I am attempting to summarize last week's presentation of neutral monism by Gary S. This will be difficult but I will include some definitions and some of Gary's statements here from the notes I took and also some definitions that I have looked up. Hopefully this information will provide some base for this week's continuing discussion of this topic.
Neutral monism definitions: According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/neutral-monism/ " Neutral monism is a monistic metaphysics. It holds that ultimate reality is all of one kind. To this extent neutral monism is in agreement with idealism AND materialism. What distinguishes neutral monism from its better known monistic rivals is the claim that the intrinsic nature of ultimate reality is neither mental nor physical. This negative claim also captures the idea of neutrality: being intrinsically neither mental nor physical in nature ultimate reality is said to be neutral between the two."
In considering this theory, we end up with three questions according to the article cited above from the Stanford Encyclopedia:
1.) What is the nature of the neutral entities that form ultimate reality? 2) What is the relationship of these neutral entities to matter? and 3) What is the relationship of these neutral entities to mind?
Required in this theory is a way for mental and physical phenomena that are real to be either reducible to or constructable from the underlying neutral level. This means that some unit of these phenomena must be able to go either way, be reduced to and be constructed from. Theorists have determined that the usual units of matter such as electrons and neutrons can not be both. Can thoughts be these units of entity that can go both ways? Probably not. Therefore some of the theorists have postulated that this unit of phenomena could be information. Gary talked about this at some length during his presentation and I think will talk more about this in the coming week's session.
From the Stanford Encyclopedia article cited: "The main task of a neutral monist theory is therefore to show how, given a certain notion of mind and body, a class of neutral entities can be specified and how mental and physical states can be reduced to/constructed from these entities. The success of a given version of neutral monism should be judged primarily on the basis of how well it handles these problems.
The article at Stanford Encyclopedia referenced lists quite a list of neutral monistic theorists. We have heard some of their names in the presentation. Certainly their writings would be further source for looking into these philosophical ideas further. These names include Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677); Ernst Mach (1838-1916); Richard Avenarius (1843-96); Joseph Petzoldt (1862-1929); and then more known William James (184201910); Ralph Barton Perry (1876-1957); Edwin B. Holt (1873-1946); Bertrand Rrussel (1872-1970).
A current philosopher is Kenneth Sayre who after working in the cybernetics and artificial intelligence area has also delved into some philosophy of mind work. His book is "Cybernetics and the Philosophy of mind (1976, reprinted in 2014)". From Wikipedia: "One widely discussed view in this book is Sayre's version of neutral monism. As he defines it, neutral monism is the thesis that mind and matter are both reducible to an ontologically more basic "neutral" principle. The more basic principle in his account is information, in the technical sense of information theory. Sayre's version has been recognized by several recent authors as one of the more credible forms of neutral monism available to date."
From the Stanford Encyclopedia article cited: "Among contemporary and recent philosophers who either are neo-Russellians or are sympathetic to neo-Russellian ideas we find David Chalmers (who Gary has quoted), the only "mere" sympathizer in the lineup) and Daniel Stoljar. They belong into the group pinning their hope on a third, as yet unknown, set of properties that constitute both mind and matter."
Here I wanted to provide a summary of Gary's presentation as I usually do. I took 6 pages of notes during his talk last week. I thought I could just go back and offer some definitions and brief summaries of this presentation. But I found that I couldn't make much sense at all of my notes. There are just a lot of big words and big word combinations from the world of philosophy and consciousness theory. My brain ran out of energy. I could not wrap it around these ideas. Perhaps this coming week's discussion and Gary's second presentation will clear some of this up.
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Schedule
March 12, 2015: Gary: Neutral Monism
March 19, 2015: Gary: Neutral Monism
March 26, 2015: A Dialogue: Buddhism and the Belief or NonBelief in Rebirth
Location of article from "Tricycle": http://www.tricycle.com/feature/reincarnation-debate?page=0,2
April 2, 2015: Bake Off
April 9, 2015: Paul: Default Mode Network in Neuroscience
April 16, 2015:
April 23, 2015:
April 30, 2015: Pohlman Davison Society: Su's house, More information to come.
March 19, 2015: Gary: Neutral Monism
March 26, 2015: A Dialogue: Buddhism and the Belief or NonBelief in Rebirth
Location of article from "Tricycle": http://www.tricycle.com/feature/reincarnation-debate?page=0,2
April 2, 2015: Bake Off
April 9, 2015: Paul: Default Mode Network in Neuroscience
April 16, 2015:
April 23, 2015:
April 30, 2015: Pohlman Davison Society: Su's house, More information to come.
March 5, 2015: Directed Bake Off: Art Therapy Continued.
A picture is nothing but a bridge between the soul of the artist and that of the spectator. (Eugene Delacroix)
Since Lori did such a good job last week of telling us about her field of study and work, and since I read some desire within the group to have more time to discuss the vast information that she presented, I decided to make this Bake Off a so-called directed Bake Off in order to provide a chance to expand our consideration of art therapy and empathy.Lori and several members of our group clarified that Art Therapy primarily draws out the client. It is using art to bring out a narrative, a story, from that client and then moves further by interacting with the art.
Lori studies at Mount Mary College which is one of only 60 programs in Art Therapy.
Paul mentioned that one could ask "How does it feel to be in that picture?" and this question might succeed in drawing out the client. He described one patient of his who had Ashberger's Syndrome and always drew himself as a locomotive. He could not see the need to study math or other subjects, but this identification that he had with train locomotives could be used to help him with his math homework by framing what he had to learn in the language or examples of math calculations.
One member asked Lori if the colors of the art work used or drawn by the client had any significance. We recently had a presentation on color therapy and learned how colors do play a role in people's moods and may even have beneficial or curative influences. Lori answered that the use of color by clients is often subtle. Bright colors are not always positive and vice versa. The actual nature of the drawing tells us more. For example one client might show an explosion and even though it was drawn with bright colors, the nature of this depicted explosion showed the chaos in his life. Therefore, a client uses certain colors but it may not be a conscious choice and those colors may not have the meaning you would think.
Another member asked if anyone had heard of the Luscher color test. This is a psychological test invented by Dr. Max Lusher in Basel, Switzerland. Dr. Luscher believed that sensory perception of color is objective and shared by all but that color preferences are subjective and that these subjective states can be measured by using test colors. Luscher believed that color selections which are guided unconsciously, they reveal the person as they really are and not as they would like to be perceived or as they may falsely perceive themselves. Luscher developed a list of meanings of certain test colors and used these to analyze clients. The results of this color test have not been scientifically proven and most people fell it is not valid. There was some testing done trying to compare the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory which is regarded as an effective testing device with the Luscher Color Test and there weas no significant agreement between the two test results.
Paul commented that when he is treating chronic pain, he asks the patient to answer several questions about the nature of their pain: How big is it? What shape is it? Where is the pain? And what color is the pain? As treatment of the pain progresses, one does not have to get into interpreting the color, but the therapist can see if treatment is changing the color of the pain. You are not specifically trying to change one color to another but it does change so that you can see some effect of the therapy.
Mark spent some time describing what he does in his work with neurofeedback. He described that people that come to see him for neurofeedback treatment have had lots of treatments. They have seen a lot of doctors, had consults, medications, and various behavioral therapies. In other words, almost everything has been tried. but what he does is like art therapy, in that it is non invasive. By invasive he means that it does not alter the body's neurochemistry as medications do, nor apply shock therapy or involve invasive procedures. Briefly he described neurofeedback as using technology to mirror the state of consciousness back to the client using audio and visual feedback. Really the brain's activity is shown to the patient through varying sound and visual graphs or spikes. Some members expressed an interest in learning more about these techniques from Mark so that this might be a future program.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
February 26, 2015: Responsive Art Making in Art Therapy and Empathy
I am going to take a little different approach this time in the blog for this week's session. This is because I was completely blown away by Lori's presentation. First of all, being a retired physician, and therefore with a huge science background, I was certainly grounded in the materialistic narrative of world view. Carried to an extreme, to me this means that the brain is the brain and it basically consists of biochemical reactions that produce electrical currents from one area of the brain to another in pathways and networks. And it would be these currents that somehow create our consciousness. Of course, after all these years in our Spirit Mind Body Group, these rigid materialistic views of consciousness have been modified by exposure to the strong Buddhist bent of this group, and to the strong intellects and spiritual knowledge and practices of the members of the group. This means that I can identify with many of our spiritual topics as they are presented. But this presentation was something totally foreign to me. Of course I had a simplistic view of using art in therapy. My view could be likened to the simplistic view of art being used in a TV crime show where a child is asked to make a drawing representing her life, or her family, or something that happened to her and then using that drawing to imply and then ascertain if some sort of crime was committed and seen by the child. A very simplistic view indeed, as I learned from Lori's presentation.
Lori was kind enough to provide through Sharleen copies of three articles on which she based her presentation. If you have not received these in your emails, please let Sharleen know at sharleen@itech-mke.com and she can either send you a copy in your email or either she or I could make a hard copy for you and get it too you. I am only going to present a very brief summary of some of the concepts that she considered here because they are quite complex, and I think can best be understood by reading these articles. I cannot put a link to them or copy them here because they are in PDF format and blogger.com does not let me upload them. Because Lori has already done some dramatic condensing of these concepts, for me to further summarize, we will lose significant meaning. Therefore, here are some definitions and brief outline topics. But I advise reading the whole articles.
Summary of Lori's presentation:
Response art is making art in response to another art piece. Don Jones was an art therapy pioneer who used art as an asylum and a way to survive. Talk therapy combined with painting has evolved over time.Art is used to form a relationship, as a way to communicate, and helps the therapist understand the client. The therapist needs to ask: "How does the art want me to work? This helps cut through the verbal because many times the client can not use words well to describe or relate.
Sometimes the art therapist literally and sometimes figuratively sits in the client's chair, using his art media, to recreate the client's artwork. The therapist brings in the conscious as well as the pre conscious portions. At other times, the art therapist uses the perceptions and feelings of the client to make art. Art allows whatever needs glimpsing to be seen when the words do not come.
Lori went into some detail about the Franklin article on mirror neurons. The article describes a part of the macaque's brains where there are what are called mirror neurons. This is thought to happen in humans as well. When we see another being move, obviously using motor neurons to accomplish that movement, there are mirror neurons that also fire up while seeing another move. These mirror neurons do not make the viewer move, but instead there is an implicit automatic unconscious embodiment of another. This provides a completely different way of experiencing the other.
Another way to look at art therapy utilizes the fact that a person appreciates art with their feeling. The art viewer often puts themselves into the art, empathizing with the painting and also the painter. As consciousness is concerned, I, the viewer am totally part of the art. This is called aesthetic Einfuhlung, a German word that means aesthetic empathy.
Intersubjectivity plays a role Explain Definition: comprehensible to, relating to, or used by a number of persons or conscious beings as a concept or language.
Also attachment theory enters into art therapy. The therapist and the client share a subjective state to form an attachment. Lipp, a prominent theorist worked with a mother and child. The eye can penetrate into art to bridge the space between self and other. Art therapy works to get a felt sense of the art to help expression. The art object becomes a safer place to hold the feelings. It is not just a formulaic way to interpret what is expressed in the art creation. Rather the purpose is more to get into the art. One psychoanalyst by the name of Donald Winnicott would start a squiggle with an art medium. The patient would then complete the squiggle. The patient then gives a narrative. The art, or just the squiggle, has become a place to hold the story or the narrative. One can approach the painting if that is the medium as a message from the inner person, the client. In this way, art therapy is related to meditative practice and to psychotherapy. Transference and countertransference end up playing a role as well.
Another way to use art therapy is to encourage dialogue with an art image with the image as a living being. One could ask the image "What do you want? How do you feel?"
In art therapy, there occurs a contemplative relationship. The artist and the subject have a reciprocal relationship.
End of Summary.
This is Lori's field of study and she has the wonderful benefit of having read in depth and studied the current field of art therapy and she now practices this field at St. Luke's along with her studies. She did a marvelous and very thorough job of summarizing the extensive and intensive work and conclusions of several articles written by no doubt experts in this relatively new and emerging area of study. Lori was kind enough to provide three of these articles to each member of the group who has emails listed with Sharleen. I have read these articles and they certainly made this morning's presentation more clear. However, she did very concisely present a summary of these articles. What I found most remarkable was the complexity and variability of the processes used now in art therapy. Knowing the psychological complexities of human behavior, I am amazed that these processes have become as successful as apparently they have become. Here I would like to just quote a small section of one of thee articles which describes all the communicative connections that have to take place in the therapist, in the client, and then in the figurative space between these two individuals all also influenced by the interpretative complexities of non verbal artistic creation. That this works and I have no doubt that it does, amazes me. Here is the quote: From: Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association. "Affect Regulation, Mirror Neurons, and the Third Hand Formulating Mindful Empathic Art Interventions." Michael Franklin PhD, Naropa University, Boulder, CO April 22, 2011.
"The layered elements that form visual empathic, responses ultimately unfold in a quick succession of subtle, albeit informed, intuitions that result from education, clinical training, and overall life experience. Because these informed intuitions emerge as automatic thoughts, it may be helpful to describe the process of their emergence, as follows:
"The progression of empathic insight and response begins with a contemplative mindful lens, in which the art therapist's intention should be to slow down and remain present without judgements (Franklin, 1990). This initial phase attempts a neutral posture, suspending the habit of judging, categorizing, explaining, or knowing. The goal is to be mindfully present to presenting imagery and behavior, bracketing out points of bias or impulsive interpretations that might contaminate a fresh, beginner's mind. The desired attitude is that of meeting a stranger for the first time with a welcoming, unconditional presence.
"Next, the therapist aims to receive the ongoing, multiple, communications of the client -- including verbal, visual, behavioral, and somatic cues -- within the therapist's own body. it is also important to observe facial expressions and nonverbal patterns unfolding in the environment (Schlore & Schore, 2008). Being mindfully receptive to this relational field will cultivate an intrapersonal tolerance for the ambiguous, layered information emerging in the session.
"The therapist then directs his or her efforts toward becoming phenomenologically aware of the primary core formal elements that comprise these verbal, visual, behavioral, and somatic cues. The therapist must check transference and countertransference reactions and sort out related and unrelated personal identifications with the art and other expressions presented. Given the likelihood that the therapist's mirror neuron system has been activated, somatic cues can be used as sources of information to monitor. the therapist filters all of this information by omitting irrelevant material and distilling the primary data into the core content to be communicated. The core content becomes the consolidated emotional center of all verbal, visual, and somatic communications (Sobol & Willims, 2001).
"The core material is sifted further when the art therapist aligns it with similarities in his or her personal history that are based in resonance rather than over identification. As with the difference between empathy (feeling within), and sympathy (Feeling for), the therapist carefully monitors the potential for merger through projective identification. At this point contertransference becomes available as a form of sublimated empathy.
"Acting in the hold of the "third Hand" or auxiliary ego, a visual narrative is then judiciously crafted. this consolidated and symbolic communication responds to what Schlore and Schore (2008) called the "music" behind discursive language. Finally, visual intervention is offered in the least intrusive way when the therapist attunes to the client's artistic style or visual "handwriting" (Kramer, 1986). This completes the empathic art process.
"To summarize, in this image- and client-centered approach, isomorphic expression from the client is answered with empirically accurate, isomorphic expression from the art therapist. In essence, the art therapist receives the affect of the client from his or her art and other layered expressions, manages initial ambiguities by skillfully filtering this material through personal yet objective identifications and associations, and offers back an artistic response. This response consolidates and communicates with clarity the emotional center of the changes experienced in the session.
"The crafting of empathic art responses requires several additional considerations. First, it is necessary to take into account one's own unconscious processes and messages. The intersubjective exchange between client and art therapist is actually an interaction of two intermingling histories. (Teicholz, 1999). The postmodern perspective is that no true objective reality exists; rather, multiple subjective realities are constructed out of personal experiences. The therapist's subjective perception is therefore crucial because it is always possible for unconscious messages to be communicated through the therapist's misattuned responses. This is why meditation practice is an important intrapersonal strategy for cultivating awareness, attention, and intention, all of which help monitor any subtle miscues.
Due to the complexities and the vast trove of information presented last Thursday morning, I suggested that we use this next week's Bake Off to further discuss some of these concepts. We will have more or less, a directed Bake Off, rather than the usual free for all. I do believe that several of our group had comments to make. I advise members to read the articles, and jot down questions, comments, or other narratives that might contribute to this discussion next week.
In my usual attempt to provide something visual and not just endless written words in this blog, I thank Dave K. for sending me this you tube link. I think it demonstrates art therapy to an extreme. Of course, the creator of these amazing structures did them as a therapy for himself, but I think we can all receive some therapy from viewing what he has done.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/oxcftjJ39BU
Here is an idea for a future meeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7YFrMqbcQ8
3 minute art therapy are youtube videos made by Pamela Hayes, art therapist. Most are more primitive or crafty art than what Lori has described, but I think the idea of Winnicott carried further by his students and now Pamela Hayes who has two people exchange squiggles and then has other person make the squiggle into a drawing.
Lori was kind enough to provide through Sharleen copies of three articles on which she based her presentation. If you have not received these in your emails, please let Sharleen know at sharleen@itech-mke.com and she can either send you a copy in your email or either she or I could make a hard copy for you and get it too you. I am only going to present a very brief summary of some of the concepts that she considered here because they are quite complex, and I think can best be understood by reading these articles. I cannot put a link to them or copy them here because they are in PDF format and blogger.com does not let me upload them. Because Lori has already done some dramatic condensing of these concepts, for me to further summarize, we will lose significant meaning. Therefore, here are some definitions and brief outline topics. But I advise reading the whole articles.
Summary of Lori's presentation:
Response art is making art in response to another art piece. Don Jones was an art therapy pioneer who used art as an asylum and a way to survive. Talk therapy combined with painting has evolved over time.Art is used to form a relationship, as a way to communicate, and helps the therapist understand the client. The therapist needs to ask: "How does the art want me to work? This helps cut through the verbal because many times the client can not use words well to describe or relate.
Sometimes the art therapist literally and sometimes figuratively sits in the client's chair, using his art media, to recreate the client's artwork. The therapist brings in the conscious as well as the pre conscious portions. At other times, the art therapist uses the perceptions and feelings of the client to make art. Art allows whatever needs glimpsing to be seen when the words do not come.
Lori went into some detail about the Franklin article on mirror neurons. The article describes a part of the macaque's brains where there are what are called mirror neurons. This is thought to happen in humans as well. When we see another being move, obviously using motor neurons to accomplish that movement, there are mirror neurons that also fire up while seeing another move. These mirror neurons do not make the viewer move, but instead there is an implicit automatic unconscious embodiment of another. This provides a completely different way of experiencing the other.
Another way to look at art therapy utilizes the fact that a person appreciates art with their feeling. The art viewer often puts themselves into the art, empathizing with the painting and also the painter. As consciousness is concerned, I, the viewer am totally part of the art. This is called aesthetic Einfuhlung, a German word that means aesthetic empathy.
Intersubjectivity plays a role Explain Definition: comprehensible to, relating to, or used by a number of persons or conscious beings as a concept or language.
Also attachment theory enters into art therapy. The therapist and the client share a subjective state to form an attachment. Lipp, a prominent theorist worked with a mother and child. The eye can penetrate into art to bridge the space between self and other. Art therapy works to get a felt sense of the art to help expression. The art object becomes a safer place to hold the feelings. It is not just a formulaic way to interpret what is expressed in the art creation. Rather the purpose is more to get into the art. One psychoanalyst by the name of Donald Winnicott would start a squiggle with an art medium. The patient would then complete the squiggle. The patient then gives a narrative. The art, or just the squiggle, has become a place to hold the story or the narrative. One can approach the painting if that is the medium as a message from the inner person, the client. In this way, art therapy is related to meditative practice and to psychotherapy. Transference and countertransference end up playing a role as well.
Another way to use art therapy is to encourage dialogue with an art image with the image as a living being. One could ask the image "What do you want? How do you feel?"
In art therapy, there occurs a contemplative relationship. The artist and the subject have a reciprocal relationship.
End of Summary.
This is Lori's field of study and she has the wonderful benefit of having read in depth and studied the current field of art therapy and she now practices this field at St. Luke's along with her studies. She did a marvelous and very thorough job of summarizing the extensive and intensive work and conclusions of several articles written by no doubt experts in this relatively new and emerging area of study. Lori was kind enough to provide three of these articles to each member of the group who has emails listed with Sharleen. I have read these articles and they certainly made this morning's presentation more clear. However, she did very concisely present a summary of these articles. What I found most remarkable was the complexity and variability of the processes used now in art therapy. Knowing the psychological complexities of human behavior, I am amazed that these processes have become as successful as apparently they have become. Here I would like to just quote a small section of one of thee articles which describes all the communicative connections that have to take place in the therapist, in the client, and then in the figurative space between these two individuals all also influenced by the interpretative complexities of non verbal artistic creation. That this works and I have no doubt that it does, amazes me. Here is the quote: From: Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association. "Affect Regulation, Mirror Neurons, and the Third Hand Formulating Mindful Empathic Art Interventions." Michael Franklin PhD, Naropa University, Boulder, CO April 22, 2011.
"The layered elements that form visual empathic, responses ultimately unfold in a quick succession of subtle, albeit informed, intuitions that result from education, clinical training, and overall life experience. Because these informed intuitions emerge as automatic thoughts, it may be helpful to describe the process of their emergence, as follows:
"The progression of empathic insight and response begins with a contemplative mindful lens, in which the art therapist's intention should be to slow down and remain present without judgements (Franklin, 1990). This initial phase attempts a neutral posture, suspending the habit of judging, categorizing, explaining, or knowing. The goal is to be mindfully present to presenting imagery and behavior, bracketing out points of bias or impulsive interpretations that might contaminate a fresh, beginner's mind. The desired attitude is that of meeting a stranger for the first time with a welcoming, unconditional presence.
"Next, the therapist aims to receive the ongoing, multiple, communications of the client -- including verbal, visual, behavioral, and somatic cues -- within the therapist's own body. it is also important to observe facial expressions and nonverbal patterns unfolding in the environment (Schlore & Schore, 2008). Being mindfully receptive to this relational field will cultivate an intrapersonal tolerance for the ambiguous, layered information emerging in the session.
"The therapist then directs his or her efforts toward becoming phenomenologically aware of the primary core formal elements that comprise these verbal, visual, behavioral, and somatic cues. The therapist must check transference and countertransference reactions and sort out related and unrelated personal identifications with the art and other expressions presented. Given the likelihood that the therapist's mirror neuron system has been activated, somatic cues can be used as sources of information to monitor. the therapist filters all of this information by omitting irrelevant material and distilling the primary data into the core content to be communicated. The core content becomes the consolidated emotional center of all verbal, visual, and somatic communications (Sobol & Willims, 2001).
"The core material is sifted further when the art therapist aligns it with similarities in his or her personal history that are based in resonance rather than over identification. As with the difference between empathy (feeling within), and sympathy (Feeling for), the therapist carefully monitors the potential for merger through projective identification. At this point contertransference becomes available as a form of sublimated empathy.
"Acting in the hold of the "third Hand" or auxiliary ego, a visual narrative is then judiciously crafted. this consolidated and symbolic communication responds to what Schlore and Schore (2008) called the "music" behind discursive language. Finally, visual intervention is offered in the least intrusive way when the therapist attunes to the client's artistic style or visual "handwriting" (Kramer, 1986). This completes the empathic art process.
"To summarize, in this image- and client-centered approach, isomorphic expression from the client is answered with empirically accurate, isomorphic expression from the art therapist. In essence, the art therapist receives the affect of the client from his or her art and other layered expressions, manages initial ambiguities by skillfully filtering this material through personal yet objective identifications and associations, and offers back an artistic response. This response consolidates and communicates with clarity the emotional center of the changes experienced in the session.
"The crafting of empathic art responses requires several additional considerations. First, it is necessary to take into account one's own unconscious processes and messages. The intersubjective exchange between client and art therapist is actually an interaction of two intermingling histories. (Teicholz, 1999). The postmodern perspective is that no true objective reality exists; rather, multiple subjective realities are constructed out of personal experiences. The therapist's subjective perception is therefore crucial because it is always possible for unconscious messages to be communicated through the therapist's misattuned responses. This is why meditation practice is an important intrapersonal strategy for cultivating awareness, attention, and intention, all of which help monitor any subtle miscues.
Due to the complexities and the vast trove of information presented last Thursday morning, I suggested that we use this next week's Bake Off to further discuss some of these concepts. We will have more or less, a directed Bake Off, rather than the usual free for all. I do believe that several of our group had comments to make. I advise members to read the articles, and jot down questions, comments, or other narratives that might contribute to this discussion next week.
In my usual attempt to provide something visual and not just endless written words in this blog, I thank Dave K. for sending me this you tube link. I think it demonstrates art therapy to an extreme. Of course, the creator of these amazing structures did them as a therapy for himself, but I think we can all receive some therapy from viewing what he has done.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/oxcftjJ39BU
Here is an idea for a future meeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7YFrMqbcQ8
3 minute art therapy are youtube videos made by Pamela Hayes, art therapist. Most are more primitive or crafty art than what Lori has described, but I think the idea of Winnicott carried further by his students and now Pamela Hayes who has two people exchange squiggles and then has other person make the squiggle into a drawing.
Thursday, February 19, 2015
February 19, 2015: Sky Schultz: Finding God in Nature, Science and Mystical Poetry.
ANNOUNCEMENT from Sky Schultz: On Friday night this week: ie February 20, 2015 I will be presenting a talk/dialog in which he will summarize the universe and other matters. The talk is called: "Finding God in Nature, Science, and Mystical Poetry." (It might be useful to you if you happen to have misplaced God 'He/She/It' and need to get in touch with To Whom it may concern.)
Why should you come? The room will be warm. There will be snacks. You will meet wonderful people, if anybody comes. There will be quotes from the world's greatest spiritual teachers. And, of course, my world-class humor and magic. Play a trick on your friends: invite them.
Friday February 20/ 7:00 to 8:00 PM, Schlitz Audobon Nature Center. This program is handicap accessible. Preregistration is required. To register call 414-352-2880. Member: $10 Non/Member $15.
If you can't make it, and if you have a good excuse, you might invite me to your house, church, synagogue, or community for this delightful and profound talk; the cost is $0.15. ( I am sort of like Mark Twain's preacher who charged nothing for his sermons, and they were worth it.)
By the way, I'm just setting up a new blog with my film, "Common Miracles," featured on the site...http://skyschultz.blogspot.com/
Sky presented the above talk and led the discussion at today's Spirit Mind Body meeting. The presentation is full of laughs, wonderful photos, and very profound quotes which smashed us in the brain, one after the other. It was a great spiritual time! I will post more about this morning's talk later. Sky plans to send some of the quotes so that I can post them accurately. I highly recommend attending his performance tomorrow night, at Schlitz Audobon Center.
Sky told us that he was going to give us a little talk about nothing. However, space is not nothing. In fact space is full of stuff. The Hubble Space Telescope photos interposed with many quotes from famous personalities indeed showed that space is not nothing. Certainly we can be amazed at our universe from the galaxies spanning light years down to the amazing smallest creature in pond water. One example of such a creature, the tardigrades, commonly known as water bears, a primitive arthropod which can tolerate complete desiccation for almost an infinite period of time, only to be able to come back to life when rehydrated in pond water. These creatures can survive at temperatures from -273 degrees to 475 degrees Fahrenheit.
D. H. Lawrence: "All that we know is nothing; we are merely crammed wastepaper baskets, unless we are in touch with that which laughs at all our knowing."
In the Bhagavad Gita:"In the minds of those who are too attached to sense enjoyment and material opulence, and who are bewildered by such things, the resolute determination of devotional service to the Supreme Lord does not take place."
Colin Drake said: "The mind when not engaged creates problems."
Some deep quotes attributed to Lao Tzu: "Kindness in words creates confidence; Kindness in thinking creates profundity; Kindness in giving creates love. To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders. Stop trying to leave, and you will arrive, Stop seeking, and you will see. Stop running away, and you will be found. If you are depressed, you are living in the past; If you are anxious, you are living in the future; If you are at peace, you are living in the present. The Journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. Those who know do not speak; those who speak do not know. The truth is not always beautiful, nor beautiful words the truth." Well, in looking up some of these quotes, I could go on and on. These sayings attributed to Lao Tzu are wonderful.
Albert Einstein said: " There are only two ways to live: one is as though nothing is a miracle; the other way is as though everything is a miracle." "I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking." "Ego equals 1 divided by knowledge."
Niels Bohr said: "The opposite of a truth is another profound truth."
Georgia O'Keefe: "It take a long time to see a flower."
Alan Watts: "We must see that consciousness is neither an isolate soul nor the mere function of a single nervous system, but of that totality of interrelated stars and galaxies that makes a nervous system possible."
Thich Nhat Hanh: On the concept of Inter-Being: The idea of “Interbeing” – introduced by Thich Nhat Hanh into the North American Buddhist vocabulary – may be viewed as a formulation of the doctrine of “dependant co-arising” in the Paticca-samuppada-vibhanga Sutta.
In the Heart of Understanding – Thay’s commentary on the Heart of the Prajnaparamita Sutra – he writes:
The Mirror of this World
Every particle of the world is a mirror,
In each atom lies the blazing light
of a thousand suns
Cleave the heart of a rain-drop,
a hundred pure oceans will flow forth.
Look closely at a grain of sand,
The seed of a thousand beings can be seen
The foot of an ant is larger than an elephant;
In essence, a drop of water
is no different than the Nile.
In the heart of a barley-corn
lies the fruit of a hundred harvests;
Within the pulp of a millet seed
an entire universe can be found.
In the wing of a fly, an ocean of wonder;
In the pupil of the eye, an endless heaven.
Though the inner chamber of the heart is small,
the Lord of both worlds
gladly makes his home there.
- Mahmud Shabestari
Reproduced from the blog of Eknath Easwaran, from Strength in the Storm, creating calm in difficult times.
Black Elk quotes:
And while I stood there
I saw more than I can tell
and I understood more than I saw;
for I was seeing in a sacred manner
the shapes of all things in the spirit,
and the shape of all shapes
as they must live together like one being.
All things are our relatives;
what we do to everything, we
do to ourselves. All is really One."
The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us Black Elk of the Oglala Lakota Sioux (1863-1950)
Why should you come? The room will be warm. There will be snacks. You will meet wonderful people, if anybody comes. There will be quotes from the world's greatest spiritual teachers. And, of course, my world-class humor and magic. Play a trick on your friends: invite them.
Friday February 20/ 7:00 to 8:00 PM, Schlitz Audobon Nature Center. This program is handicap accessible. Preregistration is required. To register call 414-352-2880. Member: $10 Non/Member $15.
If you can't make it, and if you have a good excuse, you might invite me to your house, church, synagogue, or community for this delightful and profound talk; the cost is $0.15. ( I am sort of like Mark Twain's preacher who charged nothing for his sermons, and they were worth it.)
By the way, I'm just setting up a new blog with my film, "Common Miracles," featured on the site...http://skyschultz.blogspot.com/
Sky presented the above talk and led the discussion at today's Spirit Mind Body meeting. The presentation is full of laughs, wonderful photos, and very profound quotes which smashed us in the brain, one after the other. It was a great spiritual time! I will post more about this morning's talk later. Sky plans to send some of the quotes so that I can post them accurately. I highly recommend attending his performance tomorrow night, at Schlitz Audobon Center.
Sky told us that he was going to give us a little talk about nothing. However, space is not nothing. In fact space is full of stuff. The Hubble Space Telescope photos interposed with many quotes from famous personalities indeed showed that space is not nothing. Certainly we can be amazed at our universe from the galaxies spanning light years down to the amazing smallest creature in pond water. One example of such a creature, the tardigrades, commonly known as water bears, a primitive arthropod which can tolerate complete desiccation for almost an infinite period of time, only to be able to come back to life when rehydrated in pond water. These creatures can survive at temperatures from -273 degrees to 475 degrees Fahrenheit.
D. H. Lawrence: "All that we know is nothing; we are merely crammed wastepaper baskets, unless we are in touch with that which laughs at all our knowing."
In the Bhagavad Gita:"In the minds of those who are too attached to sense enjoyment and material opulence, and who are bewildered by such things, the resolute determination of devotional service to the Supreme Lord does not take place."
Colin Drake said: "The mind when not engaged creates problems."
Some deep quotes attributed to Lao Tzu: "Kindness in words creates confidence; Kindness in thinking creates profundity; Kindness in giving creates love. To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders. Stop trying to leave, and you will arrive, Stop seeking, and you will see. Stop running away, and you will be found. If you are depressed, you are living in the past; If you are anxious, you are living in the future; If you are at peace, you are living in the present. The Journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. Those who know do not speak; those who speak do not know. The truth is not always beautiful, nor beautiful words the truth." Well, in looking up some of these quotes, I could go on and on. These sayings attributed to Lao Tzu are wonderful.
Albert Einstein said: " There are only two ways to live: one is as though nothing is a miracle; the other way is as though everything is a miracle." "I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking." "Ego equals 1 divided by knowledge."
Niels Bohr said: "The opposite of a truth is another profound truth."
Georgia O'Keefe: "It take a long time to see a flower."
Alan Watts: "We must see that consciousness is neither an isolate soul nor the mere function of a single nervous system, but of that totality of interrelated stars and galaxies that makes a nervous system possible."
Thich Nhat Hanh: On the concept of Inter-Being: The idea of “Interbeing” – introduced by Thich Nhat Hanh into the North American Buddhist vocabulary – may be viewed as a formulation of the doctrine of “dependant co-arising” in the Paticca-samuppada-vibhanga Sutta.
In the Heart of Understanding – Thay’s commentary on the Heart of the Prajnaparamita Sutra – he writes:
If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper. Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain, the trees cannot grow; and without trees, we cannot make paper. The cloud is essential for the paper to exist. If the cloud is not here, the sheet of paper cannot be here either. So we can say that the cloud and the paper inter-are. “Interbeing” is a word that is not in the dictionary yet, but if we combine the prefix “inter-“ with the verb “to be,” we have a new verb, inter-be.The observation that we “inter-are”, while true and poetic is not really the most important element of “Interbeing”. The important part is the realization that there is no independent self – that the perception of self, of “me”, of “mine” is an illusion. Awareness that “I” am made of “non-I” elements leads to the understanding of non-self and it is the realization of non-self that brings an end to suffering.
The Mirror of this World
Every particle of the world is a mirror,
In each atom lies the blazing light
of a thousand suns
Cleave the heart of a rain-drop,
a hundred pure oceans will flow forth.
Look closely at a grain of sand,
The seed of a thousand beings can be seen
The foot of an ant is larger than an elephant;
In essence, a drop of water
is no different than the Nile.
In the heart of a barley-corn
lies the fruit of a hundred harvests;
Within the pulp of a millet seed
an entire universe can be found.
In the wing of a fly, an ocean of wonder;
In the pupil of the eye, an endless heaven.
Though the inner chamber of the heart is small,
the Lord of both worlds
gladly makes his home there.
- Mahmud Shabestari
Reproduced from the blog of Eknath Easwaran, from Strength in the Storm, creating calm in difficult times.
Black Elk quotes:
And while I stood there
I saw more than I can tell
and I understood more than I saw;
for I was seeing in a sacred manner
the shapes of all things in the spirit,
and the shape of all shapes
as they must live together like one being.
All things are our relatives;
what we do to everything, we
do to ourselves. All is really One."
The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us Black Elk of the Oglala Lakota Sioux (1863-1950)
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Upcoming Schedule:
Upcoming Spirit Mind Body Group schedule:
Feb. 19 Sky Finding God through Mystery, Nature and Poetry
Feb. 26 Lori Responsive Art Therapy
March 5 Bake Off
March 12 Gary Neutral Monism
Feb. 19 Sky Finding God through Mystery, Nature and Poetry
Feb. 26 Lori Responsive Art Therapy
March 5 Bake Off
March 12 Gary Neutral Monism
February 12: Words and Non-duality by John T.
Today John T,, a deep thinking member of our group (he would say, deep thinking? Ah, but thinking is the problem!), undertook to present some personal remembrances of his life of seeking spiritual truth.He chose the title "Words and Nonduality" for various reasons. Indeed, words have duality. Yet we try to use them to describe non-duality. Most of the time the words do not do a very good job in this function.
John talked about his experience with words. As a young man, he thought written words had to be the truth. No one would ever write what is not true, especially a public person such as a public or a politician. That was his point of view at the time. But as the years of his life passed he realized that indeed the truth was often not in the words. And today, with the Internet, this is probably even more so. John compares this to "Alice in Wonderland" and going down the rabbit hole, where we are confronted by the rabbit who tells us that he makes up the words and they mean whatever he says they mean." But John says, "Beware, because the words don't usually mean what they seem to mean."
John discussed his experience with "going to church." Even in such a rarefied atmosphere, as in the church, there was an inner part of him that thought there must be something more, some further truth. As he went about his seeking that truth, the answers often came from books. As the years passed, he read widely of traditional spiritual texts. After all, some of the first sacred texts date back to 1400s BC, and the Old Testament dates to 140 BC.
John did put together something written for us today but he was unable to pull it up on his I-phone. He then spoke from his memory and from his heart, I might add. He wanted to add some humor and told us that he did check his writing out to make sure that it represented correctness and some degree of truth and wouldn't be offensive. He says he checked his writing out with the Ketchup Society of America. That group read his piece and told him that for the most part it was good and mostly unoffensive. But they prescribed an increase in his intake of Ketchup and through the natural processes in his body with the digestion of the Ketchup he would somehow become more mellow and even less likely to offend.
Non-duality. What does it mean? If John would use one word to state the meaning of Non duality, it would be indivisibility. In the Sanskrit, it would be not two, but one. Other simple substitutions for Non duality commonly used might be: "That"; "I am"; The Absolute. Some people use the word "God." Many of these words have a lot of baggage. John likes the concise word and concept: The Absolute.
Over the years, certain teachers have shown John some truth, but sometimes John would not recognize that truth until 40 years later. One teacher said: When one can see oneself in all other beings, and all other beings are in oneself, that is a liberation. One important teacher for John has been Francis Lucille, a Frenchman of the Advaita Vedanta lineage. His teacher was Jean Klein who also led spiritually in this tradition, directly out of India.
John T. attended a week long retreat with Francis Lucille in the last few weeks in Florida. The retreat included meditation, dialogue, and yoga and very profound teachings. Francis is now 70 years old. His approach is somewhat different and he succeeds to draw the students in and seems to enable them to get in touch with The Absolute. One half of the retreat group were MDs, psychologists, and such. Francis himself is a mathematician and physicist and he is still involved in that world to some degree.
Advaita in Sanskrit means not two. The meaning does not in turn mean one, but rather not two. And this is non-duality. There is no separation between me and the rest of the universe. Consciousness is defined as pure being which is aware of the words right now.
Another teacher that John likes is Robert Wolf. His website is: LivingNonduality.org. On that site is an excerpt from his book, "Living Nonduality". Chapter One: Living is an Enigma. Multiple writers have made attempts to put The Absolute into more words, to describe it. Words like boundless, infinity, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, infinite, eternal, free of causation. Basically it is ineffable. There are no words to describe it. We can only know that it is not the relative world that we live in. Rather it is the underlying essence of all. Truth appears as false, and that which appears as false is true. It is unthinkable. It is experiential. Someone asked John if he ever experiences being even momentarily in touch with this Absolute. John describes moments where all attachments drop out. He has experienced one or more profound times where everything is love. He feels then that everything in creation comes from love.
When John worked at Pabst and was seeking and reading a lot about these topics, he was looking for someone to bounce this spiritual idea off of. He found this Christian bishop. They had several deep discussions. But the bishop said that if John had brought these ideas up to a parish priest, that priest would have been scared to death by them. Indeed, the ego has an investment in not recognizing the non duality just as different religions also do. Therefore the ego fights these ideas and fights attempts to engage in non duality.
One of the wonderful ideas that John has developed has been discussed in our meetings before, and that is the universality of these non dual ideas. They are present in so many of the common and uncommon world spiritual traditions. The following are brief words that various traditions use that express this non-duality. "Be still and know that I am." "The word is God." Oooom meaning home in Sanskrit is often thought of as the first word. Buddha-consciousness, Christ-consciousness. Jesus said: "I and the father are one." The Gospel of Thomas was written expressing some of Jesus ideas perhaps closer to his actual life and teachings. It seems in that Gospel that indeed Jesus teachings are non dual. But a couple centuries later the currently used Gospels according to Matthew, Mark and Luke are dualistic -- me and God are two different things. To read in detail or to just scroll through a bunch of references to nondualism to see how it enters into the traditions of almost every spiritual tradition throughout history and around the world, just Google nondualism and look at the Wikepedia article. It is interesting that on Wikipedia there are so many incomplete stubs, but here on this esoteric topic, the random writers have produced a huge and thorough piece of writing. It is truly amazing.
In my searches on the Internet, here is another site that gives some insight into nondualism, which is a dialogue with John Foster.
http://www.lifewithoutacentre.com/essays-transcripts/what-is-nonduality/
IN ADDITION, I thank John T. for posting his writing on our email site. I have copied his references below as well. I think our membership will have plenty to keep us busy researching nondualism until our meeting next week.
John talked about his experience with words. As a young man, he thought written words had to be the truth. No one would ever write what is not true, especially a public person such as a public or a politician. That was his point of view at the time. But as the years of his life passed he realized that indeed the truth was often not in the words. And today, with the Internet, this is probably even more so. John compares this to "Alice in Wonderland" and going down the rabbit hole, where we are confronted by the rabbit who tells us that he makes up the words and they mean whatever he says they mean." But John says, "Beware, because the words don't usually mean what they seem to mean."
John discussed his experience with "going to church." Even in such a rarefied atmosphere, as in the church, there was an inner part of him that thought there must be something more, some further truth. As he went about his seeking that truth, the answers often came from books. As the years passed, he read widely of traditional spiritual texts. After all, some of the first sacred texts date back to 1400s BC, and the Old Testament dates to 140 BC.
John did put together something written for us today but he was unable to pull it up on his I-phone. He then spoke from his memory and from his heart, I might add. He wanted to add some humor and told us that he did check his writing out to make sure that it represented correctness and some degree of truth and wouldn't be offensive. He says he checked his writing out with the Ketchup Society of America. That group read his piece and told him that for the most part it was good and mostly unoffensive. But they prescribed an increase in his intake of Ketchup and through the natural processes in his body with the digestion of the Ketchup he would somehow become more mellow and even less likely to offend.
Non-duality. What does it mean? If John would use one word to state the meaning of Non duality, it would be indivisibility. In the Sanskrit, it would be not two, but one. Other simple substitutions for Non duality commonly used might be: "That"; "I am"; The Absolute. Some people use the word "God." Many of these words have a lot of baggage. John likes the concise word and concept: The Absolute.
Over the years, certain teachers have shown John some truth, but sometimes John would not recognize that truth until 40 years later. One teacher said: When one can see oneself in all other beings, and all other beings are in oneself, that is a liberation. One important teacher for John has been Francis Lucille, a Frenchman of the Advaita Vedanta lineage. His teacher was Jean Klein who also led spiritually in this tradition, directly out of India.
John T. attended a week long retreat with Francis Lucille in the last few weeks in Florida. The retreat included meditation, dialogue, and yoga and very profound teachings. Francis is now 70 years old. His approach is somewhat different and he succeeds to draw the students in and seems to enable them to get in touch with The Absolute. One half of the retreat group were MDs, psychologists, and such. Francis himself is a mathematician and physicist and he is still involved in that world to some degree.
Advaita in Sanskrit means not two. The meaning does not in turn mean one, but rather not two. And this is non-duality. There is no separation between me and the rest of the universe. Consciousness is defined as pure being which is aware of the words right now.
Another teacher that John likes is Robert Wolf. His website is: LivingNonduality.org. On that site is an excerpt from his book, "Living Nonduality". Chapter One: Living is an Enigma. Multiple writers have made attempts to put The Absolute into more words, to describe it. Words like boundless, infinity, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, infinite, eternal, free of causation. Basically it is ineffable. There are no words to describe it. We can only know that it is not the relative world that we live in. Rather it is the underlying essence of all. Truth appears as false, and that which appears as false is true. It is unthinkable. It is experiential. Someone asked John if he ever experiences being even momentarily in touch with this Absolute. John describes moments where all attachments drop out. He has experienced one or more profound times where everything is love. He feels then that everything in creation comes from love.
When John worked at Pabst and was seeking and reading a lot about these topics, he was looking for someone to bounce this spiritual idea off of. He found this Christian bishop. They had several deep discussions. But the bishop said that if John had brought these ideas up to a parish priest, that priest would have been scared to death by them. Indeed, the ego has an investment in not recognizing the non duality just as different religions also do. Therefore the ego fights these ideas and fights attempts to engage in non duality.
One of the wonderful ideas that John has developed has been discussed in our meetings before, and that is the universality of these non dual ideas. They are present in so many of the common and uncommon world spiritual traditions. The following are brief words that various traditions use that express this non-duality. "Be still and know that I am." "The word is God." Oooom meaning home in Sanskrit is often thought of as the first word. Buddha-consciousness, Christ-consciousness. Jesus said: "I and the father are one." The Gospel of Thomas was written expressing some of Jesus ideas perhaps closer to his actual life and teachings. It seems in that Gospel that indeed Jesus teachings are non dual. But a couple centuries later the currently used Gospels according to Matthew, Mark and Luke are dualistic -- me and God are two different things. To read in detail or to just scroll through a bunch of references to nondualism to see how it enters into the traditions of almost every spiritual tradition throughout history and around the world, just Google nondualism and look at the Wikepedia article. It is interesting that on Wikipedia there are so many incomplete stubs, but here on this esoteric topic, the random writers have produced a huge and thorough piece of writing. It is truly amazing.
In my searches on the Internet, here is another site that gives some insight into nondualism, which is a dialogue with John Foster.
http://www.lifewithoutacentre.com/essays-transcripts/what-is-nonduality/
IN ADDITION, I thank John T. for posting his writing on our email site. I have copied his references below as well. I think our membership will have plenty to keep us busy researching nondualism until our meeting next week.
Hello All,
I want to thank everyone who was present Feb. 13th for their support and patience.
Here are the links to the Nonduality information resource pieces I made reference to and from in sharing about the topic of Nonduality with Body, Mind, and Spirit Group Thursday morning.
There are many great definitions of nonduality. The first one (The Absolute Enigma) I have on the list is one of my personal favorites. Which is an excerpt from Robert Wolfe's book entitled "Living Nonduality". I have always thought a through reading of this piece could be analogous to "the taking of the Red Pill" as in the movie "Matrix". In my recent readings on nonduality I came across a written piece by Jerry Katz from his (website nonduality.com), which is a replica of the same image I experienced. I think it is an excellent piece to use as a precursor to read before one takes the Red Pill/reads the "The Absolute Enigma". So, I also offer it here.
http://www.livingnonduality.
Here are the links to the Nonduality information resource pieces I made reference to and from in sharing about the topic of Nonduality with Body, Mind, and Spirit Group Thursday morning.
There are many great definitions of nonduality. The first one (The Absolute Enigma) I have on the list is one of my personal favorites. Which is an excerpt from Robert Wolfe's book entitled "Living Nonduality". I have always thought a through reading of this piece could be analogous to "the taking of the Red Pill" as in the movie "Matrix". In my recent readings on nonduality I came across a written piece by Jerry Katz from his (website nonduality.com), which is a replica of the same image I experienced. I think it is an excellent piece to use as a precursor to read before one takes the Red Pill/reads the "The Absolute Enigma". So, I also offer it here.
- The word nonduality is a “red pill.” Recall
that in the movie The Matrix, Neo was offered either a blue pill or a
red pill. The blue pill would have returned Neo back to his dream world
whose unreality he sensed but did not understand. The red pill would
have awakened him to who he really was, which would have begun his
journey through life and to the source.
The
word nonduality could work as a red pill if you value its meaning
enough to follow it as deeply as you can. When Neo was being given his
choice of pills, his teacher and mentor Morpheus explained to him:
This
is your last chance. After this there is no turning back. You take the
blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever
you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I
show you how deep the rabbit hole goes…. Remember, all I’m offering is
the truth, nothing more….
http://www.livingnonduality.
If one wants to explore nonduality further, here are some additional links to written pieces or videos I have found useful.
Francis Lucille - Buddha at the Gas Pump Interview - YouTube:
Science and Non Duality Conference, with Francis Lucille doing a Q&A On free will, emotions, freedom and more - YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/watch?
Robert Wolfe Interview: http://livingnonduality.org/
Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi. - YouTube : https://m.youtube.com/watch?
And one other piece I referenced from Thursday: The Nonduality Highlights, #3665
All of these links can lead one to many other useful resources to further explore the topic of Nonduality if one is so inclined.
May peace be with you,
John T.
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