He Lived and Died by The Sword

Mirin Dajo, which means "wonder" in the Esperanto language, was the stage name of Arnold Gerrit Henskes. He was a Dutch fakir ( Muslim Sufi ascetic) who believed that the Esperanto language could unite the world. He also had the belief that his sword piercing act could spread a message of "love and peace."

During his sword act in the 1940s, Dajo would stand shirtless on the stage, while an assistant ran fencing foils through his body, one at a time. Audience members and medical doctors would also be invited onto the stage to watch the act being performed at close range and to examine his sword piercing methods for trickery. But to their evident surprise, the swords were pushed through the front of Dajo's body and would come out of his back.

In his youth, Dajo may have experienced mental health issues, as he had many strange dreams and what he called "paranormal" experiences. Later at the age of thirty-three, he is said to have had the realisation that his body was "invulnerable", which led him to Amsterdam, where he began performing various "acts" outside pubs. Dajo would swallow glass and razor blades and allow people to pierce him with "dagger-like objects."

Dajo was of the opinion that God was using him to show the people of the world that there was more to life than materialism and that they should acknowledge a higher force.

Promotional photograph of Mirin Dajo showing a rapier piercing his thorax from back to front

So how did Dajo really perform these incredible acts? It is evident that the swords did indeed pass through Dajo's body, but many sceptics and doctors today believe that Dajo may have learnt the technique from fakirs in India (religious ascetics).

The method of impaling his body with swords may have involved Dajo getting his assistant to push the sword, bit by bit, into his body, leaving it in its place until scar tissue formed; similar to the way ear-piercing works. This would cause a fistula (passageway) to form. Dajo's body was covered with scars, perhaps from his attempts to create fistulas. It is believed that he may have managed to create at least four fistulas. However, he would have needed a thin metal rod (or similar), constantly holding the hole open, again, much like an ear piercing.

Mirin Dajo died on May 11, 1948, after swallowing a steel needle. It is said that he was instructed to do so by voices. The needle was removed by surgeons, but the autopsy revealed Dajo had died of an aortic rupture.

Your Brain is Like a Huge Company and Consciousness Is Its CEO

Our brain is locked inside our dark skull without direct access to the world and yet, it tells us the story of our life.

According to Steven Pinker in his book The Blank Slate, extensive brain research tells us that our brain is made up of computational modules, which are information-processing systems that perform many functions of which we are unconscious. Our brain can filter out distractions, learn skills, control body movement and temperature, remember facts and act on rules and information. Beyond all this, the unique multiple intelligences of each individual transforms all these things by the use of language, number, space, tools, and living things.

David Eagleman, the neuroscientist says in his book, The Brain: The Story of You, "I think of consciousness as the CEO of a large sprawling corporation, with many thousands of subdivisions and departments all collaborating and interacting and competing in different ways." 

Added into this mix, is the fact that the prefrontal cortex of our brain, which is necessary for long-term thinking, abstract reasoning, overriding impulses like greed and decision making, does not develop fully until we reach our early twenties. So while a young child is more likely to act simply on impulse, as we get older, the prefrontal cortex is more likely to engage in a battle against temptations like eating chocolate cake, because while it may be very gratifying to eat the cake now, eating it will likely undermine the weight loss we are trying to achieve in the long run.

Using the story of Ulysses and the sirens from Homer, Eagleman explains the idea that different parts of our brain compete and gain greater control at times. In this tale, Ulysses makes an agreement with his men to tie him to the mast of the boat, as he knows that when he hears the siren's song, its lure will be too strong and he will lose his resolve and the journey home maybe sabotaged.

Our brain, says Eagleman, is like a parliament, which has different political parties with different interests and so a battle ensues on how to steer the ship. But what makes us into a distinct person with a particular character, is our particular set of genes that we inherit, mixed with our experiences in the world.

Who we are from these genes and experiences can be changed, however, by changes in our brains caused by such things as strokes or brain tumours and other brain injuries. We are then, essentially, our brains and what we call our the complex and adaptive system of our mind, emerges from the ordinary matter of the brain.

Brains are essentially energy processors which support consciousness and while our brain is only 2% of body mass, it accounts for 20% of the body's energy usage. What we call consciousness, it seems, may depend on complex neural energy flow feedback loops, which can be interrupted by such substances as anaesthetics. Anaesthetics, like propofol, seem to inhibit the brain’s ability to sustain complex feedback loops in parts of the brain and when it wears off, it can feel like you are coming back online.

To maintain consciousness, we must ensure the function of what biologist Gerald Edelman called “reentrant” signals, which are an ongoing bidirectional exchange of signals along reciprocal axonal fibers. These feedback loops of neural activity connect all our brain regions into a coherent functioning whole. Us.

Why Americans Are Such Religious Nuts

Have you ever wondered why America, as a country, is such an aberration amongst first world developed countries in terms of religious belief? Well, the first major reason is that the foundations of modern America were built by religious zealots. And the second major reason is that American, compared to other Western countries, has relatively high levels of income inequality and large parts of the population experience financial and other insecurity: they need religion for hope and comfort.

The conquistadors entered Tenochtitlan to the sounds of martial music

The Native Americans and their religious beliefs and practices were highly localised and diverse. When Columbus claimed the Americas for Spain, however, the Spanish set about gaining souls for "Holy Mother Church". The French were eager to follow Spain's example and the first French Jesuit priest arrived in America in 1611, with the aim of converting the Native Americans to Catholicism.

In 1566, Sir Humphrey wrote an essay to convince the English Queen, Elizabeth 1, to begin settlements in the New World. He asked permission "to inhabit and possess at his choice all remote and heathen lands not in the actual possession of any Christian Prince".

The British colonisation of the Americas began in 1607, at Jamestown. The British bringing with them government, language, customs and beliefs that are still prevalent today. Thirteen years later, the Pilgrims who were members of the radical English Separatist Church, fled to America to escape the jurisdiction of the Church of England. They landed at Plymouth in Massachusetts, where they believed that they could build a society of "saints".

Interestingly, while America's Founding Fathers fell into three main religious categories: Deists, practising Christians and those who were essentially Christians but influenced by Deism. They were aware of the bloody history of Europe and the wars that had raged there in the name of religion. They held the view that the best way to protect religious liberty, was to keep the government out of religion. This is why John Adams said, “The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”

Other religious English colonies were set up. Maryland was established in 1634, after Lord Baltimore was ordered out of Virginia for being a Roman Catholic. The English settlements in Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rode Island steamed ahead; with Rhode Island being a particular enclave of dissenters of many varieties. In 1681, the Quaker, William Penn was granted a royal charter and he founded Pennsylvania. In 1681, the city of Philadelphia was planned and developed; the name from the Greek φιλεω (phileo) "to love" and αδελφος (adelphos) "brother".

The belief in witches and the presence of Satan as a daily reality was an unfortunate side effect of Puritan society. Matters in New England came to a head in the 1680-90s. A hundred years before this, In 1597, King James VI of Scotland had published a compendium on witchcraft lore called Daemonologie and he had also participated in a number of trials of alleged witches. The Salem witch trials, however, resulted in 200 people being accused of witchcraft and 19 being found guilty and executed by hanging (14 women and five men). The Puritans subscribed to a literal reading of Exodus 22:18, in the Bible, with its instruction that, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” 

Giles Corey was pressed to death during the Salem witch trials in the 1690s

Other Europeans came to set up colonies in America, like the Dutch, who started a settlement on Manhattan island in 1623. The Dutch were more interested in business and money than religion and declared that people, "shall keep and enjoy the liberty of their consciences in religion". Although, Quaker missionaries were forbidden for a while. In 1664, New Amsterdam passed to the English and became New York. 

And what of Mormonism? According to Wade Clark Roof, professor of religious studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, the Mormon story is quintessentially American. “It has all the features we associate with being American: patriotism, country, entrepreneurship, capitalism, all bound together.” Mormons are also, mostly white, are generally quite conservative and support the Republican Party. And yet, Mormons, have also largely distanced themselves from the broader community and built separate enclaves, as did the Pilgrims of in New England, who were also separatists.

The area roughly considered to constitute the Bible Belt

Higher levels of religious belief have also been correlated with financial and other insecurity, like worse social environments and personal insecurity. Denmark and Sweden are among the least religious nations in the world; they also possess extensive social safety nets, free education and universal health care. America, on the other hand, has millions of working poor, who find that having a job is not always a path out of poverty and many are left with inconsistent or no health care. So in a sense, religious belief also reflects, to a great extent, the American class system and a person' experience of economic vulnerability.

America, compared to many other Western countries, not only has a very large gap between the rich and the poor, but it also exhibits geographic inequality, with more affluent areas being found in the Northern states and the Southern states having some of the largest concentrations of distressed communities. In terms of religious belief, Mississippi, Alabama and other Southern states are among America's most religious states, while New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine in New England, among the least religious. However, according to economist Robert Riech, 80% of the American population is living from pay check to pay check. He also says that America doesn’t have a jobs crisis. It has a good jobs crisis.

So America, with its long traditions of religious zealotry has also experienced high levels of industrial decline and now, has a middle class which is turning into the Precariat, or as Alissa Quart discusses in her book, Squeezed “the hypereducated poor”. And this, largely explains why Americans are different from their European cousins. 

Olive Oil, Cannabinoid Receptors, Migraines and More

There is a lot of buzz around cannabis oil extracts from cannabis plants, particularly cannabidiol (CBD), which appears to have anticonvulsant properties. Indeed, the endogenous cannabinoid system, which is named after the plant, is very important in human health and wellbeing.

Endocannabinoid receptors are found throughout the body, as are natural endocannabinoids, which are lipid products of dietary fats. This means that the modulation of the endocannabinoid system can occur by changing the fats in our diet.

• There are at least two types of cannabinoid receptors, CB1 and CB2. Today we are concerned with the CB2 receptor, which is involved in: 
• Allergic and autoimmune inflammatory diseases 
• loss of bone mass 
• Neurodegenerative diseases 
• Ischemic injury from stroke or heart attack 
• Chronic pain 
• liver injury and disease 
• Alcohol and nicotine addiction 
• Weight gain 
• Stress responses 

Changes in endocannabinoid levels and/or CB2 receptor expressions have been reported in almost all diseases affecting humans, ranging from cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, liver, kidney, neurodegenerative, psychiatric, bone, skin, autoimmune, lung disorders to pain and cancer, and modulating CB2 receptor activity holds tremendous therapeutic potential in these pathologies.(R) .

This means that stimulating the CB2 receptor has a protective function, in many pathological conditions. For example, migraine with aura seems to involve Cortical Spreading Depression (CSD), which produces a propagating wave of transient neuronal hyperexcitability followed by depression. Cannabinoids are able to inhibit this CSD (R).

Now, believe it or not, olive oil activates CB2 receptors and as a bonus, has anti-obesity effects silencing the activated immune cells that are key drivers of metabolic syndrome and inflammation (R). Also, oleoyl ethanolamide, a product of oleic acid, induces satiety (feeling full), decreases circulating fatty acid concentrations and increases the capacity for β-oxidation (R).

Omega-3 levels from fish oil also cause significant changes in the endocannabinoid system, by increasing the receptors of CB2. Our body is able to convert omega-3 fatty acids into cannabinoids that have anti-inflammatory benefits -- but without the psychotropic high (R). However, activating CB2 receptors also has the added benefit of having antidepressant-like effects (R).

Those who wish to try taking olive oil and omega 3 supplements for migraine with aura, may also like to add a small dose of magnesium, as magnesium inhibits NMDA receptors, which are involved in Cortical Spreading Depression (CSD). And CSD propagates the neuronal depolarisation, which is considered as the cellular correlate of the migraine aura (R).

Flood Myths and Lost Underwater Forests and Cities

At the end of the last Ice Age, which occurred between 17,000 years ago and 7000 years ago, the ice caps of northern Europe and North America melted causing huge flooding across the earth. This caused a rise of more than 100 meters in the sea-level and about 25 million square kilometrres of land being swallowed up by the rushing waves.

The sea levels around Britain were about 100 meters lower than they are today and as recently as the 10th century, a forest of submerged trees could be observed at low tide, at various places along Britain's coastline. In Cornwall, the remains of a petrified forest can be seen at certain times of low tide. Britain, in fact, only became an island properly in 5500 BCE.

Submerged forest at Mount's Bay, Cornwall

The Altai Flood, which resulted from the emptying of two interconnected lakes on the Chuya River, was one of the largest of these megafloods, which swept through what is today central Russia, creating terraces and strandlines, where the exceptional events took place.  The various megafloods of the last Ice Age not only created odd landscapes and altered the circulation of the oceans, and changing Earth’s climate, but also caused the loss of some cities to the sea.

The flood myth of Mahabalipuram, were written down by British traveller J. Goldingham, who visited the Indian town in 1798. These stories told by local fishermen told of a great flood consuming a city over 1,000 years ago in one day.

The British television presenter Graham Hancock took the stories of an underground city off Mahabalipuram, India, seriously and his interest led to the English-based Scientific Exploration Society, teaming up with India’s National Institute of Oceanography. An amazing discovery was the result. Submerged structures were found off the coast of Mahabalipuram, such as sandstone walls, a grid of streets and remains of a seaport, some 70 feet beneath the sea. Pottery, at the site, has been dated to 3528 BC.

Interestingly, Australian Aboriginal storytelling also tells of the rise of sea levels which reached their present level about 7,000 years ago. Some of these stories are factual and relate to the loss of kangaroo hunting grounds and others involve myth, magic and ancestral beings. Never-the-less, if these stories have been passed down from the times the great sea level rises 7000 years ago, this means that about 300 generations have continued the storytelling tradition from that time. Amazing!

The Odd Mental Breakdowns of Japanese People in Paris

Japanese visitors to Paris are especially susceptible to Paris syndrome, a psychiatric condition which is the result of finding out that Paris is not the city of their expectations.

Almost always, Paris syndrome is experienced by Japanese tourists who have an over romanticised concept of how Paris will be. The shock these Japanese tourists experience can result in acute delusional states, hallucinations, anxiety, dizziness, and sweating.

Professor Hiroaki Ota, a Japanese psychiatrist working in France, is believed to be the first person to diagnose Paris Syndrome in 1986. According to the Japanese embassy in France, about 20 Japanese tourists a year are affected by Paris syndrome.

Paris syndrome stems from the frequent idealisation of the city of Paris by the Japanese, especially, by the media, which can result in a mental breakdown. Many Japanese tourists are expecting Paris to be a place of cobblestone streets, beautifully dressed people who look like models, superb patisseries and the style and sophistication of Chanel and Louis Vuitton. So, it comes as a shock when theses tourists encounter the real Paris, which includes frequent rudeness, dirt and rubbish and the many homeless and begging people.

The Japanese Embassy runs a 24-hour helpline for expatriates experiencing the syndrome.

The Surprising Origins of The Days of the Week and Those Russians

The seven day week was in use right back with the ancient Babylonians, around 700BC, when the Babylonians associated seven gods they worshipped, with celestial bodies visible to them in the sky; they then associated these gods with days of the week. The ancient Egyptians and Chinese, however, had a 10 day week, probably related to having 10 fingers. The ancient Babylonian system won.

The Greeks also adopted the seven day week but translated the Babylonian names into Greek names from their astrology and religion, such as Ares, Hermes, Zeus, Aphrodite, and Cronus.

The Birth of Venus, Sandro Botticelli

Then, along came the conquering Romans, who adopted the same seven day system but translated the celestial bodies into Latin names: Sol, Luna, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. Names which are still evident in the French days of the week, used today.

Lundi moon day

Mardi 'Mars day'

Mercredi 'Mercury day'

Jeudi 'Jupiter day'

Vendredi 'Venus day'

Samedi 'day of the Sabbath'

Dimanche 'day of the Lord'

The seven-day week system spread to Britain and the Anglo-Saxons translated the planetary names but used the names of their own deities, which is why in English we have days of Tiw, Woden, Thor and Freya; but they kept Saturn.

Monday moon day

Tuesday Tiu's day

Wednesday Woden's day

Thursday Thor's day

Friday Freya's day

Saturday Saturn day

Sunday Sun's day

The seven day system spread around the world and was translated in terms of local religious deities and customs.

Japanese

月曜日 (getsuyōbi) 'moon day'

火曜日 (kayōbi) 'fire day'

水曜日 (suiyōbi) 'water day'

木曜日 (mokuyōbi) 'wood day'

金曜日 (kinyōbi) 'metal day'

土曜日 (doyōbi) 'earth day'

日曜日 (nichiyōbi) 'sun day'

in AD 321, the Emperor Constantine decreed that the "dies solis" (Sunday) would be the day of rest for Christians; this also served to separate the Christians from the Jews, as the Jewish rest day, called Shabbat, is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night.

The Soviet Union under Stalin got rid of the seven day week for a period of 11 years. Called the nepreryvka, this “continuous working week” was five days long, with rest days staggered during the 5 week days. There were two main reasons for the nepreryvka: to increase productivity and to make religious worship too difficult. The seven day week was reinstated in 1940.