth such a challenging game.

Though, I disagree that anybody can “do nothing.” Doing nothing usually just means

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Living in Perpetual Astonishment

by John C. A. Manley | Sunday, January 10, 2010

Charles Richet
Charles Robert Richet (1850–1935) a French psychologist who devoted many years of his life to the study of spiritual phenomena.

Why don’t we live in a constant state of astonishment? Is it because we are too smart? Or is it because we cloak the astonishing in familiarity to protect our own egos from falling into a state of incessant awe?

A video clip was circulating on YouTube a while back (now pulled offline due to copyright infringement) where a comedian pointed out how people get impatient when their cellphone doesn’t have a clear signal — ignoring the incredible fact that their conversation is being beamed into space and then back down again. He cited

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Roman Censorship of Early Christian Teachings

by John C. A. Manley | Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Painting by painting by Eugene Thirion.
First the Romans were feeding Christians to the tigers – next thing they were running their religion. In today’s MetaphysicalSF ecolumn I explain why I think the Roman Empire likely destroyed  most accounts of the life of Jesus.

(This is part four of my Response to Zeitgeist Movement. Click here to read part one.)

Why are there so few records of the life Jesus? The Zeitgeist Movement says the lack of supporting accounts proves he did not exist.

In my opinion the more obvious answer is that the Roman Empire burned all the other records. Historical records show that when Caesar took over Christianity the Romans destroyed any documents, teaching and scriptures about Jesus that did not conform to the established canon.

The most obvious example is the

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The Frozen Woods of Esum

by John C. A. Manley | Saturday, December 26, 2009

Here are some photos from our Christmas outing to the “Woods of Esum.” I call them them the Woods of Esum because this particular city park, here in Stratford, Ontario, is a location used in my upcoming novelette EsuM.

The first photo is actually a collage of the same location from last summer and now this winter. Quite the contrast Looks like two parallel universes.

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Preventing Poverty

by John C. A. Manley | Thursday, December 24, 2009

I was in shop with my son Jonah and they had “Happy Christmas (War is Over)” playing:

So this is Christmas,
And what have you done

This commonly conjures up images of John Lennon and Yoko Ono protesting hippie-style for world peace and an end to starvation.

As I looked around the store it made me think how our daily purchasing decisions shape the world we live. Much more so than protesting or

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Why Are There Only Four Short Books
About the Life of Jesus?

by John C. A. Manley | Saturday, December 12, 2009

Painting of monk copying out the Bible.
Outside of the Bible, few accounts exist of the life of Jesus. Many say this indicates he was not real.

(This is part three of my Response to Zeitgeist Movement. Click here to read part one .)

Zeitgeist: The Movie makes the point that outside of the Bible there exists few historical references to the life of Jesus. They conclude that if he was really raising the dead and healing the sick there would be more records of his existence

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