Truth, Trinities And Temples

November 2009 Issue no. 2

Adventures in Love

Positive News

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Tamera Peace

Vi l l a g e

Truth, Trinities and Temples page 2

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Nigel Borg

From ancient times man has always believed in something larger than himself, typically a being of great power who at the very least affected his life in some way. It is not always the case, however, that a religion entails the belief in a ‘god’ or ‘goddess’, as shall be seen later on. Evidence of beliefs in deities of a kind has been found as early as pre-historic times, in the form of ruins and remains scattered throughout the Earth. Of the earliest temples we need look no further than the Maltese shores.

What do the diverse religions stand for?

The megalithic temples of Ħaġar Qim, Ġgantija, Mnajdra and the Neolithic temples among others, are the oldest freestanding structures erected by man, older even, than the pyramids or Stonehenge. Little is known about the beliefs of these people, except that the remains indicate that they revered a goddess of fertility. This goddess, represented as a rotund woman, was also found in a variety of postures, from the typical standing posture to the sleeping posture, possibly indicating a link to life and death. Often, a deity’s representation tends to reflect the needs and priorities of that time. In this case, the fact that the goddess represents fertility makes sense because the people of that time were farmers. Interesting to note is that certain temples, such as those of Ħaġar Qim or Mnajdra, are built in such a way that the sunlight will make a certain pattern, or the sun’s rays will hit the midpoint of the trilithon entrance as it rises on specific days of the year, such as the equinoxes or the solstices. continued on page 7...

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Katryna Storace for Proofreading When you have read WINK please do not throw it away. Hand it over to a colleague, friend or family member. Help us reduce waste WINK is printed with vegetable ink on 100% recycled paper. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution–Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

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Celebrate November 1st Saturday in November Community Day 13th November Kindness Day

15th November Recycling Day 16th November Tolerance Day

17th November International Students’ Day

20th November Children’s Day

25th November International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

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4th Friday in November Buy Nothing Day

WINK | November 2009 | Issue 2

Dr. T. S. Chivers

Exactly how are we all involved in love? The answer is via our daily interactions with others. At least part of this is carried out with some awareness of how we may be influencing the other person. Some of this awareness is mindful of the needs and interests of the other person. Love is present as a kind of medium through which to work. It is this quality of love which leads me to ask the really big question: shouldn’t we love everybody? If the answer to this is a yes, then we are opening up the world to love.

One might conclude that every Christian is committed to love everybody, because we are taught that we are all the children of God. Quite possibly members of other religions would support the same view. Yet, it is an enormously challenging idea. One might add that if people did generally love everybody else, the world would be a very different place. Instead of the present wartorn globe, we should have a world where differences and problems could be resolved because love provides a basis for solutions. But is the idea feasible? Is it possible to love all the varied persons one meets? And what of all the billions of people one never will meet? Can one really hold a loving disposition towards them?

These are enormous questions. Let us begin with the idea that we should be able to love everyone. Perhaps the basic idea is that we share a common humanity. No matter what they look like or where they come from, all people are human. But this is an idea that we may know rather than feel. Our religious views enable us to know this but that doesn’t provide love as a feeling. Yet, without some kind of feeling, has love any content or meaning?

What are some of the problems if we do seek to practise a love of all people? One answer might be that there are a proportion of people who aren’t very lovable. Open selfishness, extreme self-concern, a person easily given to violent responses – these illustrate temperaments which are not easily lovable. There are also the aggressive types who seek to induce a sense of fear around them so that their belliger-

ence gains a kind of superficial respect for their bullying stance. These are just a few examples, which show how difficult it can be to love others. But these examples could be said to illustrate superficial aspects of a person. The whole person is in fact much more. To love such people, what is then required is the incentive to look deeper. Even so, a world based on people’s love for each other would be a society for which we would have to strive, and, if that is to be the case, we should need to have some idea of what it would be like. We might ask: what lies at the heart of such a manifestation? I plan to suggest some of the features of the persons who might inhabit and serve to bring about such a society. He or she would be someone with a general inclination to love others. Since I venture to argue that there is a great need for love in society, a person who radiates love or is readily available to give it, is likely to be much in demand. Of course, such a person is likely to suffer a good many rebuffs since his or her motives will often be mistaken. Nevertheless, such a person will either be able to take the rejection or even regard it as a stage in getting to know people more adequately.

In practical terms, such a life would mean working out how to engage in service activities. Many people might already be engaged this way. Most communities are packed with needs, only some of which are ever met. We don’t have to look far, if we wish to involve ourselves in some service work. By involvement in the service of others, a person may expect to invoke a love of humanity or enhance the love they already possess. The experience of this type of love becomes a fact. It’s an adventure in love and one, which many people will recognise as worthwhile.

Is the claim, then, that the service of others brings an awareness that encompasses the love of everybody? This would perhaps be to expect too much. Rather, the claim is more modest. If what you seek to do is to promote your feeling for others, then, finding ways to help them is an important step in that direction. It is a step in the direction of bringing about a more loving society. Isn’t that a step worth taking?

Life would have been good ... I* was born in a city, Asmara, the capital city of Eritrea.

My father grew up in a village. He went to school and by the time he was twenty he left the village to find work in the city to help his family. Money was needed for schoolbooks for his brothers and sisters and for food. He would return to the village on Saturdays and Sundays to meet with his family and bring home money and food. My father married my mother when he was twenty-five.

After my mother and father married they had their first child, my older brother. Three years later another child was born, my sister. My family moved to the city. It was not an easy choice, it was hard at first, but living in the city meant better education for the children.

Asmara is the capital city of Eritrea. It is a very beautiful, quiet city. It is very similar to Rome, in both its architecture and infrastructure, with palms lining the streets full of coffee-shops and boutiques, like it was still an Italian colony. But Asmara's origins date back to 700 years ago. It is said that before, there were four clans living in the Asmara area. The women of the clans encouraged the men to unite the four clans

and together defeat the bandits who would prey on the area. They were victorious and a new name was giving to the place, Arbaete Asmara (which in the Tigrinya language means 'the four are united'). Nowadays it is only known as Asmara. When Ethiopia colonised Eritrea it was a difficult time for the people at Eritrea. Soldiers and militia groups would go out in the forests and fight.

After another 3 years my third brother was born, and two years later I was born. I liked going to school and playing football. My parents and schoolteachers would tell us that we are free people. I would sometimes go out and shout at the soldiers. Then I would run. The soldiers did not care that I was still very young.

I started to work in the metal industry when I was around 17 years but I did not stop going to school. I studied sciences. Our teachers spoke to us in English. When I finished 12th grade I was sent to military school where we were taught how to fight and defend ourselves and our country. I did not know about Malta before I arrived here. Malta is very small, unlike Eritrea and the lifestyle here is different.

Positive News E-Bank of Happiness

Estonia has launched Onnepank, an eBank of Happiness with the goal of promoting the idea of doing good deeds for free. The aim of the bank is to bring together those who are in need of help and those who can help. For every good deed you get a Star of Gratitude.

Bike Library

A bike library was launched at the University of Denver, offering high-tech bikes on loan for free. This lending is open to all students, faculty and staff. This programme is part of the University’s efforts to incorporate conservation, recycling and innovative building design.

Humpback whales might soon be off the endangered list

I was not in a good mindset when I arrived in Malta. I was frustrated, but God saved me. I started to read the Bible and to understand the Christian way of life. It says to follow Jesus. If you believe in Jesus you will have eternal life. I started to realise that this was God's choice – He wanted me to be here. Jesus wants us to love each other whether we are black or white. We are all the same, no matter the colour or the religion. Politics and politicians are keeping Eritrea back. They are hard on the country and progress is slow. But I believe it will be better in the future. Eritrea is full of resources, but the children and people need to be educated so that they can use these resources. Without the politics the Eritrean and Ethiopian people would be friends. My dream is that everyone gets to know the meaning of being Christian – to love Jesus and one another, no matter the colour and the culture. It is not enough to be educated and to go to good schools, you have to be prepared spiritually, internally. If everyone believed this, there would only be peace around us. * The author is an immigrant from Eritrea who currently resides in Malta.

Literacy in Nicaragua

Humpback whales, which were almost hunted to extinction some years ago, may soon be promoted off the endangered list due to efforts which led to a considerable increase in the population of these whales.

Nicaragua has increased its literacy rate among its adult population and is now extending the campaign to include children and teenagers outside the school system. After an extensive campaign the country’s illiteracy rate fell from 21 to 4%.

Inter-Faith Friendship

Floating house for floods

A synagogue in Virginia has been doubling as a mosque during the recent Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The Muslim congregation was looking to rent a place for large crowds, and that’s when the synagogue members came in. The Imam and the Rabbi said the relationship is not over now that Ramadan has come to an end.

Brad Pitt’s ‘Make It Right Foundation’ has revealed the newest house completed which, apart from its sustainable design and construction, can float. In case of flooding, the home breaks away from its moorings and rise up to 12 feet on two guideposts. continued on page 8... WINK | November 2009 | Issue 2

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Science Breakthroughs Whole grains work against high blood pressure

High blood pressure could be warded off by eating lots of whole grains. In a recent study, men with the highest whole grain consumption were 19% less likely to develop high blood pressure than men who ate the least amount of whole grain.

Decoding metastatic breast cancer

The entire DNA sequence of metastatic breast tumor has been decoded and has given scientists invaluable information on how cancer spreads.

Environmentally friendly pesticides

An environmentally friendly alternative to conventional pesticides could have been found in common herbs and spices. In a study researching the insecticidal properties of rosemary, thyme, clove, and mint, the results could become a key weapon in organic agriculture.

‘Digital Ants’ protect computers

Traditional computer security devices are static. Inspired by the natural counterpart, ‘digital ants’ wander through computer networks looking for threats such as ‘computer worms’ which self-replicate and are designed to steal information. Once these digital ants find the worms, an army of ants converge at that location, drawing the attention of human operators who step in to investigate.

Cows have soft beds

Cows produced more milk and had less udder infections when Norway passed a new regulation allowing them to relax for up to half a day on soft rubberised mattresses.

Predicting earthquakes

Earthquake prediction has been made easier thanks to a finding that allows scientists to monitor the strength of geologic faults

deep in the Earth. Faults that are likely to fail and thus produce earthquakes can now be pinpointed.

Fully sustainable Formula 3 racing car

The first fully sustainable Formula 3 racing car has been built. The car is made of woven flax, recycled carbon fiber, recycled resin and carrot pulp for the steering wheel, and runs on biofuels made from chocolate and animal fats while it is lubricated with plant oils. The car has a top speed of 135mph.

Living a good life decreases the chance of developing diabetes

People living in neighbourhoods with safe pavements, parks, good public transport and access to fresh fruits and vegetables, are 38% less likely to develop diabetes than others. For more Scientific Breakthroughs visit www.winkonline.org

Juicing and why it’s good for you Health

Krista Sullivan

The one thing a modern kitchen should not go without is a juice extractor; you can now find them in most household stores at very affordable prices.

When fruit or vegetables are eaten whole, digestion – separating minerals and vitamins from the fibres – takes hours. Juicing takes away this hard labour from the digestive route by separating the fibre from the vitamins and minerals and allows the body to absorb the goodness of fruits and vegetables quickly (as it is in liquid form).

It is the fibrous content in the fruit and vegetables that absorb the various chemicals and pesticides used in farming, which our bodies fight so hard against. The enzymes within the juice (the elements which enables your body to be nourished) remain unpolluted. However, fibre is also good for 4

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our health, as it provides roughage to aid our excretion process and acts like a broom within our intestines. So eating whole fruit and vegetables is imperative to a healthy diet. In order not to remove the fibre completely from your juice drink, you may take a spoonful of the fibre from the ‘waste’ side of your juicer and stir it in, taking care not to add uncomfortable bits, like pips and skin. This raw fibre is easy to digest, because it is in pulp form and is the best form of roughage as it retains its life, which is destroyed when cooked.

It is recommended to drink your juice slowly, so as to deliver this essence to your body in slow proportions. Another good idea is to mimic chewing while drinking. The chewing motion prepares your stomach to digest food; this is why it is suggested that we eat slowly, for the more we chew, the more digestive juices the stomach secretes, facilitating digestion.

Below I have listed a few recipes which are ideal for specific conditions, but do not be afraid to experiment and try to mix both fruit and vegetables together. Daily Carrot Juice Cleanse For 2 large drinks: Juice 4 Carrots, 1/2 Cucumber, 2 Stalks Celery with leaves. Excess Body Fluid/Water Retention Cleanser For 1 large drink: Juice 1 Cucumber, 1 Beet, 1/2 Apple seeded and 4 Carrots with tops. Add a 2inch piece fresh Radish. Constipation Cleanse For 2 large drinks: Juice 1/4 head Green Cabbage, 3 stalks Celery with leaves and 5 Carrots with tops.

Niger

Around the world in five minutes Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world. Timbuktu is located in Northern Niger. A yearly festival called the Cure Salee brings together the nomadic herders. Single men dress in their finest clothes, paint their faces and dance for many hours. The women choose the husband they prefer. There are many dinosaur remains in an area of the Sahara in Niger. The W National Park and Air and Tenere Natural Reserves are on the World Heritage list. Millet stalks are popular motifs in embroidery on women's traditional blouses and appear on the emblem of a political party. The national flag's colours of green, orange, and yellow represent the different climate zones. Rice is a status food that is served at rites of passage, holidays and other special occasions. Traditionally, aristocratic people were distinguished not by vast differences in wealth or standard of living but by exterior verbal and nonverbal symbols of body, dress, and ornamentation. These symbols included cultural values emphasizing reserved, dignified conduct such as controlled and indirect speech; bodily signs of ease such as soft hands and long fingers set off by ornate rings; a portly well-nourished body; layered, voluminous cloth – for men, an elaborately wrapped headdress, and heavy, intricately worked silver and gold jewelry for women. Children’s hair is shaved to sever ties with the spirit world.

UNICEF

The United Nations Children’s Funds (UNICEF) is a UN body that is responsible for the protection of children’s lives. It has five focus areas: (1) HIV/AIDS: The work in this area is fourfold: preventing mother-to-child transmission; providing paediatric treatment; preventing infection among adolescents and young people; protecting and supporting children affected by AIDS. Support is offered to children affected by AIDS in emergency settings, which force the children to flee their homes or to have their education interrupted.

(2) Young child survival and development: UNICEF co-operates with the governments of countries – especially those with low child survival rates – national and international agencies and civil society to support initiatives, which are important to each phase of the life cycle of the child, including pregnancy, early childhood, pre-school and school-attending years, and adolescence. Low-cost, low-technology and high impact intervention like vaccines, antibiotics, micronutrient supplementation, insecticide-treated bed-nets, improved breastfeeding practices, and the adoption of hygiene practices, are vital in preventing maternal and child deaths and reduce under-nutrition. (3) Child protection from violence, exploitation and abuse: the creation of a protective environment is important for the security of the child. UNICEF advocates

and supports such an environment in partnership with governments, national and international partners including the private sector and civil society. The work includes the formation of national child protection systems, protective social practices, and the empowering of the children themselves together with a good oversight and monitoring.

(4) Basic education and gender equality: Basic education for all children – both girls and boys – with an emphasis on gender equality and eliminating unequal treatment are the basis of a healthy education in which the children are given the tools with which they can work later on in life. UNICEF advocates a quality basic education and promotes equity by focusing on disadvantaged children through various innovative programs.

(5) Policy advocacy and partnerships for children’s rights: UNICEF subjects national and international policies to scrutiny against the norms set out in the Convention on the Right of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Children’s rights are placed at the centre of global and country-level policy debates and programs for poverty reduction and human development.

Fuel Efficiency Green living

Mariette Gatt

There are several ways to increase your car’s efficiency: It is a widely known fact that innovation Opt for walking over short distances, use has brought about a more comfortable public transport or car-pool. lifestyle. It is also known that such a lifestyle is obtained at a cost to the envi- Keep your car in pristine condition by ronment. Cars were such an invention. Al- changing the oil and tuning. though they make life easier for commuting from one part of the country Switch off your engine if you’re going to to another, their increased use is playing a be stationary for a considerable time. rather big part in global warming – this is because the gases emitted during the com- Check the inflation of the tyres. If debustion of the fuels used can be classified flated they reduce your car’s efficiency. as greenhouse gases. This means that they affect and act in increasing the greenhouse Park in the shade to minimise evaporaeffect and thus, global warming. The best tion of fuel from your tank. way to reduce the production of pollutants For more tips on efficient driving visit is always that of increasing car efficiency. www.winkonline.org WINK | November 2009 | Issue 2

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Tamera Peace Village Malcolm Borg

A community is the foundation stone of society. It is the unit that binds the smaller family with the larger nation, and its strength is the secret to prosperous families and nations. If the world was made up of communities living in complete harmony both within themselves and with each other, then differences would be ironed out and barriers would be softened.

The Tamera peace research village aims to put together the sense of community with research, education, and environmental stewardship. Situated in Alentio, a region in southwestern Portugal, Tamera has one central goal in mind: to be ‘a self-sufficient, sustainable and duplicatable communitarian model for nonviolent cooperation and cohabitation between humans, animals, nature and Creation for a future of peace for all.’ Utopic, to say the least. Let’s find out how this is being achieved in this ‘greenhouse of trust’ as the village is sometimes referred to.

The History and Theory behind the Village

Tamera was founded by Dieter Duhm, Sabine Lichtenfels and Rainer-Ehrenpreis – three Germans with different backgrounds who decided to start the peace village in 1995. In 1978, upon trying to create an interdisciplinary research centre to find solutions to the ecological and technological problems the world was facing, they realised that the first problem they had to deal with was the underlying problem that is the cause of the many problems they were trying to solve: core human relationships and the phenomena of competition, greed and jealousy. Their results were developed into the establishment of Tamera in 1995.

Two hundred co-workers and students live in the village at the moment – a village dedicated to discovering how human beings can live peacefully among themselves and with nature to create a successful, working and sustainable community. Tamera also serves as an international meeting place for peace workers and specialists in various fields. 6

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One of the aims of the village is very simple: a few peace research villages worldwide of a large enough size and complexity in which peace is established in all its aspects, and which are enough to create cultural healing on a global level. What this means is that if other villages such as Tamera are created, then we can see a shift from the present divisions rampant across the globe.

So what happens in Tamera?

The village acts as a global campus that offers knowledge in community development and the basic principles of decentralised energy supply, architecture and ecology. The first phase of the global campus is the Monte Cerro Peace Education, which is a three-year course comprehensive study in peace work and the creation of peace villages. At its core is the knowledge about community and the development of trust, truth, and transparency, including the areas of love and sexuality. Political theory is an essential part of the education, but this subject is tackled from a different perspective: politics of a global change through local actions. The GRACE foundation, established in 2007, directs and attracts money towards these peace projects in an attempt to offset the astronomical amounts of money being pumped into war and its related industries. In fact, GRACE promotes itself as ‘The Grace Foundation – for the humanisation of money’.

The Institute for Global Peace Work – IGP – is an initiative to weave an international peace network to establish a global force for peace. Representatives of indigenous people, scientists, peace initiatives, and individual peace activists gather to develop a global cooperation for the building up of peace research villages. Verlag Meiga is a publishing branch of Tamera. It disseminates books and literature on the knowledge and experience of the research and studies carried out in the peace village.

Children are taught the ‘education of perception’ and together with the usual subjects of languages, sciences, children are taught community development, art, cosmology and international networking. The Tamera theory holds that a nonviolent culture will essentially depend on whether we are successful in ending the gender war. Love, without jealousy, sexuality without fear, unbroken faithfulness, truth and longevity in love, and new pathways in partnerships are the focus of the Tamera’s ‘Love School’. The Solar Village is an experimental location in Tamera aiming to be a self-sufficient site in energy and food production for fifty people. Also, energy is produced by a system of lenses within a greenhouse and stored in a hot oil system to make round-the-clock cooking available. A sustainable landscape designed on the principles of permaculture (to learn more about permaculture visit the blogs on WINK’s website) is being achieved gradually. 20,000 trees have been planted together with an edible landscape, gardens and wetlands. Horses have a special place in Tamera and a new way of cooperation between human and horse is aimed at. Horses are ridden without bits and saddles, and thus, this practice requires trust and communication between the rider and the horse. The project also offers first aid treatment for sick, injured, or abused animals, and is also developing an animal sanctuary.

Are religions so different?

One major feature of most religions is the belief in continuity of a kind after death. While it is unclear whether such beliefs existed in the most primitive of religions, some version can be found in most religions, be it simply a belief in an afterlife, reincarnation, or rebirth. A religion in which the concept of an afterlife was particularly important was traditional Egyptian religion. For the ancient Egyptians, religion was of high importance and affected people’s lives to a very large extent, most of all their belief in an afterlife. Evidence for this lies in the various unearthed Egyptian pyramids and tombs, which indicate that a lot of time and wealth was funnelled into funeral practices. The process of embalming or mummification, which for example was very time-consuming, was aimed at preserving the body for the afterlife, where they believed people could achieve their full potential. However, Egyptian religion was not all about the afterlife. Traditional Egyptian religion in itself was mostly polytheistic, sometimes having as many as 2,000 deities. Interestingly, their gods and goddesses are often depicted as being part human and part animal, though they were not considered the gods’ true forms, but merely symbolic representations. Among the most important Egyptian deities one finds Amon-Ra, the sun god, often associated with the creation of the world, and Osiris, the god of the underworld. In certain cases, the many different deities started to be viewed as different aspects of a single deity. This concept is one that is extremely common among today’s religions. Currently, it would seem that the most widespread religions are Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam, and to a lesser extent Buddhism and Judaism. There are a number of similarities between these religions, be it in the beliefs themselves or in the underlying concepts. One core characteristic between most of these religions is the belief in a deity or deities. In this respect a religion is said to be polytheistic if there is belief in more than one individual and separate deity; monotheistic if there is belief in only one deity; trinitarian if there is belief in a single deity which has three aspects; and henotheistic for the belief in many gods and goddesses which are manifestations or aspects of a single deity.

Contrary to popular belief, in the majority of its forms, Hinduism is not exactly a polytheistic religion, that is, there is no belief in a multitude of completely separate gods and goddesses. Rather, it is a henotheistic religion, one which believes in essentially one deity, with the other gods and goddesses being facets of this single deity. It is sometimes also considered to be a trinitarian religion because Brahman, the single supreme deity, is viewed as being three persons while being only one, much like the Christian god. In the case of Hinduism, Brahman is viewed as Brahma (the Creator), Vishnu (the Preserver of order), and Shiva (the Destroyer, though sometimes also viewed as a benefactor), and in some cases Brahman is revered as one of his forms. It should be noted, however, that Hinduism is quite widespread, and the beliefs and forms of Brahman that are revered as the ‘main’ god tend to vary slightly between regions. One major characteristic of Hinduism is the belief in continual reincarnation or Transmigration of the Soul, which is also known as samsara. It is believed that this continues until the person is purified enough to be worthy of enlightenment. Related to the concept of reincarnation is that of karma, which is essentially the effect of good and bad actions taken in previous lives on the current one. Good actions lead to beneficial effects in the present life, while bad actions lead to detrimental effects.

Christianity and Islam believe in the same single, omnipresent and omniscient deity, for the simple reason that they are offshoots of Judaism. Due to their common roots, they are sometimes referred to as Abrahamic religions, after Abraham who is believed to be one of the founders of the religions, in the sense that he was one of the first (if not the first) person with whom God made contact. While Islam and Judaism believe that God is one, and only one, Christians believe in a trinity of persons in the same Godhead. A common misconception in Islam is that of the jihad. While in cases it does refer to a ‘holy war’, its true meaning is more than that: it represents an internal struggle against temptation and such things. Despite having the same deity, these three religions’ views on this higher power tends to vary. While Muslims believe one should submit to

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God’s will, the view of most Christians is more along the lines that one should work with God. However, it should be noted that beliefs tend to vary even within the same religion, where one tends to find numerous sects and divisions. In Christianity in particular, one finds a widespread range of beliefs throughout the many groups.

Some religions are unusual because they do not believe in a sovereign deity as such. Buddhism is not a religion in the classical sense, in that it does not concern a belief in a higher being or any deity, but in an ultimate truth. The goal of Buddhism is to improve oneself, with particular emphasis to mental and moral development in order to obtain wisdom and eventually, enlightenment (the ultimate truth). Hence, like all religions, Buddhism also carries with it a certain code of conduct (in a loose sense). Of particular interest is the so-called Golden Rule, which can be summarised as:

Do unto others as you would want others to do unto you.

This rule is also found in Christianity, and to a lesser extent in Judaism, where one finds the negative Golden Rule: Do NOT do unto others what you do NOT want others to do unto you.

The religions of the world tend to be extremely diverse and unfortunately, beliefs and practices tend to be many, so much so that this article barely touches on what each religion is truly about. It makes one wonder, however, whether any religion is ‘more accurate’ regarding the nature of ‘God’, given there is one in the first place. Perhaps, like henotheistic religions, the many religions are in fact facets of one larger thing, and each gives us insight into the nature of ‘God’ or the ‘ultimate truth’. Perhaps in reality each religion is ‘right’ and one merely has to find their own path, not based on convenience, for that is likely to be a decision based on laziness and would probably be far from the best, but based on what one is truly convinced of (and not stubbornly so). In reality, the myriad of religions may not be as different as we think they are – maybe each and every one of them can offer an ingredient to our approach to the Supreme Power. WINK | November 2009 | Issue 2

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Bonobos: our not-so-distant relatives Endangered Species

forage during the day but then come back together at night to sleep in tree nests.

One of the most unique characteristics of bonobos is their matriarchal society. Female bonobos have a higher status than their male counterparts. A group of bonobos is lead by an alpha female, and female bonobos choose their own mates and partake in the best food. In fact, the status of a male bonobo is derived from that of his mother. When a high-status female dies, her sons lose their rank. The mother-son bond is normally very strong, as the sons usually stay with the family group while the daughters leave to join different ones.

Michelle Cutajar

The bonobo is one of humankind’s closest relatives. 98.4 per cent of their DNA is the same as that of a human, making them closer to us than to most of the other apes. They are only found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and are highly endangered since they are frequently hunted. Habitat destruction is also rife because of logging and agriculture. Estimates say that there are only about 5,000 to 50,000 bonobos left in the wild.

The bonobo is the most recently discovered primate. Scientists did not uncover the bonobo until 1928, when German

anatomist Ernst Schwarz was analysing a skull that was previously thought to have belonged to a Common chimpanzee. It wasn’t until 1933 that the bonobo was announced as a species in its own right.

Bonobos spend a lot of their time in trees, but 25% of their time on the ground is spent walking upright. This is truly an uncanny sight to watch since this display reminds us so much of ourselves. They are the apes that are most able to mimic human walking. Bonobos are mainly vegetarian, although they are also known to eat small mammals. They live in a fission-fusion society: a group of about a hundred individuals split up into smaller factions to

Bonobos’ closeness to humans is remarkable. They successfully pass the mirrorrecognition test for self-awareness, meaning that they recognise themselves when looking into a mirror. Two bonobos, Kanzi and Panbanisha, have been taught to understand human speech and to communicate back with a lexigram keyboard. Bonobos usually communicate with each other using a set of vocalisations, but researchers have not yet found what these mean. However, bonobos’ facial expressions and hand gestures can be understood by a specifically trained person. Bonobos are complex beings with a rich emotional inner life. We can all be proud to say that we’re so closely related to these congenial and majestic beings.

Your idle PC time can help researchers Positive News...continued from page 3 Shark sanctuary

The first shark sanctuary has been created off the tiny Pacific nation of Palau, a hotspot for great hammerheads, leopard sharks and more than 130 other species fighting extinction.

A fighting chance for Brazil’s Rainforest

Partly due to increased police patrols, the annual rate of destruction of Brazil’s Ama8

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zon rainforest has fallen by 46%, its lowest level in over two decades.

Facebook and Climate Change

Intel has created an application for Facebook that allows people to donate their computers’ spare processing power to researchers so that better calculations can be made, especially in research related to climate change. Idle PC time can also be donated to researchers battling cancer and other diseases such as Malaria.

Reduced carbon dioxide emissions

Global emissions of carbon dioxide will fall by the sharpest rate in 40 years this year following declining factory output especially due to the economical recession.

Pedal Power

Two Kenyan students created a device that can be used by people without electricity in rural areas to charge their mobiles while riding their bicycle. WINK is printed with vegetable ink on 100% recycled paper