Christians Wrong About Heaven, Says Bishop

N.T. “Tom” Wright is one of the most formidable figures in the world of Christian thought. As Bishop of Durham, he is the fourth most senior cleric in the Church of England and a major player in the strife-riven global Anglican Communion; as a much-read theologian and Biblical scholar he has taught at Cambridge and is a hero to conservative Christians worldwide for his 2003 book The Resurrection of the Son of God, which argued forcefully for a literal interpretation of that event.

It therefore comes as a something of a shock that Wright doesn’t believe in heaven — at least, not in the way that millions of Christians understand the term. In his new book, Surprised by Hope (HarperOne), Wright quotes a children’s book by California first lady Maria Shriver called What’s Heaven, which describes it as “a beautiful place where you can sit on soft clouds and talk… If you’re good throughout your life, then you get to go [there]… When your life is finished here on earth, God sends angels down to take you heaven to be with him.” That, says Wright is a good example of “what not to say.” The Biblical truth, he continues, “is very, very different.”
Wright, 58, talked by phone with TIME’s David Van Biema.

TIME: At one point you call the common view of heaven a “distortion and serious diminution of Christian hope.”
Wright: It really is. I’ve often heard people say, “I’m going to heaven soon, and I won’t need this stupid body there, thank goodness.’ That’s a very damaging distortion, all the more so for being unintentional.

TIME: How so? It seems like a typical sentiment.
Wright: There are several important respects in which it’s unsupported by the New Testament. First, the timing. In the Bible we are told that you die, and enter an intermediate state. St. Paul is very clear that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead already, but that nobody else has yet. Secondly, our physical state. The New Testament says that when Christ does return, the dead will experience a whole new life: not just our soul, but our bodies. And finally, the location. At no point do the resurrection narratives in the four Gospels say, “Jesus has been raised, therefore we are all going to heaven.” It says that Christ is coming here, to join together the heavens and the Earth in an act of new creation.

TIME: Is there anything more in the Bible about the period between death and the resurrection of the dead?
Wright: We know that we will be with God and with Christ, resting and being refreshed. Paul writes that it will be conscious, but compared with being bodily alive, it will be like being asleep. The Wisdom of Solomon, a Jewish text from about the same time as Jesus, says “the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,” and that seems like a poetic way to put the Christian understanding, as well.

TIME: But it’s not where the real action is, so to speak?
Wright: No. Our culture is very interested in life after death, but the New Testament is much more interested in what I’ve called the life after life after death — in the ultimate resurrection into the new heavens and the new Earth. Jesus’ resurrection marks the beginning of a restoration that he will complete upon his return. Part of this will be the resurrection of all the dead, who will “awake,” be embodied and participate in the renewal. John Polkinghorne, a physicist and a priest, has put it this way: “God will download our software onto his hardware until the time he gives us new hardware to run the software again for ourselves.” That gets to two things nicely: that the period after death is a period when we are in God’s presence but not active in our own bodies, and also that the more important transformation will be when we are again embodied and administering Christ’s kingdom.

TIME: That is rather different from the common understanding. Did some Biblical verse contribute to our confusion?
Wright: There is Luke 23, where Jesus says to the good thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” But in Luke, we know first of all that Christ himself will not be resurrected for three days, so “paradise” cannot be a resurrection. It has to be an intermediate state. And chapters 4 and 5 of Revelation, where there is a vision of worship in heaven that people imagine describes our worship at the end of time. In fact it’s describing the worship that’s going on right now. If you read the book through, you see that at the end we don’t have a description of heaven, but, as I said, of the new heavens and the new earth joined together.

TIME: Why, then, have we misread those verses?
Wright: It has, originally, to do with the translation of Jewish ideas into Greek. The New Testament is deeply, deeply Jewish, and the Jews had for some time been intuiting a final, physical resurrection. They believed that the world of space and time and matter is messed up, but remains basically good, and God will eventually sort it out and put it right again. Belief in that goodness is absolutely essential to Christianity, both theologically and morally. But Greek-speaking Christians influenced by Plato saw our cosmos as shabby and misshapen and full of lies, and the idea was not to make it right, but to escape it and leave behind our material bodies. The church at its best has always come back toward the Hebrew view, but there have been times when the Greek view was very influential.

TIME: Can you give some historical examples?
Wright: Two obvious ones are Dante’s great poetry, which sets up a Heaven, Purgatory and Hell immediately after death, and Michelangelo’s Last Judgment in the Sistine chapel, which portrays heaven and hell as equal and opposite last destinations. Both had enormous influence on Western culture, so much so that many Christians think that is Christianity.

TIME: But it’s not.
Wright: Never at any point do the Gospels or Paul say Jesus has been raised, therefore we are we are all going to heaven. They all say, Jesus is raised, therefore the new creation has begun, and we have a job to do.

TIME: That sounds a lot like… work.
Wright: It’s more exciting than hanging around listening to nice music. In Revelation and Paul’s letters we are told that God’s people will actually be running the new world on God’s behalf. The idea of our participation in the new creation goes back to Genesis, when humans are supposed to be running the Garden and looking after the animals. If you transpose that all the way through, it’s a picture like the one that you get at the end of Revelation.

TIME: And it ties in to what you’ve written about this all having a moral dimension.

Wright: Both that, and the idea of bodily resurrection that people deny when they talk about their “souls going to Heaven.” If people think “my physical body doesn’t matter very much,” then who cares what I do with it? And if people think that our world, our cosmos, doesn’t matter much, who cares what we do with that? Much of “traditional” Christianity gives the impression that God has these rather arbitrary rules about how you have to behave, and if you disobey them you go to hell, rather than to heaven. What the New Testament really says is God wants you to be a renewed human being helping him to renew his creation, and his resurrection was the opening bell. And when he returns to fulfil the plan, you won’t be going up there to him, he’ll be coming down here.TIME: That’s very different from, say, the vision put out in the Left Behind books.
Wright: Yes. If there’s going to be an Armageddon, and we’ll all be in heaven already or raptured up just in time, it really doesn’t matter if you have acid rain or greenhouse gases prior to that. Or, for that matter, whether you bombed civilians in Iraq. All that really matters is saving souls for that disembodied heaven.

TIME: Has anyone you’ve talked to expressed disappointment at the loss of the old view?
Wright: Yes, you might get disappointment in the case where somebody has recently gone through the death of somebody they love and they are wanting simply to be with them. And I’d say that’s understandable. But the end of Revelation describes a marvelous human participation in God’s plan. And in almost all cases, when I’ve explained this to people, there’s a sense of excitement and a sense of, “Why haven’t we been told this before?”

* TIME (Feb. 07, 2008)

 

The funeral of Gordon B. Hinckley, the president and prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

SALT LAKE CITY — Most of the time, this city succeeds in projecting the secular, cosmopolitan image that its leaders and residents have polished over the years: the ski capital, the economic engine, the desert metropolis of wide streets and mountain vistas.

Gordon B. Hinckley, Mormon Leader, Is Dead at 97 (January 28, 2008) But at times like this, with a president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints lying in state in Temple Square, the old roots show, and the impulses that led to the city’s founding as a religious capital in the 1840s are revealed again as if the frontier were new.

On Saturday, if only for a day, in saying goodbye to the Mormon church’s 15th president, Gordon B. Hinckley, who died last weekend at age 97, Utah was Zion all over again, and all roads, at least for the faithful, led here.

Twenty-one thousand people packed the Latter-day Saints Conference Center, with broadcasts in 69 languages around the world to Mormon converts. Tens of thousands more had come earlier in the week to view Mr. Hinckley’s remains, and many were still here. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir was in full-throated glory, singing several hymns with words by Mr. Hinckley himself.

Mormon dignitaries lined the front rows, including former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, the Republican presidential hopeful, who arrived here on Friday night with two of his sons and his wife, Ann. The Romneys sat near Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, and Utah’s Republican governor, Jon Huntsman Jr. Utah’s two Republican senators, Bob Bennett and Orrin G. Hatch, rounded out the V.I.P. section.

But the eulogies were simple, in keeping, perhaps, with Mr. Hinckley himself, who was described as self-effacing and always ready to poke fun at pretension, as he did some years back in walking into a meeting of senior church leaders in their dark suits, white shirts and conservative ties and telling them, by way of hello, that they all looked like penguins. People talked about how, in his 90s, urged to use a cane for balance, he instead adopted it as a prop — waving it around, usually, to the dismay of his doctors and the delight of those who loved him.

“We have watched you grow old on stage,” said one of the funeral orators, Earl C. Tingey, a senior church leader. “We are better because of you.”

Some of the “talks,” as the eulogies are called, described the deep personal connections that Mr. Hinckley, who had led the 13-million-member church since 1995, was able to make with many people beyond the faithful through his writing and his folksy, avuncular style.

Mr. Hinckley sat for an interview with “60 Minutes” and wrote a book in 2000 called “Standing for Something” about “neglected virtues that can heal our hearts and homes,” which made The New York Times best-seller list in the advice and how-to category. He was the most traveled president in church history, visiting more than 60 countries and establishing dozens of temples to support the church’s global missionary program.

He had dreamed of being a journalist, according to a biography on the church’s Web site, but after serving as a missionary in England in the 1930s, was asked to help write a new package of publicity materials so that missionaries could better explain the religion to potential converts. In many ways, he kept up that assignment the rest of his life, becoming one of the most visible church leaders in Mormon history.

One of the speakers, Boyd K. Packer, told the story of one of Mr. Hinckley’s first days in his new assignment, how he had gone to the church office supply room and asked for a full ream of paper, 500 sheets.

“What do you suppose you’re going to do with 500 sheets of paper?” the incredulous supply clerk asked, as quoted by Mr. Packer.

“I am going to write on them one sheet at a time,” Mr. Hinckley responded.

Missionary work — Mormonism’s face to people all over the world, through the conservatively dressed young men dispatched in pairs — exploded under Mr. Hinckley’s leadership. Over 400,000 were sent forth, about 40 percent of the total ever called. Almost one third of the current church membership joined under his presidency.

Mr. Hinckley’s passing comes at an awkward time for many Mormons, who have said in recent months that they feel themselves to be under a microscope as national attention focuses on Mr. Romney and his bid for the Presidency. The scrutiny, from magazine-cover discussions of what Mormons believe to national opinion polls about whether people would vote for a Mormon for president, has evoked a mix of feelings, from pride to consternation over the misconceptions the world shares about them.

The public display of mourning for Mr. Hinckley this weekend — downtown parking lots and restaurants full, streets near Temple Square streaming with families — evoked an older array of emotions. The Mormons, after the church’s founding in the early 1800s in upstate New York, came west in 1847, fleeing persecution but also carrying a heavy burden of destiny — critics, then and now, have called it arrogance — that they had found the one true Christian faith.

In the voices of many mourners, that rock-ribbed certainty was the dominant expression.

“President Hinckley still lives,” said Thomas S. Monson, who under church seniority rules is next in line to succeed Mr. Hinckley, and who gave the final talk. “He is on a heavenly mission to others who await his influence and testimony.”

But the funeral also underlined how recent the connections are to Utah’s early settlement. Mr. Hinckley was only one generation removed from Utah’s founding as a territory. His father was an 11-month-old baby in 1850 on the pioneer journey of converts. Big families have long been a hallmark of the Mormon culture. And the gathering of believers here this weekend reflected how deeply those old roots run as well, not even counting Mr. Hinckley’s 25 grandchildren and 62 great-grandchildren.

By 5 p.m. on Friday, for example, 20,000 people had streamed by to view Mr. Hinckley’s body, and Brendo Simko’s family was not unusual in the throng.

“I want to teach my children who the prophet was,” said Ms. Simko, 38, who was standing in line on Friday afternoon with her five children, ages 1 to 12.

By KIRK JOHNSON (New York Times)
Published: February 3, 2008

 

A memorial photo of South Korean Christian Missionaries Kidnapped in Afghanistan

The South Korean Christian missionaries posing for before leaving for Afghanistan at Incheon International Airport.

South Korean Christian Missionaries Kidnapped in Afghanistan

For six weeks. Two were executed. If you weren’t aware of their ordeal, you’re probably not Korean — which is not an ethnic slam, but a reminder to those who haven’t yet realized it that the religious world, too, is flat. The Taliban took 23 hostage last fall, killed two, released two, and reportedly ransomed the rest to the South Korean government for $10 million (the South Korean government denied paying).

Back home, the missionaries apologized to the government. The incident revived discussions of martyrdom, evangelization, citizenship and discernment, and underlined the extent to which the West is no longer necessarily the driving force in Christian evangelization.

AFP / Getty

 

Thousands Mourn Mormon President

(Salt Lake City) — Thousands of mourners streamed into the Mormon church’s conference center on Saturday for the funeral of the faith’s beloved president Gordon B. Hinckley.

Hinckley died Sunday at the age of 97, the oldest leader of the 13 million-member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Hours before the funeral began, lines stretched out of the Temple Square — where free tickets were being distributed — and onto the sidewalk. Some people had been there overnight in the freezing weather. There was quiet conversation and hymns were being piped outdoors. Volunteers passed out cups of hot chocolate.

“There’s nowhere else on Earth I’d rather be at this moment, even if it’s freezing,” said Michelle Miller of Salt Lake, who was waiting to get in.

The funeral will be held in the church’s 21,000-seat downtown conference center, which was built during Hinckley’s tenure to accommodate the growing church. Overflow seating will be available in the Salt Lake Tabernacle and at least two other buildings.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a Mormon, is taking time off the campaign trail to attend the funeral. Politicians from Utah, Idaho, California, Arizona, Nevada and Oregon were expected to attend, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, also a Mormon.

The funeral will include remembrances from Hinckley’s children and other church leaders, as well as a performance by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

On Friday, faithful Latter-day Saints came by the thousands — some standing in line for nearly three hours — to walk by Hinckley’s open casket to pay their respects during two days of public mourning.

Many in attendance called the occasion bittersweet, saying they were sad for themselves, but comforted in their belief that the church president had been reunited with his wife, Marjorie, who died in 2004.

A ceremony performed inside Mormon temples binds families together for time and all eternity, said Jana Riess, a Mormon convert and the Cincinnati-based co-editor of “Mormonism for Dummies.”

“I don’t want to be too cliche, but this idea that Mormons hold fast to their eternal families makes an enormous difference in how they feel about death,” Riess said.

Mormons also differ from other Christians in their belief that heaven will not be a place of rest, but one where the work of the church and individuals will continue — something Hinckley often mentioned in his speeches to members.

“We have things to do. Mormonism is a religion of activity and of mission,” Riess said. “Part of that mission will be taking place in the afterlife. We believe people will still have the opportunity to make spiritual choices.”

Hinckley will be buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery, alongside his wife. His successor is expected to be named next week

By AP/JENNIFER DOBNER (Saturday Feb.2, 2008)

 

Graphic Humor 84wp

 

Rumi Poem – Alchemy of Love (Deepak Chopra…)

Rumi poem with music by Deepak Chopra & Friends. Spectacular astronomy pics by NASA’s Hubble Telescope. Beautiful scenery from our Nature Wallpaper Collection. Enjoy

Sufism is the spiritual teachings of Islam. Sufi Masters teach the way to inner peace. The driving principle of Sufism is the purification of the self.
Rumis poems elegantly and consistently touch our inner being and inspire us to go beyond our limitations towards the Divine.

 

The Impossible Dream

IMPOSSIBLE DREAM from MAN OF LA MANCHA
Broadway_To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go

To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest, to follow that star
No matter how hopeless,
No matter how far
To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march into hell
For a heavenly cause

And I know if I’ll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I’m laid to my rest

And the world would be better for this
That one man scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star _The book was by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion, and music by Mitch Leigh: one song, “The Impossible Dream”, was particularly popular.

Man of La Mancha started its life as a non-musical teleplay written by Dale Wasserman for CBS’s Dupont Show of the Month program. This original staging starred Lee J. Cobb. The Dupont Corporation disliked the title Man of La Mancha, thinking that its viewing audience would not know what La Mancha actually meant, so a new title, I, Don Quixote, was chosen. Upon its telecast, the play won much critical acclaim.

Years after this television broadcast, and after the original teleplay had been unsuccessfully optioned as a non-musical Broadway play, director Albert Marre called Wasserman and suggested that he turn his play into a musical. Mitch Leigh was selected as composer. The original lyricist of the musical was poet W. H. Auden, but his lyrics were discarded, some of them overtly satiric and biting, attacking the bourgeois audience at times.

The musical first opened at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut in 1964. Rex Harrison was to be the original star of this production, but soon lost interest when he discovered the songs must actually be sung. Michael Redgrave was also considered for the role.

The play finally opened on Broadway on November 22, 1965. Richard Kiley won a Tony Award for his performance as Cervantes/Quixote in the original production, and it made Kiley a bona fide Broadway star, but the role went to Peter O’Toole in the less-successful 1972 film. O’Toole, however, did not really sing his own songs; they were dubbed by tenor Simon Gilbert. All other actors in the film, however, from non-singers such as Sophia Loren, Brian Blessed, Harry Andrews, and Rosalie Crutchley, to Broadway musical stars such as Julie Gregg and Gino Conforti, did do their own singing. The only member of the original cast to reprise his role in the film was Conforti, repeating his hilarious portrayal of the amazed barber, whose shaving basin is mistaken by Don Quixote for the Golden Helmet of Mambrino. Although the bulk of the film was made on two enormous sound stages, the use of locations was much more explicit – Don Quixote is actually shown fighting the windmill, while onstage this had been merely suggested by having Quixote run offstage to agitated music, and then crawl back onstage a few seconds later, with his lance broken and his sword twisted. The film was produced and directed by Arthur Hiller, and photographed by Federico Fellini’s frequent cinematographer, Giuseppe Rotunno, with musical and fight staging provided by Gillian Lynne.

The play has been run on Broadway five times:

1965 – 1971 original production, opened November 22, 1965 with Richard Kiley as Miguel de Cervantes and Don Quixote and ran for 2,328 performances. John Cullum, José Ferrer, Hal Holbrook, and Lloyd Bridges also played the roles during this run.
1972 – revival, Richard Kiley as Cervantes and Quixote.
1977 – revival, Richard Kiley as Cervantes and Quixote, Tony Martinez as Sancho Panza and Emily Yancy as Dulcinea.
1992 – revival, Raúl Juliá as Cervantes and Quixote, Sheena Easton as Dulcinea.
2002 – revival, Brian Stokes Mitchell as Cervantes and Quixote, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Dulcinea, Ernie Sabella as Sancho Panza.

 

Crises of faith, or dark nights of the soul

The publication of Mother Teresa’s letters, concerning her personal crisis of faith, can be seen either as an act of considerable honesty or of extraordinary cynicism (or perhaps both of the above).

The letters, many of them preserved against her wishes (she had requested that they be destroyed but was overruled by her church), reveal that for the last nearly half-century of her life she felt no presence of God.

In more than 40 communications, many of which have never before been published, she bemoans the “dryness”, “darkness”, “loneliness” and “torture” she is undergoing

Tell me, Father, why is there so much pain and darkness in my soul?
(To the rev. Lawrence Picachy, August 1959)

* Summarized of TIME, September 3. 2007

 

Buddha and Jesus, Spirituality and Religion

Combining western scientific knowledge with eastern spiritual wisdom, Deepak Chopra has developed his own unique form of complementary, mind-body medicine.

Chopra said:
“I grew up with the myths, the stories, and the history of Siddhartha the prince, who then became Gautama the monk, who then became Buddha the enlightened being. My father passed away six years ago, and then shortly after that, my mother did, too.

I was immersing the ashes of my father in the ganges up in the north of India, which is very rich in Buddhist lore. I thought, well, I’m the next in line for the experience of death.

In the time Siddhartha lived, India was a place where everyday reality was en meshed in mythology, and it is so even today. People very easily move back and forth, both in their imagination and their behavior, between reality and the world of mythical beings.

The meaning “ENLIGHTENED ONE” is that your real self is not a person, that there is no such thing as a separate self, that a person doesn’t really exist. What we call a person is a transient behavior of the total universe, and when you get to the consciousness that is behind all the intelligent activity of the whole universe. So enlightened here means transcendence to that level of existence where the personal self becomes the universal self.

I don’t consider myself Buddhist because I don’t think Buddha himself believed in ideology or dogma.

Buddha says when you look deep enough into your enemy; you will see that he is yourself. But what Jesus calls sin; Buddha calls ignorance, lack of awareness.

The God question is also very different. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, God created the universe, whereas in the Buddhist tradition, God, or the intelligence that is at the source of creation, is not some outside intelligence but is inherent in the consciousness that conceives, governs, and becomes the universe.

I think spirituality is a domain of awareness where we all experience our universality and where we experience universal truth. It has very little to do with religious dogma, ideology, or even self-righteous morality.

* Summarized and adapted of Time, June 2007

 

STOP TERRORISM, YES TO THE PEACE AND THE WORLD’S SOLIDARITY

We Should Fight for contributing ours “granite of sand” in the construction of a world to pacify and supportive. A world that always says STOP to terrorism.

Therefore, to achieve a world environment to pacify, I believe that we must to begin for ourselves, in our daily life, in our house, with our family, with ours neighboring, our friends, our coworkers.

Likewise we are supportive WITH THE PEOPLE POOREST around of the world. We must give them real supportive and disinterested love, so we are better persons, more solidarity and we will be contributing to build a better world where there be not place for any type of terrorism.

See you later.
Carlos Tiger without Time

 

Languages spoken in the world and Mathematical poetry

There are about 1,500 different languages spoken in the world today.

In the early 1940’s when it was first being organized, officials (ONU) proposed that all diplomats be required to speak a single language, a restriction that would both facilitate negotiations and symbolize global harmony.

Over the years, there have been no fewer than 300 attempts to invent and promulgate a global language, the most famous being made in 1887 by the polish oculist L.L. Zamenhof. The artificial language he created is called Esperanto, and today more than 100,000 people in twenty-two countries speak it.

United Nations ambassadors are now allowed to speak any one of five languages: Mandarin Chinese, English, Russian, Spanish,  or French.

Today who speak mathematics fluently, as measured by the millions and by the historic consequences of their unified efforts, is arguably the most successful global language even spoken.

Though it has not enabled us to build a tower of Babel, it has made possible achievements that once seemed no less impossible: electricity, airplanes, the nuclear bomb, landing a man on the moon, and understanding the nature of life and death.

Matthe Arnold said: “ Poetry is simply the most beautiful, impressive, and widely effective mode of saying things.”

In the language of mathematics, equations are like poetry: They state truths with a unique precision, convey volumes of information in rather brief terms, and often are difficult for the initiated to comprehend. And just as conventional poetry helps us to see deep within ourselves, mathematical poetry helps us to see far beyond ourselves – if not all the way up to heaven, then at leapt out to the brink of the visible universe.

In attempting to distinguish between prose and poetry, Robert Frost once suggested that a poem, by definition, is a pithy form of expression that can never be accurately translated. The same can be said about mathematics: It is impossible to understand the true meaning of an equation, or to appreciate its beauty, unless it is read in the delightfully quirky language in which it was penned.

· Summarized and adapted of “Mathematical Poetry” of Dr. Michael Guillen

 

Men chase beauty, women money when picking a mate

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) – People may claim looks or money aren’t everything when picking a mate but when it comes to the crunch, men go for beauty and women choose wealth and security, according to an international study.

Indiana University cognitive scientist Peter Todd and colleagues from Germany, England and Scotland used a speed-dating session in Germany to look at what people said they wanted in a mate with whom they actually chose.

“While humans may pride themselves on being highly evolved, most still behave like the stereotypical Neanderthals when it comes to choosing a mate,” Todd said in a statement.

“Evolutionary theories in psychology suggest that men and women should trade off different traits in each other, and when we look at the actual mate choices people make, this is what we find evidence for.”

The study, being published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was based on a speed-dating session in which men and women had “mini dates” of between three to five minutes with up to 30 different people.

After every date, the men and women marked a box on a card saying whether they would like to see the other person again.

Before the session, Todd also asked 46 adults to fill out a questionnaire assessing themselves and their ideal mate according to traits like attractiveness, financial status, health and parenting qualities.
He said participants stated they wanted to find someone like themselves — a socially acceptable answer.

But once the sessions began, the men went after the more attractive women and the women were drawn to material wealth and security, setting their standards according to how they viewed themselves.
The men were not as picky as the women.

The men, on average, wanted to see about 50 percent of the women again, but the women wanted to meet only about one-third of the men for a second time.

“Ancestral individuals who made their mate choices in this way — women trading off their attractiveness for higher quality men and men looking for any attractive women who will accept them — would have had an evolutionary advantage in greater numbers of successful offspring,” said Todd.

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.

 

War faces in U.S.

One the more shocking photographs to emerge from the current Iraq war was taken last year in a rural farm town in the American Midwest.

The bride Renee Kline (21) is dressed in a traditional white gown and holds a bouquet of scarlet flowers. The groom,
TyZiegel (24) a former marine sergeant wears his dress uniform, decorated with combat medals, including a purple heart. Her expression is unsmiling, maybe grave.
Mr. Ziegel had been trapped in a heat melted the flesh from his face. (Photo 1)

Sergeant Joseph Mosner (Photo 2), he has a severe facial scarring from a bomb explosion.

Spc. Robert Acosta (Photo 3), a Californian who lost a hand in a grenade attacks in Iraq.

· The New York Times, Wednesday, August 22, 2007

 

Substance and behavioral addictions in US

For a species wired for survival, we have an odd habit of getting hooked on things that can kill us new research is revealing why – and opening the door to the long-dreamed-of cure

In the brains of addicts, there is reduced activity in the prefrontal cortex, where rational thought can override impulsive behavior.

Addictions occur when behaviors start to become excessive. They are driven by our systems that stand up, shake us, “the brain is saying this is good; we should do it again.”

· Summarized of TIME, July 16, 2007

 

We should stop treating normal sorrow as a mental illness

Drugs are supposed to treat illnesses, not the vicissitudes of living.

The manual of Psychiatric (DSM) doesn’t make exceptions for other things that make us sad- divorce, financial stress, a lifethreating illness.

Untreated mental illness can be serious, but misdiagnosis can also be harmful.

These sadness responses suggest sorrow is genetic and that it is useful for attracting social support, protecting us from aggressors and teaching us that whatever prompted the sadness – say, getting fired because you were always late to work.

We might want to return to a simple definition of mental illness offered by Aristotle: “If fear or sadness last for a long time, it is melancholia.” In that case , see a doctor. But if your boyfriend just left you and you can barely get out of bed, don’t assume you’re ill. Your brain is probably doing exactly what it was designed to do.

· Summarized of TIME, July 16, 2007

 

The Right RX for sadness in U.S.

Drugs may be an easy choice but not a good one the problem, maybe flaws in the diagnostic manual mental-health professionals use to identify depression.

At the moment, only one such distinction is made. People grieving the death of a loved one, the manual allows, can temporarily exhibit all the signs of depression without having a mental illness.

Having five or more of these symptoms for at least two weeks could signal clinical depression:
· Depressed mood
· Lack of pleasure in all, or most, activities
· Significant weight loss or weight gain
· Insomnia
· Severe agitation or slowing down of normal activities
· Fatigue or loss of energy
· Feelings of worthlessness
· Diminished ability to think or concentrate
· Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide

Some 3 million Americans have a mild form of depression called dysthymia. Recent research suggests that they may benefit more from lifestyle changes than from medication.

· U.S. NEWS&WORLD Report, August 6, 2007