MY REVIEW OF INTRODUCING MIND & BRAIN BY ANGUS GELLATLY AND OSCAR ZARATE

Posted on by Ettore Grillo

Mind & Brain by Angus Gellatly and Oscar Zarate is a thought provoking book.

Professor Angus Gellatly describes the studies on the brain that scientists have been doing over time. Experiments on animals and primates seem to show that human behavior originates in the brain, which is the house of emotions.

It seems that the brain regulates human actions. It retains the memory of individual experiences and acts consequently. Brain memory is similar to the ‘engrams’ that L. Ron Hubbard describes in his book, Dianetics.

Angus Gallantly makes no mention of the existence of the soul. I have described something about the interaction between body and mind or soul in my books Travels of the Mind and The Vibrations of Words. However, I consider Mind & Brain by Angus Gellatly and Oscar Zarate a good starting point for further studies on the existence or not of the soul, which possibly governs the human body, including the brain.

Ettore Grillo, author of these books:

– November 2: The Day of the Dead in Sicily (English edition)

– A Hidden Sicilian History (English edition)

– The Vibrations of Words (English edition)

– Travels of the Mind (English edition)

– Una Storia Siciliana Nascosta (edizione in lingua italiana)

– Viaggi della Mente (edizione in lingua italiana)

http://www.amazon.com/author/ettoregrillo

MY REVIEW OF MARY’S MESSAGE TO THE WORLD BY ANNIE KIRKWOOD

Posted on by Ettore Grillo

Mary’s Message to the World by Annie Kirkwood contains a series of messages given by Our Lady to a Texan nurse named Annie Kirkwood.

Whether one believes in the authenticity of Mary’s apparitions to Annie Kirkwood or not, one thing is certain: This book is a profound treatise on theology and morals. What struck me was the description of man as a being made of body, soul, and spirit. The ‘Spirit’ is a particle of God hidden in the soul of every human being.

All human beings have God-Spirit inside them. We should not judge others; instead, we ought to follow the way of love. We should not condemn this or that religion, for many are the ways leading to the same God.

The book emphasizes how important prayer and meditation are. We can even meditate by just watching our breathing. This calms and purifies our minds, an important step forward in the way to God.

Mary’s Message to the World by Annie Kirkwood elevates the spirit, definitely!

Ettore Grillo, author of these books:

– November 2: The Day of the Dead in Sicily (English edition)

– A Hidden Sicilian History (English edition)

– The Vibrations of Words (English edition)

– Travels of the Mind (English edition)

– Una Storia Siciliana Nascosta (edizione in lingua italiana)

– Viaggi della Mente (edizione in lingua italiana)

http://www.amazon.com/author/ettoregrillo

MY REVIEW OF IN GOD’S HANDS BY POPE JOHN PAUL II

Posted on by Ettore Grillo

Pope Karol Wojtyla, in his will, asked that his spiritual diaries be burned upon his death, but his secretary did not; instead, he presented them to the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints.

Later, the notebooks were published in Polish, and then translated into several languages. I read the English edition.

The spiritual diaries range from 1962 to 2003, before and after Karol Wojtyla became a Pope.

Reading this book, I have been surprised that he attended the gatherings not as the supreme head of the Catholic Church, but as a simple participant. The retreats were led by others, usually a bishop or an archbishop, not by him! This shows how humble he was.

In his diaries, the word ‘meditation’ is recurrent. Obviously, during the spiritual retreats he meditated. I thought that the term ‘meditation’ only belonged to the Eastern religion. As a child, I learned that prayer was enough to get to heaven. Apparently, also Catholics meditate. I think Pope John Paul II meditated on the Bible, but who knows what was hidden in his great, noble, and humble heart!

Ettore Grillo, author of these books:

– November 2: The Day of the Dead in Sicily (English edition)

– A Hidden Sicilian History (English edition)

– The Vibrations of Words (English edition)

– Travels of the Mind (English edition)

– Una Storia Siciliana Nascosta (edizione in lingua italiana)

– Viaggi della Mente (edizione in lingua italiana)

http://www.amazon.com/author/ettoregrillo

THE FEAST OF SAINT AGATA IN CATANIA (SICILY)

Posted on by Ettore Grillo

Ettore Grillo's Blog

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February 5, 1939
Today, the celebrations in honor of Saint Agata, the patron saint of Catania, reached their peak. Townspeople wore white habits and ashen-black headdresses. For ten days, twelve gigantic candles on baroque-style litters were borne on the shoulders of guild members as they went along the streets. Today, the litters went ahead of the statue of Saint Agata to light up the street. The patron saint stood on a wagon dragged by hundreds of devotees.
People crowded round the statue and lit big wax candles, which they then handed a man on the wagon. There were so many candles that the wagon couldn’t hold them all. Every now and then, it was emptied of all the candles and they were tossed into a truck.
The wagon was dragged along the places where Saint Agata suffered martyrdom. According to history, the saint belonged to a noble family and wished…

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DIFFERENT CULTURES SHARE SIMILAR PROVERBS

Posted on by Ettore Grillo

Yesterday, while reading The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham, I came across this proverb: ‘You can lead a horse to the water, but you can’t make him drink.’

The reading reminded me of a similar Sicilian proverb: ‘Quannu u sceccu un voli viviri ie inutili friscarici’ (When a donkey doesn’t want to drink, it is useless to whistle at it).

In the past, Sicilian farmers used to take their donkeys to the watering trough. Sometimes, the donkey was reluctant to drink. In this case, the master whistled at it to make it thirsty. Usually, after a short whistle, the donkey drank his fill. However, it could happen that the animal stubbornly refused to drink. Continuing to whistle was of no avail.

What is the meaning of the above-mentioned proverbs? When someone does not want to do something, they will not do, despite your insistence. In this case, you had better give up trying to convince them.

Different countries, different customs, but folk wisdom is the same wherever you go!

Ettore Grillo, author of these books:

– November 2: The Day of the Dead in Sicily (English edition)

– A Hidden Sicilian History (English edition)

– The Vibrations of Words (English edition)

– Travels of the Mind (English edition)

– Una Storia Siciliana Nascosta (edizione in lingua italiana)

– Viaggi della Mente (edizione in lingua italiana)

http://www.amazon.com/author/ettoregrillo