On Understanding of Tawhid in Isma‘ilism

The article raises the question of understanding the principle of tawhid in the Isma‘ili philosophical discourse. Isma‘ili philosophers defended the absolute transcendence of God and His indescribability. The article describes the understanding of the one and only God in Isma‘ilism, analyzes the problem of the relationship between the One and the multiple within the paradigmatic pairs of Arab-Muslim philosophy ‒ “explicit‒hidden” and “basic‒branch”. It is impossible to call God the Original, otherwise it will be necessary to recognize that He is dependent and conditioned by His consequence, and this detracts from Him. God, according to the ideas of Ismailism, has only one “true” attribute — huwiyya, which forms the required nominal multiplicity and “transition” from the transcendent God to the cognizable plural world. It is the huwiyya of God that gives the impetus for the appearance of the First Cause — the command of God “Be!”, which is also its own consequence. Combining cause and eff ect, the command of God has absolute completeness. The reader is also off ered for the fi rst time in Russian a commented translation of an excerpt from the treatise of the Ismaili philosopher of the 11th century Nasir Khusraw “Six chapters” (Shish fasl) — Chapter “On the knowledge of tawhid”.

Ancient Audacity---Did Sages Past Subconsciously Speak Of Cellular Dust?

“Would it be too bold to imagine, that in the great length of time, since the earth began to exist, perhaps millions of ages before the commencement of the history of mankind, would it be too bold to imagine, that all warm-blooded animals have arisen from one living filament, which THE GREAT FIRST CAUSE endued with animality, with the power of acquiring new parts, attended with new propensities, directed by irritations, sensations, volitions, and associations; and thus possessing the faculty of continuing to improve by its own inherent activity, and of delivering down those improvements by generation to its posterity, world without end!

Dramatic Premise and Human Purpose

Carl Jung's therapy is based on the dramatic structure of dreams, and current neurobiology and semantics confirms that drama—as defined by Plato—is the electromagnetic (EM) pattern of human reality. Therefore, fractal universal structure may be perceived in everything—“as above, so below”—and First Cause morality and intention can be correlated with contextual human purpose. Dramatic premise is a common denominator that integrates all of the dramatic components (plot, character, exposition, and lysis). First Cause Intention trickles down to personal harmony of purpose, but FC morality has always been problematic for humans. What part does evil play in the drama of human-cultural morality? Due to the significant difference of scale, human “contextuality” must be factored into the equation for moral behavior. Today's artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms for media technology can be used to foster authentic FC “coherent entrainment” according to Carl Jung's ratio between archetypes of the unconscious and their relatively conscious projections as archetypal representations (AR).

Gamers as Homeopathic Media Therapy

Mainstream Western medical theory is based on treating the symptoms of disease—a dynamic derisively called “bandage treatment.” This medical perspective is the inverse of homeopathic theory, which aims to treat the quantum level cause of disease. Because homeopathy addresses the quantum “first cause” of disease, it establishes precedents for understanding Divine “First Cause.” Homeopathic theory and practice are based on recognizing symptomatic syndromes—a process very similar to Carl Jung's practice of inducing healing with a patient's insight as to the meaning of dream symbolism. This meaningful insight functions like the EM signature of a homeopathic remedy. The homeopathic physician augments “remediation” of phenotypes from quantum dimensions in the same way that a Jungian psychiatrist augments (amplifies) a patient's self-healing insight. The homeopathic/Jungian dynamic works something like antibodies that neutralize antigens, so—in a virtual EM unified media-field—contextual gamers can serve the function of antibodies against mediated toxicity.

Locke, God, and Materialism

This chapter looks at Locke’s discussion in Essay 4.10, focusing on his arguments that God cannot be material: that he can be neither an incogitative material first cause, nor a cogitative one. Perhaps Locke had Hobbes or even Spinoza in mind as targets of his arguments, but he did not focus on their views alone. Locke in 4.10 draws on a discussion in Cudworth’s True Intellectual System. The central thought behind several of Locke’s arguments is the metaphysical principle (also seen in Cudworth) that the less perfect cannot cause the more perfect. Locke uses this repeatedly in arguing against views on which God is material. Understanding the role of this principle also helps us understand what Locke meant when he said that we might be material thinking beings, because God could have superadded thought to the matter in us, even though God himself could not be a material being.

Hobbes’s Materialism

This chapter looks at Hobbes’s materialism. The chapter begins by presenting his materialist account of human psychology, focusing on the account in the Elements of Law. The chapter then considers three arguments that Hobbes offers for his materialism, which draw on his nominalism and his views about the workings of language. The chapter then turns to Hobbes’s views about God. It considers his earlier view that we can only think of God as the first cause of things, as well as his later view that God is a corporeal spirit, before asking when Hobbes changed his mind about this issue.

How many and why? A question for Graham Oppy that classical theism can answer

I argue that classical theism has a significant advantage as a theory of the First Cause over Graham Oppy's naturalistic account. This is because classical theism not only gives us a clear answer to the question of how many first causes there are but also because it explains why there is that number and not another. In comparison, Oppy's ‘initial physical state’ account seemingly leaves these questions hopelessly open, and so does his ‘metaphysical simples’ proposal for a foundational layer of reality. I end by exploring two arguments from omnipotence and perfection that could be of use also to non-classical theists.

Migraine and Its Equivalents: What Do They Share? A Narrative Review on Common Pathophysiological Patterns

Migraine is the first in order of frequency of the neurological disorders, affecting both adult and paediatric populations. It is also the first cause of primary headaches in children. Migraine equivalents are periodic disorders that can be associated with migraine or considered as prognostic features of a future migraine manifestation. Despite the mechanisms underlying migraine and its equivalents are not entirely clear, several elements support the hypothesis of common pathophysiological patterns shared by these conditions. The aim of this review is thus to analyze the literature in order to highlight which currently known mechanisms may be common between migraine and its equivalents.

Ocular related emergencies in Spain during the COVID-19 pandemic, a multicenter study

Purpose To evaluate ophthalmological emergencies (OE) during the COVID-19 pandemic comparing them with the same period of the previous year. Methods Retrospective observational study of all OE visits in four tertiary hospitals in Spain comparing data from March 16th to April 30th, 2020 (COVID-19 period) and the same period of 2019 (pre-COVID-19 period). Severity of the conditions was assessed following Channa et al. publication. Data on demographics, diagnosis and treatments were collected from Electronic Medical Records. Results During lockdown, OE significantly declined by 75.18%, from 7,730 registered in the pre-COVID-19 period to 1,928 attended during the COVID-19 period (p < 0.001). In 2019, 23.86% of visits were classified as emergent, 59.50% as non-emergent, and 16.65% could not be determined. In 2020, the percentage of emergent visits increased up to 29.77%, non-emergent visits significantly decreased to 52.92% (p < 0.001), and 17.31% of the visits were classified as “could not determine”. During the pandemic, people aged between 45 and 65 years old represented the largest attending group (37.89%), compared to 2019, where patients over 65 years were the majority (39.80%). In 2019, most frequent diagnosis was unspecified acute conjunctivitis (11.59%), followed by vitreous degeneration (6.47%), and punctate keratitis (5.86%). During the COVID-19 period, vitreous degeneration was the first cause for consultation (9.28%), followed by unspecified acute conjunctivitis (5.63%) and punctate keratitis (5.85%). Conclusions OE visits dropped significantly during the pandemic in Spain (75.18%), although more than half were classified as non-urgent conditions, indicating a lack of understanding of the really emergent ocular pathologies among population.