Monday, September 27, 2010
Next week: Gunther Pohlman Society Meeting: More of his writings.
Also the author, Ann, is planning on presenting the book, Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences by Dr. Jeffrey Long, a radiation oncologist. Presentation scheduled right now for December 9, 2010. So if you would like to read ahead and be exceptionally prepared for the Dec 9 discussion, read this book. There is also a website: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/34953759 where Dr. Jeffrey Long talks to a woman who describes a Near Death Experience on MSNBC. Check it out.
September 23, 2010 "Why" by Paul N.
Paul N. has taken up guitar in the last several years. He had played for our group once before, and decided to play for us again today. He composes music himself, but in this case he chose to play and sing a song by Neil Young, called "Harvest Moon" in celebration of the harvest moon, which is the first full moon after the fall equinox. Below are the words for this song. We enjoyed hearing the song to open our session.
Come a little bit closer
Hear what I have to say
Just like children sleepin'
We could dream this night away.
But there's a full moon risin'
Let's go dancin' in the light.
We know where the music's playin'
Let's go out and feel the night.
Beause I'm still in love with you.
I want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this harvest moon.
When we were strangers
I watched you from afar
When we were lovers
I loved you with all my heart.
But now it's gettin' late
And the moon is climbin' high
I want to celebrate
Se it shinin' in you eye.
Because I'm still in love with you.
I want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this harvest moon.
Paul then asked the group: Why do we human beings question everything? What purpose does that serve?
Inquiry is important; in fact, inquiry and mindfulness are one and the same thing, just coming from different directions.
But we do question all the time. And there is a certain futility to the questioning. Our world is always a little bit off from the way things are and how we perceive them, so we always question.
Paul presented a handout with various quotes about questioning:
"With perception there is deception" by Thich Nhat Hanh. We know that everyone perceives things slightly differently. We are all deceived by our perception.
The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle was discussed briefly. The below paragraphs are from Wikipedia's definition of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle:
In quantum mechanics, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle states by precise inequalities that certain pairs of physical properties, such as position and momentum, cannot be simultaneously known to arbitrarily high precision. That is, the more precisely one property is measured, the less precisely the other can be measured. The principle states that a minimum exists for the product of the uncertainties in these properties that is equal to or greater than one half of the reduced Planck's constant (ħ = h/2π).
Published by Werner Heisenberg in 1927, the principle means that it is impossible to determine simultaneously both the position and momentum of an electron or any other particle with any great degree of accuracy or certainty. Moreover, his principle is not a statement about the limitations of a researcher's ability to measure particular quantities of a system, but it is a statement about the nature of the system itself as described by the equations of quantum mechanics.
In quantum physics, a particle is described by a wave packet, which gives rise to this phenomenon. Consider the measurement of the position of a particle. It could be anywhere the particle's wave packet has non-zero amplitude, meaning the position is uncertain – it could be almost anywhere along the wave packet. To obtain an accurate reading of position, this wave packet must be 'compressed' as much as possible, meaning it must be made up of increasing numbers of sine waves added together. The momentum of the particle is proportional to the wavenumber of one of these waves, but it could be any of them. So a more precise position measurement–by adding together more waves–means the momentum measurement becomes less precise (and vice versa).
The only kind of wave with a definite position is concentrated at one point, and such a wave has an indefinite wavelength (and therefore an indefinite momentum). Conversely, the only kind of wave with a definite wavelength is an infinite regular periodic oscillation over all space, which has no definite position. So in quantum mechanics, there can be no states that describe a particle with both a definite position and a definite momentum. The more precise the position, the less precise the momentum.
Paul discussed the fallibility of memory. Everytime you reboot a memory, you corrupt it. So your memories change. When we live things over and over again, we change them, or they become wrong, unreal, altered by our emotions. Fear, anger, and righteousness make us believe our wrong memories more.
We all live by certain unprovable truths or assumptions. (Is this what is meant by faith?) But given our distorted memories, we all come to a place where we have to make things fit together based on these assumptions that we have. Memory is subjective and the main point of our memory is to support the ego. Whatever we see is not really the way things are. The ego is a me versus you type of thinking process.
We want to be certain. Most of us don't live comfortably with uncertainty. There are real things that are fairly certain -- we drive on the right side of the road, and others do also. But if you apply this to political beliefs and try to arrive at the same degree of certainty, it doesn't work. For example, assume Democrats are better than Republicans. Our assumptions don't work here, and we get into trouble.
Someone said, "Being uncertain is uncomfortable, but being certain is ridiculous."
And yet we question: Socrates said: "The unexamined life is not worth living."
"People with opinions just go around bothering each other" Buddha said this.
A study was done at UW. A group of people who believed that Saddam Hussein planned 9/11. This group was given the truth and shown evidence to prove that this was not the case. They then realized and admitted that they had been wrong about this information, but they still did not change their opinion about the war in Iraq. They still maintained that the war was necessary though the main reason they had used to back it had been proven wrong.
We would rather be ruined than changed.
We would rather die in our dread
Than take up the cross of the moment
And let our illusions die. by W.H. Auden
The superego beomes involved here. It is judgemental and self observing. It's sort of a higher level or exagerated ego. For a person grounded in self, groundlessness is very fearful. So ego protects us from this. Yet the truth is that ground is an illusion, so we are basicly groundless.
Belief allows change of the idea. Dogma can't be changed.
There is always questioning. What is the alternative to always questioning? Various answers came from the group: 1) Being a bliss ninny. 2) accepting 3) proselytizing 4) preaching. Some of these results of not questions are not for the good of humanity. There has to be a dialogue. When we conduct a monologue with out ego we are defending our dogma because it cannot be changed. This has led to great uncivility in our time from the interaction on the street corner all the way to political campaigns and the reaction of those in the highest offices of power.
The last two quotes are from Paul himself:
" Being uncertain and even being wrong is inevitable. Being open is a deep practice, essential to the Fourth Noble Truth" (a viewpoint).
"Questioning when there are no answers, or even worse, when it leads to self-deception, can be a problem. Spiritual growth or ego?"
Come a little bit closer
Hear what I have to say
Just like children sleepin'
We could dream this night away.
But there's a full moon risin'
Let's go dancin' in the light.
We know where the music's playin'
Let's go out and feel the night.
Beause I'm still in love with you.
I want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this harvest moon.
When we were strangers
I watched you from afar
When we were lovers
I loved you with all my heart.
But now it's gettin' late
And the moon is climbin' high
I want to celebrate
Se it shinin' in you eye.
Because I'm still in love with you.
I want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this harvest moon.
Paul then asked the group: Why do we human beings question everything? What purpose does that serve?
Inquiry is important; in fact, inquiry and mindfulness are one and the same thing, just coming from different directions.
But we do question all the time. And there is a certain futility to the questioning. Our world is always a little bit off from the way things are and how we perceive them, so we always question.
Paul presented a handout with various quotes about questioning:
"With perception there is deception" by Thich Nhat Hanh. We know that everyone perceives things slightly differently. We are all deceived by our perception.
The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle was discussed briefly. The below paragraphs are from Wikipedia's definition of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle:
In quantum mechanics, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle states by precise inequalities that certain pairs of physical properties, such as position and momentum, cannot be simultaneously known to arbitrarily high precision. That is, the more precisely one property is measured, the less precisely the other can be measured. The principle states that a minimum exists for the product of the uncertainties in these properties that is equal to or greater than one half of the reduced Planck's constant (ħ = h/2π).
Published by Werner Heisenberg in 1927, the principle means that it is impossible to determine simultaneously both the position and momentum of an electron or any other particle with any great degree of accuracy or certainty. Moreover, his principle is not a statement about the limitations of a researcher's ability to measure particular quantities of a system, but it is a statement about the nature of the system itself as described by the equations of quantum mechanics.
In quantum physics, a particle is described by a wave packet, which gives rise to this phenomenon. Consider the measurement of the position of a particle. It could be anywhere the particle's wave packet has non-zero amplitude, meaning the position is uncertain – it could be almost anywhere along the wave packet. To obtain an accurate reading of position, this wave packet must be 'compressed' as much as possible, meaning it must be made up of increasing numbers of sine waves added together. The momentum of the particle is proportional to the wavenumber of one of these waves, but it could be any of them. So a more precise position measurement–by adding together more waves–means the momentum measurement becomes less precise (and vice versa).
The only kind of wave with a definite position is concentrated at one point, and such a wave has an indefinite wavelength (and therefore an indefinite momentum). Conversely, the only kind of wave with a definite wavelength is an infinite regular periodic oscillation over all space, which has no definite position. So in quantum mechanics, there can be no states that describe a particle with both a definite position and a definite momentum. The more precise the position, the less precise the momentum.
Paul discussed the fallibility of memory. Everytime you reboot a memory, you corrupt it. So your memories change. When we live things over and over again, we change them, or they become wrong, unreal, altered by our emotions. Fear, anger, and righteousness make us believe our wrong memories more.
We all live by certain unprovable truths or assumptions. (Is this what is meant by faith?) But given our distorted memories, we all come to a place where we have to make things fit together based on these assumptions that we have. Memory is subjective and the main point of our memory is to support the ego. Whatever we see is not really the way things are. The ego is a me versus you type of thinking process.
We want to be certain. Most of us don't live comfortably with uncertainty. There are real things that are fairly certain -- we drive on the right side of the road, and others do also. But if you apply this to political beliefs and try to arrive at the same degree of certainty, it doesn't work. For example, assume Democrats are better than Republicans. Our assumptions don't work here, and we get into trouble.
Someone said, "Being uncertain is uncomfortable, but being certain is ridiculous."
And yet we question: Socrates said: "The unexamined life is not worth living."
"People with opinions just go around bothering each other" Buddha said this.
A study was done at UW. A group of people who believed that Saddam Hussein planned 9/11. This group was given the truth and shown evidence to prove that this was not the case. They then realized and admitted that they had been wrong about this information, but they still did not change their opinion about the war in Iraq. They still maintained that the war was necessary though the main reason they had used to back it had been proven wrong.
We would rather be ruined than changed.
We would rather die in our dread
Than take up the cross of the moment
And let our illusions die. by W.H. Auden
The superego beomes involved here. It is judgemental and self observing. It's sort of a higher level or exagerated ego. For a person grounded in self, groundlessness is very fearful. So ego protects us from this. Yet the truth is that ground is an illusion, so we are basicly groundless.
Belief allows change of the idea. Dogma can't be changed.
There is always questioning. What is the alternative to always questioning? Various answers came from the group: 1) Being a bliss ninny. 2) accepting 3) proselytizing 4) preaching. Some of these results of not questions are not for the good of humanity. There has to be a dialogue. When we conduct a monologue with out ego we are defending our dogma because it cannot be changed. This has led to great uncivility in our time from the interaction on the street corner all the way to political campaigns and the reaction of those in the highest offices of power.
The last two quotes are from Paul himself:
" Being uncertain and even being wrong is inevitable. Being open is a deep practice, essential to the Fourth Noble Truth" (a viewpoint).
"Questioning when there are no answers, or even worse, when it leads to self-deception, can be a problem. Spiritual growth or ego?"
Sept 16, 2010 Facts about the Middle East Crisis, from the Israeli Point of View
On this date, Judy K brought 3 guests to present to our group. The main presenter was Ivan M. Lang of Glendale, from the Committee for Truth and Justice. Other members of the Committee present were:
James Beer,PHD in Marriage and Family Therapy
Gerald Glazer,MS Northwestern University/ Real estate broker/ Math Professor
Nancy Weiss Mc Guide MS/ UWM and Theater at Nicolet High School
They are coming to St. Matthias Curch on October 17,2010 from 4 PM - 6 PM. The film,"The Case for Israel" will be shown at St.Matthias.
Here is a "letter to the editor" from the Jewish Chronicle of September 2010 written by our speaker, Ivan M. Lang.
"Bloomfield confuses Congress with Obama"
"In the August Chronicle, Douglas Bloomfield in his opinion article denied accusations that President Obama 'dangerously undermines Israel's security" by listing actions taken by Congress and not Obama.
While it is true that Congress has continued to support Israel by funding military projects in Israel, none of this has anything to do with Obama.
Obama agreed to sell the following military hardware to various Arab countrie.
Eygpt: Apach Longbow helicopters, 24 F-16's and 156 F-16 jet engines, four batteries of Harpoon Cruise missiles, fast missile boats, 450 Hellfire anti-tank missiles.
Saudi Arabia: 2,742 Hellfire anti-tank missiles.
Jordon: 1,808 Hellfire anti-tank missiles and 162 launchers with night vision.
United Arab Emirates: 1600 laser guided smart bombs, 800 one-ton bombs, and 400 bunker buster bombs.
Morocco: 24 F-16s.
What war are these countries fighting?
Obama also chose the following anti-Israel advisors for key positions in his government: Chas Freeman as chair of National Intelligence Council; Chuck Hagel as co-chair of the Presidential International Advisory Board; Samantha Power as Senior Foreign Policy Advisor; James Jones, as National Security Advisor; Susan Rice as ambassador to the United Nations; Rosa Brooks as Undersecretary of Defense advisor.
Ralph Peters, former Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, said on Fox News in March: "This is our first anti-Israel President; it's bewildering and astonishing."
Thank G-d we we live in a country that still has separation of powers.
Ivan M. Lang of Glendale.
After the publication of this opinion piece, the writer informed the Chronicle that after he wrote this letter, Obama agreed to sell Israel 20 F-35jets.
I believe you all received the slides from this discussion via email. I tried to post them on this site but could not do that. The adobe file would not transfer. If any of you would like to have a copy of them please send me an email, at annselzer@gmail.com. I will send you the slides.
James Beer,PHD in Marriage and Family Therapy
Gerald Glazer,MS Northwestern University/ Real estate broker/ Math Professor
Nancy Weiss Mc Guide MS/ UWM and Theater at Nicolet High School
They are coming to St. Matthias Curch on October 17,2010 from 4 PM - 6 PM. The film,"The Case for Israel" will be shown at St.Matthias.
Here is a "letter to the editor" from the Jewish Chronicle of September 2010 written by our speaker, Ivan M. Lang.
"Bloomfield confuses Congress with Obama"
"In the August Chronicle, Douglas Bloomfield in his opinion article denied accusations that President Obama 'dangerously undermines Israel's security" by listing actions taken by Congress and not Obama.
While it is true that Congress has continued to support Israel by funding military projects in Israel, none of this has anything to do with Obama.
Obama agreed to sell the following military hardware to various Arab countrie.
Eygpt: Apach Longbow helicopters, 24 F-16's and 156 F-16 jet engines, four batteries of Harpoon Cruise missiles, fast missile boats, 450 Hellfire anti-tank missiles.
Saudi Arabia: 2,742 Hellfire anti-tank missiles.
Jordon: 1,808 Hellfire anti-tank missiles and 162 launchers with night vision.
United Arab Emirates: 1600 laser guided smart bombs, 800 one-ton bombs, and 400 bunker buster bombs.
Morocco: 24 F-16s.
What war are these countries fighting?
Obama also chose the following anti-Israel advisors for key positions in his government: Chas Freeman as chair of National Intelligence Council; Chuck Hagel as co-chair of the Presidential International Advisory Board; Samantha Power as Senior Foreign Policy Advisor; James Jones, as National Security Advisor; Susan Rice as ambassador to the United Nations; Rosa Brooks as Undersecretary of Defense advisor.
Ralph Peters, former Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, said on Fox News in March: "This is our first anti-Israel President; it's bewildering and astonishing."
Thank G-d we we live in a country that still has separation of powers.
Ivan M. Lang of Glendale.
After the publication of this opinion piece, the writer informed the Chronicle that after he wrote this letter, Obama agreed to sell Israel 20 F-35jets.
I believe you all received the slides from this discussion via email. I tried to post them on this site but could not do that. The adobe file would not transfer. If any of you would like to have a copy of them please send me an email, at annselzer@gmail.com. I will send you the slides.
Sept 9, 2010 Conscience, Freedom, and Prayer by Thomas Merton.
On Sept 9, 2010 Gary S presented Chapter Three from "No Man Is An Island" by Thomas Merton.
From W.L. Lyons Brown Library, Thomas Merton Center, Bellarmine University, below is a brief summary about Thomas Merton. Following this summary, is a chronology of Thomas Merton life and works. You can see that he was a particularly prolific Catholic writer in the Trappist, Cistercian persuasian. After the summary and chronology, there is a copy of Chapter 3 from "No Man Is An Island" by Thomas Merton which we discussed. The underlining is Gary's and it emphasizes what he felt was important; the group discussed several of these points at this Sept 9 meeting. Gary said that he likes this chapter, particularly in the beginning, because it seems to match Gary's cosmology which he has presented to us before. If you click on the Read More below you will find these items.
From W.L. Lyons Brown Library, Thomas Merton Center, Bellarmine University, below is a brief summary about Thomas Merton. Following this summary, is a chronology of Thomas Merton life and works. You can see that he was a particularly prolific Catholic writer in the Trappist, Cistercian persuasian. After the summary and chronology, there is a copy of Chapter 3 from "No Man Is An Island" by Thomas Merton which we discussed. The underlining is Gary's and it emphasizes what he felt was important; the group discussed several of these points at this Sept 9 meeting. Gary said that he likes this chapter, particularly in the beginning, because it seems to match Gary's cosmology which he has presented to us before. If you click on the Read More below you will find these items.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Sept 2, 2010 Bake Off
Again Bake Off for our spiritual group showed that we definitely have a need for this type of free-for-all session periodically. Spirit Mind Body without a BakeOff is like trees without the wind, flowers without the sun, or soil without the fertilizer. However this photo certainly expresses the friendly discussions that we have at our BakeOffs. It should be noted that these impala disagreements in Africa never really hurt either of the two ungulates.
+9.3--9.9.09+943.JPG)
Law of the Garbage Truck
One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport
We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us.
My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches!
The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us.
My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy.
And I mean, he was really friendly.
So I asked, 'Why did you must do that?
This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!'
This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call,
The Law of the Garbage Truck
He explained that many people are like garbage trucks.
They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment.
As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you.
Don't take it personally.
Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on.
Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.
The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day.
Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so ... Love the people who treat you right.
Pray for the ones who don't.
Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!
Have a garbage free day.
The group liked this little piece. We spoke of ways to express this same goal. Members presented various anecdotes :
One person witnessed the frustration of a couple standing in a grocery check out line: The woman turned to the man and said: "I am not going to let this woman steal my joy."
"I am not going to let this person live in my head rentfree" ie with all the resentments that such a person might build up in us.
Now came the fireworks. One attendee brought up that there are not really any differences between man and woman, but rather just social styles that are prominent. An author she had read introduced this idea and thought this would level out gender differences and disagreements. The group had a lot to say about this idea. Many thought that there really is a hard wiring in the brain that determines differences between men and women. Indeed this has been shown scientifically. But could even these so-called hard wired personality characteristics be altered by social style and environment? There are certain gender rituals that become ingrained in our behavior and that is socially OK but one should not expect another to follow those rituals. In general in conflicts once the conflicting parties agree on what the disagreement is about, there can be harmony ie agreement to disagree. The group balanced their discussion by talking of ethnic and nationalistic effects on social style. To demonstrate how the gender difference discussion proceeded during this BakeOff, at one point we not only discussed but actually took a poll on which way the toilet paper should be mounted in the bathroom -- under or over. No agreement was reached and we agreed to disagree. Hard wired gender differences are well represented in the following photo. Enough said!
+9.3--9.9.09+943.JPG)
Law of the Garbage Truck
One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport
We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us.
My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches!
The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us.
My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy.
And I mean, he was really friendly.
So I asked, 'Why did you must do that?
This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!'
This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call,
The Law of the Garbage Truck
He explained that many people are like garbage trucks.
They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment.
As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you.
Don't take it personally.
Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on.
Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.
The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day.
Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so ... Love the people who treat you right.
Pray for the ones who don't.
Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!
Have a garbage free day.
The group liked this little piece. We spoke of ways to express this same goal. Members presented various anecdotes :
One person witnessed the frustration of a couple standing in a grocery check out line: The woman turned to the man and said: "I am not going to let this woman steal my joy."
"I am not going to let this person live in my head rentfree" ie with all the resentments that such a person might build up in us.
Now came the fireworks. One attendee brought up that there are not really any differences between man and woman, but rather just social styles that are prominent. An author she had read introduced this idea and thought this would level out gender differences and disagreements. The group had a lot to say about this idea. Many thought that there really is a hard wiring in the brain that determines differences between men and women. Indeed this has been shown scientifically. But could even these so-called hard wired personality characteristics be altered by social style and environment? There are certain gender rituals that become ingrained in our behavior and that is socially OK but one should not expect another to follow those rituals. In general in conflicts once the conflicting parties agree on what the disagreement is about, there can be harmony ie agreement to disagree. The group balanced their discussion by talking of ethnic and nationalistic effects on social style. To demonstrate how the gender difference discussion proceeded during this BakeOff, at one point we not only discussed but actually took a poll on which way the toilet paper should be mounted in the bathroom -- under or over. No agreement was reached and we agreed to disagree. Hard wired gender differences are well represented in the following photo. Enough said!
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