Timelessness and Time Dependence of Human Consciousness From a Scientific Western Viewpoint

Eastern philosophy and western science have convergent and divergent viewpoints for their explanation of consciousness. Convergence is found for the practice of meditation allowing besides a time dependent consciousness, the experience of a timeless consciousness and its beneficial effect on psychological wellbeing and medical improvements, which are confirmed by multiple scientific publications. Theories of quantum mechanics with non-locality and timelessness also show astonishing correlation to eastern philosophy, such as the theory of Penrose-Hameroff （ORC-OR）, which explains consciousness by reduction of quantum superposition in the brain. Divergence appears in the interpretation of the subjective experience of timeless consciousness. In eastern philosophy, meditation at a higher level of awareness allows the personal experience of timeless and non-dual consciousness, considered as an empirical proof for the existence of pure consciousness or spirituality existing before the material world and creating it by design. Western science acknowledges the subjective, non-dual experience, and its multiple beneficial effects, however, the interpretation of spirituality designing the material universe is in disagreement with the Darwinian Theory of mutation and selection. A design should create an ideal universe without the injustice of 3% congenital birth defects and later genetic health problems. The western viewpoint of selection is more adapted to explain congenital errors. The gap between subjectivity and objectivity, the mind-body problem, is in eastern philosophy reduced to the dominance of subjectivity over objectivity, whereas western science attributes equal values to both. Nevertheless, there remains an astonishing complementarity between eastern and western practices.

Attitudes of young scholars in Qingdao and Hamburg about climate changeand climate policy The role of culture for the explanation of differences

This article analyses differences in the attitudes related to climate change of young scholars in environmental science in Qingdao (China) and Hamburg (Germany). The main aim of the article is to evaluate the role of cultural differences for their explanation. We expect no significant differences in the attitudes related to the findings of climate research, since scientific principles are the joint basis of the scientific discourse wordwide. However, we expect that there are differences in the attitudes of the young scholars about the role of science, of the state and of the civil society for dealing with the challenge of climate change. We suggest that these can be explained with substantial cultural differences between both societies, with regard to the role of the state and the civil society for the solution of environmental problems. In order to evaluate these hypotheses, we have conducted a comparative survey among environmental science students in Qingdao (China) and Hamburg (Germany) about their attitudes towards climate change. The findings support our main hypotheses. The young scholars in Qingdao and Hamburg differ substantially in their views of the role of science in society and policymaking. Plausibly, these differences may mainly be explained with differences in the cultural ideas about the role of the state and of the civil society for the solution of environmental problems. Gradual differences in the share of young scholars who think that climate change has anthropogenic causes, may be explained with differences in the curriculum but also by cultural habits. This article makes a new contribution to the scientific debate by exploring the role of cultural differences for differences in the attitudes of young scholars in environmental science in connection with climate change and climate policy in different cultural contexts.

The Nation in Utero： Translating the Science of Fetal Education in Republican China

As Chinese nationalists grappled with the political and military weakness of the young Republic of China, some sought to strengthen the Chinese race by advocating a return to the ancient practice of fetal education. Fetal education held that every sight, sound, and flavor that a pregnant mother took in through her senses, as well as her emotions and demeanor, directly affected her fetus. This paper examines how the text Taijiao, Song Jiazhao＇s 1914 Chinese translation of Shimoda Jirr＇s Japanese work Taiky6, presents a modern reformulation of fetal education that draws upon both modern Western science and East Asian medicine. As the text uses modern biology and psychology to explain and demonstrate the efficacy of fetal education, it also narrows the scope of fetal education to focus almost exclusively on the mother＇s psychological state Similarly, as the text turns to instruct women on the practice of fetal education, it draws upon Edo and Qing gynecological principles to emphasise the importance of the pregnant mother＇s emotional self-control. Ultimately this text represents a neo-traditionalist response to modernity as it presents a Neo-Confucian vision of fetal education focused on a pregnant mother＇s moral self-cultivation and emotional self control.