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Two thousand, three hundred years ago, Alexander The Great was surveying his battlefield and drinking water from silver urns. He knew nothing about bacteria, but he knew that silver containers have a seemingly miraculous way of keeping water fresh. Silver has been used for thousands of years in different forms for its health benefits. Throughout the middle ages, the wealthy gave their children silver spoons to suck upon to stave off illnesses. People have known about the benefits of silver for so long that it is incorporated into legends. Silver is the recommended agent for killing vampires, werewolves, and various forms of the so-called undead. According to ancient legend, a silver dagger was all that a knight needed to vanquish evil.
The new history of silver is a falsified history. Silver was once used extensively by all health care practitioners as an antibiotic, anti-viral, and as an anti-microbial. Nothing worked better then, and nothing does now. The F.D.A. began its crusade against silver products in the 1930’s, because silver (as a natural substance) cannot be patented; but the organization’s antibiotic and vaccine industry partners were able to patent their wares. Under the Food and Drug Administration’s original name, the Bureau of Chemistry, its real mission was to legally protect the chemical industry by declaring toxic chemicals to be “generally recognized as safe”, and to eliminate the chemical industry’s competition through regulations. This history has likewise been obscured greatly in most modern historical texts, but the truth can be found in materials from its early period.
Silver medicine has been erased from the textbooks, and it is seldom given mention in medical literature. The official Pharmacopeia (physician’s desk reference book) listed dozens of medicinal silver compounds prior to the mid-1930’s; but thereafter, all mention of silver disappeared. Newer books report that it never really happened. Before the history was rewritten, silver was like the nuclear weapon of medicine. No human pathogen of any kind survived it. This was the gospel of medicine. Pure colloidal silver is still the most comprehensive and potent antibiotic and anti-viral known, which is actually safe for human consumption, and it is absolutely safe for everyone in every condition. It is natural, has no side effects, and it was killing the worst viral diseases in the 1930’s, long before it became impossible to kill viruses with medicine.
Over the past two centuries, silver has been used by both allopathic and alternative medicine. In addition to being used for routine ailments, silver has been used effectively against some of the most notoriously hard to kill illnesses, including tuberculosis and syphilis. It has been used as an anti-bacterial agent that was added to bandages and disinfectant sprays. It has been embedded into clothing to prevent bacteria from producing foul odors from sweat, and it has been merged into cloth that is used in burn centers. Attempts are still being made to lace hospital counter tops with silver, to prevent the growth of bacteria. Silver-lined containers are actively being used to disinfect water in third world countries.
Silver is remarkable because it is an extremely powerful natural anti-bacterial and anti-viral agent, yet it does not impair overall health like antibiotics do. It kills viruses, fungi, and parasites in cases where the parasites live in a symbiotic relationship with a bacterial agent. This is surprisingly common, especially in the case of blood-borne parasites, such as those of U.S. bio-weapons like Lyme disease. Because of the way that silver kills with an electrical charge, no pathogen can be found or engineered to be immune to it. No life can develop an immunity to electricity.
Since the late nineteenth century, colloidal silver has been the safest and most effective way to medicate with silver. Colloidal silver is manufactured by electrically combining silver with pure water. The colloidal manufacturing process uses no chemicals. While silver is now labeled as an alternative medicine, it was once used widely in hospitals as the premiere antiseptic and antibiotic. It is still used in hospital burn centers for its incredible ability to heal burns more rapidly than steroids. We were astounded when witnessing it eliminate a sunburn in the span of just an hour, and a burnt tongue within minutes.
Removing silver from the market was one of the first actions of the Food and Drug Administration when it changed its name in the 1930’s. It has gradually changed its name from the Bureau of Chemistry, to the more publicly palatable, Food and Drug Administration. In 1999, after a re-emergence of silver, the F.D.A. completely banned it in any form from being sold in over-the-counter health products, despite the fact that silver has safely been used as a medicine for millennia.
The devastation of the polio epidemic was largely caused by how the Food and Drug Administration suppressed silver to promote its new antibiotics and vaccine industries. By removing silver from the lists of approved medicines, it effectively removed the only treatment that reliably kills polio, which in-turn unleashed the full epidemic of polio. The F.D.A. later claimed a victory over polio in boasting that the new generation of vaccines had saved us. The agency cunningly waited until the epidemic was in its natural decline to release the vaccine, in order to ensure that people saw a connection between the vaccine’s release date and the disappearance of the disease. The public, and quite a few doctors, were distracted away from the fact that silver medications were a safe treatment, which effectively kills polio quickly, as well as virtually every other virus known. Prior to this entire smoke-and-mirrors routine, silver was recognized for doing what the establishment now claims is impossible. Had silver medicine not been stripped from the market, the polio epidemic would have never occurred. Today’s huge vaccine and antibiotics markets would have never come into being. Silver had to go. Just to stack the dishonest vaccine marketing even more, the F.D.A. and the American Medical Association began promoting tonsillectomies for all children at the same time, while knowing that the tonsils are the only organ in the human body that produces polio antibodies.
The Food and Drug Administration now admits that antibiotic drugs are useless for most of the conditions that they have been prescribed during the last seven decades. The common cold, flu, and the most common type of pneumonia are all now believed to be caused by viruses for which antibiotics are useless against. However, silver is effective against viruses, so untold people have died as a result of silver being replaced with antibiotics.
Another suppression campaign against silver began around the time of the Second World War, when germ warfare agents were being increasingly studied as the new generation of warfare. Silver has the ability to neutralize every bio-weapon that has ever been created, because of how it attacks pathogens electrically. This is one of the primary reasons why it has been suppressed and maligned so aggressively. There are groups within the U.S. Government who do not want anyone to be resistant to U.S. Military bio-weapons, so silver medications have been repressed throughout the world for the sake of a covert military weapons program that is forbidden by international laws. If silver medicine was still being distributed officially as the top tier of medicine, then the bio-weapons program would be rendered impotent, because victims could simply use colloidal silver to recover from any germ warfare agent.
How Silver Medicine is Believed to Work
There are theories about how silver works. The leading one is that silver kills bacteria and viruses electrically, which would make it impossible for pathogens to become resistant to it. Indeed, it is true that there is no evidence of pathogens developing any resistance to colloidal silver. This hypothesis is impossible to prove (or disprove), because we cannot examine a single colloidal particle and its relation to a bacterium, or view the mechanism through which silver kills the latter. We can merely put colloidal silver and bacteria together, and see that all of the bacteria dies rapidly.
It is believed that each particle retains an electrical (ionic) charge, and that each particle of the same metal stores a charge of the same polarity. The charges ensure equal distribution of the particles throughout the solution. The theory is similar to that of magnetism, wherein the same poles of magnets are repelled by each other, and attracted only to their opposites.
There is evidence that silver interferes with copper and iron in the body, by binding with both electrically to chemically form new metallic compounds. People who are using a large amount of colloidal silver regularly may begin to crave foods that are rich in iron, such as beef. It is wise to satisfy these cravings, since they are caused by a deficiency of an important nutrient. Copper can be safely supplemented through the use of chlorophyll, but virtually every other oral source of copper supplementation is dangerous, because it is so trivially easy to overdose with it and cause liver damage. Due to colloidal silver’s ability to neutralize iron, men over the age of 30 will benefit from occasional colloidal silver supplementation. Iron accumulation in the bodies of men is believed to be one of the key reasons why women live longer than men do, and excessive iron is a major contributor to heart disease in men.
The Different Silver Products
There are many different types of silver solutions, including silver nitrates, ionic silvers, colloidal silvers, silver chlorides, and silver proteins. The only completely safe medicinal silver product, and the kind that we officially recommend, is colloidal silver.
Silver nitrate is produced by the pharmaceutical industry by combining silver with nitric acid. It can damage the liver and kidneys like most pharmaceutical drugs. It is the terrible side effects of silver nitrate that the establishment often uses to justify its attacks upon colloidal silver, in more slight-of-hand tactics. Pharmaceutical silver nitrate has a long history of turning patients’ skin a bluish-gray color. Nitrates are the poisonous compounds that are added to meat products which cause cancers. In other words, the F.D.A. pushed the poisonous and carcinogenic nitrate compounds on the public, and blamed the consequences on silver.
Ionic and colloidal silver are almost identically produced. The main difference between them is the size of the silver particles. In ionic silver, the particles are atomically small, to such a degree that even testing for their existence is difficult. It is possible that the particles in ionic silver are so small that the water itself becomes a different substance, because the silver particles are no longer completely autonomous. In colloidal silver, the particles are still microscopically small, but not as small as they are in ionic silver. Ionic silver can be made using very small voltages, over extended periods of time with silver plates. Higher voltages, or decreased resistance in the water produces colloidal silver. For true colloidal or ionic silver, the water must remain pure, so the only way to reduce the resistance of the water is to heat it, which most commercial manufacturers unwisely do.
Colloidal silver is much more likely to have a color, whereas ionic silver is always clear. This is because the larger particles in the colloidal silver provide a greater surface area. Ionic silver particles are so small that they are actually smaller than the wavelengths of visible light, making the silver invisible and colorless in even high concentrations. All colloidal silver solutions are mixtures of ionic and colloidal silver, but ionic solutions can be completely ionic. It is not possible to produce colloidal silver without also producing ionic silver. This is analogous to a construction worker who extracts materials from a brick wall. He might use a grinding tool that yielded only a fine powder, or he could bash the brick wall with a sledge hammer, which would yield a mixture of large chunks and fine powder. The use of higher voltages for colloidal extraction is like hammering the silver. The larger particles that are found in colloidal silver solutions are especially beneficial for external use, including the treatment of burns. Ionic silver is useless externally, and its internal effects have never been studied by independent third parties. Only colloidal silver and silver nitrate have been scientifically scrutinized for effectiveness, and only the colloidal variant is truly safe. Incredibly, colloidal silver is the only type which the pharmaceutical industry has never sold.
Another silver product is silver chloride. It is essentially made in the same manner as colloidal silver, but with the addition of table salt (sodium chloride). It is a cloudy liquid (often whitish) that is extremely photosensitive. Upon illumination or heating, the silver chloride solution separates into silver and chlorine. This instability makes it unsafe for human consumption. When ingested, silver chloride has a tendency to migrate to the outer tissues. Then, when the skin is exposed to sunlight, the silver chloride will break down into silver and chlorine. This causes the bluish-gray skin discoloration that has been heavily publicized as damning evidence against silver medicine. Victims of this phenomenon often claim that they drank colloidal silver, but the addition of salt transformed it into a very different substance that was chemically unstable. Conversely, true colloidal silver compounds are extremely non-reactive. Silver chloride has no benefits over colloidal silver, and it comes with risks. The salt is usually added to speed production time, but the same effect can be achieved with sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) in a much safer manner. The addition of sodium bicarbonate will yield especially large particles, which is unwise for internal use, but the resultant solution would nevertheless be ideal for external use. It would be excellent for burn treatments and infectious wound treatments.
Silver proteins contain much larger particles than either colloidal or ionic silver, and they should never be used internally. These were formerly approved of by the F.D.A., and they were preferred by the pharmaceutical industry. The silver particles in silver protein solutions are so large that they simply sink in the water, and the particles never stay evenly distributed without the aid of an added gelling agent. Due to the large size of the silver particles, and the silver’s binding with proteins, there is a dramatically increased likelihood that silver will become trapped in the fatty tissues. Therefore, these thick solutions are likely to produce the infamous bluish discoloration of the skin too.
Dishonest Silver Companies
Misinformation is being spread by most sellers of colloidal silver. Most sellers boast about colloidal silver by showcasing its long history of safe usage, but they simultaneously claim to use a proprietary process that makes their silver superior to all other silver products. Their admitted usage of non-standard manufacturing processes means that they cannot sincerely use the safety history of colloidal silver as an example of their own product’s safety, or honestly declare that their untested proprietary product is as effective. If a different manufacturing process is used, then the result cannot actually be colloidal silver. There is only one way to make colloidal silver, and any other manufacturing process will yield an entirely different product. Hence, the marketing for most colloidal silver is patently dishonest from start to end. This is not an indictment against colloidal silver itself, but its sellers tend to be morally bankrupt, and the product that they sell is a potentially dangerous fraud. Every manufacturing short-cut seems to have consequences.
We are aware from patent applications that some companies are producing silver solutions using fermenting bacteria combined with silver nitrates, instead of using electricity; but we do not know exactly which silver products are manufactured using this deplorable process. Whenever silver products are produced this way, they are inherently tainted with the dangerous nitrate compounds that the pharmaceutical silvers became infamous for. The effects of these toxic impurities can be much more severe than mere skin discolorations. Organ damage is a known consequence of using nitrate compounds, and cancers.
Most sellers of modern colloidal silver advertise that their product contains between 10 and 20 parts per million. They probably seek this concentration due to the research of Alfred Searle. He authored the book, The Use of Colloids in Health and Disease, in 1920. He also ran Searle Pharmaceuticals. His company was respectable in its early history, and Searle was long dead before his company dishonored his memory by selling itself to Monsanto. In his book, Mr. Searle reported that a concentration of just 20 parts per million of silver was proven to be deadly to all known pathogenic life forms, including every known virus. However, these results do not equate to the 10-20 parts per million ratings that can be found on most silver products of today. The reason is that the methods of testing have changed dramatically.
Alfred Searle used a Tyndall meter to measure how many particles of silver were present in a solution. It is a device that uses light to test for hue and reflection, which are used to determine the particle count and their size. These devices use light wavelengths as the means of measurement. Most modern sellers of silver products instead purchase an electronic device that measures the conductivity of the finished product. The conductivity of different solutions will always vary greatly, so these meters cannot possibly do what they are advertised to do. For example, if salt were added to the water, then it would have a different effect on the conductivity than if copper were added, because of their differing electrical properties. Yet the sellers of these meters claim that they are able to get accurate results measuring particle counts regardless of a solution’s ingredients. If salt or another electrolyte exists in the water, the conductivity of the water will increase dramatically, even whilst the number of particles will stay roughly the same. Particle size and the temperature of the solution also effect the conductivity, which the meter has no way of determining. Even a gust of wind will give a different reading, due to the electrostatic effect upon the surface of the solution. In the case of colloidal metals, electrically gauging the concentration is even more futile than it is for other types of solutions, because the metallic liquid is an electrolytic capacitor with a constantly changing capacitance. Electricity cannot be used to measure the amount of metal in a solution when the surface area of the metal cannot be verified, and when the capacitance of the solution is ever-changing. It is like trying to get a consistent light measurement from a fireworks display. The capacitive solution itself will produce its own tiny currents, and it will block currents from the meter, which makes electronic testing an exercise in absurdity. The only way to accurately measure concentration in a metallic colloidal fluid is using light. Thus, the parts per million rating given by most colloidal and ionic silver sellers is meaningless. Since colloidal silver changes the color of the water, clear colloidal solutions are frequently just expensive water, regardless of any measurement that sellers purportedly get. In the case of ionic silvers, it is impossible to measure the particle count, since the particles are too small to reflect light.
TDS Meter, the de facto manufacturer of the new testing equipment, even acknowledges the uselessness of its own meters on its website, in an amusing attempt at damage control:
” …temperature changes by a tenth of a degree may increase or decrease the conductivity. Additionally, the temperature coefficient (what the reading is multiplied by to adjust for temperature differences) changes slightly depending upon the range of ppm… Even a tiny air bubble that has adhered to one of the probes could potentially affect the conductivity, and thus the reading… Electrical charges off fingers, static electricity off clothes, etc. on the meter and lingering electrical charges in the water will affect the conductivity of the water… Plastic cups retain lingering electrical charges more than glass. If the meter touches the side of the glass or plastic, it could pick up a slight charge. If the plastic is retaining a charge, it could also affect the water… The amount of water in the sample may affect the conductivity. Different volumes of the same water may have different levels of conductivity. Displacement may affect the conductivity as well… The depth and position of the probe in the water sample may also affect the conductivity. For example, if a meter is dipped into the water, removed and then dipped into the water again, but in a different spot, the reading may change… “
The expensive methods of testing colloidal solutions that are utilized by modern laboratories are likewise grossly flawed. Flame atomic absorption spectroscopy is one of the leading laboratory methods for analyzing colloidal solutions. It uses extreme temperatures to destroy a colloidal solution, and then observers rate the colors of the flames, in an attempt to visually gauge the metal concentration. Fire is impossible to control with the precision that is needed for a valid analysis; and of course, the test results are in the eyes of the beholder. These machines cost about $50,000 (U.S), so it is unlikely that anyone outside of the chemical industry actually owns one. There are similar devices that utilize a beam of light that is projected through the flames during the analysis. These devices have the same inaccuracy issues, and they are even more expensive.
True Colloidal Silver
We have been unable to find any sellers of silver solutions whom we could fully trust, so this is intended to assist people in producing their own colloidal silver. The silver solutions sold at retailers are essentially the homeopathic versions of colloidal and ionic silver products, which means that they are merely high-priced water. Some of the retail products that we examined had plenty of impurities (like iron that biologically neutralizes silver), but we found very little silver. Testing was impossible in the case of ionic silvers, which may be convenient for manufacturers. At many locations, the municipal water supply will contain more silver than the fraudulent retail products. The majority of retail products are fake, and these bogus products are the primary reason why so many people who are new to alternative medicine believe that silver is ineffective. The products that retail shoppers typically buy are usually no more effective than water, because they are water. People can either take their best guess in choosing the commercially-available products, or they can produce their own to ensure that it is real and of the best quality.
Manufacturing Colloidal Silver & Video
The most important step in the production of colloidal silver is obtaining the right materials. Using distilled water is vital. Never use tap or spring water, because even minerals that would normally be beneficial can cause health problems once they are electro-chemically transformed through electrolysis. Ensure that the water has been distilled using steam distillation, which should be written on the container. Some “distilled” water containers have, “distilled through reverse osmosis” on the label, and these labels are entirely dishonest. True distillation uses steam to separate the water from its minerals and contaminants, whereas reverse osmosis is simply a type of pressurized filtration that does not render pure water. It is a much cheaper process, so some of the companies lie about their “distillation”. Beware of Food Lion brand distilled water in particular, because our testing during the production of colloidal copper indicated that it is impure, even though it is labeled to have been distilled. Also be forewarned that the formation of black chunks and other strangely-colored precipitates during the electrolysis process is an indication of water impurities. Black is the most common color for these, because they are usually the charred carbon remnants of organic matter and bicarbonates. Grayish chucks may form in the water. These particulates are actually safe and produced by the silver. They are especially beneficial for burns and skin infections, but they should be filtered out of the solution for internal use. A coffee filter works exceptionally well for this, and the solution may be drained by gravity through a coffee maker. Silver particles which have not clumped remain in either a colloidal or an ionic state, and these will pass through any filter. In fact, the particles are so small that wooden spoons and plastic utensils will begin to develop a silvery appearance after several batches. Never use metal utensils. The only metals in the process should be the silver itself and the electrical connection wires.
Using chlorinated tap water is especially dangerous, because when chlorine combines with other materials, it has a tendency to form dioxin compounds. It will also produce chlorine gas during electrolysis, which was used as a chemical warfare agent during World War I. Sodium chloride (salt) in the water will also release chlorine gas, so salt should never be added. As an important side note, tap water should never be used inside vaporizers for the same reason, because chlorine gas will be released into the air to actually worsen lung issues.
We strongly recommend that instead of obtaining silver wire, which is used for most colloidal silver manufacture, people instead use silver bullion bars (pictured). Most of the silver wire that is available comes from China, and it is simply not feasible to check every wire for impurities. Chinese wire should be assumed to be contaminated, since this is normal with Chinese products. When referencing the purity of their metals, companies use an obscure way of gauging it. Whenever a seller of a precious metal refers to it as having a purity of 925, it equates to 92.5 percent, so the given metal would be almost 10 percent impure. Most people will assume that a purity rating of 925 means that the metal contains only 0.925% impurities, and therefore that it would be over 99% pure. Be watchful of this gotcha. A large portion of the silver buyers seem to be ignorant of it. We recommend getting only 99.9% (written by sellers as 999) silver bullion bars.
However, modern buyers should beware even when buying “pure” silver bullion bars. It has come to our attention that the bullion market of the United States has been flooded with counterfeit bullion bars in recent years. Other countries are likely to be experiencing the same Chinese contamination problems. To minimize the risk of buying fakes, bullion bars should never be purchased from Craig’s List, E-bay, or any other source that is not absolutely trustworthy, because the purity of the bullion is absolutely essential for health and safety reasons. We therefore recommend that our readers only purchase bullion bars from banks and other reputable institutions that service the financial market. In the not-so-distant past, bullion bars were an absolutely pure source of silver that were guaranteed to be safe, because they are regulated as an official currency. This once meant that any attempt to sell fake bullion bars would have risked a swift law-enforcement response for counterfeiting, and a plethora of additional charges that would have gotten a man imprisoned for the rest of his life; but alas that safety net has disappeared, for the Chinese have no fear of the law.
Coins contain a variety of metals that should not be consumed, so never use silver coins for colloidal silver manufacture. High purity is vital, because most metals are extremely detrimental to the health. Silver of such extreme purity typically only contains the impurities of copper and selenium, in trace amounts. Both of which are beneficial to health in these small quantities. In fact, both are vital nutrients. The selenium is actually used by the human body to chelate harmful metals.
To avoid any soap or chemical residues, the bullion bars should be soaked in a solution of white vinegar that is nearly saturated with salt for cleaning. They can also safely be cleaned with vodka. It is not absolutely necessary to clean the silver between uses, but we do. Be advised that the silver will never look new again, regardless of the cleaning method.
People may either use three 9V batteries that are interconnected in series, or a 30V DC power supply that has a rated output of at least 3 amps (3,000 mA), to power the electrolysis. A power supply does not have to be exactly 30 volts, but it is the ideal voltage. The range should be kept between 26 and 30 volts, which is also ideal for creating colloidal copper. Those who have no experience with electronics should opt for battery power, instead of using a DC power supply. Serious injury and fire can result from the improper use of a power supply. The electrical danger is elevated because water is being used. For liability reasons, we must officially recommend against using a power supply, and anyone using a power supply does so at his own risk. Batteries must be interconnected, so that the positive terminal of one battery is connected to the negative terminal of another battery. When properly connected, one battery should have an unused positive pole, and the opposite battery should have an unused negative pole. These two remaining terminals should be connected to the two pieces of silver. Most 9V batteries in the U.S. have terminals that can be used to interconnect with other 9V batteries, whereby connection wire is unnecessary for the battery to battery connections. Never use aluminum wire for any of the connections, and we strongly recommend the use of only copper wiring, for the sake of preventing unhealthy contaminants.
To make colloidal silver, fill a completely clean glass or plastic container with distilled water. We suggest cleaning the container with vodka immediately beforehand, to remove soap residues. Connect the batteries to the pieces of silver. Most people do this with alligator clips. We usually make our connections by inserting copper wires through tiny holes in the top of the silver bullion, and then we twist-tie the wires for maximum hold. Never solder the connection to the silver, and it is wise to even avoid soldering the wires to the alligator clips, for solder can leach lead or cadmium into the solution if the metal components become moist. Nobody should be supplementing with lead and cadmium.
The silver bars should be partially submerged in the water, and be about an inch apart. They should never touch, and the wire connections should never enter the water. If the connectors or silver are allowed to touch, the batteries or the power supply will have a dead short. This could cause overheating and an explosion. It could easily mean a quick death for the power supply. The electrical connections to the silver should be clearly above the water, else other metals will become infused into the solution. Nothing except for pure silver should be in contact with the water. We recommend that all other connectors and wires be maintained at least a quarter inch above the water’s surface. We should offer one last reminder of the risks of using solder, which include the introduction of tin, lead and cadmium into the product.
The time needed to produce colloidal silver will vary greatly depending on the purity of water that is used, and no commercially-available water is absolutely pure. One of the first indicators that silver is combining with the water can be seen with a flashlight in a dark room. Shining light through the water at certain angles will show what appears to be smoke coming from one of the silver plates. As time progresses, one of the silver plates will turn a flat gray color, and the other plate will blacken. Tiny bubbles may also form around the silver plates. Those producing a large batch over an extended period should gently stir the solution periodically, using a wooden or plastic spoon. Some people can produce a quart in twenty minutes, but our own experimentation in making 2 quarts required a duration of 4 hours to reach the acceptable strength and color. Due to the fact that silver is extremely non-reactive, a slower process indicates higher purity in both the silver and the water. Pure water and pure silver will both be very resistant to the electrolysis process. Readers may notice that many of the online manufacturing videos show colloidal silver being produced very rapidly, using silver wires that were obtained from China. The short manufacture time indicates the presence of other, more reactive metals, and perhaps impure water too. When producing our own colloidal silver, we add about 3 fluid ounces of existing colloidal silver to speed the production time, without effecting the quality of the resultant product.
To make the silver bars last as long as possible, the polarity should be reversed each time. This means that the silver bar that is connected to the positive (red) wire in one batch should be switched so that it is connected to negative in the next batch. Otherwise, one of the bars will rapidly erode.
If a colloidal silver solution is black, brown, or purple, then it indicates that the silver particles are abnormally large. It may also reflect the presence of impurities. The huge particle size of these products makes it debatable if these solutions can truly be called colloidal. It is how most colloidal silvers from online sellers look. The ugly discolorations can also be caused by heating during production, or from the use of high voltages, which are common shortcuts taken by the commercial manufacturers. We recommend that such solutions be avoided, except as a last resort. These products are significantly less effective internally than properly-produced colloidal silver, and the abnormally-large silver particles are more likely to get forever trapped in the tissues. Most commercial sellers have proprietary processes for production, which cannot be trusted, and there is no way to know what is really in their products. We do know from the color of their products that they are not selling true colloidal silver.
Properly Medicating with Colloidal Silver
High quality colloidal silver, at an appropriate medicinal strength, usually looks slightly yellowish in a brilliant white container, under a fluorescent light. Some batches of colloidal silver will instead have a slight silvery tint. The two colors are an indication of a particle size difference, but there should essentially be no difference in effectiveness. Some batches turn yellow about a day after production. The strength of a colloidal silver solution can be judged by shining a laser pointer through the solution, whilst the silver is being infused. A red laser pointer is best, because it is least visible under normal conditions. As the silver solution gets stronger, it will become possible to see the red beam clearly through the water. As the solution becomes more concentrated, the laser beam will become more solid.
We recommend against making stronger concentrations for most uses, because silver appears to create iron deficiencies with extreme dosages. We do not truly know if the colloidal silver causes the increased excretion of iron, or if it simply neutralizes usable iron by bonding with it, or both. We believe that it is both. Either way, there are no real human toxicity issues, but the proper iron level should be nevertheless maintained for optimal health.
During times of sickness, we recommend using 3 fluid ounces of colloidal silver, twice a day. Best results can be achieved by holding the colloidal silver in the mouth for a minute before swallowing it. This technique allows some silver to penetrate through the walls of the mouth, and directly into the blood stream. Expect for it to have a metallic aftertaste. Due to the wide variety of people who will read this article, we have made the recommended silver dosage very conservative. However, some patients measure their dosages in cups.
Storage of Colloidal Silver
Colloidal silver may be stored in either plastic or glass. The ideal plastic is the type that is used to store milk. It is high-density polyethylene (HDPE), and it can be identified in the U.S. by a number “2” embossed into the bottom of the container. It is a very non-reactive plastic, but the microscopic silver particles may stain it.
Colloidal silver should be stored at room temperature, and never allowed to freeze. The silver will coagulate into visible chunks at the bottom when frozen, which will make the solution much less effective and create the possibility that it will cause argyria. Therefore, an interesting experiment to verify the presence of silver in the solution is to freeze a small amount of it, and then examine the clumped silver in the bottom of the container after thawing. If a choice must be made between storage in a hot or cold environment, the warmer environment should always be chosen.
Pure colloidal silver should not experience any of the serious breakdown problems that silver chloride solutions do whenever there is light exposure; but we nevertheless store our colloidal silver in a dark location, because darkness might somewhat help to keep it better preserved.
A good batch of colloidal silver should last for years, because the silver itself is a powerful preservative. In fact, we use it as a substitute for water in risky foods that use uncooked ingredients, such as raw eggs (for mayonnaise production). It is used to ensure that all of the bacteria is dead. A minute of blending with colloidal silver is enough to ensure that no bacteria survives.
Patients Experiencing the Blues
The medical establishment and the big media organizations have demonized colloidal silver by parading people who have developed a condition known as argyria. It is a bluish-gray discoloration of the skin that is reported to be permanent. However, every case that we investigated involved products that were not actually colloidal silver, and most cases were the result of pharmaceutical-industry silver products. Our exhaustive research could not find a single instance of argyria that was caused by pure colloidal silver. The pharmaceutical silver solutions are the most likely to cause it.
Regulators proclaim that the people who turned blue provide evidence of silver’s toxicity, but the opposite is actually true. It proves that even after a person is so incredibly saturated with silver from 20+ years of misuse that he turns blue, he still does not suffer from any health problems. The blue patients are actually healthier than normal. Take for comparison: a patient who consumes enough aspirin to turn white. Actually, we cannot use this example, because within 20 minutes of such extreme aspirin consumption, the patient would be dead from internal bleeding — long before he ever began changing color.
The National Institutes of Health documented one case of argyria that occurred when a man started producing his own silver solution and consumed 16 fluid ounces of it, three times each day, for a period of years. He measured his silver to contain a whopping 450 parts per million, which is 22 times stronger than is normal. This regimen gave his body the same concentration of silver as if he had consumed 1,056 fluid ounces of standard colloidal silver (8.25 gallons per day). The extreme concentration means that the silver had to be discolored and impure, and it almost certainly had salt added. Otherwise, it would have taken him days to manufacture each day’s batch at such concentrations, so we can be certain that he was using silver chloride instead of colloidal silver. It is a reflection of the stupidity of turning to pharmaceutical manufacturing processes for the practice of alternative medicine, and then using the terrible results to prove that alternative medicine is bad. It is what we see most often in the politics of silver.
The most popularized case of argyria is that of Paul Karason, the so-called Smurf Man. He internally consumed large doses of a homemade silver solution for years, and then began also using silver externally on his face. He too made his silver solution using salt, which resulted in silver chloride. Despite it being a completely different substance, he refers to his solution as “colloidal silver”, as well as the media. We believe that after he noticed some slight skin discoloration, he actually increased his dosage, because he had found a way to become famous and profit from being a freak. He admits publicly to using excessive amounts of his silver chloride both internally and transdermally, daily for 14 years. He still continues to use it, despite his obvious saturation. He further admits that his face turned blue before the rest of his body; and yet he continued to use both silver products, despite the color change. Due to Karason’s self-inflicted and intentional cosmetic alteration, the F.D.A. has used him in a public relations campaign that is intended to convince the public that colloidal silver is dangerous. We can only speculate about how much the media networks and the F.D.A. have paid him for his appearances.
Not one death or serious side effect has ever been recorded for pure colloidal silver, during the century of its existence. There are, however, plenty of horror stories from people who used the chemically-altered silvers, made with various proteins, salts, or fermented bacteria.
Video: How to Make Genuine Colloidal Silver at Home
Some of our readers have had great difficulty in finding a financial institution that sells silver bullion bars, as we recommended in our manufacturing video. Thus, purchasing silver bullion bars online may be the only feasible method of acquisition for some people. In light of the significant problem, and the need to ensure extreme purity, we shall forgo our standard policy of avoiding making recommendations about specific brands and companies. The most trustworthy source for online purchases of silver bullion bars is the JM Bullion company, in our opinion. The company has a spotless reputation. It became prestigious throughout the precious metals industry for producing the Engelhard brand of silver bullion, which became the industry’s standard of purity. We have no reason to believe that the company’s standards have declined.
We have finally found a trustworthy seller of ready-made colloidal silver. His name is Brian Humphreys, and he is currently selling his Purevon Colloidal Silver online under the product name Silver in a Bottle. We spent a year comparing notes with Brian about how to best produce colloidal silver. Brian’s tenacity, his unrelenting research, and his obsession with perfection left us relieved that we had finally found a producer in which we could trust the health of our people. We can now wholeheartedly recommend Brian’s Silver in a Bottle with the cleanest of consciences. He is a newcomer to the market, but he knows colloidal silver backwards and forwards like very few people do. If you must buy colloidal silver, then get it from Purevon. Brian is not only supremely qualified to make the highest quality product; he is refreshingly honest too. We know how difficult it is to find this combination. He does not feed anyone baloney about his silver having special atoms that do not exist elsewhere, or that he has a secret manufacturing process that makes his silver better than silver. Instead, he makes his colloidal silver the old-fashioned way, and he tells the truth about it. An added benefit to choosing Purevon’s colloidal silver is that its prices are lower than what we have seen from any other manufacturer. At the time that this was written, a 16 ounce bottle is being sold for less than 20 dollars. That is unheard of.
Free Books Which Survived the Book Burnings
Use of Colloids in Health and Disease by Alfred Searle (1920)
Practical Colloid Chemistry by Wolfgang Ostwald (1926)
Inorganic Colloidal Chemistry by Harry Weiser (1933)
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If you haven’t heard of colloidal silver, you will soon enough if you’re on the lookout for alternative therapies to common health issues, such as a sinus infection or a cold.
Most health food stores and pharmacies stock several brands of colloidal silver, and, of course, you can find a find a vast amount of information about colloidal silver benefits on the Internet. Unfortunately, the information out there is confusing as many sources have conflicting opinions.
On one hand, you’ll run across thousands of personal testimonials about colloidal silver helping people with practically every disease you’ve heard about. You will also stumble upon some well-known health sites that warn consumers about safety concerns. (1) Usually, these sources quote a statement made by the FDA in 1999 claiming that there is no scientific evidence to support the use of colloidal silver. (2)
This type of information can confuse even the most savvy natural health enthusiast, which is why I want to lend a helping hand and provide some evidenced-based information to help you make an informed choice.
According to a report written by Richard Davies and Samuel Etris of The Silver Institute in a 1996, there are three primary ways that colloidal silver can help heal the body: (3)
By having a direct effect on cellular respiration, colloidal silver benefits the body in numerous ways. There are, however, eight proven healing properties that I consider to be particularly supported by the medical literature.
First, colloidal silver’s ability to control antibiotic-resistant superbugs is astonishing. While employed at UCLA Medical School in the 1980s, Larry C. Ford, MD, documented over 650 different disease-causing pathogens that were destroyed in minutes when exposed to small amounts of silver. (6)
Colloidal silver, unlike its modern prescription antibiotic counterpart, simply doesn’t create resistance or immunity in the organisms that are killed by it. This point cannot be emphasized enough, especially in light of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reporting that more than 2 million people in the U.S. suffer illness every year as a result of antibiotic-resistant infections and 23,000 die from these infections. (7)
Robert O. Becker, MD, says that colloidal silver stimulates healing in the skin and other soft tissues. (8) In a research article produced by Pharmacognosy Communications in 2012, it was specifically recommended that certain colloidal silver preparations should be considered for topical use to treat burns, thrush, periodontitis and other conditions. (9)
For instance, you can treat ringworm (Tinea capitis) at home with colloidal silver because it’s a potent anti-fungal. Caused by a fungus that lives on the top layer of the skin, ringworm presents as round, scaly patches. It’s contagious and spread by skin contact and by contaminated materials, such as clothing.
Colloidal silver benefits many skins conditions such as psoriasis and eczema as well. It’s soothing to scrapes and even repairs tissue damage from burns.
Pink eye is an inflamed mucous membrane that covers the eyeball and eyelid lining, and it’s primarily caused by a bacterial or viral infection. Colloidal silver can be used for prompt action against this irritating and highly infectious virus and bacteria.
When applied on the infected eye, the tiny silver colloids pick up the infected cells by attracting them electromagnetically and sending them into the bloodstream to be eliminated.
Our modern prescription antibiotic drugs are designed to work against specific classes of bacteria, but ear infections may be caused by multiple classes of bacteria or can even be fungal.
In this case, the prescription antibiotic will be useless, whereas colloidal silver is effective regardless of what may be causing your infection.
Colloidal silver benefits can be experienced as an anti-viral for HIV/AIDS, pneumonia, herpes, shingles and warts. Dr. Martin Hum, from the Institute for Optimum Nutrition, lists colloidal silver as one of the natural remedies to stop viruses fast. (10)
Colloidal silver suffocates the virus and can even reduce the activity of the HIV virus in AIDS patients. There are also numerous anecdotal accounts of colloidal silver’s efficacy against the hepatitis C virus.
Colloidal silver is also a fantastic anti-inflammatory remedy. Case in point: Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) studied the effects of inflammation after being treated by colloidal silver; they found that the inflamed skin of pigs treated with silver experienced near-normal skin after 72 hours, while other treatment groups not treated with silver remained inflamed. (11)
Research is beginning to reflect what many people have already known anecdotally for years — that colloidal silver can reduce swelling, speed healing, and boosts cell recovery!
Widely used to control sinus infections, colloidal silver can benefit people as a nasal spray, according to a study published in the International Forum for Allergy and Rhinology last year. (14)
Specifically shown to kill Staph aureus, you can add a few drops of silver in a “neti pot” or by applying directly into your nasal cavity and letting it drain down your throat by tilting your head back.
Also, it’s important to point out that recent research indicates that hidden infections by pathogens could be a cause of respiratory inflammation associated with common allergies and asthma. Colloidal silver destroys Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections, which may be the reason why airborne allergy sufferers often find such dramatic relief from colloidal silver.
Some claim that colloidal silver helps prevent all types of flu, including swine flu, as well as the common cold. (15)
Few studies have been done to test this clinically, but in 2011 the NIH took 100 children under the age of 12 suffering from the common cold and nasal congestion and assigned them into two groups; the first group was treated with a solution of colloidal silver and beta glucan, and the second group with saline solution. Even though both groups benefited from the treatment, 90% of the people in the colloidal silver group completely recovered! (16)
Our modern drugs have become limited in their efficacy when it comes to fighting bronchitis or pneumonia. Typically, antibiotics are administered as the first line of defense, but when the pneumonia is viral, antibiotics won’t help in the least. The nice thing about colloidal silver is that it can help regardless of the pathogen.
Colloidal silver is a remarkable product to help fight against bronchitis and pneumonia when ingested internally, but an even more effective way to utilize it? Simply breathe it into your lungs.
This way, the silver directly contacts the germs residing in the lungs, which are causing bronchitis or pneumonia. It’s basically the same thing as using respiratory support, and it works speedily, clearing it up within a couple of days.
Now, the most effective method to get the colloidal silver into the lungs is to use a nebulizer. Generally, use one teaspoon approximately three times a day for 10 to 15 minutes.
Before the invention of the refrigerator, it was common practice to drop a silver coin into a container of milk as a preservative because silver was known to prevent the growth of algae, bacteria and other undesirable organisms.
Dating back to ancient times, silver was also a popular remedy to stop the spread of diseases. Its use as a natural antibiotic continued all the way until the 1940s, when modern antibiotics arrived.
Today, obviously, people don’t need to drop silver coins into their water to experience colloidal silver benefits! All you need to do is carefully take a few drops from a bottle that you buy at the store, which is:
“A solution of water containing nanometre sized particles of suspended silver. The total silver content is expressed as milligrams of silver per litre (mg/L) of water which is numerically the same as parts per million (ppm). The total silver content is divided into two forms of silver: ionic silver and silver particles. (3)
There are basically three types of products that are marketed as “colloidal silver” and these can be categorized as:
Ionic silver –
Ionic silver solutions are products whose silver content primarily consists of silver ions. Although ionic silver is often marketed as colloidal silver, it’s not true colloidal silver. Because it’s the least expensive to produce, ionic silver is the most popular product in this category. The problem? It simply won’t produce the same benefits that true colloidal silver can.
Silver Protein –
In order to keep large silver particles suspended, silver protein-based products add gelatin. Silver protein is the second-most popular type of colloidal silver product on the market and can easily be made by adding water to silver protein powder. Again, it’s also often marketed and labeled as colloidal silver, but should not be confused for the real thing. Silver protein is less effective for human use, and you won’t experience the true colloidal silver benefits.
True Colloidal Silver –
Lastly, true silver colloids don’t contain any protein or other additives, as the vast majority of the silver content consists of nanometre-sized silver particles. (4)
Although the National Center for Complimentary and Integrative Health reports that colloidal silver may cause poor absorption of some drugs, there is limited research proving that side effects to colloidal silver use even exist. (17)
Nonetheless, you may come across many warnings about it causing an irreversible condition called argyria (when people turn blue). However, this is caused by misuse not of true colloidal silver, but through other cheaper products marketed as colloidal silver, such as ionic silver or silver protein.
One point to consider is that, because colloidal silver is such a potent antibacterial agent, you should be sure to supplement with probiotics during use to be sure that you maintain a proper balance of microflora.
Colloidal silver needs to be applied differently for each condition. To experience colloidal silver benefits, it may be taken as follows, always keeping in mind to never use it for more than 14 days in a row.
Colloidal silver is a mineral. Despite promoters’ claims, silver has no known function in the body and is not an essential mineral supplement. Colloidal silver products were once available as over-the-counter drug products, but in 1999, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ruled that these colloidal silver products were not considered safe or effective. Colloidal silver products marketed for medical purposes or promoted for unproven uses are now considered “misbranded” under the law without appropriate FDA approval as a new drug. There are currently no FDA-approved over-the-counter or prescription drugs containing silver that are taken by mouth. However, there are still colloidal silver products being sold as homeopathic remedies and dietary supplements.
There are many Internet ads for the parts of a generator that produces colloidal silver at home. People who produce colloidal silver at home will likely not be able to evaluate their product for purity or strength. There are many products that are far safer and more effective than colloidal silver.
Despite these concerns about safety and effectiveness, people still buy colloidal silver as a dietary supplement and use it for a wide range of ailments. Colloidal silver is used to treat infections due to yeast; bacteria (tuberculosis, Lyme disease, bubonic plague, pneumonia, leprosy, gonorrhea, syphilis, scarlet fever, stomach ulcers, cholera); parasites (ringworm, malaria); and viruses (HIV/AIDS, pneumonia, herpes, shingles, warts).
Colloidal silver is also used for lung conditions including emphysema and bronchitis; skin conditions including rosacea, cradle cap (atopic dermatitis), eczema, impetigo, and psoriasis; and inflammation (sometimes due to infection) of the bladder (cystitis), prostate (prostatitis), colon (colitis), nose (rhinitis), stomach (gastritis), tonsils (tonsillitis), appendix (appendicitis), and sinuses (sinusitis).
Other uses include treatment of cancer, diabetes, arthritis, lupus, chronic fatigue syndrome, leukemia, hay fever and other allergies, trench foot, and gum disease.
Colloidal silver is also used to prevent flu, H1N1 (swine) flu, and the common cold.
Some women take colloidal silver during pregnancy to aid the baby’s growth and health as well as the mother’s delivery and recovery.
Colloidal silver is applied directly to the skin for acne, burns, eye infections, fungal infections, throat infections, skin infections, and Staphylococcus infections.
Colloidal silver can kill certain germs by binding to and destroying proteins.
Eye infections. Some research shows that using colloidal silver eye drops in both eyes shortly after birth does not help prevent certain eye infections in newborns. Other research shows that applying a colloidal silver solution to the eye surface of people undergoing eye surgery does not prevent infections as well as applying povidone-iodine solution.
Colloidal silver is LIKELY UNSAFE when taken by mouth, applied to the skin, or injected intravenously (by IV). The silver in colloidal silver products gets deposited in vital organs such as the skin, liver, spleen, kidney, muscle, and brain. This can lead to an irreversible bluish skin discoloration that first appears in the gums. It can also stimulate melanin production in skin, and areas exposed to the sun will become increasingly discolored.
Pregnancy and breast-feeding: Colloidal silver is LIKELY UNSAFE when taken by mouth, applied to the skin or injected intravenously (by IV). Increased silver levels in pregnant women have been linked to abnormal development of the ear, face, and neck in their babies. Colloidal silver supplements can also lead to silver accumulation in the body, which can lead to an irreversible bluish skin discoloration known as argyria. Silver can also be deposited in vital organs, where it does serious damage.
Be cautious with this combination
The appropriate dose of colloidal silver depends on several factors such as the user’s age, health, and several other conditions. At this time there is not enough scientific information to determine an appropriate range of doses for colloidal silver. Keep in mind that natural products are not always necessarily safe and dosages can be important. Be sure to follow relevant directions on product labels and consult your pharmacist or physician or other healthcare professional before using.
The primary side effect of colloidal silver is argyria, which is an irreversible formation of gray and blue spots on the skin, states Healthline. Other side effects include kidney damage, seizures, liver disease and vision problems.
Although manufacturers of colloidal silver claim that this product boosts the immune system, treats cancer, and fights bacteria and viruses, the Food and Drug Administration does not recommend its use for any health condition, stresses Healthline. As of 2015, the purpose of colloidal silver in the body is not known, but it can build up in the body, interfering with medications such as penicillamine, thyroxine, tetracycline and quinolone antibiotics, advises Mayo Clinic.
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Demagogues or rabble rousers have always had a leg up in the political arena. If you can whip up a frenzy of prejudice and ignorance and raise the specter of looming threats or conspiratorial “elites”, while not being particularly beholden to facts, you’ll get a big chunk of the population on your side. And in an age where our daily lives are overwhelmed by an incessant glut of information, demagogues have more power than ever. Amazing accessibility of most information has devalued facts, blurring lines between experts and demagogues. Getting away with untruths may be easier than ever.
Is there an actual information overload now? It’s not just the incessant texting, emailing, Facebook-checking and the hundreds of channels on TV with nothing on. As psychology professor Daniel Levitin points out:
“In 1976, there were 9,000 products in the average grocery store, and now it’s ballooned to 40,000 products. And yet most of us can get almost all our shopping done in just 150 items, so you’re having to ignore tens of thousands of times every time you go shopping.”
Even the store is overloading us. Levitin proposes that in the last 10 years we’ve created more information than in all the human history that preceded it.
“I’ve read estimates there were 30 Exabyte’s of information 10 years ago and today, there’s 300 Exabyte’s of information,” says Levitin.
On top of all this information and choices, Earl Miller, an MIT neuroscientist, notes that our brains were actually not even “wired” to multitask.
“When people think they’re multitasking, they’re actually just switching from one task to another very rapidly. And every time they do, there’s a cognitive cost in doing so,” explains Miller.
In fact, multitasking was found to increase the production of cortisol, a stress hormone, as well as adrenaline, which can overstimulate the brain and cause “mental fog”.
As we go around in our mental fog, why would we even listen to experts like Levitin and Miller? In the information overload age, a layman is empowered as much as a so-called “expert”. Let’s say you come across a Neil DeGrasse Tyson article. If you don’t like something about it, and especially if you don’t understand it, you are free to leave a comment under his Facebook article about just how wrong you think he is. You have the power to immediately set this “expert” straight. Doesn’t matter that you don’t have a degree in astrophysics. Your emotional reaction to his “facts” is all that matters here.
What may be happening is what social and political analyst (and another “expert”) Professor Tom Nichols termed “the death of expertise”.
“I fear we are witnessing the “death of expertise”: a Google-fueled, Wikipedia-based, blog-sodden collapse of any division between professionals and laymen, students and teachers, knowers and wonderers – in other words, between those of any achievement in an area and those with none at all. By this, I do not mean the death of actual expertise, the knowledge of specific things that sets some people apart from others in various areas. There will always be doctors, lawyers, engineers, and other specialists in various fields. Rather, what I fear has died is any acknowledgement of expertise as anything that should alter our thoughts or change the way we live,” writes Nichols.
Even doctors are no longer as much of an authority as people go online to diagnose themselves, resulting in the rise of cyberchondria. Just because you can find some symptoms in a search engine doesn’t mean you have that disease or that you know better how to treat it than a doctor. Still many of us do this every time we get a weird sensation.
Sticking to what we already think we know is also much easier. It doesn’t take a scientist to tell us we like to be right. Once we get an idea in our head, facts to the contrary aren’t necessarily going to make much difference.
Recent research, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, describes studies where when participants were confronted with facts that went against their views, they were likely to reframe their views as matter of opinion and personal morality (to which they had every right). On the other hand, once the presented facts were in line with their own thinking, they stated that their opinions were fact-based and didn’t invoke morality quite as much.
The researchers concluded that people’s belief systems include an aspect of “unfalsifiability” which they employ for defensive and offensive purposes. The defensive function serves to support their worldviews and a sense of identity, while anyone who ventured into the comments section of most Facebook posts could figure out what the offensive purpose is all about.
Further research by Dartmouth scientists revealed the implications of the “backfire effect”. The effect described a phenomenon whereby “corrections actually increase misperceptions.” Basically, when hearing two sides of an argument, people tend to side with the one they already agree with, corrective evidence notwithstanding. The researchers saw this related to the process by which people “bolster their preexisting views”. Especially if they have to argue their opinion vigorously (let’s say, in an internet flame war), their original opinion might become even more entrenched and extreme, facts be damned.
Of course, there’s also the Dunning-Kruger effect, whereby “low-ability” (aka not very smart people) don’t have the ability to know they are not smart and actually double down on their sense of superiority. On the flip side of that, smart people may actually underestimate their abilities. So the less intelligent get louder and the more intelligent keep to themselves.
Still, no matter how many psychology studies say this or that, none of it matters if you are disinclined to believe them. With too many facts and studies, it’s easier to stay in the mental fog. And that’s the space where demagogues operate. From the Ancient Greek warmongering leader Cleon to Hitler to Joseph McCarthy, a rabble rouser prays on the people who value beliefs more than facts. To produce desired actions from the crowd, they invoke the age-old tactic of invoking fear. Scare enough people that everything is wrong and you are the only one who can protect them, and you might find yourself in a leadership position.
“What is really fascinating when we look at the brain research around fear is that our brains proxy anything that feels unfamiliar, incoherent or inaccessible as being unsafe,” says Harvard psychologist Susan David.
Immigrants, foreign countries, people with different skin color or sexual orientation have certainly become the fearsome “unfamiliar” in the mouths of many a demagogue, some of them still in the running for the job of the leader of the free world.
Fear of the unfamiliar works especially well when confronted with an incessant barrage of information. The devil you know is your devil. You know how to live with him.
Fear is also more interesting to the news. How many of us would really tune in to watch how everything around the world is actually working out? But give us a story about a new threat and most of us would not change the channel.
Is there a solution to where we find ourselves? Can we get a grip on the information deluge? How do we make sure that someone will not come to lead us right into another world war or some totalitarian regime as demagogues often do? There may be little we can do. As history shows, the rise of demagogues is often predicated on a certain number of factors which are all in play in the modern world. This may be a something we’d just have to ride out. And vote out.
by September 11, 2016
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The Boston Red Sox. Robert Downey Jr. Martha Stewart. Everyone loves a good comeback story. Perhaps the most famous example in the business world is Steve Jobs, who was forced out of Apple — the company he founded — in 1985. He was 30 years old, and as he said at the time, “What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating. … I was a very public failure.” But he returned in 1997, and his resilience propelled him to lead Apple to unprecedented success.
Throughout my 35-year career across 10 industries, I’ve learned five steps for achieving the professional resilience that is necessary for long-term survival in any business. This is something any entrepreneur, CEO, VP, associate or recent college graduate can acquire as an advantage in the ever-competitive business world.
As a beginning step to developing professional resilience, consistently push yourself into uncomfortable situations. From these situations you will inevitably fail, and gain confidence from your failures. These scenarios happen when you are unfamiliar with the situation, or lack the basic skills and resources needed to achieve your anticipated outcome.
Once you’ve learned to push yourself out of your comfort zone, you can look at crises and challenges as favorable risks because you’ve overcome the stress and anxiety of uncomfortable situations. Even when we fail, we can learn and move forward. Whether there is an opportunity to build off of a challenge or crisis, or simply reframe the situation for others, your mindset makes all the difference. Make crises and challenges feel more like opportunities than burdens or risks.
Build vulnerability-based trust through honesty and transparency with your teammates and organization. When doing this, you will develop a resilient self, and in turn be on your way to developing organizational resilience. Dr. George Everly, the executive director of Resiliency Science Institutes, International, articulates the idea that resilience does not have a fixed end point. Resilience is never achieved, it’s a continuum that starts with developing a resilient self, then working toward developing a resilient organization.
Adhere to the idea of servant leadership,which is being more concerned with the success of others on your team than your own success. Based on research from Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith, we know this is an underlying necessity of high-performing team success. When building high-performing teams, there is a common attitude of team before self. Once the needs of the team become top priority for everyone, you will have a highly resilient team, and in turn, highly resilient individuals.
Being comfortable with circumstances that have ambiguous outcomes is a builder of resilience. You have the vision, and you know where you want to go as a professional or organization, yet you feel comfortable with the uncertainty of exactly how you’re going to get there. A developed tolerance for ambiguity is defined by the comfort you have to take that first step without knowledge of truly where that step will land.
People across all ends of the experience spectrum struggle with professional resilience. It’s in our nature to revert back to our comfort zones. But if you can continuously remind yourself to stray away from old habits, you’ll be an overall better employee and leader. As Fortune editor Peter Elkind wrote about Steve Jobs when he returned to Apple in 1997, “He had become a far better leader, less of a go-to-hell aesthete who cared only about making beautiful objects.”
Jobs’ incredible comeback was possible because he had learned from his experience and changed for the better. By developing your own capacity for resilience, you can do the same.
Contributor – Gib Mason June 11, 2015
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“Everything is energy.” ~ Albert Einstein
Energy medicine is at once time-honored and new. Whether using traditional forms like acupuncture, T’ai chi and reiki or modern applications such as Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), magnetic, vibrational or music therapy, working with the human energetic system to create wellness is an esteemed practice that produces tangible results.
According to Dr. Erin Olivio in the article Energy Medicine: “The field of energy medicine involving putative energy fields is based on the fundamental premise that all physical objects (bodies) and psychological processes (thoughts, emotions, beliefs and attitudes) are expressions of energy. Therefore, all bodies are believed to be infused with a “subtle” energy or life force. This life force is known by a variety of terms corresponding to different traditions. In traditional Chinese medicine it is called qi (pronounced CHEE), in the Judeo-Christian tradition it is called spirit, and in Ayurvedic medicine it is represented in the doshas.”
What the ancients recognized, science is now validating. Candace Pert, PhD, is one researcher who has significantly contributed to the legitimate study of Mind-Body Medicine.
“Most psychologists treat the mind as disembodied, a phenomenon with little or no connection to the physical body. Conversely, physicians treat the body with no regard to the mind or emotions. But the body and mind are not separate, and we cannot treat one without the other.” ~ Dr. Candice Pert
In Dr. Pert’s book, Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine, she explains how a class of proteins called peptides (including endorphins) act as a nervous system, delivering information throughout the body. Her theory is that the surface of each cell is covered with receptors for specific peptides. These free-floating molecules function as messengers. When we have a specific emotion, a cascade of peptides are released that ultimately influence our body.
Paul Trachtman explains how this sequence works in Smithsonian Magazine:
“… it’s through the emotion-modulating peptides that an embarrassing thought can cause blood vessels to dilate and turn a face beet red. In the same way, the molecules of emotion can mobilize immune cells to destroy an incipient tumor. Techniques like meditation or visualization may also act as forces to set those molecules in action.”
The question is: If emotions alter the functioning of the body, how do we experience healing by addressing subconscious negative emotional patterns?
This is the topic of a cutting-edge documentary on Mind-Body Medicine: E-Motion.
Leaders in the field of energetic medicine — including Sonia Choquette, Dr. Joe Dispenza, Dr. Bradley Nelson, Don Tolman, and others — explore the connection between emotions, the body and health in the documentary.
Taking into account the subconscious mind is 1000 times more powerful than the conscious mind, we are likely to ask: What actually controls it? The answer lies with unresolved emotions.
When we have traumatic perceptions buried in our subconscious mind, these emotional memories — when triggered — will cause a reaction in the body that sets-off a cascade of stress hormones, thereby altering our physiology.
How are these negative perceptions created? By our thoughts, because thoughts create emotions. And when we feel an emotion strongly enough, it will become trapped and disrupt the energy field of the body. Anger, aggression, anxiety, depression, sadness — these negative emotions will lodge themselves in the body and are the leading cause of physical pain. Eventually, if the blockage isn’t cleared, disease will develop.
Dr. Joseph Mercola provides an example:
“… those suffering from depression will often experience chest pains, even when there’s nothing physically wrong with their heart. Extreme grief can also have a devastating impact — not for nothing is the saying that someone “died from a broken heart.” In the days after losing a loved one, your risk of suffering a heart attack shoots up by 21 times!”
He also points out:
“Your body cannot tell the difference between an actual experience that triggers an emotional response, and an emotion fabricated through thought process alone — such as when worrying about something negative that might occur but has not actually happened, or conversely, thinking about something positive and pleasant.
“The fact that you can activate your body’s stress response (which produces chemicals that can make you sick) simply by thinking means that you wield tremendous power over your physical state in every moment. Moreover, it means that you can literally manifest disease, or healing, by thinking.”
Needless to say, in order to enjoy vibrant health, it’s vitally important to release emotional baggage.
The team of experts in E-Motion believe there are active steps we can take to heal the body, the subconscious mind and our overall health. Here are a few:
And finally, never underestimate the healing power of gratitude and liberal self-love.
By Carolanne Wright 5th June 2015
Contributing Writer for Wake Up World
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Despite what cable news may tell you, scientists don’t really squabble over if evolution is real (it is) or if the climate is changing faster than can be explained by naturally-occurring phenomena (it is) or if vaccines are regarded as safe and recommended for most children (they are). Sure, there may be fine points within those categories that are debatable, but not to the extent that is commonly described by talking heads on TV. However, that’s not to say that scientists perfectly understand everything about the ways of the Universe.
Physicist Brian Cox once said: “I’m comfortable with the unknown—that’s the point of science. There are places out there, billions of places out there, that we know nothing about. And the fact that we know nothing about them excites me, and I want to go out and find out about them. And that’s what science is. So I think if you’re not comfortable with the unknown, then it’s difficult to be a scientist… I don’t need an answer. I don’t need answers to everything. I want to have answers to find.”
So what are some of the top mysteries keeping scientists busy? Here’s our top ten:
Why is there more matter than antimatter?
According to our current understanding of particle physics, matter and antimatter are equal but opposite. When they meet, they should destroy one another and leave nothing left over, and most of those annihilations should have occurred early in the Universe. However, there was enough matter left over to make the billions and billions of galaxies, stars, planets, and everything else. Various explanations surround mesons, which are short-lived subatomic particles made of one quark and one antiquark. B-mesons decay more slowly than anti-B-mesons, which could have resulted in enough B-mesons surviving the interaction to create all of the matter in the Universe. Additionally, B-, D-, and K-mesons can oscillate and become antiparticles and then back again. Studies have suggested that mesons are more likely to assume the normal state, which may also be why regular particles outnumber antiparticles.
Where is all the lithium?
Early in the Universe when temperatures were incredibly high, isotopes of hydrogen, helium, and lithium were synthesized in abundance. Hydrogen and helium are still incredibly abundant and make up nearly all of the mass in the Universe, though there is only about a third of the lithium-7 that we should see. There are a wide variety of explanations for why this might have happened, including some hypotheses involving hypothetical bosons known as axions, and others believe it is trapped in the core of stars, which our current telescopes and instruments can’t detect. However, there are currently no clear front running theories to explain this absence of lithium in the Universe.
Why do we sleep?
While we do know that the human body is regulated by a circadian clock that keeps humans on a sleep/wake cycle, we don’t really know why. Sleep is the time when our bodies repair tissues and perform other maintenance activities, and we spend nearly a third of our lives snoozing. Some other organisms don’t need to sleep at all, so why do we? There are a few different ideas out there, but none seem to solidly answer the question. Some theorize that animals who are able to sleep have evolved the ability to hide from predators, while others who need to remain more alert are able to rest and regenerate in other ways without fully going to sleep. While scientists don’t quite know why we do it, they are starting to learn more about why it is important, and how sleep impacts important things like brain plasticity.
How does gravity work?
We all know that gravity from the moon causes tides, Earth’s gravity holds us to the surface, and the sun’s gravity keeps our planet in orbit, but how much do we really understand it? This powerful force is generated from matter, and more massive objects therefore have a greater ability to attract other objects. While scientists do understand a great deal about how gravity acts, they aren’t really sure why it exists. Why are atoms mostly empty space? Why is the force that holds atoms together different from gravity? Is gravity actually a particle? These are answers that we really just can’t answer with our current understand of physics.
Where is everyone?
The observable Universe is 92 billion light-years in diameter, filled with billions of galaxies with stars and planets, yet the only evidence of any life anywhere is right here on Earth. Statistically, the odds of us actually being the only living beings in the Universe are impossibly low, so why the hell haven’t we connected with anyone else yet? This is known as the Fermi Paradox, and there have been dozens of suggestions to explain why we haven’t encountered extraterrestrial life; some more plausible than others. We could probably talk about all of the different possibilities for days about whether or not we’re just missing signals, if they’ve actually been here and we didn’t know it, they can’t/don’t want to talk to us, or—the extremely unlikely scenario—if Earth is the only planet with life ever.
What is dark matter made of?
About 80% of all mass in the Universe is made of dark matter. Dark matter is pretty peculiar stuff, as it doesn’t emit any light. Though it was first theorized about 60 years ago, there isn’t any direct evidence of its existence. Many scientists believe dark matter is comprised of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), which could be up to 100 times more massive than a proton, but doesn’t readily interact with the baryonic matter our instruments were designed to detect. Other candidates for dark matter’s composition include axions, neutralinos, and photinos.
How did life begin?
Where did life on Earth come from? How did it happen? Those who believe in the Primordial Soup model believe that a nutrient-rich early Earth eventually formed increasingly-complex molecules that gave rise to life. This could have taken place in the deep ocean vents, in clay, or under ice. Different models also give variable levels of importance to the presence of lightning or volcanic activity for the spawn of life. While DNA is the predominant basis for life on Earth now, it has been suggested that RNA could have dominated the first lifeforms. Additionally, other scientists question whether other nucleic acids aside from RNA or DNA may have once existed. Did life spawn just once, or is it possible that is was created, wiped out, and then restarted? Some believe in panspermia, in which microbial life was brought to Earth via meteorites or comets. Even if that is true, it doesn’t answer the question of how that life originated.
How do plate tectonics work?
It might sound surprising, but the theory of continental plates moving around, rearranging continents and causing earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and even forming mountains, has only received widespread support relatively recently. Though it was first postulated back around 1500 that the continents may have once fit together (it’s not really a stretch for anyone who has looked at a map), the idea didn’t gain a lot of traction until the 1960s when the hypothesis of sea-floor spreading, where rocks are pulled into the mantle of the Earth, recycled, and brought back to the surface as magma, was backed up by physical evidence. However, scientists aren’t entirely sure on what drives this movement or exactly how plate boundaries were created. There are many theories, but none of them completely address all aspects of this activity.
How do animals migrate?
Many animals and insects migrate throughout the year in order to escape changing seasonal temperatures and the waning resources that come with it or to find mates. Some of these migrations can reach thousands of kilometers in one direction, so how do they find their way there and back again year after year? Different animals use different navigational tools, including some who are able to tap into the Earth’s magnetic field and use themselves like a compass. However, scientists still don’t know how this trait evolved or how untrained animals know exactly where to go season after season.
What is dark energy?
Of all of the great mysteries of science, dark energy might be the most enigmatic of all. While dark matter makes up an estimated 80% of all mass, dark energy is a hypothetical form of energy believed to make up around 70% of all content in the Universe. Dark energy has been implicated as the cause for the expansion of the Universe, though there is still a considerable amount of mystery regarding its supposed properties. First and foremost, what is it even made of? Is dark energy constant, or are there fluctuations throughout the expanse of space? Why does dark energy’s density appear to match the density of regular matter? Can dark energy be reconciled with Einstein’s theory of gravity, or does the theory need to be reevaluated?
June 25, 2014 | by Lisa Winter
