Witches, Comets and Planetary Cataclysms

© Dot Connector Magazine

From Sott.net - October 31: 2010

By Laura Knight-Jadczyk

This article was first published in The Dot Connector Magazine, official publication of Sott.net.

When you think of Halloween, what is the first image that comes to mind? I took a little informal poll among my friends, family and associates. Guess what image came in first? Jack-o-lanterns! Bet you thought I was going to say "witches". Well, I sure thought it would be witches, but they only came in a close second!..

When I think of Halloween, I think of grade-school art projects where we cut out silhouettes of witches to paste onto large yellow moons made of construction paper. The witch was always on a broom with her black dress flying in the wind, accompanied by a black cat sitting on the back of the broom. I wondered even then how the cat managed to stay on and why anybody would think that straddling a broomstick as a seat would be even remotely comfortable.

But, there you have it: in a significant way, Halloween is associated with witches, evil women who consort with the devil and do evil things like caging lost children to fatten them up and eat them, giving poisoned apples and setting up spinning wheels to poison abandoned or hapless princesses who are only looking for true love.

The word 'witch' comes to us from the Old English wicca, which was a masculine word meaning 'wizard'. The feminine version was wicce, pronounced 'witch'. This came from Middle High German wicken , which meant to 'bewitch', and even older, from Old High German wīh which meant 'holy'. The dictionary tells us that a witch is someone who has malignant supernatural powers and practices spell casting with the aid of a devil or familiar. It also refers to an ugly old woman, or a beautiful young woman. The word 'witch' is an epithet for any woman who isn't inclined to be a doormat, flung to the floor by any individual who wants her to be subject to his or her will. Last of all, a witch is a practitioner of Wicca.

 Wicca is a British construct created by an amateur anthropologist named Gerald Gardner who claimed to have had many interesting encounters and experiences with the occult and paranormal throughout his life. At one point, he claimed to have doctoral degrees from the Universities of Singapore and Toulouse, which was a lie. He claimed that he was initiated into a New Forest coven of witches which was the survival of a pre-Christian pagan witch cult. This alleged ancient coven has been shown by subsequent research to have been formed in the early 20th century and its ideas were based mainly on folk magic and the theories of Margaret Murray, so again, his honesty is rather suspect.

Gardner incorporated elements from Freemasonry, ceremonial magic, and the imaginings of Aleister Crowley and others. Most of what one sees when carefully examining these elements that combined to form modern Wicca bears no relationship whatsoever to the ancient religions as they can be discerned by deep study. Rather, these elements are likely more influenced by taking the descriptions of the persecutors of witches during the Inquisition as a guideline, instead of realizing that they were the defamatory falsifications of psychopaths. It is more likely that those accused of witchcraft during the witch persecutions were following beliefs akin to those of the Cathars - dualism - or even more ancient dualistic concepts. They also likely employed ancient knowledge handed down from Paleolithic shamanic systems which had little to nothing to do with 'ceremonial magic', spells or a 'liberal code of morality'. Unfortunately, neither Gardner nor Crowley had access to modern scientific archaeological studies from which one can actually infer something about the abilities, beliefs and practices of our truly remarkable ancestors.

Read more..

Our Enemy, The State

From stefbot at Youtube - Oct 29: 2012

http://www.lfb.org/stefan To Join the Laissez Faire Book Club

Full Text: http://www.fdrurl.com/enemystate

Laissez Faire Books presents, "Our Enemy, The State," by Albert Jay Nock, read by Stefan Molyneux. To discover more titles from the laissez faire tradition, please visit LFB.org.

Introduction

by Stefan Molyneux, host of Freedomain Radio

There is a scene in the movie "Barfly" where a woman turns to the main character and says "I can't stand people. I hate them. You hate them?" He turns to her and drawls, "No, but I seem to feel better when they're not around."

By his own report, Albert Nock didn't like people very much:

"Someone asked me years ago if it were true that I disliked Jews, and I replied that it was certainly true, not at all because they are Jews but because they are folks, and I don't like folks."

He never cried as a child, and as a young man he had a ferocious temper, so it's hard to imagine that he came by his distaste for mankind as a result of a stalwart dedication - endlessly rejected and attacked, as is generally the case - to improving the lot of his fellow citizens. Nock did not lose faith with mankind and end up bitter -- he started off bitter, and so it cost him much less to clearly see the follies of those around him.

So - before you start this book, fair warning is in order.

"Our Enemy, The State" is founded on a pessimism so deep, so profound and so bottomless that it is as if we are Pandora, opening the creaky, face-blasting chest of demons, and finding at the bottom not a glowing spirit of hope, but a grey bag of words that, when we touch them, dissolve us into blowing ash.

Nock builds this case slowly, carefully, and relentlessly. He divided general decision-making into social power, and State power. The expansion of State power, he argued, always comes at the expense of social power, resulting in a continual escalation of statism, until the inevitable fascist or totalitarian collapse. He differentiates between the State, and 'government'; the State is theft and exploitation, while 'government' is the spontaneous problem-solving that always arises in the absence of centralized coercion.

Nock also understood that, like all animals, people always want something for nothing - and there's no better way to get something for nothing than to manipulate the credulous masses into surrendering liberty and risk to the almighty political machinery of the State -- as he repeatedly points out, people always forget that when you ask the State to do something for you, it will always end up doing something to you.

The State is founded on conquest and confiscation -- this much is understood about the ancient world by most educated people, but Nock makes a powerful case that the same principles drove the foundation of the American Republic as well. The British ban on westward expansion stalled the insatiable greed of land speculation, and this drove the Founders -- rabid speculators almost to a man -- to risk political independence.

The unraveling of the myth of the noble founding of America opens the door -- a trapdoor, really -- to a special kind of despair faced by those who recognize that high moral language is almost always a cover for endless subterranean pickpocketing.

Moralists generally hope that when evil is exposed, good people rally to beat back the darkness -- however, when high moral language is invented and used by evil to cover itself -- and greedily accepted by those hoping to profit from the injustices of State power -- then the robbers of mankind hold all the weapons -- physical, emotional and linguistic -- and all hope is effectively lost. As Nock points out, no revolution has succeeded in the West since the mid-19th century, and none can be expected to succeed anytime soon. No less an authority than Lenin himself is quoted as saying that no revolution can be expected to succeed unless the soldiers and the police are discontented, and nothing of the sort appears imminent anywhere across Western civilization -- particularly when soldiers and policemen so depend on the State for rent-seeking wages, bloated pensions and health care freebies.

Due to the implacable irrationality of mankind, Nock viewed the escalating expansion of State power as more a force of nature than the effects of ignorance. When considering the idea of a society free of centralized coercive oligarchies, he wrote:

"Perhaps, some aeons hence, if the planet remains so long habitable, the benefits accruing to conquest and confiscation may be adjudged over-costly; the State may in consequence be superseded by government, the political means suppressed, and to the fetisches which give nationalism and patriotism that present execrable character may be broken down. But the remoteness and uncertainty of this prospect makes any thought of it fatuous, and any concern with it futile..."

Stefan Molyneux

Freedomain Radio is the most popular philosophy show on the web - http://www.freedomainradio.com

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Your Thoughts and Emotions Create Your Vibration and Circumstances In Your Life, Including Illness

© Prevent Disease

From PreventDisease.com - Oct. 8, 2012

by Kaity Cama

Everything in this world that you see manifested as form and phenomena, including things like electricity, sound waves coming to your ears as music and speech, everything is vibrations. This includes your health or illness.

We often hear it said, “I get good vibes from so and so person”, or perhaps, “I get bad vibes from such and such place”. What is really being said is that different types of vibrations are being picked up by the individuals.

Every type of energy has a different vibrational frequency. For example, water has one, and when it turns to ice, it has a different vibration. When it turns to vapour, the vibration changes again. Electricity as we know it on earth is the grossest form of energy. Sound waves have their own frequency of vibration. Of all these, thought vibration is the strongest. Most of our thoughts we turn into words -- spoken words -- and these words we put into action. Action when repeated again and again, form our habits, is it not? And our very nature, our character, is determined by our habits. Every tomorrow that we wake up is then determined by our nature and character.

If you can recall that old poem “For the sake of a nail a kingdom was lost..." you will understand the important of what might ordinarily be called a simple, small thought.

Because we are not taught the importance and power of thought, we have never consciously been in control of them, with the result that when unpleasant things enter our life, we do not realize the connection between the thought-vibration and the effect it has on us. Uplifting thoughts allow us to elevate our consciousness and awareness; non-inspiring thoughts tend to drag us down.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that every part of our physical body vibrates at a precise frequency. Thoughts that are not in harmony or in “sync” with our body cause impedance to our health. All organs, all tissues, membranes, glands, cells, vibrate in precise frequencies in a healthy body. All positive, inspiring, loving and kind thoughts are in harmony with those physical vibrations and help to continue to keep the body in perfect health, with the circulation of the blood going to all the necessary parts of the body, with the digestion working perfectly and the body able to correctly and easily eliminate toxins and waste matter, also allowing proper refreshing sleep to the body.

This is one of the reasons for the power of prayer. Because the thought vibrations would be in harmony with the spoken word, thereby adding tremendous force to the prayer, making the energy of the prayer even more powerful.

In a very real sense, good thoughts, good words and good deeds are the foundation of Practical Spirituality :-)


Dr Kaity Cama is a healer since childhood and all about helping people lead their best lives. A certified clinical hypnotherapist, Silva Mind Control Graduate and a Reiki Grandmaster amongst various qualifications that Dr Cama holds, she is most importantly someone who has dedicated her life path to helping people using the building block of the mind-body-spirit connection.

The Kissing Sailor, or "The Selective Blindness of Rape Culture"

From Sott.net - Oct 4: 2012

Creates and Ribbons

Most of us are familiar with this picture. Captured in Times Square on V-J Day, 1945, it has become one of the most iconic photographs of American history, symbolizing the jubilation and exuberance felt throughout the country at the end of World War II.

For a long time, the identity of the pair remained a mystery. It certainly looks passionate and romantic enough, with many speculating that they were a couple - a sailor and a nurse, celebrating and sharing their joy. This year, however, historians have finally confirmed that the woman is Greta Zimmer Friedman, a dental nurse at the time, and George Mendonsa, a sailor.

Have a look at some articles about it. Do you get the feeling that something is not quite right?

Huffington Post

Daily Mail

CBS News

A few facts have come to light. Far from being a kiss between a loving couple, we learn that George and Greta were perfect strangers. We learn that George was drunk, and that Greta had no idea of his presence, until she was in his arms, with his lips on hers.

The articles even give us Greta's own words:

"It wasn't my choice to be kissed. The guy just came over and grabbed!"

"I did not see him approaching, and before I knew it, I was in this vice grip."

"You don't forget this guy grabbing you."

"That man was very strong. I wasn't kissing him. He was kissing me."

It seems pretty clear, then, that what George had committed was sexual assault. Yet, in an amazing feat of willful blindness, none of the articles comment on this, even as they reproduce Greta's words for us. Without a single acknowledgement of the problematic nature of the photo that her comments reveal, they continue to talk about the picture in a whimsical, reverent manner, "still mesmerized by his timeless kiss." George's actions are romanticized and glorified; it is almost as if Greta had never spoken.

In a way, I understand this. The end of war is a big deal, and the euphoria felt throughout the nation on that day is an important part of American history. For so long, this photograph has come to represent that unbridled elation, capturing the hearts of war veterans and their families alike. The fact that this much-loved photo is a depiction of sexual assault, rather than passion, is an uncomfortable truth, and to call it out as such might make one seem to be a priggish wet blanket. After all, this sailor has risked his life for his country. Surely his relief and excitement at the end of the war is justified? Surely these are unique circumstances? The answer to the first question is yes. He is perfectly entitled to be ecstatic. He is perfectly entitled to celebrate. However, this entitlement does not extend to his impinging on someone else's bodily autonomy.

The unwillingness to recognize a problem here is not surprising, considering the rape culture in which we live. It is not easy to assert that a woman's body is always her own, not to be used at the whim of any man without her consent. It is far easier to turn a blind eye to the feelings of women, to claim that they should empathise with the man, that they should be good sports and just go along with it. And the stronger the power structures behind the man, the more difficult it becomes to act otherwise. But if we are serious about bringing down rape culture and reducing the widespread violence against women, then we need to make it clear that engaging with someone sexually without consent is not ok, even when it is an uncomfortable position to take. Especially when it is an uncomfortable position to take.

Comment: I've added the Law of Accident to the main list. These are influences that come from two sources. Those from biological life itself and those from conscious creation outside of life and created by men from a conscious origin. These two sources mix and the later only conscious in origin may or may not begin to become mechanical. Eventually, these influences may merge and become clouded. To learn more about these concepts, read In Search of the Miraculous (Harvest Book) and start in Chapter 10. Also, in etymology, the word accident immediately follows the word kama in sequence which implicates part of its power.

Inspiring: Wisconsin Anchorwoman Delivers Powerful Message on Bullying (VIDEO)

From Current.com - Oct 3: 2012

 By Keegan Williams

Jennifer Livingston, an anchor for Wisconsin’s WKBT morning show, took a few minutes yesterday morning to address a viewer email that had been sent to her regarding her weight. What we’re left with is a beautiful and inspiring message, and I want to stand up next to my MacBook and applaud. In the four minutes of screen time, Livingston not only dismisses the man’s harmful message, but totally annihilates him. She defends herself, stating that he doesn’t know her and that she is, “much more than a number on a scale.”

Not only that, but she turns the entire story around, using the message a lesson to parents and adults to set an example for the next generation. Livingston says fiercely, “If you are at home and talking about the fat news lady, guess what? Your children are probably going to go to school and call someone fat.”

I’ve never heard of or seen Jennifer Livingston before, but I am now bowing down to this woman, someone with so much strength and courage, who is not about to be taken down by a bully’s hurtful words.

WATCH:

7 Deadly Sins America Commits Against Its Own People

image

From Alternet.org - Oct 2: 2012

By Paul Bucheit

 The US terrorizes millions all over the planet... here's what it does to its own citizens.

 The list doesn't include our most grievous offenses, those of military and economic warfare against the rest of the world. Sinful enough is our behavior at home.

1. Sin against children

Perhaps "sanctity of life" ends at birth. According to Census Bureau figures, one out of every five American children lives in poverty. For blacks and Hispanics, it's one out of every three.

UNICEF has reported that the U.S. has a higher child poverty rate than every industrialized country except Romania. We are near the bottom in all measures of inequality that affect our children, including material well-being, health, and education.

2. Sin against the poor

The U.S. poverty rate grew from 11.3% to 15.0%, a 33% jump, in just 11 years. The impact was felt primarily by minorities and women. The median wealth for single black and Hispanic women is shockingly low, at just over $100 (compared to $41,500 for single white women).

Another shock. For every dollar of NON-HOME wealth owned by white families, people of color have only one cent.

Despite the continued economic assault on already-poor Americans, the number of TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) cases has dropped by 60 percent over the last 16 years.

3. Sin against students

Students at all levels have been losing their nation's support. States reduced their education budgets by $12.7 billion in 2012, and in 2013 the majority of states will be spending even less.

At higher educational levels, Americans are paying much more than students in other countries. Only 38% of college expenses come from public funding, compared to 70% across other OECD countries. While other nations continue to offer free tuition, with the recognition that education leads to long-term prosperity, the U.S. system has become morecorporatized, to the point that expensive programs like nursing, engineering, and computer science have been eliminated to cut costs. The profit motive has blocked the path to academic excellence.

4. Sin against the middle class

The middle class is shrinking. In 2011, according to a Pew Research analysis, 51% of the nation's households earned from two-thirds to double the national median income. In the 1970s it was 61%.

One-quarter of America's workers are now making less than $22,000 a year, the poverty line for a family of four.

Thirty million Americans are making between $7.25 (minimum wage) and $10.00 per hour.

With the transition of middle-class workers to low-income status, entrepreneurship is disappearing. Innovation doesn't come from the upper class. A recent study found that less than 1 percent of all entrepreneurs came from very rich or very poor backgrounds. Small business creators come from the hard-working, risk-taking, nothing-to-lose middle of America, but their entrepreneurial numbers are down -- over 50% since 1977.

5. Sin against the common good

A recent Tax Justice Network report placed total hidden offshore assets at somewhere between $21 trillion and $32 trillion. With about 40% of the world's Ultra High Net Worth Individuals in the U.S., up to $12.8 trillion of untaxed revenue sits overseas. Based on a historical 6% rate of return, this is a tax loss of up to $300 billion per year, money that should be paying for the public needs of education and infrastructure.

Tax avoidance is so appealing that 1,700 Americans renounced their citizenships last year. Like Eduardo Saverin, who benefited from America's research and technology and security to take billions from his 4% share in Facebook, and then skipped out on his tax bill.

Inexplicably, some have defended Saverin's actions, apparently failing to recognize one's obligation to pay for societal benefits. A Forbes writer said, "When individuals resist governmental hubris, we should exalt their actions." The American Thinker blog argued that "the U.S. tax code is so oppressive that smart and successful people like Saverin are compelled to renounce citizenship in order to keep more of their own hard-earned wages." Hard-earned, in truth, by the thousands of contributers to his social networking success.

6. Sin against nature

A number of studies show that investment in renewable energy will create many more jobs than the fossil fuel industry. And the investment will likely pay off. A National Renewable Energy Laboratory analysis determined that "renewable electricity generation from technologies that are commercially available today...is more than adequate to supply 80% of total U.S. electricity generation in 2050."

But now the prospect of cheap natural gas is leading us back to a dirty form of energy independence, with a continuing reliance on fossil fuels, and on the fracking technology that despoils our land and pollutes our water. The national commitment and political will needed for the long-term health of our nation is more elusive than ever.

7. Sin against common sense

The deception began, at least in the modern age, with Milton Friedman, who said "The free market system distributes the fruits of economic progress among all people...He moves fastest who moves alone."

This unflagging adherence to free-enterprise individualism is consistent with Social Darwinism, the belief that survival of the fittest (richest) will somehow benefit society, and that the millions of people suffering from financial malfeasance are simply lacking the motivation to help themselves. Social Darwinism is a feel-good delusion for those at the top. Or, as described by John Kenneth Galbraith, a continuing "search for a superior moral justification for selfishness."

A tenet of progressivism is that a strong society will create opportunities for a greater number of people, thereby leading to more instances of individual success. This is the common sense attitude suppressed by conservatives for over 30 years.

An estimated one million children go missing in the European Union - every year

image

From Refreshing News - Oct 1: 2012

It is a drama that families hope they will never have to face: the disappearance of a child. Amid the panic and the stress it is crucial that a support system is quickly made available, on top of whatever action the police may take. And for help organisations on the ground, it is a key part of children’s rights.

Some cases receive a lot of media attention; others become a lonely struggle for families desperate for help.

An estimated one million children go missing every year in the European Union. These include runaways, criminal abductions, those abducted by a parent, the lost or injured, as well as missing unaccompanied migrant children.

Poland is one of the countries attempting to do something about it. Every few days at least three children under the age of 13 disappear there, and every day 10 teenagers are reported missing.

In Warsaw, Right On met a woman who has been searching for her niece for the past decade.

Seven-year-old Karina Surmacz was nowhere to be seen after her mother was found shot dead at home in 2002, along with her partner. It is possible the killings are linked to organised crime, but there has been no progress on solving the murders – or Karina’s disappearance.

Małgorzata Niemiec, Karina’s aunt, told euronews:

“People say she might be dead, that she was murdered. But until she is found somewhere, until I see her dead body, and there’s no doubt, for me she will continue to be alive. I’ll continue to wait for her.”

Karina’s family believe it is likely she was abducted by the killer. The girl’s duvet, shoes and other items were missing from her room.

Małgorzata said: “I hope that she is found, that she’s been happy over the years, that she has not gone without and has been healthy. I hope that she has had enough to eat. I really hope that she is found.”

For people like Karina’s aunt, missing people organisations provide crucial help and support.

A missing children hotline in Poland is part of a wider European project: the same number is now being used in most countries, and it can be a lifeline for distraught families.

Zuzanna Ziajko from the organisation “ITAKA – Centre for Missing People”, told Right On: “They don’t know how quickly the police should start to act, what it will involve, and often they’re only told that a child disappearance statement has been completed.

“They have to go home with this great burden, not knowing where their child is, not knowing how the search is organised. They don’t know how to cope with the problem.”

The hotline is for the reporting of cases, advice and support, and also for tipoffs from the public.

But it is also there for runaway teenagers, for example, to talk through the issues related to their disappearance.

Euronews’ Seamus Kearney reported: “All European countries were legally required to have the hotline number in operation by the end of May last year. Many have complied, but others are still to meet their obligations.

“In those countries it seems to be a question of cost and who pays, but also a lack of information and awareness. The pressure is now on to have the hotline number spread to all EU states.”

Luxembourg is the latest to introduce the hotline, and more launches are expected to follow.

Many of the operators are members of Missing Children Europe, an umbrella organisation that has been pushing for the single, dedicated number.

Hopes are high that the number of cases solved will now increase.

Despite its financial troubles, Greece is one of the most active countries when it comes to having systems in place for when children disappear.

Emergency services and volunteers are geared up to be quickly mobilised when the hotline receives an alert.
Right On spoke to one mother who rang the number when her four-year-old boy wandered away from a holiday home on the island of Andros last summer.

After rescue teams and local residents were scrambled, the child was located several hours later safe and sound.

The rescued boy’s mother told euronews: “At first I felt panic, but the young woman I spoke to on the hotline reassured me and told me to keep calm, saying they would help find the boy as quickly as possible.

“Gradually I tried to cooperate with them as I was in a terrible state psychologically. I thought I would never see him again, never find him.”

The organisation that runs Greece’s hotline, The Smile of the Child, was behind the setting up of a missing children response team, to have rescuers on the ground in the early stages of a disappearance.

Whether it is the police or the hotline that receives the alert first, the aim is to waste no time in sharing the information.

Vassilis Orfanos, Coordinator of the Missing Children Response Team, said: “It is very important for us, whenever a child has gone missing, to get notified very very quickly, so we can respond to the incident as fast as we can.”

Greece also has a public alert system for suspected abductions, flashing up on television and the likes of motorway signs.

The Greek hotline received almost 6,000 calls in 2011 and dealt with the cases of 120 missing children. Eight of those have still not been found. But cooperation seems to be the key.

Costas Yannopoulos, Chairman of “The Smile of the Child” told Right On: “We are uniting our forces. That has been our motto, the message we want to show. We are combining forces for the children.

“The Smile of the Child, the Red Cross, Greek Rescue Teams, the Police, the Fire Service, the Port Authorities, Civil Defence – all together with a single goal.”

That message is echoed by the police. A fully automated computer system has been established, allowing the centralising of information, which can then be spread in different formats within minutes.

Captain Panagiotis Papantonis from the Missing Persons Unit of the Greek Police told euronews: “This initiative is very important, and it’s very good that we were the first country to establish this service now operating in Greece.

“It has helped us in many disappearance cases, because while the parents may not have given us some piece of information, we received it anonymously through the hotline.”

And sometimes just one small clue from the public is all that is needed to bring a missing child home.

How memory load leaves us 'blind' to new visual information

© Igor Mojzes
Trying to keep an image we've just seen
in memory can leave us blind to things
we are 'looking' at, according to the results
of a new study.

From Sott.net - Oct 1: 2012

ScienceDaily

Trying to keep an image we've just seen in memory can leave us blind to things we are 'looking' at, according to the results of a new study supported by the Wellcome Trust.

It's been known for some time that when our brains are focused on a task, we can fail to see other things that are in plain sight. This phenomenon, known as 'inattentional blindness', is exemplified by the famous 'invisible gorilla' experiment in which people watching a video of players passing around a basketball and counting the number of passes fail to observe a man in a gorilla suit walking across the centre of the screen.

The new results reveal that our visual field does not need to be cluttered with other objects to cause this 'blindness' and that focusing on remembering something we have just seen is enough to make us unaware of things that happen around us.

Professor Nilli Lavie from UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, who led the study, explains: "An example of where this is relevant in the real world is when people are following directions on a sat nav while driving.

"Our research would suggest that focusing on remembering the directions we've just seen on the screen means that we're more likely to fail to observe other hazards around us on the road, for example an approaching motorbike or a pedestrian on a crossing, even though we may be 'looking' at where we're going."

Participants in the study were given a visual memory task to complete while the researchers looked at the activity in their brains using functional magnetic resonance imaging. The findings revealed that while the participants were occupied with remembering an image they had just been shown, they failed to notice a flash of light that they were asked to detect, even though there was nothing else in their visual field at the time.

The participants could easily detect the flash of light when their mind was not loaded, suggesting that they had established a 'load induced blindness'. At the same time, the team observed that there was reduced activity in the area of the brain that processes incoming visual information -- the primary visual cortex.
Professor Lavie adds: "The 'blindness' seems to be caused by a breakdown in visual messages getting to the brain at the earliest stage in the pathway of information flow, which means that while the eyes 'see' the object, the brain does not."

The idea that there is competition in the brain for limited information processing power is known as load theory and was first proposed by Professor Lavie more than a decade ago. The theory explains why the brain fails to detect even conspicuous events in the visual field, like the man in a gorilla suit, when attention is focused on a task that involves a high level of information load.

The research reveals a pathway of competition in the brain between new visual information and our short-term visual memory that was not appreciated before. In other words, the act of remembering something we've seen that isn't currently in our field of vision means that we don't see what we're looking at.

Journal Reference:

Nikos Konstantinou, Bahador Bahrami, Geraint Rees, Nilli Lavie. ''Visual Short-term Memory Load Reduces Retinotopic Cortex Response to Contrast.'' Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2012; 24 (11): 2199 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00279

Comment: Kama has now been added to the main list, a form of desire that becomes a metaphor. It has a dialectic nature according to Julius Pokorny from the American Heritage Dictionary 3rd Edition Appendix, which is then assumed in several philosophies, rather, it is the Law of Three in its beginning stage, as a thesis state, and interpretation of the antithesis force and forces apparent in the Ray of Creation and resolving these forces coherently either by a corrupted Sutra, one that assumes the formation made and its kindlings, or one that is completely aware of it, and is not fooled by its power. Your comments are welcome..how do you think this affects You?