Thursday, May 26, 2016
May 19, 2016: Free Will, as presented by Gary.
This blog author was not present at the May 19 meeting. The title of the topic was "Free Will Revisited." The discussion was reported to be, as usual, thoughtful and participatory.
May 12, 2016: Technology and Spirit, Mind, and Body -- A wrapup
After 3 weeks of discussions led by John, on technology and its effect on each of the three components of our group title -- body, mind, and then spirit, today was set aside to discuss technology and its overriding effect on our life in general through these various portals. John sent us all a very nice print out of his research in this regard. He has certainly given this topic a lot of time and thoughts. He did send us a print out of his writings about these topics by email. The consensus of the group was that his thought processes are very worthy and could be the basis of some published literature in some nature, either as a book, or monograph. In keeping with our group tradition, when there is potential for publishing professionally, I will not reproduce these writings here. This serves to protect them from copyright infringement. Suffice it to say, the discussions were deep and thoughtful. Members of the group can access the emailed attachments with John's permission, but we would ask that they not be reproduced elsewhere.
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
May 5, 2016: Bake Off
A somewhat typical Bake Off today!
1) Some recommendations for books:
Sharleen recommended When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalianthi, the story of a 36 year old neurosurgeon just finishing his 10 years of surgical training when he is diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer.
Ann recommended Erich Segal's The Doctors, a work of fiction that follows several members of a medical school class that graduates from medical school in 1958. This was just 8 years before my graduation from college. Therefore, I could identify completely with the training. Some of the later events in doctors lives are a bit melodramatic, but I enjoyed reading about the training and about doctor's lives. I think it was accurate in the beginning.
Someone recommended How To Be Good by Nick Hornby, a very prolific comedic writer, and essayist.
Dying To Be Me by Anita Morgany, a story about a near death experience, and a woman with cancer, and how she learns to be herself and actually beats the cancer.
2) A brief series of comments about palliative care.
3) A discussion of the difficult patient followed. Certainly every doctor has dealt with difficult patients. When such encounters used to occur in my practice, and the visit didn't go well, I always ruminated over how I could have managed the patient doctor interaction in a better way. But sometimes it just wouldn't work out, and the patient left dissatisfied and the doctor is frustrated.
One physician in the group called these patients "heart sink" patients because when you see these names on your schedule, your heart truly "sinks".
4) Mark brought a wonderful pair of art prints showing old fashioned, Victorian tonic ads, background in color and shapes of a man and a woman in black and white labels. They were very striking.
5) I don't recall how we got into this area of discussion, but we talked about LSD and to a lesser degree marijuana. Several examples of people who took LSD and were able to play as a musician or paint as an artist producing their best work ever. There was some discussion of how LSD achieves this effect. Paul said that LSD does disconnect the default mode network that is something that always is utilizing the ego and is over thinking everything. Without that brain network firing, apparently other parts of the brain can take over more easily. Certainly there have always been hallucinogens, but in the distant past, taking these drugs were often the job of the shamans, of certain approved individuals and there was control, and experience in using these drugs. There was ritual and sacredness, guidance and control. In our society there are none of these controls. This results in more risk of using these substances. There were questions about what happens to various parts of the brain under different influences. Examples are: During dreaming, the prefrontal cortex is disconnected from the default mode network. During lucid dreaming experience perhaps the lucidity is produced by attempt to reconnect to the prefrontal cortex during the dreaming. During meditation, the mid central prefrontal and insula light up and are stimulated.
You see, a typical free ranging discussion.
1) Some recommendations for books:
Sharleen recommended When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalianthi, the story of a 36 year old neurosurgeon just finishing his 10 years of surgical training when he is diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer.
Ann recommended Erich Segal's The Doctors, a work of fiction that follows several members of a medical school class that graduates from medical school in 1958. This was just 8 years before my graduation from college. Therefore, I could identify completely with the training. Some of the later events in doctors lives are a bit melodramatic, but I enjoyed reading about the training and about doctor's lives. I think it was accurate in the beginning.
Someone recommended How To Be Good by Nick Hornby, a very prolific comedic writer, and essayist.
Dying To Be Me by Anita Morgany, a story about a near death experience, and a woman with cancer, and how she learns to be herself and actually beats the cancer.
2) A brief series of comments about palliative care.
3) A discussion of the difficult patient followed. Certainly every doctor has dealt with difficult patients. When such encounters used to occur in my practice, and the visit didn't go well, I always ruminated over how I could have managed the patient doctor interaction in a better way. But sometimes it just wouldn't work out, and the patient left dissatisfied and the doctor is frustrated.
One physician in the group called these patients "heart sink" patients because when you see these names on your schedule, your heart truly "sinks".
4) Mark brought a wonderful pair of art prints showing old fashioned, Victorian tonic ads, background in color and shapes of a man and a woman in black and white labels. They were very striking.
5) I don't recall how we got into this area of discussion, but we talked about LSD and to a lesser degree marijuana. Several examples of people who took LSD and were able to play as a musician or paint as an artist producing their best work ever. There was some discussion of how LSD achieves this effect. Paul said that LSD does disconnect the default mode network that is something that always is utilizing the ego and is over thinking everything. Without that brain network firing, apparently other parts of the brain can take over more easily. Certainly there have always been hallucinogens, but in the distant past, taking these drugs were often the job of the shamans, of certain approved individuals and there was control, and experience in using these drugs. There was ritual and sacredness, guidance and control. In our society there are none of these controls. This results in more risk of using these substances. There were questions about what happens to various parts of the brain under different influences. Examples are: During dreaming, the prefrontal cortex is disconnected from the default mode network. During lucid dreaming experience perhaps the lucidity is produced by attempt to reconnect to the prefrontal cortex during the dreaming. During meditation, the mid central prefrontal and insula light up and are stimulated.
You see, a typical free ranging discussion.
April 21, 2016: Part II -- Technology and The Mind by John
John is continuing his three part presentation on Technology and Its Affect on US, opened his discussion with an example of a very extreme use of technology and its affect on our brain, our emotions and our cognition. He sited examples of clothing which will be able to detect when some other human is staring at us and not only that what body part they are looking at. Other clothing may detect and demonstrate either different colors or other electronic signals that show our own current emotions. There is no doubt that such dramatic equipment would change at least our social interactions if not indeed how we use our mind and how we think. This is a currently complicated extreme of technology's affect on us.
Marshal McLuhan, a Canadian professor, 1911-1980, spent the majority of his professional career at the University of Toronto. He made the statement: "The medium is the message,", coined the words "global village" and was reported to have predicted the World Wide Web. He certainly had concerns about the affects of various media on the human thought process. In his book, The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man, McLuhan tries to reveal how communication technology, his specialty, (alphabetic writing, the printing press, and the electronic media) affects our cognitive organization, which in turn has profound ramifications for social organization. In the 1970s as our electronic media was gathering speed in development and expansion, some of his concerns were ignored and sort of forgotten but now with the realization of his correct predictions they are now given more credence. McLuhan felt that we shape our electronic tools and these tools shape us. Our media is massaging us constantly.
Nicholas Carr has written several pieces about the affect of the
Internet on our brain processes and our cognition. In 2008 he wrote an
article in The Atlantic entitled "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" In the same year he wrote a book expanding on his thoughts in this article entitled The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google. Then in 2010 he expanded his thoughts even further in his book, The Shallows. In his writing Carr has raised the question whether using the Internet has lasting effects on human concentration, cognition and learning and reading capacities. He sites that Nietzsche even said that he was convinced that the invention of the typewriter affected his own ability to write and reason through things he used to be able to give deep thought to. Carr expresses great concern that use of the Internet diminishes our concentration abilities, our ability to read deeply and thoughtfully, and our ability to reason out our research and knowledge organization. Certainly the Internet tends to drive us in a rapid fragmented and somewhat shallow way. Will these characteristics lead neuroplasticity to completely change our brain function? Various experts have analyzed Carr's concerns and there are people on both side of the issue. Certainly the Net has some positives. For example it has been shown to help autistic children with their cognition and functioning. But a large number of people express concerns for negative effects. Generally neuroscientists tend to feel it is too soon to tell what the results will be.
Here is a link to Carr's article in The Atlantic:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/306868/
We are certainly drawn to technology. Indeed, the world has never been effected by such an information glut. Certainly statistical analysis of the past decade to decade and a half use of technology is staggering. The average American consumes info electronically for 11.5 hours every day, since the advent of the Internet. The amount of information gathered by humanity since the dawn of time equals that information gathered and available since 2003. Of course we forget a lot of that information In order to combat forgetting, we need to review, review, repeat repeat, repeat. to retain the information. Seventy five percent of what you were exposed to on Monday is gone by Friday. Some experts think that it takes an hour or so for memories to become fixed and consolidated. Any disruption in the beginning of that hour of memory consolidation disrupts the memory formation. . Distraction is the enemy of learning. Key to lasting memory is deep attention and deep concentration. A lot of our memories go into our short term memory but if not allowed to consolidate into long term memory, does that change who we are? It is our long term memory that defines who we are and contributes to our own narrative story and therefore our cognition and our reaction to our experiences. Comments from our group suggested that we may be able to improve our memory retention by being present 'in the moment' during the experience to better retain the memory of that experience. We all know that our memories of emotionally charged experiences whether positive or negative are better retained.
Another concern is the affects of the Internet and other forms of electronic media on our emotions and on our human relationships. Of course, the dating sites immediately come to mind. As a specific example, people are logging into a app of online dating "Tender" 11 times a day. Women on the average spend 8.5 minutes swiping left and right during a single session. Men spend on the average 7.2 minutes per session. These often add up to 90 minutes a day doing this. Probably spending time on the dating sites and getting responses there cause the release of dopamine, producing a dopamine high. But are these the types of human interactions that we want to promote? And what will be the long term affect for this specific use of the Internet.
Marshal McLuhan, a Canadian professor, 1911-1980, spent the majority of his professional career at the University of Toronto. He made the statement: "The medium is the message,", coined the words "global village" and was reported to have predicted the World Wide Web. He certainly had concerns about the affects of various media on the human thought process. In his book, The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man, McLuhan tries to reveal how communication technology, his specialty, (alphabetic writing, the printing press, and the electronic media) affects our cognitive organization, which in turn has profound ramifications for social organization. In the 1970s as our electronic media was gathering speed in development and expansion, some of his concerns were ignored and sort of forgotten but now with the realization of his correct predictions they are now given more credence. McLuhan felt that we shape our electronic tools and these tools shape us. Our media is massaging us constantly.
Nicholas Carr has written several pieces about the affect of the
Internet on our brain processes and our cognition. In 2008 he wrote an
article in The Atlantic entitled "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" In the same year he wrote a book expanding on his thoughts in this article entitled The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google. Then in 2010 he expanded his thoughts even further in his book, The Shallows. In his writing Carr has raised the question whether using the Internet has lasting effects on human concentration, cognition and learning and reading capacities. He sites that Nietzsche even said that he was convinced that the invention of the typewriter affected his own ability to write and reason through things he used to be able to give deep thought to. Carr expresses great concern that use of the Internet diminishes our concentration abilities, our ability to read deeply and thoughtfully, and our ability to reason out our research and knowledge organization. Certainly the Internet tends to drive us in a rapid fragmented and somewhat shallow way. Will these characteristics lead neuroplasticity to completely change our brain function? Various experts have analyzed Carr's concerns and there are people on both side of the issue. Certainly the Net has some positives. For example it has been shown to help autistic children with their cognition and functioning. But a large number of people express concerns for negative effects. Generally neuroscientists tend to feel it is too soon to tell what the results will be. Here is a link to Carr's article in The Atlantic:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/306868/
We are certainly drawn to technology. Indeed, the world has never been effected by such an information glut. Certainly statistical analysis of the past decade to decade and a half use of technology is staggering. The average American consumes info electronically for 11.5 hours every day, since the advent of the Internet. The amount of information gathered by humanity since the dawn of time equals that information gathered and available since 2003. Of course we forget a lot of that information In order to combat forgetting, we need to review, review, repeat repeat, repeat. to retain the information. Seventy five percent of what you were exposed to on Monday is gone by Friday. Some experts think that it takes an hour or so for memories to become fixed and consolidated. Any disruption in the beginning of that hour of memory consolidation disrupts the memory formation. . Distraction is the enemy of learning. Key to lasting memory is deep attention and deep concentration. A lot of our memories go into our short term memory but if not allowed to consolidate into long term memory, does that change who we are? It is our long term memory that defines who we are and contributes to our own narrative story and therefore our cognition and our reaction to our experiences. Comments from our group suggested that we may be able to improve our memory retention by being present 'in the moment' during the experience to better retain the memory of that experience. We all know that our memories of emotionally charged experiences whether positive or negative are better retained.
Another concern is the affects of the Internet and other forms of electronic media on our emotions and on our human relationships. Of course, the dating sites immediately come to mind. As a specific example, people are logging into a app of online dating "Tender" 11 times a day. Women on the average spend 8.5 minutes swiping left and right during a single session. Men spend on the average 7.2 minutes per session. These often add up to 90 minutes a day doing this. Probably spending time on the dating sites and getting responses there cause the release of dopamine, producing a dopamine high. But are these the types of human interactions that we want to promote? And what will be the long term affect for this specific use of the Internet.
"I've learned that people will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you
made them feel." from Maya Angelou, Professor of English Literature Wake
Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC
|
Thursday, April 7, 2016
April 7, 2016: Bake Off: Thoughts and Ideas Discussion
 | ||
| Gary read to us Pg 39 to end today's meeting |
Sharleen started us off by introducing us to a book by Joop Van Dam MD, a Dutch physician who is active in Rudolph Steiner's Anthrotposophical Society, entitled The Sixfold Path: Six Simple Exercises for Spiritual Development.
Rudolph Steiner developed what he called six subsidiary exercises in order to achieve six soul qualities he thought it important to cultivate:
1) Master our thoughts
2) Exercise control over our actions
3) Equanimity
4) Understand every being. See the positive. Everything contains an aspect that can be affirmed.
5) Complete openness toward everything that meets us. Hold back judgment and listen.
6) Inner harmony, which we will receive after developing the first five.
Therefore Steiner recommended six exercises to accomplish this in addition to meditation:
1) Thought control. Think a definite idea, place it in the center of your thinking and logically arrange your thoughts so that they are all closely related to the original idea. (Example, a paper clip, a pencil.)
2) Initiative in action -- perform some action, however tirvial that originates from your own initiative.
3)Detachment, imperturbability -- learn to regulate emotions so you master yourself through the greatest joys and deepest grief.
4) Impartiality or freedom from prejudice -- see goodness in everything, and look for the positive element evereywhere.
5) Faith -- exclude all you have experienced thus far, so you can meet each new experience with new faith. Allow for the possibility of belief.
6) Inner balance. Result of the other five.
Sunday, March 13, 2016
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
February 25, 2016: The Science of Self-Talk by Eric W.
Research in this area started while Holmes and Head were investigating the self image of anorexic and bulimic patients. The distorted self image of these patients became obvious. Lori Osachi developed a self help technique of self talk, which you can hear about in an NPR October 14, 2013 talk on YouTube.
Ethan Kross, is a psychologist who sort of accidentally ran a Stop light and then found himself berating himself with "Ethan, you are an idiot," and then resolved in his mind to drive more carefully. Being a psychologist the way he talked to himself in his mind aroused his interest and he began to wonder why he called himself by his first name. His research since 2010 has cast some light on the nature of our self-talk and has shown there are good and bad ways to engage in this self-talk.
February 18, 2016: Paul Presents Abhi Dharma
On this date, Paul N. presented an understandable summary of a book by Thich Nhat Hanh, published in 2003 , under the title Understanding Our Mind, This book was republished in 2005 under the title, Transforming At the Base. Both books are identical. In both of these identical books, Thi, as he likes to be called, presents a unique and contemporary version of 50 verses on the nature of consciousness taken from the 5th century teachings of Vasubandhu and the teachings of the. Avatamsaka Sutra. Paul redialy states that this books is not an easy book, but he feels the first 8 sections are approachable.
Paul told hus how he fell into reading and following Thich Nhat Hanh as a mentor. He calls it an act of laziness. He was a member of Quality Paperback Book Club and just didn't send the card back, so a book shipped automatically. That book was Thi's book, Peace in Every Step. Then he saw him in a presentation in Chicago. he became convinced that Thi lives and talks the Dharma in a way Westerners can understand.
Ahbi Dharma is the expression used to include the body of basic teachings that are Buddhism. In this book, Transformation at the Base, Thi focuses on directly experiencing a recognition, an embracing, and a deeper understanding of the nature of our feelings and perceptions. Thi uses a model that views our consciousness as a field, where every kind of seed has been planted seeds of suffereing, sorrow, and fear as well as seeds of happiness and joy. If we can learn how to nourish and water the seeds of joy and somehow transform the seeds of suffering and fear, then the only seeds that flourish and flower are those of understanding, love and compassion. These 50 verses are a kind of path of practice to accomplish this task.
February 4, 2016: Bake Off
More to come later:
Gary shared this quote and the name of a book that might be useful:
Gary shared this quote and the name of a book that might be useful:
Dear group, below
please find the quote i shared on thursday. it is a quote used
by Joseph Campbell that i found in his book, "Myths to Live
By." it is from the Bhadaranyaka Upaniad (as he titles it).
This that people say:
"Worship this
god! Worship that
god! - one god after
another! All this is
his creation indeed! And
he himself
is all the gods...
He is
entered in the universe even to
our
fingernail-tips, like a razor in a
razorcase,
or fire in firewood. Him those
people see
not, for as seen, he is incomplete.
When
breathing, he becomes "breath" by
name; when
speaking, "voice"; when seeing,
"the eye";
when hearing, "the ear"; when
thinking,
"mind": these are but the names of
his acts.
Whoever worships one or another
of these -
knows not; for he is incomplete in
one or
another of these.
One should
worship with the thought
that he is
one's self, for therein all these
become one.
This Self is the footprint of that
All, for by
it one knows all - just as,
verily, by
following a footprint one finds
cattle that
have been lost...
Enjoy! the
book i was referring to is a book about improving your
meditation experience called, "The Mind Illuminated," by
Culadasa. I thought Sky might get something out of this.
December 17, 2015: Discussion of "What Can Be Done About Terrorism?"
This week was basically open. We had planned to talk about the upcoming holidays, but as sometimes happens with this group -- the discussion viered off into a quite intense consideration of terrorism, the fears that this country is under regarding this threat, and what we as individuals can do to deal with this fear. Some attendees thought that the practice of mindfulness in whateveer individual way we do this can only help. And perhaps with a larger group of people practicing there is hope for a change in our world that will preclude terrorism. However. a significant number of the group felt we can do little to change this threat. We have to just learn to deal with the fear in some ways. Buddhist ideology may help with that. A more in detail may follow about our discussions.
After this meeting, Eric Olsen sent this link which adds to our understanding of this disturbing threat and how to deal with it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
After reading and listening to this short video, a few of the conclusions we reached in our discussion are supported. Indeed, when society grows restless and stressed (like an over population of rats in a colony) violence increases. But only the small number of 1% of this stressed population needs to practice meditation and the stressed society experiences decrease in violence, in war like populations, peace initiatives take hold. So basically this group that meets every Thursday morning is adding to the collective consciousness. We are peacemakers. We just need to spread our practices.
After this meeting, Eric Olsen sent this link which adds to our understanding of this disturbing threat and how to deal with it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
After reading and listening to this short video, a few of the conclusions we reached in our discussion are supported. Indeed, when society grows restless and stressed (like an over population of rats in a colony) violence increases. But only the small number of 1% of this stressed population needs to practice meditation and the stressed society experiences decrease in violence, in war like populations, peace initiatives take hold. So basically this group that meets every Thursday morning is adding to the collective consciousness. We are peacemakers. We just need to spread our practices.
December 10, 2015: Tai Chi and Qi Gong by Dan Ferber
We have a member who practices Tai Chi and Qi Gong and has agreed to teach us some basic and practical Tai Chi and Qi Gong movements. We all participated and found Dan's gentle and thorough instructions easy to follow. After the session, another friend of a member appeared and Dan and this friend incidentally performed a wonderful demonstration of Push Hands and some of the more advanced forms of Tai Chi.
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