What are memes? Why do we Internet? What is enlightenment? Is honesty relevant to evolution? What is openness really? Is willingness available like a virus of sorts to alter our genes and expand our awareness? What is learning? Is there divine knowledge en-coded into every atom?
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EVOLUTION: THE MIND’S BIG BANG
NOVA – Discovery/Science/History (documentary)
NOTE:
A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate, and respond to selective pressures.
Memes:
Graham, Gordon (2002),
Genes: a philosophical inquiry, New York: Routledge, p. 196,
ISBN 0-415-25257-1
Research to shed light on how early experience impacts brain development
Program Description
Dr. Richard J. Davidson, Founder and Chair of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, discusses a new five-year project focused revealing the pathological pathways that lead to mental disorders such as anxiety and depression.
Made possible by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to establish a new Silvio O. Conte Center for Basic and Translational Mental Health Research on the UW-Madison campus, it supports three major efforts:
1. Non-invasive studies, using functional, diffusion and structural MRI and other tools, to measure response to stressors in the developing brain beginning in infancy;
2. Molecular studies to characterize anxious temperament at a cellular level, using induced pluripotent stem cells derived from adolescent skin or blood cells;
3. A study of genetically identical twins to describe how experience and environment cause differences in how the brain functions and in which genes are differentially expressed.
“This work will uncover new targets for early interventions to prevent anxiety-related disorders, which exact enormous social, emotional and economic burdens in adolescence and early adulthood,” says Principal Investigator Richard J. Davidson, PhD. “Ultimately, this new knowledge will inform the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders and lead to new neurally-inspired interventions.”
The Center for Investigating Healthy Minds is a research center focused on investigating and cultivating positive qualities of mind on an individual, societal and global level. Learn more at www.investigatinghealthyminds.org.
My brain may actually change itself with proper exercise, with learning (new understanding), and with practice. My thoughts may be altering my brain’s anatomy. I’ve been working on it now for several years — not often enough, but enough to know its true.
Today, I want to let you in on how this works. The one thing you need to know is discipline: “Practice makes perfect” as they say.
“Neurons that fire together wire together.”
based on: The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge, M.D
In his book, Doidge collected case histories of amazing progress by people with conditions that were considered hopeless and that had long been dismissed. “We see a woman born with half a brain that rewired itself to work as a whole, a woman labeled retarded who cured her deficits with brain exercises and now cures those of others, blind people learning to see, learning disorders cured, IQs raised, aging brains rejuvenated, painful phantom limbs erased, stroke patients recovering their faculties, children with cerebral palsy learning to move more gracefully, entrenched depression and anxiety disappearing, and lifelong character traits altered.”
its not weird — its the way of the universe — intellect is its source and its purpose is love — it loves consciousness. The universe seeks consciousness instantly greeting it and forever loving it. ~ Eric
This report presents brain research breakthroughs that are continuing to develop our scientific understanding that the brain-body is a complex bio-mechanical system that can be directed towards inner peace and serenity. My findings via science are helping me be able to communicate how we may each find meaning in our lives that draw us — each one — to transcend self. I refer to this process as spirituality — not as religious practices. Everyone has biological needs for inner peace and transcendence of self.
Regarding spirituality, scientists speculated for a long time that there may be a “God gene” that possibly causes a person to believe in God and that the human brain possibly features a “God spot” area that may be responsible for increasing spirituality. The “God gene” is still unfound, but it isn’t ruled out. Presently, science is not focusing on brains as having a single “God spot” because…
“No ‘God Spot’ In Brain,
Spirituality Linked To Right Parietal Lobe.”1
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University of Missouri research findings indicate spirituality is a complex phenomenon, and multiple areas of the brain are responsible for the many aspects of spiritual experiences.“
We have found a neuropsychological basis for spirituality, but it’s not isolated to one specific area of the brain,” said Brick Johnstone, professor of health psychology in the School of Health Professions and others at the University. “Spirituality is a much more dynamic concept that uses many parts of the brain. Certain parts of the brain play more predominant roles, but they all work together to facilitate individuals’ spiritual experiences.” Thus, preliminary speculation that there is a “God spot” in the brain may not be found to be true.
The brain is (probably) trainable. I’m in no way disappointed. In fact, this latest research finding confirms my belief that just about anyone may train their brain in order to increase peaceful sensations resulting from meditation, chanting, soothing music, prayer, spiritual activities, and the like. This study began after previous research findings by the same University scientists that the right side of the brain is associated with self-orientation, whereas the left side is associated with how individuals relate to others.
Although the current study looks at people with brain injury, previous studies of meditating Buddhists and Franciscan nuns with normal brain function have shown that people can learn to minimize the functioning of the right side of their brains to increase their spiritual connections during meditation and prayer.
Johnstone studied 20 people with traumatic brain injuries affecting the right parietal lobe. He surveyed participants on characteristics of spirituality, such as how close they felt to a higher power and if they felt their lives were part of a divine plan.
The study found that the participants with more significant injury to their right parietal lobe showed an increased feeling of closeness to a higher power. He found that the participants with more significant injury to their right parietal lobe showed an increased feeling of closeness to a higher power.
“Neuropsychology researchers consistently have shown that impairment on the right side of the brain decreases one’s focus on the self,” Johnstone said.
“Since our research shows that people with this impairment are more spiritual, this suggests spiritual experiences are associated with a decreased focus on the self. This is consistent with many religious texts that suggest people should concentrate on the well-being of others rather than on themselves. ”
In addition, Johnstone measured the frequency of participants’ religious practices, such as how often they attended church or listened to religious programs. Research subjects were measured as to activity in the frontal lobe and the result indicates a strong correlation between increased activity in this part of the brain and increased participation in spiritual practices. “This finding indicates that spiritual experiences are likely associated with different parts of the brain,” Johnstone said.
The research makes no claim about spiritual truths. The study merely demonstrates how that the brain allows for different kinds of feelings of a spiritual experience that Christians might experience as God, Buddhists as Nirvana, or for atheists it may seem like a feeling of serene peacefulness.
Any one can learn to increase an experience of spirituality!
Professor Johnstone says that for him it is music that helps him transcend himself: “When I put on my headphones and listen to “Stairway to Heaven” I just get lost.
Brick Johnstone, professor of health psychology in the University of Missouri School of Health Professions, studied spirituality in people with right parietal lobe brain damage.
So, spirituality is not limited to religious (people). Anyone can develop the experiences that allow for us to relax in a peaceful spirit. The pursuit of individuality and self-interests occurs in the side of the brain where it turns out that this strength may weaken “spirituality.”
Each person it seems must take action themselves. The old thinking that a “God spot” in the brain may direct spirituality is all but thrown out completely.
A person may strengthen “spirituality” by means of prayer, peacefulness meditations, relaxation or soothing music, and by other means that cause us to lose our sense of self and allow us to sense connections with a more universal presence. The article points out that this “inner place” is called many different names depending on what spiritual development practices that may be guiding an individual.
Do you have a regular spiritual daily routine? I believe that we humans are prepared better to live in a diverse culture if we’d take some action to develop daily practices of a “spiritual” nature. If you begin a regular practice, for example, of prayer, bible meditation, and fellowship, and prayer again, you may find yourself changed dramatically in a short time is what I think.
More: morning Meditation, Mindfulness is Self-Kindness, The Importance of Prayer.
Thanks for reading (spiritual topics in a secular world),
Oh yes, I’m back on happiness and changing your DNA and your brain chemistry too; and so I’m taking a closer look with my new friend Matthieu Ricard from his Google Tech Talks in 2007 at how to re-program brains. His lecture is stored in the Youtube video library (its so nice to browse Youtube occasionally–well, actually, I do daily).
A healthy mind should act like a mirror – faces can be reflected in a glass but none of them stick. Use the same technique with thoughts – let them pass through your mind but don’t dwell.
It’s impossible to stop thoughts from coming but focusing on a particular sound or the breath going in and out calms the mind, giving greater clarity. Controlling the mind is not about reducing your freedom, it’s about not being a slave to your thoughts. Think of it as directing your mind like a boat rather than drifting.
Be mindful – pay attention to the sensations of your breath going in and out. If you notice your mind wandering simply bring it back to focusing on your breath. This is known as mindfulness. You can apply it to other sensations to bring you into the ‘now’ rather than dwelling on the past or future. You could focus instead on heat, cold and sounds that you hear.
Once you’ve achieved some skill in this you can use that to cultivate qualities such as kindness, or dealing with disturbing emotions. He says everyone has felt all-consuming love but usually it lasts for about 15 seconds, but you can hold on and nurture this vivid feeling by focusing on it in meditation. If you feel it becoming vague you can consciously revive it.
Like when playing the piano, practicing the feeling for 20minutes has a far greater impact over time than a few seconds. Regular practice is also needed like watering a plant.
You can then use meditation to gain some space from negative emotions. Ricard says: ‘You can look at your experience like a fire that burns. If you are aware of anger you are not angry you are aware. Being aware of anxiety is not being anxious it is being aware.’ By being aware of these emotions you are no longer adding fuel to their fire and they will burn down.
You will see benefits in stress levels and general wellbeing as well as brain changes with regular practice in a month. Those who say they don’t have enough time to meditate should look at the benefits: ‘If it gives you the resources to deal with everything else during the other 23 hours and 30minutes, it seems a worthy way of spending 20 minutes,’ Ricard says.
A friend wants to know if I’m still Christian. YES, I am. Everything that I’m referring to from science and new age and Buddhist teachers is complimentary with Jesus’s teachings. I posted a couple of the most important Christian practices–in my opinion, 1 John (NIV) and the Our Father prayer are essential in Christian belief.
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Soninto the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
How do thoughts occur?
Well, it turns out that no one exactly knows.However, there is evidence that thought originates from our source… not the brain… no, our energy source.
Watch these video clips and then, let’s talk about it.
Before you experience a conscious thought, there are unconscious brain processes at work behind the scenes that must generate the thought. We know this, but we do not yet have a solid idea regarding what it is about brain function that gives rise to a thought.
One important point to keep in mind regarding any functions of consciousness in the brain is that, even if consciousness serves no functional role whatsoever (as some say), science must explain what consciousness is and how it is part of the natural world.
Eric
My brain may actually change itself with proper exercise, with learning (new understanding), and with practice. My thoughts may be altering my brain’s anatomy. I’ve been working on it now for several years — not often enough, but enough to know its true.
Brick Johnstone, professor of health psychology in the University of Missouri School of Health Professions, studied spirituality in people with right parietal lobe brain damage.
Eric
However, there is evidence that thought originates from our source… not the brain… no, our energy source.