From another blog: Last of the Bohemians

    Eric sent me this reference to another blog on blogspot.com and an article entitled "Out of Helplessness", posted on March 30, 2012. This article is a good read>

http://lastofthebohemians.blogspot.com/2012/03/out-of-helplessness.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LastOfTheBohemians+%28Last+of+the+Bohemians%29

April 12, 2012: Shel Silverstein and "the Giving Tree" Ann S.

Shel Silverstein

The Man, Creative Paradox
Born Sheldon Allan "Shel" Silverstein in Chicago - Sept 25, 1930. Died in Key West, FL, May 8 or 9, 1999 of a heart attack.
American poet, singer (in a fashion), songwriter, musician (guitar), composer, cartoonist, playwright, screenwriter, and author of children's books.
Shel said he would rather have been a baseball player, or a hit with the girsl, but he was not athletic, and women didn't like him, so he became all of the above.

Hit Read More to learn more about Shel Silverstein, his accomplishments, hear him sing with Johnny Cash, and read the Giving Tree, on You tube.

April 5, 2012: Bake Off

     During this bake off, at first we discussed a little bit of Heart Math. For those new members that had never heard of it before, we outlined how it works. Heart Math refers to a technique of seizing a moment, time or episode of strong gratitude in your life such as holding your newborn child, experiencing a sacred moment, anything that you can think of that fills you with gratitude. Then you hold that sensation in your chest where your heart is and focus on this feeling. Heart Math works with a pulse ox type machine that registers your pulse rate in a finger tip and applies a computer calculation to this pulse to calculate not just the heart rate but the variation of the rate of the heart beat. When focusing on gratitude, the variability of the heart rate reaches what is called coherence. That is it forms a sine wave of heart rate variability. When this happens the blood pressure lowers, and other autonomic functions in the body calm down. The sympathetic nervous system slows its firing. It is thought that the electromagnetic waves generated by the heart during coherence have a beneficial effect even on the brain, even calming the brain. One can work with the Em Wave machine which gives biofeedback information to the wearer to determine if he/she is practicing the appreciation and gratitude exercises appropriately. With practice, a person no longer even needs the Em wave pulse readings. The feeling itself produces the necessary body function changes itself. People can keep sort of a Rolodex of gratitude experiences to call on and can achieve this sense of well-being readily in all external situation.s This technique achieves the relaxation response much like meditation does, but it seems to do it much quicker. I had seen that the Em Wave machine, a hand held device that changes color to show coherence, is being sold in airline magazines.

     Someone commented that HeartMath is "The World according to Garf (not Garp). -- gratitude, appreciation, reverence, and friendship.

     Paul commented that the science of spirituality may be distracting. Eve if science doesn't explain or we can't understand , for example, 26 dimensions, so it just is -- whether science proves it or not. Science is a system of faith.

     A common source of spirituality is awe. Some people pursue the religious way of this awe. Some pursue science as the source of this awe. Science confirms religion and vice versa. You can be comforted by these thoughts and you can hopefully get past the historical conflict of science and religion.

     Dick brought an excerpt from the Upanishads he wished to share with the group.
Sacred song of the Chandogya Upanishad
Chapter VIII
The city of Brahman


1.1 In the city of Brahman is a secret dwelling, 
the lotus of the heart. Within this dwelling is a space, and within that 
space is the fulfillment of our desires. What is within that space
should be longed for and realized. 


1.3 As great as the infinite space beyond is 
      the space within the lotus of the heart. 
      Both heaven and earth are contained in that inner
      space, both fire and air, sun and moon, lightning
      and stars. Whether we know it in this
      world or know it not, everything is contained
      in that inner space.


1.5  Never fear that old age will invade that
      city; never fear that this inner treasure of all
      reality will wither and decay. This knows no
      age when the body ages; this knows no dying 
      when the body dies. This is the real city of
      Brahman; this is the Self, free from old age,
      from death and grief, hunger and thirst. In the
      Self all desires are fulfilled.


      The Self desires only what is real, thinks
      nothing but what is true. Here people do what
      they are told, becoming dependent on their
      country, or their piece of land, or the desires
1.6  of another, so their desires are not fulfilled
       and their works come to nothing, both in this
      world and in the next. those who depart from
      this world without knowing who they are or
      what they truly desire have no freedom here or
      hereafter.


      But those who leave here knowing who they
      are and what they truly desire have freedom
      everywhere, both in this world and in the
      next.


1.1  Would they see their departed mother
2     or father? Lo, they see them and are happy.
1.3  Would they see their family and friends?
6     Lo, they see them and are happy. Would 
       they enjoy the world of music, or spring
       flowers, of elegance? Lo, by their mere will
1.10  they enjoy these things. Whatever they
       desire, the object of that desire arises from 
       the power of their own thought; they have
       it and are happy.


3.2   Here our selfless desires are hidden by 
      selfish ones. they are real, but they are
      covered by what is false. Therefore whoever
      of our own departs from this life, not one can
3.2   ever be brought back before our eyes. But
      all those we love, alive or departed, and all 
      things we desire but do not have, are found
     when we enter that space within the heart; for
      there abide all desires that are true, though
      covered by what is false.


      Like strangers in an unfamiliar country
      walking over a hidden treasure, day by day
      we enter the world of Brahman while in deep
      sleep but never find it, carried away by what
      is false.


3.3  The Self is hidden in the lotus of the heart.
     Those who see themselves in all creatures go
     day by day into the world of Brahman hidden
4    in the heart. Established in peace, they rise
     above body-consciousness to the supreme
     light of the Self, Immortal, free from fear, this
5   Self is Brahman, called the True. Beyond the
     mortal and the immortal, he binds both worlds
     together. Those who know this live day after
     day in heaven in this very life.


4.1 The Self is a bulwark against the confounding
     of these worlds and a bridge between
     them. Day and night cannot cross that bridge,
     nor old age, nor death, nor grief, nor evil nor
     good deeds.  All evils turn back there, unable
     to cross; evil comes not into this world of 
     Brahman.


4.2  One who crosses by this bridge, therefore,
     if blind, is blind no more; if hurt, ceases to be
     hurt; if in sorrow, ceases sorrowing.  At this
     boundary night itself becomes day: night
     comes not into this world of Brahman.


4.3  Only those who are pure and self controlled
     can find this world of Brahman. That world is 
     theirs alone. In that world, in all the worlds,
     they live in perfect freedom.


Some comments on these Upanishads:
   What can be said of a state of being in which even the separate observer disappears?  "Words turn back frightened," the Upanishads say: every attempt to explain produces contradictions and inconsistencies. But the sages of the Upanishads must have longed so ardently to communicate that they had to try, even if the picture was doomed to be inadequate.
     Some time ago I remember watching footage of how the Titanic was discovered -- two and a half miles below the surface of the ocean, far beyond depths that light can penetrate, where the sheer weight of the sea would crush a human being. Scientists designed a twelve-foot robot called Argo and lowered it little by little through those black waters right to the ocean floor. At those blind depths, probing with cameras and sonar, they began to piece together a vivid picture of a world no one could have seen before. The video seemed to take us through doors that had not been opened for seventy years, down that famous staircase into a silent crystal ballroom uncorrupted by  time -- eerie, disjointed shots of a lightless landscape. That is how I think of the Upanishads, probing depths where individuality itself dissolves and sending up pictures of treasures sunk in the seabed of the unconscious.
     What do they report" They tell us, first, that whatever we are, whatever we may have done, there is in each of us an inalienable Self that is divine:

     As the sun, who is the eye of the world,
     Cannot be tainted by the defects in our eyes
     Nor by the objects it looks on,
     So the one Self, dwelling in all, cannot
     Be tainted by the evils of the world.
     For this Self transcends all!  
           (Kathat II.2.II


Some comments from the Upanishads are talking about exceeding the speed of light you are in the same place and time. As yo approach the speed of light there is no time -- you are in the moment. Then all is one.

Someone cautions to be careful.  Some scientists are ruled by the fear of what they know and what they don't know. We must realize we can't comprehend the universe. It is incredible arrogance to believe we can comprehends something so incomprehensible.


     As a change of pace, we commented on the following weekly Phillip Chard column on our technological world.


As we increasingly replace face-to-face or phone-to-ear communication with e-interaction (chat, email, social networking), loneliness becomes more prevalent.

Studies show that loneliness has increased in recent decades. For instance, research subjects in 2005 were three times more likely to report feeling lonely than those in 1985.

But just what is loneliness? It's not the same as solitude, which introverted folks need to sustain their well-being. Rather, those who feel lonely have a decreased sense of heartfelt belonging, experience fewer meaningful connections with others, and are without true confidants.

In other words, one's social space may be packed with people, but if these connections are superficial, one still feels alone.

What's more, loneliness is largely a matter of perception. It emerges when there is a significant disparity between your actual level of meaningful social contact and your desired level of such contact. If you want to feel more connected with others but don't, you're lonely.

But it's not all in one's head. Research shows that loneliness is a health risk comparable to obesity or smoking. Also, lonely folks carry biological markers consistent with chronic stress, which wreaks havoc on mental and physical well-being.

The reason electronic communication can't diminish loneliness is because interacting in a transactional way (information minus the emotions) doesn't cut it. Why not? Because emotional self-disclosure is what drives personal connections, not factual self-disclosure, and email, chat and the rest are poor conduits for conveying feelings, which mostly come from facial expressions and vocal intonations.

Granted, if you already have a strong bond with someone, then computer-mediated communication can enhance your connection. And new technologies, such as video chat, may help, but it remains uncertain how well they will substitute for face-to-face interactions.

Addressing loneliness has generally relied on four approaches: (1) improving one's social skills, (2) increasing social support, (3) creating more opportunities for interaction, or (4) addressing the thinking process in one's head. Surprisingly, the last option yields the best results.

Studies show that lonely people usually harbor erroneous assumptions about themselves and about how other people see them. They tend to believe they are not interesting or desirable to others.

This encourages them to withdraw, which effectively shuts down their emotional self-disclosure - the very thing that greases the skids of connecting meaningfully with others. Their dysfunctional thinking creates emotional suppression, spawning a self-defeating cycle.

So if you're lonely but that klatch of Facebook friends or full email inbox aren't helping, consider cognitive behavioral therapy or another approach that addresses your inner thoughts. Changing our thoughts changes our behavior.

Mother Teresa said that, "Loneliness is the most terrible poverty."

And, for most, it's a poverty that begins in their minds.

Philip Chard is a psychotherapist, author and trainer. Names used in this column are changed to honor client confidentiality. Email him at pschard@earthlink.net or visit philipchard.com.

March 29, 2012: Guenther Pohlmann Society Meeting

     (Occurs every time there is a 5th Thursday in the month.)
     This morning Heidi could be here with us for just a short time. She is helping her mother move out of her home and is needed there. But we were grateful for these two poems that she presented. Certainly Friedrich Schiller was a favorite of her father's. Both left us quite moved.

Hope

We speak with the lip, and we dream in the soul,
Of some better and fairer day;
And our days, the meanwhile, to that golden goal
Are gliding and sliding away.
Now the world becomes old, now again it is young,
But "The better" 's forever the word on the tongue.

At the threshold of life hope leads us in--
Hope plays round the mirthful boy;
Though the best of its charms may with youth begin,
Yet for age it reserves its toy. 

Friedrich Schiller

Fear of the Inexplicable

But fear of the inexplicable has not alone impoverished
the existence of the individual; the relationship between
one human being and another has also been cramped by it,
as though it had been lifted out of the riverbed of
endless possibilities and set down in a fallow spot on the
bank, to which nothing happens. For it is not inertia alone
that is responsible for human relationships repeating
themselves from case to case, indescribably monotonous and
unrenewed: it is shyness before any sort of new,unforeseeable
experience with which one does not think oneself able to cope.

But only someone who is ready for everything, who excludes
nothing, not even the most enigmatical, will live the relation
to another as something alive and will himself draw exhaustively
from his own existence. For if we think of this existence of
the individual as a larger or smaller room, it appears evident
that most people learn to know only a corner of their room, a
place by the window, a strip of floor on which they walk up and
down. Thus they have a certain security. And yet that dangerous
insecurity is so much more human which drives the prisoners in
Poe's stories to feel out the shapes of their horrible dungeons
and not be strangers to the unspeakable terror of their abode.

We, however, are not prisoners. No traps or snares are set about
us, and there is nothing which should intimidate or worry us.
We are set down in life as in the element to which we best
correspond, and over and above this we have through thousands of
years of accommodation become so like this life, that when we
hold still we are, through a happy mimicry,scarcely to be
distinguished from all that surrounds us. We have no reason to
mistrust our world, for it is not against us. Has it terrors,
they are our terrors; has it abysses, those abuses belong to us;
are dangers at hand, we must try to love them. And if only we
arrange our life according to that principle which counsels us
that we must always hold to the difficult, then that which now
still seems to us the most alien will become what we most trust
and find most faithful. How should we be able to forget those
ancient myths about dragons that at the last moment turn into
princesses; perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses
who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave. Perhaps
everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless
that wants help from us. 

Rainer Maria Rilke

After Heidi left, we came back to discussing our good friend Guenther Pohlmann. Each of us have memories that demonstrate the man for the great personage that he was.

March 22, 2012: Synchronicity by Sky

March 8 and March 15, 2012 Neuroplasticity and Consciousness by Gary S

     I had not heard either of Gary's presentations on this topic. I am sure it was quite erudite and informative.
The following is my writing that I felt would briefly define the idea of neuroplasticity for those who also were not present at these two presentations. Since I wrote this, Gary has forwarded his detailed notes to me. They are posted here for both sessions of March 8 and March 15. Hit Read more below to see and read those notes.
     During most of the 20th century, neuroscientists thought that the brain and its connections developed in early infancy and childhood and that once adult or even preadult type cognition developed there was little change that could occur to the brain structure and its neuroconnections. However, studies began in the late 20th century and continuing into 2012 seem to belie this idea. Individual studies of people who have sustained either traumatic or ischemic brain injury indicate that experiences, training and repetitive behaviors can modify neural tracts in such a way that a damaged function in the central nervous system can be made up for within the nerve tissue itself. The only explanation for some of these described cases is that the brain structure and the brains's neural pathways were changed by actively training them. We now have decades of research that shows that substantial changes can and do occur in the lowest neocortical processing areas of the brain, and these changes can dramatically alter the pattern of neuron activation in response to experiences. This indicates that experience can actually change both the brain's physical structure (anatomy) and functional organization (physiology).
     Here is a quote from Wikipedia which describes these changes very well:  "One of the fundamental principles of how neuroplasticity functions is linked to the concept of synaptic pruning, which is the idea that individual connections within the brain are constantly being removed or recreated, largely dependent on how they are used. This concept is captured in the aphorism, "If there are two nearby neurons that often produce an impulse simultaneously, their cortical maps may become one. This idea also works in the opposite way, i.e. that neurons which do not regularly produce simultaneous impulses will form different maps.
    Likewise the idea that brain connections were immutable was accompanied by an idea that we had all the brain cells that we were going to have when we were born, or at least after a short time of infancy, and none were created later in life. But it turns out that we can make new brain cells in the hippocampus and in the olfactory bulb areas of the brain later in life, and these new cells can dramatically affect cortical connections and functioning. And in other areas of the brain such as the cerebrum where new cells are not made later in life, there is evidence that experience based reorganization of the synaptic networks do occur even in the cerebrum.
     A 2005 study found that the effects of neuroplasticity occur even more rapidly than previously expected. Medical students' brains were imaged during the period when they were studying for their exams. In a matter of months, the students' gray matter increased significantly in the posterior and lateral parietal cortex.
     It is also now postulated that sometimes these neuroplatic changes are positive such as when the brain is able to recover from a significant injury such as a stroke and areas of the brain are able to compensate for the damaged areas. But sometimes these neuroplastic changes can be negative, such as in spasticity or tonic paralysis, in which an excessive release of neurotransmitters can even kill nerve cells. Also drug addiction and obsessive-compulsive disorder are deemed "negative neuroplasticiy" since a synaptic rewiring seems to to be produced by allwoing these abnormal behaviors to go on without behavioral alteration. These negative behaviors seem to reproduce and amplify themselves.
          Several investigations of the effects of meditation and fitness and exercise on brain function have produced some remarkable findings. For example, a number of studies have linked meditation practice to differences in cortical thickness or density of gray matter. Our own Richard Davison, a neuroscientist from the University of Wisconsin, has conducted experiments with the cooperation of the Dalai Lama, certainly an expert in meditation practice. The results suggest that long-term, or short-term practice of meditaion results in different levels of activity in brain regions associated with such qualities as attention, anxiety,d epression, fear, anger, etc. These functional changes may be caused by changes in the physical structure of the brain. Likewise a study of mice that were run on a treadmill, versus those who were forced to swim a water maze with adverse treatment to make them strive harder than just the voluntary treadmill runners, showed that though both groups improved their workouts, the mice who were forcibly exercised in the water maze showed a greater molecular change in more areas than the voluntary treadmillers. This would seem to indicate that different types of exercise create actual structural changes in different areas of the brain. Studies of this nature are in their infancy and would seem to provide much promise for future learning about this topic.

Note: Not having been at these two meetings, I do not know if this is at all what was discussed, but I did find this information quite interesting and thought the group might like to have it at their fingertips in this blog.

Here are Gary's notes from his presentations on March 8 and March 15. No doubt you will enjoy these erudite explanations. Hit Read more to find these notes.

March 1, 2012 Bake Off

     Something in the news must have triggered the beginning of this session's discussion. Someone asked if Israel is likely to do something to stop Iran's production of a nuclear bomb. I remarked that my husband, an Israeli by birth, through discussions with fellow Israeli friends thinks something may happen during May. Israel feels that if they wait longer, Iranian facilities will be buried too deep in underground bunkers such that they would be inaccessible to destruction. The author here tried to explain the difference in culture between Western countries and the Islamic ideals.
     Discussion of some of the world's current problems followed.
     On a personal level, we are all dealing with aging and eventually death. Our spirituality must prepare us in some fashion for these two eventualities. Globally we are contemplating a bright future for humanity, but we seem to have a death wish. Freud said there is a death wish in humanity, even though our society is fearful of even a complete discussion about death.
     It seems that over the centuries often religion has been the source of war and conflict. All religions have been guilty of inciting violence. The Christians initiated the Crusades. The Islamic Jihad is a brutal war against opposing ideologies. The war in Ireland between the Catholic vs and the Protestants was solved and women played a large part in solving that war. But women in Islam have no power or are afraid to wield it and so the hope that women can stop Jihad is slim.
     One member told of Lynn McTaggert who is a best selling author who has been characterized as "a bridge between science and spirituality." Her books include The Field; The Intention Experiment; What Doctors Don't Tell You, and now most recently The Bond. In this book, she writes about how wrong the idea that we are individuals and not connected is. She writes: "In fact, we are inescapably connected, hardwired to each other at our most elemental level -- from cells to whole societies. The desire to help others is so necessary that we experience it as one of our chief pleasures, as essential as eating and having sex, and we succeed and prosper only when we see ourselves as part of a greater whole. Every conflict that occurs whether between husband and wife, social or racial groups, or nations -- is resolved only when we can fully see and embrace the space -- the bond-- between us. McTaggert offers detailed recommendations to help foster more holistic thinking, more cooperative relationships, and more unified social groups. Blending interviews and human stories into an absorbing narrative, she shows how:
   A simple daily practice conditions the brain to enable you to become more empathetic toward others
   A new way of speaking and listening can overcome polarization, helping the staunchest of enemies to become close friends.
   People who fire together wire together. Whenever a group works together for a common goal, the brains of all parties begin to get on the same wavelength, strengthening the bond within the group.
   Fairness is more powerful than unfairness. A small group of individuals committed to strong reciprocity can "invade" a population of self-interested individuals and can create a fairer society.
     She also attempts to use the Internet to bring together meditative people for a positive outcome.
http://www.lynnemctaggart.com/
At this site you can sign up with your email address and download an excerpt from the book.

     The group discussed that we can make a choice to exist in mindfulness and a love based society. If we can individually practice a love based existence, hopefully it will spread.

     Dave believes we are evolving toward a time when we can be love based.
     Gloria quoted Ekhart Tolle, from his book New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose. 
     Some find Tolle a little hard to understand.


We may need to live with the duality. Nobody does god the same way. In our heart religion is relational. This is the Martin Buber way of thinking.

     I think we all do hope that we are evolving toward a better and compassionate society. Certainly current events prompt us to join any or many of these various groups to see if we can contribute to this evolution.