This book is usually presented as the best introduction to the overall teachings and principles of Theosophy. As such it has it's value, as it spares the reader hundreds of hours in reading the Theosophical bibles like 'The Secret Doctrine' and 'Isis Unveiled'. Judge, who was the president of the Theosophical Society after the death of Blavatsky, is known to write more clearly than HPB, but shares her contempt for science, and the assumed superiority, bordering on snobbery, which can be annoying to the reader.
The book explains Blavatsky's ideas in more clear language, and the chapters were originally articles Judge wrote as answers to questions from theosophists. As most theosophical work, it draws mainly on Hindu scriptures and tradition, with lots of 'original' work by Blavatsky. It is openly resentful to institutionalized religion, mostly Christianity and Judaisms, while Islam is not even mentioned except as not worthy of discussion. The phantasmagoric tales of the 'Ascended Adepts' and races and continents preceding ours, which are offered purely on fate, or for 'examination' by people who can see the Astral Light, are intermixed by constant warnings and cautions about doing anything practical, as the powers you (seemingly automatically) get by any kind of practical work will immediately corrupt one's soul and mind, turning one into a power-hungry, super villain reminiscent of the ones in Marvel comics.
Judge tries to joke about the limited reach of science and how it doesn't have explanation for many phenomena, for which Theosophists have perfectly good explanations coming from the 'highest' source, i.e. Ascended Adepts, through their earthly mediators like Blavatsky and other high ranking Theosophists. He explain gravity as a form of electricity, and thus making levitation possible by 'changing the polarity' of an object or a person. Although it might have been common in the late 1800 to speculate about the electrical nature of gravity, such thoughts have been disproved soon afterwards, and it makes such statements laughable today. Judge tries to poke fun at science in many similar cases, basking in his imagined superiority of Theosophical thought, but the joke is ultimately on him, and on Theosophy, which hasn't updated its views of the world and science significantly in the last 120 years, while science has leaped forward in advances and understanding to the point where the Theosophical allegations and explanations seem like a relic from the past.
While Theosophy has had significant positive social impact, especially under the guidance of Annie Besant, and includes such cosmopolitan ideas like universal brotherhood of all men, the teachings and theories on which it is based, and especially the methods by which Blavatsky and other high ranking Theosophists claim to have obtained such knowledge, casts very strong doubt on its credibility, even questioning the basis for its existence.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
"Ultimate Book of Mind Maps" by Tony Bulzan
This is a very interesting book. My only gripe with it is how did the author manage to spend 256 pages explaining a very simple idea? Apparently he has written 82 books on pretty much the same idea, which is astounding. I guess it only goes as a monument to the consumer mentality of the world today.
The ideas in this book are neither new, nor overly original. Although Mr. Bulzan claims copyright over the idea and method, mind maps in their earliest incarnations have been used by Porphyry of Tyros, who lived in 3rd century AD. Mind maps are very similar to cognitive maps or semantic networks, but with less rules and limitations.
Mind mapping is basically a visualization technique for organization of ideas, note taking or decision making. It basically starts from a central problem statement, usually represented as an image, and works radially from it attaching branches with ideas that stem from the previous points. Images and color are used extensively as this makes the map more attractive and interesting to the brain, and research has showed that retention is best when the mind is interested in what is being presented.
The book promotes the old fashioned, and now discredited idea, that people only use one half of the brain, business and engineering and general logical reasoning people using the left brain, while artists, musicians and general creative people using the right brain. The book builds on this by claiming that mind maps force you to use both sides of your brain, the words and concepts coming from the left, and colors and images coming from the right side of the brain. Modern research has shown that we used both sides of the brain simultaneously and in conjunction for accomplishing various tasks, and the increased retention of information using mind maps can be attributed to making the cognitive process more interesting and exciting.
The book is filled with success stories and examples, some of them pretty loosely connected to the main topic of mind mapping, like the full chapter on physical exercise. One gets a feeling that the author did a mind map about the content of the book, and he kind of went wild with the number of branches he considered good ideas. Mind mapping is an interesting idea which might have good use in note taking, and knowledge organization, and thus could be very useful in appropriate situations, but is definitely not a panacea.
The ideas in this book are neither new, nor overly original. Although Mr. Bulzan claims copyright over the idea and method, mind maps in their earliest incarnations have been used by Porphyry of Tyros, who lived in 3rd century AD. Mind maps are very similar to cognitive maps or semantic networks, but with less rules and limitations.
Mind mapping is basically a visualization technique for organization of ideas, note taking or decision making. It basically starts from a central problem statement, usually represented as an image, and works radially from it attaching branches with ideas that stem from the previous points. Images and color are used extensively as this makes the map more attractive and interesting to the brain, and research has showed that retention is best when the mind is interested in what is being presented.
The book promotes the old fashioned, and now discredited idea, that people only use one half of the brain, business and engineering and general logical reasoning people using the left brain, while artists, musicians and general creative people using the right brain. The book builds on this by claiming that mind maps force you to use both sides of your brain, the words and concepts coming from the left, and colors and images coming from the right side of the brain. Modern research has shown that we used both sides of the brain simultaneously and in conjunction for accomplishing various tasks, and the increased retention of information using mind maps can be attributed to making the cognitive process more interesting and exciting.
The book is filled with success stories and examples, some of them pretty loosely connected to the main topic of mind mapping, like the full chapter on physical exercise. One gets a feeling that the author did a mind map about the content of the book, and he kind of went wild with the number of branches he considered good ideas. Mind mapping is an interesting idea which might have good use in note taking, and knowledge organization, and thus could be very useful in appropriate situations, but is definitely not a panacea.
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