Fans of The Secret may be interested in these deleted scenes, which talk about the building blocks of the universe and the vibrational nature of life.
Enlightenment: October 2007 Archives
"I experience numbers in a very visual way, using colors, textures, shape and form. Sequences of numbers form landscapes in my mind. It just happens. It's like having a fourth dimension," says Daniel Tammet, a highly functioning autistic savant, who has incredible math, language and memory skills. He can perform mathematical feats of Olympic proportions, has recited Pi from memory up to 22,514 digits for a National Society for Epilepsy charity challenge, yet claims the answers to complex sums come to him visually and spontaneously. Tammet, who has mastered nine languages, learnt Icelandic, a particularly complex language, in a week when the gauntlet was thrown down for this Channel 5 documentary. During the filming Tammet, who lives in Kent, England, was flown to America for tests at San Diego's Center For Brain Studies and to meet fellow savant Kim Peek, the man who inspired Dustin Hoffman’s character in the Oscar winning film Rain Man.
The Daily Mantra loves Tees For Change’s collection of shirts bearing positive messages such as Stay Strong, Laugh Often, Chase Dreams, Seek Balance, and Choose Happiness. “The first one I did said, ‘Be Courageous.’ That was the one I wore throughout my pregnancy,” says company founder Andreea Ayers. “I felt so strong and more positive every time I would think of the phrase.”
The Colorado mother found the inspiration for her shirts while pregnant. She had always wanted to give birth naturally, but was surrounded by negative thoughts when she spoke about it to those around her. "What if something goes wrong?" was all I heard throughout my pregnancy,” says Ayers, who would respond by saying, "What if everything goes right?" Ayers decided to turn the situation on its head by wearing shirts with messages that would remind her to think positively every time she was confronted by such negativity. “I was able to change my negative thoughts into positive ones just by wearing the shirts I had made,” says Ayers. Her company was born after her son Nathan in the spring of this year.
The shirts are made in sweatshop free conditions from 100% organic cotton, or a blend of 70% bamboo / 30% organic cotton. They’re colored with eco-friendly dyes and are screenprinted with non-toxic water-based inks. What’s more, the company will make a donation to American Forests' Global Releaf so the organization can plant a tree for each shirt sold at retail price, making this truly life-affirming apparel.
Society generally dictates that gossip is a guilty pleasure, but psychologists and anthropologists are discovering it may have a far more profound purpose.
“Popular usage defines gossip as small talk or idle talk, but gossip is hardly inconsequential or without purpose,’ says Temple University’s Professor Emeritus Ralph L. Rosnow and colleague social psychologist Eric K. Foster in their joint paper on the subject of gossip. “It has been theorized that gossip played a fundamental role in the evolution of human intelligence and social life and that it continues to play an active role in cultural learning and as a source of social comparison information.”
“Gossip appears to be a very sophisticated, multifunctional interaction which is important in policing behaviors in a group and defining group membership," says Professor David Sloan Wilson, who teaches biology and anthropology at the State University of New York. In his book, Darwin's Cathedral, Wilson views society is an organism, and agues that religion is evolution at work, having important biological functions, which furthered mankind through increased social function, with gossip serving as a tool.
So where does our hankering for celebrity gossip fall into this elaborate social equation? Well consider that hundreds of years ago, before societies got so vast in size, and before we had such a plethora of media streams, common social references were easier to come by. 16th century villagers for example, would know everyone in their community. But now, those kind of everyday universal social references are harder to come by, so celebrities fill the void, providing easy points of reference and common benchmarks.
Furthermore, gossip is an important social tool, allowing us to make easy, non-threatening connections with strangers in social situations and providing fodder for everyday human interaction. “It’s a social skill, not a character flaw,” argues Frank McAndrew, a professor of psychology at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill. “It’s only when you don’t do it well that you get into trouble.”
If everyday social situations, such as parties or business conferences, fill you with anxiety, surely it’s better to go armed with a handful of gossip than a handful of pills or the indiscriminate courage gained from a bottle of booze. Also, a conversation about a remote celebrity rather than someone you actually know is far less prone to pitfalls. Since you’re talking ostensibly about a remote third party, it’s a non-threatening way of testing boundaries and establishing common values, in order to get to know someone -- or decide if you want to.
But, though celebrity gossip and gossip in general may serve a purpose, it’s no substitute for developing relationships based on real intimacies. “Celebrity gossip, of all the gossip along with sports conversations, which is a form of celebrity gossip, are the least intimate conversations one can possibly have, which doesn't mean it's not useful as a social tool. But if the conversation ends there, what one has an achieved is a false sense of intimacy,” warns Los Angeles-based psychotherapist and relationship expert Martin C. Novell.
“You may have had a good time that night, but if the relationship becomes dependent on gossip and more gossip, it will evaporate like cotton candy. Real intimacy is when a relationship develops a sense of trust, where there's an idea that you won't be injured in the relationship, when you get to know yourself and others as dynamic human beings who have boundaries and growth potential, through conversation and deeds. Gossip alone doesn't give you this unless you use it as a touchstone for safety and are willing to leave that touchstone for something more personal in nature and interject the idea of the true you into the conversation. Obviously the skill of gossip is much easier to develop than the skill of sharing and caring, which carries a greater degree of responsibly and thoughtfulness, but also higher emotional rewards.”
