Wednesday 17 October 2012

Challenges to the Individual's Basic Rights - Margaret Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale

Throughout history some people have tried to impose themselves and their ideas and values on others, often with the help of violence. What happens to a person and her understanding of self when all her rights are taken away and she is forced to live in a political system that disrespects life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Margaret Atwood explores this question in her novel A Handmaid's Tale, which has also been turned into a movie (in 1990).

Please read the novel AND watch the movie and comment on both or either. Please also feel free to raise questions that you find interesting and that you would like us to discuss in more detail.

Here the link to the movie (please ignore the German subtitles):

In case you would like to experience Margaret Atwood live: she will be in 3 events at the Vancouver Writers Festival on October 20th!
If you miss the Writers Festival - but would like to get to know her a bit more, please watch the following interview:

As you know, Margaret Atwood is also an excellent poet, and most of you are familiar with at least some of her poems. If you would like to hear her read some of her poems and other short works, please check out the following recordings:

Please feel free to add more links in addition to your comments and questions!

Thank you!

gudrun



Sunday 14 October 2012

What the Bleep Do We Know? - A New View of Reality - and the Self

What the Bleep Do We Know and its continuation Down the Rabbit Hole show a radically new way of perceiving and interacting with the world. In fact, the change is so dramatic that it has been called a shift in paradigm.

Please think about the impact that this shift has for all of us and for our perspective(s) on the individual.

Here some of the relevant links:

What the Bleep Do We Know? - the original movie:

What the Bleep - Down the Rabbit Hole - slightly expanded version; includes intro about science & spirituality:

alternative link:

Bleep website: 

Other links of relevance to this topic:

Deepak Chopra: Down the Rabbit Hole - Beyond the Matrix (only a bit over 2 minutes!):
see also:

And if you would like to get an easy-to-understand intro to Quantum Mechanics, please click on the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MowgKI24Sq0&feature=related
and if you want more:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FWMkOJxqq8&feature=related

... and here some consequences that this new science has for our view of the self:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qngieHWZXcM&feature=related


Feel free to post your thoughts and comments about this topic here!

Thank you,

g