With poor(junk foods) eating habits we are usually feeding our emotional hunger, and not actual physical hunger. By becoming more self-aware we can learn to listen to what our real needs or hungers are and meet them with the appropriate nourishment. -- Deepak Chopra https://www.deepakchopra.com/blog/view/1262/good_food_bad_food
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Below are few important points from the Book Super Brain By Deepak and Tanzi.
=> Astounding is the brain's ability to make new connections that a fetus on the verge of being born is forming 250,000 new brain cells per minute,leading to millions of new synaptic connections per minute.
Synapse definition: In the nervous system, a synapse is a structure that permits a neuron (or nerve cell) to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another cell (neural or otherwise).
=> The dynamics of the brain go in and out of balance but always favor overall balance,known as homeostasis.
=> Nerve cells(Neurons) are true wonders of nature in their ability to create our sense of reality.Neurons connect to each other to form vast and intricate neural networks. Your brain contains over 100 billion neurons and up to a quadrillion connections,called synapses.
Neurons project worm like threads called axons an dendrites which deliver both chemical and electrical signals across the gap between synapses. A neuron contains many dentrites to receive information from other nerve cells. But it has only one axon,which can extend out to over a meter(roughly 39 inches) in length.
An adult human brain contains well over 100,000 miles of axons and countless dentrites enough to wrap around the earth over four times.
Axon: An axon also known as a nerve fibre; is a long, slender projection of a nerve cell, or neuron, that typically conducts electrical impulses away from the neuron's cell body. The function of the axon is to transmit information to different neurons, muscles and glands.
Dendrites :Dendrites are the branched projections of a neuron that act to conduct the electrochemical stimulation(input) received from other neural cells to the cell body, or soma, of the neuron from which the dendrites project. Electrical stimulation is transmitted onto dendrites by upstream neurons (usually their axons) via synapses which are located at various points throughout the dendritic tree. Dendrites play a critical role in integrating these synaptic inputs and in determining the extent to which action potentials are produced by the neuron.
=> Einsten a master of applying such amazing adaptability to physics saw himself as a failure as a husband and father. He divorced his first wife,Mileva in 1919 after living apart for 5 years. A daughter born out of wedlock in 1902 has disappeared from the pages of history.One of his two sons was schizophrenic and died in a mental asylum;the other,who suffered as a child when his parents seperated was alinated from his father for 2 decades. These sitations caused Einsten much pain.
=> Imagine a beautiful sunset in your mind's eye.No photons of light hit your retina,as they would if your were gazing at an sunset.No illumination lights up your visual cortex,which is submerged in the same blackness as the rest of the brain.Yet microvolts of electricity pumping ions back and forth along your neurons magically produce full of light,not to mention beauty and a cascade of associations with every other sunset you have ever seen.
ION: An ion is an atom or molecule in which the total number of electrons is not equal to the total number of protons, giving the atom a net positive or negative electrical charge.
Glycine: Glycine is the smallest of the 20 amino acids commonly found in proteins. Proteins are large biological molecules consisting of one or more chains of amino acids. In short Glycine acts like a neuro-transmitter.
The key elements of an amino acid are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, though other elements are found in the side-chains of certain amino acids.
Neurotransmitters : Neurotransmitters are endogenous chemicals that transmit signals from a neuron to a target cell across a synapse.
Receptors: Cell surface receptors (membrane receptors, transmembrane receptors) are specialized integral membrane proteins that take part in communication between the cell and the outside world. Extracellular signaling molecules (usually hormones, neurotransmitters, cytokines, growth factors or cell recognition molecules) attach to the receptor, triggering changes in the function of the cell.
Glutamate: Glutamate receptors are synaptic receptors located primarily on the membranes of neuronal cells.
=> In the triune(three part) model of the brain,the oldest part is the reptilian brain, or brain stem, designed for survival. It houses vital control centers for breathing, swallowing and heart-beat among other things. It also prompts hunger, sex and the fight or flight response.
The limbic system was next to evolve.It houses the emotional brain and short-term memory. Emotions based on fear and desire evolved to serve the instinctive drives of the reptilian brain.
The most recent developmentis the neocortex, the region for intellect, decision making, and higher reasoning.As our reptilian and limbic brains drive us to do what we need for survival, the neocortex represents the intelligence to achieve our ends while also placing restraints on our emotions and instinctive impulses. Most important for the super brain, the neocortex is the center for self-awareness, free will, and choice making the user and potentially the master of the brain.
=> Tucked under the cerebral cortex is the limbic system. It houses our emotions,feelings of pleasure associated with eating and sex,and our short-team memory.Located here are two individual areas,the thalamus and hypothalamus,as well as the amygdala and hippocampus,which control short-term memory.
Neocortex: The neocortex is a part of the brain of mammals. It is the outer layer of the cerebral hemispheres, and made up of six layers, labelled I to VI (with VI being the innermost and I being the outermost). The neocortex is part of the cerebral cortex (along with the archicortex and paleocortex, which are cortical parts of the limbic system).
Prefrontal cortex : The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is the anterior part of the frontal lobes of the brain, lying in front of the motor and premotor areas.This brain region has been implicated in planning complex cognitive behavior, personality expression, decision making, and moderating social behavior.The basic activity of this brain region is considered to be orchestration of thoughts and actions in accordance with internal goals.
The amygdala determines what memories are stored based on the emotional response that an experience invokes.The hippocampus is responsible for short-term memories and sends them to appopriate parts of the cerebral cortex for long-term shortage.This region is particularly affected in Alzheimer's disease.The limbic system is tightly connected with the olfactory lobe,which processes smell.This is why a certain scent can trigger such strong memories.
=> The bulk of the brain is the cerebral cortex or cerebrum. Designated the higher brain,it is responsible for many functions we associate with being human; receiving and processing sensory information,learning,memory,and the initiation of thought and action,as well as behaviour and social integration.
The cerebral cortex is the most recently evolved part of the brain,consisting of a roughly 3-square-foot sheet of neural tissue spread out in six layers toward the outer surface of the brain.This sheet of tissue is folded upon itself many times over so that it can fit into the skull. The cerebrum is home to the largest concentration of neurons in the entire brain,roughly 40 billion.
=> The cerebral cortex has three main functional areas: the sensory regions for receiving and processing the five senses,the motor regions for controlling voluntary movement,and the association regions for intellect,perception,learning,memory and higher order thinking.
The cerebral cortex is made up of a number of different lobes.Toward the back of the cerebral cortex is the occipital lobe,containing the visual cortex,where the brain relays and interprets information being perceived by your eyes.The left visual cortex connects with the right eye and vice versa.Toward the front of the occipital lobes are the temporaral lobes.Here lie the primitive instinct-driven emotions that serve survival; fear,desire and appetites such as hunger and sexuality.Hearing and balance are also controlled here.When this area of the brain is damaged or malfunctioning,a person may suffer uncontrollable appetites for food and sex.
=> In front of and above the temporal lobes are the parietal lobes, where sesnsory information is processed along with spatial orientation, which lets you know where you are. Finally, in front of parietal lobes are the frontal lobes. The frontal lobes regulnate motor control and movement but also mediate our behaviour in society.
If the frontal cortex is damaged or, for example, contains a tumor, one might become pathologically uninhibited and turn into an extreme exhibiotionist or even a sexual molester.
The right and left hemispheres of celebral cortex are connected by bundles of nerve fibers called the corpus callosum. They allow the two sides of the brain to "talk" to each other. If they did not, one might experience "alien hand syndrome," in which one does not recognize one's own hand! Tucked under corpus callosum is the lymbic system, which contains the thalamus and hypothalamus. The thalamus is involved in sensory perception and regulates movement. The hypothalamus regulates hormones, the pitutary gland, body temperature, the adrenal glands, and many other activities.
The two other major sections of brain are celebrallum, toward the rear of the brain, which controls coordination of movement, balance, posture; and the brain sytem (medulla oblongata and pons), which is the oldest part of the brain. It connects the brain to spinal cord and regulates heart rate, breathing, and other so-called autonomic processes that take place automatically.
The functions of the brain that control physiological processes-from heart rate to fear response to immune system-are concentrated in specific regions of the celebral cortex, cerebellum, or brain stem. But these regions also communicate with one another to create an intricate system of balance and coordination as part of every brain activity For example, when you look at a flower, your eyes sense that visual information and relay it to occipital cortex, a region of the cerebral cortex toward the back of the brain. But first that same visual information travels through multiple other areas of the brain, where it may also serve to coordinate your movements in response to visual information. The billions of neurons in these regions work together in exquisite balance and harmony, similar to the way an orchestra makes beautiful music. There is no room for one instrument to be too loud or off key. Balance and harmony are the keys to a successful brain, just as they are for the stability of the universe.
Pons: The pons is a structure located on the brain stem, contains nuclei that relay signals from the forebrain to the cerebellum, along with nuclei that deal primarily with sleep, respiration, swallowing, bladder control, hearing, equilibrium, taste, eye movement, facial expressions, facial sensation, and posture.
=> Empathy is defined as the understanding and sharing of others feelings.In Homo Sapiens as the ability to communicate took a quantum leap forward,empathy became a critical component for social survival.It allowed parents to care for the group's children while some adults were absent to hunt and gather.Empathy still enables us to live in groups and socialize with each other,serving as the necessary curb to selfish aggression and competition(a balance that society struggles to maintain).
More broadly,empathy has paved the way for moral reasoning and altrusistic behavior.Empathy is different from sympathy which does not involve sharing another's state of mind.It is also different from emotional contagion,in which one is not aware of whether the emotion belongs to oneself or has been observed by contact with a stronger personality or the crowd.
At the neural level,the main area of the brain activated by empathy is the cingulate cortex.The cingulate lies like a belt in the middle of the cerebral cortex and is considered part of the limbic system,which deals with emotion,learning and memory.This is where empathy physically resides.The empathy-associated regions of the cingulate regions of the gyrus are larger in females than in males and are generally smaller in schizophrenic patients,which are often tragically isolated in their emotions and delusional about what other people are feeling.
=> No one knows the full functioning of mirror neurons,but they seem to play a key role in social attachment,the process by which we attain security,nurturing and alleviation of distress from our relationships.A host of neurochemicals called neuropeptides-small proteins in the brain that regulate social attachment,including oxytocin,opiods and prolactin - regulate empathic responsiveness.
Oxytocin facilities maternal behavior and makes one feel "in love".The application of oxytocin via nasal spray has been shown to reduce responses to social stress and the fear responses in the brain.Oxytocin can also increase mutual trust and make one more sensitive to others facial expressions.An adverse gene mutation in the receptor that binds oxytocin causes one to have lower levels of empathy.Thus oxytocin plays a critical role,and yet its popular name,"the love harmone" should not be taken literally.Love,being a complex behavior,is sensitive to many responses throughout the brain and single hormone cannot be held as its cause.We are confronted with the riddle of where mind ends and brain begins. Anyone who has ever fallen madly in love will testify that this mystery gets very personal.Humans have evolved a biological structure in the brain that grew from the mating of lower mammals,but we make all kinds of choices about how we love and who attracts us. biology may provide the juice,but it doesn't take over from the mind.
=> Richard Dawkins,the british ethnologist and science writer who presents himself as a professional atheist,wrote a book for young people,The magic of reality,which addresses the whole issue of what is real.He informs the reader that if we want to know what's real,we use our five senses,and whe things are too big and far away (distant galaxies) or too small(e.g brain cells and bacteria) we augument our senses with devices like telescopes and microscopes.One anticipates that Dawkins will add a caveat that our five senses arent always realiable, as when our eyes tell us that the sun raises in the sky in the morning and sets at twilight,but he offers no such caveat.
=> We cannot fully explore the brain without addressing its deepest mystery. You are immersed in it every second of your life. Imagine that you are on vacation gazing at the Grand Canyon. Photons of sunlight glancing off the cliffs make contact with your retina and stream into your bain. There the visual cortex is activated through chemical and electrical activity, which comes down to electrons bumping into other electrons. But you aren't aware of this stormy, minuscule process. Instead, you see vibrant color and form;the awe-inspiring chasm appears before you, and you hear the whistling wind rush out of the canyon and feel the hot desert sun on your skin.
Something almost indescribable is happening here, because not a single quality of this experience is present in your brain. The Grand Canyon glows a brilliant red, but no matter how hard you search, you won't find a spot of red in your neurons. The same holds true for the other four senses. Feeling the wind in your face, you won't find a breeze in your brain, and its temperature of 98.6 degrees Farenheit won't change, whether you are in the Sahara or in Arctic. Electrons bump into electrons,that's all. Since electrons don't see, touch, hear, taste, and smell, your brain doesn't either.
=> Once when Deepak was giving a talk on the subject of higher consciousness, a skeptical questioner stood up in the audience. "I'm a scientist," he introduced himself, "and this is all smoke and mirrors. Where is God? You can't produce any evidence that he exists. Enlightenment is probably just self-delusion. You have no proof that supernatural things are real." Without passing to consider, Deepak replied, "You have no proof that natural things are real." Which is true. Mountains, trees and clouds look real enough, but without having the slightest idea how the five senses arose from electrons bumping into electrons, there is no proof that the physical world matches our mental representation of it.
=> In Jan 2010 Ray Tallis,who is described as a polymath,atheist and physician,mounted a pointed challenge to "the brain comes first" position.His article in the journal New Scientist was titled "Why You Won't Find Consciousness in the Brain". As a "neuroskeptic," Tallis attacks the most basic evidence that makes scientists believe that the brain creates Consciousness; those by-now-familiar fMRI scans that show regions of the brain lighting up in correlation with mental activity.At this point the reader already knows a good deal about them.Tallis repeats some of the points we have been making.
One of the first things a scientist is taught is that a correlation isnt a cause.Radios light up when music plays,but they dont create music.Likewise,one could argue that brain activity doesn't create thoughts,even though we now can see which areas are lighting up.
Neural networks map out and mediate electrical activity.They aren't actually thinking.
Electrical activity isn't the same as having an experience,which is what happens in Consciousness.
=> Asking the brain to "store" memory is impossible,Tallis contends.Chemical and electrical reactions happen only in the present.A synapse fires now,with nothing left over from the previous minute,much less the distant past.After the firing is over,the chemical signals that cross the synapse reset to their default position.The brain can strengthen certain synapses while weakening others through a process called long-term potentation.This is how certain memories become hardwired,while others do not.The question is whether the brain is capable of remembering what it did in the past,or is it actually consciousness that does this.Salt can disssolve only at the moment when you stir it into a glass of water.It cannot store a memory of dissolving in water in 1989.
Tallis notes that there are even more basic issues,such as the self - no brain location has been found for I,the person who is having an experience.You simply know that you exist.Nothing lights up in your brain;no calories are expended to keep your sense of self going.For all intents and purposes,if the self had to be proven scientifically,a skeptic could examine brain scans and prove that there is no I,except that obviously there is,brain scans or not.I is actually operating the whole brain. It is creating pictures of the world without jumping into the picture,just as a painter creates paintings without jumping into them.To say that brain creates the self is like saying that paintings create the painters.It does hold up.
Then there is the initiation of action.If the brain is a biological machine,as materialists agree(a famously phrase from an expert in artifical intellegence dubs the brain "a computer made of meat"),how does the machine come up with new,unexpected choices? The most powerful computer in the world doesnot say "I want a day off" or "Let's talk about something else." It has no choice but to follow its programming.
Source:
Super Brain By Rudolph E. Tanzi and Deepak Chopra. All Definitions From Wikipedia
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
If mind is same as brain then none of the ingredients in the brain cell - proteins,sodium,pottasium or water can observe but you can so how did these objects acquire that capacity?
Synapse is a structure that permits a neuron (or nerve cell) to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another cell (neural or otherwise). -- Source: Is God an Illusion By deepak chopra and Leonard M
Synapse is a structure that permits a neuron (or nerve cell) to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another cell (neural or otherwise). -- Source: Is God an Illusion By deepak chopra and Leonard M
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Monday, May 6, 2013
https://www.deepakchopra.com/blog/view/1144/can_reality_set_us_free?_the_puzzle_of_complementarity https://www.deepakchopra.com/blog/view/1152/can_reality_set_us_free?_the_puzzle_of_complementarity_(part_2) https://www.deepakchopra.com/blog/view/1166/can_reality_set_us_free?_the_puzzle_of_complementarity_(part_3)
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Now coming to Balarama Reddy,here is an excerpt from David Godman's article where Balarama Reddy carries on in similiar Fashion on Suri Nagamma and Devaraja Mudaliar and Krishna Bhikshu:
I will revert now to my discussion of which collections of his verbal teachings Bhagavan read and checked.
Most of the text of Day by Day with Bhagavan was not checked by Bhagavan. Devaraja Mudaliar showed the first few pages to Bhagavan when he started compiling his record, but dropped the habit soon afterwards, except when he was unsure of what he had recorded. Devaraja Mudaliar operated under the same constraints that the compiler of Talks did, so the same qualifications must also apply. One plus in favour of this work is that Bhagavan publicly pronounced himself to be highly satisfied with Devaraja Mudaliar’s skill and accuracy as an interpreter.
The letters that comprise Letters from Sri Ramanasramam were published in a Telugu journal during Bhagavan’s lifetime, but there is no evidence that Bhagavan ever checked the material before it went to the press. Balaram Reddy told me in the 1980s that there was a rivalry between the various 1940s recorders (Krishna Bhikshu, Devaraja Mudaliar and Suri Nagamma) with each accusing the other of transcribing irrelevant or inaccurate material. Bhagavan, following his usual habit of non-interference, refused to take sides or intervene in this. Balaram Reddy also told me that these devotees would give the writings of the other two to Bhagavan to be checked in the hope that he would publicly announce that there was some mistake in them. It was all a bit petty, but it did have the serendipitous result of Bhagavan going through a lot of material that he might not otherwise have checked.
This leads me onto another factor that has to be considered. Bhagavan would often read material that devotees had submitted and return it without making any corrections, even if the material was wildly inaccurate. The most famous instance of this was a Malayalam biography that was written while Bhagavan was still at Skandashram. It was a complete fantasy, compiled by a railway clerk who had had several children. In the book Bhagavan was portrayed as an ex-railway clerk with several children who had miraculous powers that he frequently exhibited. Bhagavan patiently went through the manuscript, correcting a few spelling and grammatical mistakes along the way and then handed it back to the author. None of the devotees in the ashram at that time knew Malayalam. Kunju Swami, a Malayali, was off on a trip, so no one knew what had been written in the manuscript.
When Kunju Swami returned the other devotees told him about the manuscript and asked him to translate it for them. Kunju Swami read it and was horrified to discover how badly Bhagavan had been misrepresented.
He approached Bhagavan and enquired, ‘Is any of this true?’
Bhagavan apparently replied, ‘It’s as true as all this,’ waving at the world around him.
I will revert now to my discussion of which collections of his verbal teachings Bhagavan read and checked.
Most of the text of Day by Day with Bhagavan was not checked by Bhagavan. Devaraja Mudaliar showed the first few pages to Bhagavan when he started compiling his record, but dropped the habit soon afterwards, except when he was unsure of what he had recorded. Devaraja Mudaliar operated under the same constraints that the compiler of Talks did, so the same qualifications must also apply. One plus in favour of this work is that Bhagavan publicly pronounced himself to be highly satisfied with Devaraja Mudaliar’s skill and accuracy as an interpreter.
The letters that comprise Letters from Sri Ramanasramam were published in a Telugu journal during Bhagavan’s lifetime, but there is no evidence that Bhagavan ever checked the material before it went to the press. Balaram Reddy told me in the 1980s that there was a rivalry between the various 1940s recorders (Krishna Bhikshu, Devaraja Mudaliar and Suri Nagamma) with each accusing the other of transcribing irrelevant or inaccurate material. Bhagavan, following his usual habit of non-interference, refused to take sides or intervene in this. Balaram Reddy also told me that these devotees would give the writings of the other two to Bhagavan to be checked in the hope that he would publicly announce that there was some mistake in them. It was all a bit petty, but it did have the serendipitous result of Bhagavan going through a lot of material that he might not otherwise have checked.
This leads me onto another factor that has to be considered. Bhagavan would often read material that devotees had submitted and return it without making any corrections, even if the material was wildly inaccurate. The most famous instance of this was a Malayalam biography that was written while Bhagavan was still at Skandashram. It was a complete fantasy, compiled by a railway clerk who had had several children. In the book Bhagavan was portrayed as an ex-railway clerk with several children who had miraculous powers that he frequently exhibited. Bhagavan patiently went through the manuscript, correcting a few spelling and grammatical mistakes along the way and then handed it back to the author. None of the devotees in the ashram at that time knew Malayalam. Kunju Swami, a Malayali, was off on a trip, so no one knew what had been written in the manuscript.
When Kunju Swami returned the other devotees told him about the manuscript and asked him to translate it for them. Kunju Swami read it and was horrified to discover how badly Bhagavan had been misrepresented.
He approached Bhagavan and enquired, ‘Is any of this true?’
Bhagavan apparently replied, ‘It’s as true as all this,’ waving at the world around him.
The Power of the Presence PART ONE In this excerpt from David Godman's new book, Swami Madhavatirtha recalls a conversation in which Ramana Maharshi explained the differences between his teachings and Sri Aurobindo's. By DAVID GODMAN
One day, during the second week of my stay, I was standing near the northern gate that leads to the hill path. With me was a devotee who had returned the previous day from Sri Aurobindo's ashram. It was evening and Sri Maharshi came by that way after his usual evening stroll. I wanted to ask him about his views on the theory of creation and the presence of the devotee who had returned from Sri Aurobindo's ashram prompted me to refer to Sri Aurobindo's views on the subject. I may say here that I am well acquainted with Sri Aurobindo's philosophy, for during my earlier visits to him some twenty-five years ago I used to discuss with him freely about these spiritual subjects. By way of an introduction, I asked the Maharshi whether he upheld the vedantic views on creation that were promulgated by Adi-Sankaracharya. After that we moved on to a discussion about Sri Aurobindo's world view.
Q: In the Vedanta of Sri Sankaracharya, the principle of the creation of the world has been accepted for the sake of beginners, but for the advanced, the principle of non-creation is put forward. What is your view in this matter?
M: Na nirodha na chotpattirNabaddho na cha sadhakaha Na mumukshur na vai mukta Ityesha paramarthata This sloka appears in the second chapter [v. 32, vaithathya prakarana] of Gaudapada's Karika [a commentary on the Mandukyopanishad]. It means really that there is no creation and no dissolution. There is no bondage, no one doing spiritual practices, no one seeking spiritual liberation, and no one who is liberated. One who is established in the Self sees this by his knowledge of reality.
Q: Sri Aurobindo believes that the human body is not the last on this earth. Establishment in the Self, according to him, is not perfectly attained in a human body, for Self-knowledge does not operate there in its natural way. Therefore the vijnanamaya sarira [the body made of pure knowledge]1 in which Self-knowledge can work naturally must be brought down on this earth.
M: Self-knowledge can shine very well in the human body, so there is no need of any other body.
Q: Sri Aurobindo believes that the vijnanamaya sarira will not be attacked by disease, will not grow old, and will not die without one's desire.
M: The body itself is a disease. To wish for a long stay of that disease is not the aim of the jnani. Anyhow, one has to give up identification with the body. Just as the I-am-the-body consciousness prevents one from attaining Self-knowledge, in the same way, one who has got the conviction that he is not the body will become liberated even if he doesn't desire it.
Q: Sri Aurobindo wants to bring the power of God into the human body.
M: If, after surrendering, one still has this desire, then surrender has not been successful. If one has the attitude, 'If the higher power is to come down, it must come into my body', this will only increase identification with the body. Truly speaking, there is no need of any such descent. After the destruction of the I-am-the-body idea, the individual becomes the form of the absolute. In that state, there is no above or below, front or back.
Q: If the individual becomes the form of the absolute, then who will enjoy the bliss of the absolute? To enjoy the bliss of the absolute, we must be slightly separate from it, like the fly that tastes sugar from a little distance.
M: The bliss of the absolute is the bliss of one's own nature. It is not born, nor has it been created. Pleasure that is created is sure to be destroyed. Sugar, being insentient, cannot give its own taste. The fly has to keep a little distance to taste it. But the absolute is awareness and consciousness. It can give its own bliss, but its nature cannot be understood without attaining that state.
Q: Sri Aurobindo wants to bring down on the earth a new divine race.
M: Whatever is to be attained in the future is to be understood as impermanent. Learn to understand properly what you have now so that there will be no need of thinking about the future.
Q: Sri Aurobindo says that God has created various kinds of worlds and is still going to create a new world.
M: Our present world itself is not real. Each one sees a different imaginary world according to his imagination, so where is the guarantee that the new world will be real? The jiva [the individual person], the world and God, all of these are relative ideas. So long as there is the individual sense of 'I', these three are also there.
From this individual sense of 'I', from the mind, these three have arisen. If you stop the mind, the three will not remain, but Brahman alone will remain, as it remains and abides even now. We see things because of an error. This misperception will be rectified by enquiring into the real nature of this jiva. Even if the jiva enters Supermind, it will remain in mind, but after surrendering the mind, there will be nothing left but Brahman. Whether this world is real or unreal, consciousness or inert, a place of happiness or a place of misery, all these states arise in the state of ignorance. They are not useful after realisation.
The state of Atmanishta [being fixed in the Self], devoid of the individual feeling of 'I', is the supreme state. In this state there is no room for thinking of objects, nor for this feeling of individual being. There is no doubt of any kind in this natural state of being-consciousness-bliss. So long as there is the perception of name and form in oneself, God will appear with form, but when the vision of the formless reality is achieved there will be no modifications of seer, seeing and seen. That vision is the nature of consciousness itself, non-dual and undivided. It is limitless, infinite and perfect. When the individual sense of 'I' arises in the body, the world is seen. If this sense is absent, who then will see the world?
Source: http://selforum.blogspot.in/2006/01/ramana-maharshi-on-sri-aurobindo.html
One day, during the second week of my stay, I was standing near the northern gate that leads to the hill path. With me was a devotee who had returned the previous day from Sri Aurobindo's ashram. It was evening and Sri Maharshi came by that way after his usual evening stroll. I wanted to ask him about his views on the theory of creation and the presence of the devotee who had returned from Sri Aurobindo's ashram prompted me to refer to Sri Aurobindo's views on the subject. I may say here that I am well acquainted with Sri Aurobindo's philosophy, for during my earlier visits to him some twenty-five years ago I used to discuss with him freely about these spiritual subjects. By way of an introduction, I asked the Maharshi whether he upheld the vedantic views on creation that were promulgated by Adi-Sankaracharya. After that we moved on to a discussion about Sri Aurobindo's world view.
Q: In the Vedanta of Sri Sankaracharya, the principle of the creation of the world has been accepted for the sake of beginners, but for the advanced, the principle of non-creation is put forward. What is your view in this matter?
M: Na nirodha na chotpattirNabaddho na cha sadhakaha Na mumukshur na vai mukta Ityesha paramarthata This sloka appears in the second chapter [v. 32, vaithathya prakarana] of Gaudapada's Karika [a commentary on the Mandukyopanishad]. It means really that there is no creation and no dissolution. There is no bondage, no one doing spiritual practices, no one seeking spiritual liberation, and no one who is liberated. One who is established in the Self sees this by his knowledge of reality.
Q: Sri Aurobindo believes that the human body is not the last on this earth. Establishment in the Self, according to him, is not perfectly attained in a human body, for Self-knowledge does not operate there in its natural way. Therefore the vijnanamaya sarira [the body made of pure knowledge]1 in which Self-knowledge can work naturally must be brought down on this earth.
M: Self-knowledge can shine very well in the human body, so there is no need of any other body.
Q: Sri Aurobindo believes that the vijnanamaya sarira will not be attacked by disease, will not grow old, and will not die without one's desire.
M: The body itself is a disease. To wish for a long stay of that disease is not the aim of the jnani. Anyhow, one has to give up identification with the body. Just as the I-am-the-body consciousness prevents one from attaining Self-knowledge, in the same way, one who has got the conviction that he is not the body will become liberated even if he doesn't desire it.
Q: Sri Aurobindo wants to bring the power of God into the human body.
M: If, after surrendering, one still has this desire, then surrender has not been successful. If one has the attitude, 'If the higher power is to come down, it must come into my body', this will only increase identification with the body. Truly speaking, there is no need of any such descent. After the destruction of the I-am-the-body idea, the individual becomes the form of the absolute. In that state, there is no above or below, front or back.
Q: If the individual becomes the form of the absolute, then who will enjoy the bliss of the absolute? To enjoy the bliss of the absolute, we must be slightly separate from it, like the fly that tastes sugar from a little distance.
M: The bliss of the absolute is the bliss of one's own nature. It is not born, nor has it been created. Pleasure that is created is sure to be destroyed. Sugar, being insentient, cannot give its own taste. The fly has to keep a little distance to taste it. But the absolute is awareness and consciousness. It can give its own bliss, but its nature cannot be understood without attaining that state.
Q: Sri Aurobindo wants to bring down on the earth a new divine race.
M: Whatever is to be attained in the future is to be understood as impermanent. Learn to understand properly what you have now so that there will be no need of thinking about the future.
Q: Sri Aurobindo says that God has created various kinds of worlds and is still going to create a new world.
M: Our present world itself is not real. Each one sees a different imaginary world according to his imagination, so where is the guarantee that the new world will be real? The jiva [the individual person], the world and God, all of these are relative ideas. So long as there is the individual sense of 'I', these three are also there.
From this individual sense of 'I', from the mind, these three have arisen. If you stop the mind, the three will not remain, but Brahman alone will remain, as it remains and abides even now. We see things because of an error. This misperception will be rectified by enquiring into the real nature of this jiva. Even if the jiva enters Supermind, it will remain in mind, but after surrendering the mind, there will be nothing left but Brahman. Whether this world is real or unreal, consciousness or inert, a place of happiness or a place of misery, all these states arise in the state of ignorance. They are not useful after realisation.
The state of Atmanishta [being fixed in the Self], devoid of the individual feeling of 'I', is the supreme state. In this state there is no room for thinking of objects, nor for this feeling of individual being. There is no doubt of any kind in this natural state of being-consciousness-bliss. So long as there is the perception of name and form in oneself, God will appear with form, but when the vision of the formless reality is achieved there will be no modifications of seer, seeing and seen. That vision is the nature of consciousness itself, non-dual and undivided. It is limitless, infinite and perfect. When the individual sense of 'I' arises in the body, the world is seen. If this sense is absent, who then will see the world?
Source: http://selforum.blogspot.in/2006/01/ramana-maharshi-on-sri-aurobindo.html
Monday, March 11, 2013
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9597345/Afterlife-exists-says-top-brain-surgeon.html Dr Eben Alexander, a Harvard-educated neurosurgeon, fell into a coma for seven days in 2008 after contracting meningitis.
During his illness Dr Alexander says that the part of his brain which controls human thought and emotion "shut down" and that he then experienced "something so profound that it gave me a scientific reason to believe in consciousness after death." In an essay for American magazine Newsweek, which he wrote to promote his book Proof of Heaven, Dr Alexander says he was met by a beautiful blue-eyed woman in a "place of clouds, big fluffy pink-white ones" and "shimmering beings".
He continues: "Birds? Angels? These words registered later, when I was writing down my recollections. But neither of these words do justice to the beings themselves, which were quite simply different from anything I have known on this planet. They were more advanced. Higher forms." The doctor adds that a "huge and booming like a glorious chant, came down from above, and I wondered if the winged beings were producing it. the sound was palpable and almost material, like a rain that you can feel on your skin but doesn't get you wet."
Dr Alexander says he had heard stories from patients who spoke of outer body experiences but had disregarded them as "wishful thinking" but has reconsidered his opinion following his own experience.
He added: "I know full well how extraordinary, how frankly unbelievable, all this sounds. Had someone even a doctor told me a story like this in the old days, I would have been quite certain that they were under the spell of some delusion.
"But what happened to me was, far from being delusional, as real or more real than any event in my life. That includes my wedding day and the birth of my two sons." He added: "I've spent decades as a neurosurgeon at some of the most prestigous medical institutions in our country. I know that many of my peers hold as I myself did to the theory that the brain, and in particular the cortex, generates consciousness and that we live in a universe devoid of any kind of emotion, much less the unconditional love that I now know God and the universe have toward us.
"But that belief, that theory, now lies broken at our feet. What happened to me destroyed it."
During his illness Dr Alexander says that the part of his brain which controls human thought and emotion "shut down" and that he then experienced "something so profound that it gave me a scientific reason to believe in consciousness after death." In an essay for American magazine Newsweek, which he wrote to promote his book Proof of Heaven, Dr Alexander says he was met by a beautiful blue-eyed woman in a "place of clouds, big fluffy pink-white ones" and "shimmering beings".
He continues: "Birds? Angels? These words registered later, when I was writing down my recollections. But neither of these words do justice to the beings themselves, which were quite simply different from anything I have known on this planet. They were more advanced. Higher forms." The doctor adds that a "huge and booming like a glorious chant, came down from above, and I wondered if the winged beings were producing it. the sound was palpable and almost material, like a rain that you can feel on your skin but doesn't get you wet."
Dr Alexander says he had heard stories from patients who spoke of outer body experiences but had disregarded them as "wishful thinking" but has reconsidered his opinion following his own experience.
He added: "I know full well how extraordinary, how frankly unbelievable, all this sounds. Had someone even a doctor told me a story like this in the old days, I would have been quite certain that they were under the spell of some delusion.
"But what happened to me was, far from being delusional, as real or more real than any event in my life. That includes my wedding day and the birth of my two sons." He added: "I've spent decades as a neurosurgeon at some of the most prestigous medical institutions in our country. I know that many of my peers hold as I myself did to the theory that the brain, and in particular the cortex, generates consciousness and that we live in a universe devoid of any kind of emotion, much less the unconditional love that I now know God and the universe have toward us.
"But that belief, that theory, now lies broken at our feet. What happened to me destroyed it."
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Is Deep Sleep Like Mediatation?
http://timesofindia.speakingtree.in/spiritual-articles/lifestyle/is-deep-sleep-like-meditation
Sleep remains a mystery despite all the research done so far. Science says it helps to consolidate our memories and remove unnecessary information. That during sleep, when inputs from our five senses are almost zero, the ‘mind-brain’ takes stock and helps consolidate memory learned during the day. However I think we sleep because it is like forced meditation; it invigorates and charges our batteries.
In sleep, we go through four or five cycles of deep sleep and dreaming episodes, each of 90 minutes duration. Electroencephalography (EEG) studies done on the human brain (during sleep) show that deep sleep is characterised by production of low frequency Delta waves known to help produce life and mood-enhancing chemicals. Here, we are totally unaware of our surroundings. But, dreaming episodes characterised by the rapid eye movement (REM) stage is of light sleep; you can be woken up quite easily. Hence when we wake up after a deep sleep it is refreshing and invigorating.
In deep Samadhi also one produces Delta waves, though most studies of the meditating brain show prevalence of Alpha waves, perhaps because EEG and fMRI are quite invasive and so are not conducive for deep meditation. The noise and intense magnetic field of fMRI and electrical wires of EEG dangling around the subject’s head do not create a conducive environment for deep meditation. Nevertheless studies of EEG on some have shown that in deep meditation there is a spike in delta wave production.
Outward signs of losing complete consciousness is similar to that in deep sleep. Ramakrishna Paramhansa, when he attained enlightenment, was completely oblivious to the world for almost six months. To keep him alive during this time his guru force-fed him.
In deep sleep most of peripheral brain neuron activity either reduces drastically or shuts down. Only the central portion of the brain – seat of autonomous nervous system -- works. This is also where long-term memories are stored and consolidated.
Much irrelevant information takes up memory space. As the peripheral brain shuts down these memories get dissolved, allowing the brain to increase its processing power for yet another day.
Deep meditation also allows removal of sanskars or memories as Sage Patanjali stated and this could be a probable mechanism to do so. In fact he defines yoga as suppression of thought waves; so the low frequency Delta waves in deep sleep could be a manifestation of this process.
When deep sleep is disrupted, memory dissolution doesn’t take place; memory knots keep growing, creating irritable moods and short tempers. There is also a growing body of data in sleep research indicating that in many people who are not getting enough restful sleep, the incidence of diabetes, heart problems and even cancer are increasing.
Brain under anesthesia also produces low frequency waves, but only in the fragmented brain. The communication between different parts of brain is stopped by anesthesia chemicals. However in deep sleep the whole brain is active as in deep meditation.
How do we induce deep sleep? One way is by doing daily vigorous exercise and meditation. Both help in dissolving temporary memory knots and producing conditions for better sleep.
Deep sleep is also helped by reducing external inputs like sound and light. Thus people who sleep in lighted environment do not get deep sleep though extensive REM activity takes place. Similarly when there are too many worries and the mind is not at peace, one cannot sleep deeply.
http://timesofindia.speakingtree.in/spiritual-articles/lifestyle/is-deep-sleep-like-meditation
Sleep remains a mystery despite all the research done so far. Science says it helps to consolidate our memories and remove unnecessary information. That during sleep, when inputs from our five senses are almost zero, the ‘mind-brain’ takes stock and helps consolidate memory learned during the day. However I think we sleep because it is like forced meditation; it invigorates and charges our batteries.
In sleep, we go through four or five cycles of deep sleep and dreaming episodes, each of 90 minutes duration. Electroencephalography (EEG) studies done on the human brain (during sleep) show that deep sleep is characterised by production of low frequency Delta waves known to help produce life and mood-enhancing chemicals. Here, we are totally unaware of our surroundings. But, dreaming episodes characterised by the rapid eye movement (REM) stage is of light sleep; you can be woken up quite easily. Hence when we wake up after a deep sleep it is refreshing and invigorating.
In deep Samadhi also one produces Delta waves, though most studies of the meditating brain show prevalence of Alpha waves, perhaps because EEG and fMRI are quite invasive and so are not conducive for deep meditation. The noise and intense magnetic field of fMRI and electrical wires of EEG dangling around the subject’s head do not create a conducive environment for deep meditation. Nevertheless studies of EEG on some have shown that in deep meditation there is a spike in delta wave production.
Outward signs of losing complete consciousness is similar to that in deep sleep. Ramakrishna Paramhansa, when he attained enlightenment, was completely oblivious to the world for almost six months. To keep him alive during this time his guru force-fed him.
In deep sleep most of peripheral brain neuron activity either reduces drastically or shuts down. Only the central portion of the brain – seat of autonomous nervous system -- works. This is also where long-term memories are stored and consolidated.
Much irrelevant information takes up memory space. As the peripheral brain shuts down these memories get dissolved, allowing the brain to increase its processing power for yet another day.
Deep meditation also allows removal of sanskars or memories as Sage Patanjali stated and this could be a probable mechanism to do so. In fact he defines yoga as suppression of thought waves; so the low frequency Delta waves in deep sleep could be a manifestation of this process.
When deep sleep is disrupted, memory dissolution doesn’t take place; memory knots keep growing, creating irritable moods and short tempers. There is also a growing body of data in sleep research indicating that in many people who are not getting enough restful sleep, the incidence of diabetes, heart problems and even cancer are increasing.
Brain under anesthesia also produces low frequency waves, but only in the fragmented brain. The communication between different parts of brain is stopped by anesthesia chemicals. However in deep sleep the whole brain is active as in deep meditation.
How do we induce deep sleep? One way is by doing daily vigorous exercise and meditation. Both help in dissolving temporary memory knots and producing conditions for better sleep.
Deep sleep is also helped by reducing external inputs like sound and light. Thus people who sleep in lighted environment do not get deep sleep though extensive REM activity takes place. Similarly when there are too many worries and the mind is not at peace, one cannot sleep deeply.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsolved_problems_in_neuroscience
More Problems
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsolved_problems_in_biology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Open_problems
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_human_evolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_archaeological_periods
Consciousness: What is the neuronal basis of subjective experience, cognition, wakefulness, alertness, arousal, and attention? How is the "hard problem of consciousness" solved? What is its function?
Perception: How does the brain transfer sensory information into coherent, private percepts? What are the rules by which perception is organized? What are the features/objects that constitute our perceptual experience of internal and external events? How are the senses integrated? What is the relationship between subjective experience and the physical world?
Learning and memory: Where do our memories get stored and how are they retrieved again? How can learning be improved? What is the difference between explicit and implicit memories? What molecule is responsible for synaptic tagging?
Neuroplasticity: How plastic is the mature brain?
Development and evolution: How and why did the brain evolve? What are the molecular determinants of individual brain development?
Free will, particularly the neuroscience of free will
Sleep: Why do we dream? What are the underlying brain mechanisms? What is its relation to anesthesia?
Cognition and decisions: How and where does the brain evaluate reward value and effort (cost) to modulate behavior? How does previous experience alter perception and behavior? What are the genetic and environmental contributions to brain function?
Language: How is it implemented neurally? What is the basis of semantic meaning?
Diseases: What are the neural bases (causes) of mental diseases like psychotic disorders (e.g. mania, schizophrenia), Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, or addiction? Is it possible to recover loss of sensory or motor function?
Movement: How can we move so controllably, even though the motor nerve impulses seem haphazard and unpredictable?
Computational theory of mind: What are the limits of understanding thinking as a form of computing?
Why do some women have easy births while others have long, traumatic labours which end with an emergency delivery?
Scientists don't know the answer - but they are working on it. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22327882
More Problems
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsolved_problems_in_biology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Open_problems
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_human_evolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_archaeological_periods
Consciousness: What is the neuronal basis of subjective experience, cognition, wakefulness, alertness, arousal, and attention? How is the "hard problem of consciousness" solved? What is its function?
Perception: How does the brain transfer sensory information into coherent, private percepts? What are the rules by which perception is organized? What are the features/objects that constitute our perceptual experience of internal and external events? How are the senses integrated? What is the relationship between subjective experience and the physical world?
Learning and memory: Where do our memories get stored and how are they retrieved again? How can learning be improved? What is the difference between explicit and implicit memories? What molecule is responsible for synaptic tagging?
Neuroplasticity: How plastic is the mature brain?
Development and evolution: How and why did the brain evolve? What are the molecular determinants of individual brain development?
Free will, particularly the neuroscience of free will
Sleep: Why do we dream? What are the underlying brain mechanisms? What is its relation to anesthesia?
Cognition and decisions: How and where does the brain evaluate reward value and effort (cost) to modulate behavior? How does previous experience alter perception and behavior? What are the genetic and environmental contributions to brain function?
Language: How is it implemented neurally? What is the basis of semantic meaning?
Diseases: What are the neural bases (causes) of mental diseases like psychotic disorders (e.g. mania, schizophrenia), Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, or addiction? Is it possible to recover loss of sensory or motor function?
Movement: How can we move so controllably, even though the motor nerve impulses seem haphazard and unpredictable?
Computational theory of mind: What are the limits of understanding thinking as a form of computing?
Why do some women have easy births while others have long, traumatic labours which end with an emergency delivery?
Scientists don't know the answer - but they are working on it. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22327882
Friday, February 22, 2013
http://www.superconsciousness.com/topics/science/why-consciousness-not-brain As Rutgers University philosopher Jerry A. Fodo flatly states, “Nobody has the slightest idea how anything material could be conscious. So much for our philosophy of consciousness.”
Others suggest that there are no mental states at all, such as love, courage, or patriotism, but only electrochemical brain fluxes that should not be described with such inflated language.
Some of the oddest experiences I recall are attending conferences where one speaker after another employs his consciousness to denounce the existence of consciousness, ignoring the fact that he consciously chose to register for the meeting, make travel plans, prepare his talks, and so on.
Many scientists concede that there are huge gaps in their knowledge of how the brain makes consciousness, but they are certain they will be filled in as science progresses.
psi researchers Charles Honorton and Diane Ferrari examined 309 precognition experiments carried out by sixty-two investigators involving 50,000 participants in more than two million trials. Thirty percent of these studies were significant in showing that people can describe future events, when only five percent would be expected to demonstrate such results by chance. The odds that these results were not due to chance was greater than 10 to the twentieth power to one.
One of the first modern thinkers to endorse an outside-the-brain view of consciousness was William James, who is considered the father of American psychology. In his 1898 Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University, James took a courageous stand against what he called “the fangs of cerebralism and the idea that consciousness is produced by the brain. He acknowledged that arrested brain development in childhood can lead to mental retardation, that strokes or blows to the head can abolish memory or consciousness, and that certain chemicals can change the quality of thought. But to consider this as proof that the brain actually makes consciousness, James said, is irrational.
Why irrational? Consider a radio, an invention that was introduced during James’s lifetime, and which he used to illustrate the mind-brain relationship. If one bangs a radio with a hammer, it ceases to function. But that does not mean that the origin of the sounds was the radio itself; the sound originated from outside it in the form of an electromagnetic signal. The radio received, modified, and amplified the external signal into something recognizable as sound. Just so, the brain can be damaged in various ways that distort the quality of consciousness – trauma, stroke, nutritional deficiencies, dementia, etc. But this does not necessarily mean the brain “made” the consciousness that is now disturbed, or that consciousness is identical to the brain.
To update the analogy, consider a television set. We can damage a television set so severely that we lose the image on the screen, but this doesn’t prove that the TV actually produced the image. We know that David Letterman does not live behind the TV screen on which he appears; yet the contention that brain equals consciousness is as absurd as if he did.
The radio and TV analogies can be misleading, however, because consciousness does not behave like an electromagnetic signal. Electromagnetic (EM) signals display certain characteristics. The farther away they get from their source, the weaker they become. Not so with consciousness; its effects do not attenuate with increasing distance. For example, in the hundreds of healing experiments that have been done in both humans and animals, healing intentions work equally well from the other side of the earth as at the bedside of the sick individual. Moreover, EM signals can be blocked partially or completely, but the effects of conscious intention cannot be blocked by any known substance. For instance, sea water is known to block EM signals completely at certain depths, yet experiments in remote viewing have been successfully carried out beyond such depths, demonstrating that the long-distance communication between the involved individuals cannot depend on EM-type signals. In addition, EM signals require travel time from their source to a receiver, yet thoughts can be perceived simultaneously between individuals across global distances. Thoughts can be displaced in time, operating into both past and future. In precognitive remoteviewing experiments – for example, the hundreds of such experiments by the PEAR Lab at Princeton University – the receiver gets a future thought before it is ever sent. Furthermore, consciousness can operate into the past, as in the experiments involving retroactive intentions. Electromagnetic signals are not capable of these feats. From these differences, we can conclude that consciousness is not an electric signal.
As physicist Chris Clarke, of the University of Southampton, says, “On one hand, Mind is inherently non-local. On the other, the world is governed by a quantum physics that is inherently non-local. This is no accident, but a precise correspondence ...[Mind and the world are] aspects of the same thing...The way ahead, I believe, has to place mind first as the key aspect of the universe...We have to start exploring how we can talk about mind in terms of a quantum picture...Only then will we be able to make a genuine bridge between physics and physiology.”
when scientists muster the courage to face this evidence unflinchingly, the greatest superstition of our age – the notion that the brain generates consciousness or is identical with it – will topple. In its place will arise a nonlocal picture of the mind. This view will affirm that consciousness is fundamental, omnipresent and eternal – a model that is as cordial to premonitions as the materialistic, brain-based view is hostile.
Others suggest that there are no mental states at all, such as love, courage, or patriotism, but only electrochemical brain fluxes that should not be described with such inflated language.
Some of the oddest experiences I recall are attending conferences where one speaker after another employs his consciousness to denounce the existence of consciousness, ignoring the fact that he consciously chose to register for the meeting, make travel plans, prepare his talks, and so on.
Many scientists concede that there are huge gaps in their knowledge of how the brain makes consciousness, but they are certain they will be filled in as science progresses.
psi researchers Charles Honorton and Diane Ferrari examined 309 precognition experiments carried out by sixty-two investigators involving 50,000 participants in more than two million trials. Thirty percent of these studies were significant in showing that people can describe future events, when only five percent would be expected to demonstrate such results by chance. The odds that these results were not due to chance was greater than 10 to the twentieth power to one.
One of the first modern thinkers to endorse an outside-the-brain view of consciousness was William James, who is considered the father of American psychology. In his 1898 Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University, James took a courageous stand against what he called “the fangs of cerebralism and the idea that consciousness is produced by the brain. He acknowledged that arrested brain development in childhood can lead to mental retardation, that strokes or blows to the head can abolish memory or consciousness, and that certain chemicals can change the quality of thought. But to consider this as proof that the brain actually makes consciousness, James said, is irrational.
Why irrational? Consider a radio, an invention that was introduced during James’s lifetime, and which he used to illustrate the mind-brain relationship. If one bangs a radio with a hammer, it ceases to function. But that does not mean that the origin of the sounds was the radio itself; the sound originated from outside it in the form of an electromagnetic signal. The radio received, modified, and amplified the external signal into something recognizable as sound. Just so, the brain can be damaged in various ways that distort the quality of consciousness – trauma, stroke, nutritional deficiencies, dementia, etc. But this does not necessarily mean the brain “made” the consciousness that is now disturbed, or that consciousness is identical to the brain.
To update the analogy, consider a television set. We can damage a television set so severely that we lose the image on the screen, but this doesn’t prove that the TV actually produced the image. We know that David Letterman does not live behind the TV screen on which he appears; yet the contention that brain equals consciousness is as absurd as if he did.
The radio and TV analogies can be misleading, however, because consciousness does not behave like an electromagnetic signal. Electromagnetic (EM) signals display certain characteristics. The farther away they get from their source, the weaker they become. Not so with consciousness; its effects do not attenuate with increasing distance. For example, in the hundreds of healing experiments that have been done in both humans and animals, healing intentions work equally well from the other side of the earth as at the bedside of the sick individual. Moreover, EM signals can be blocked partially or completely, but the effects of conscious intention cannot be blocked by any known substance. For instance, sea water is known to block EM signals completely at certain depths, yet experiments in remote viewing have been successfully carried out beyond such depths, demonstrating that the long-distance communication between the involved individuals cannot depend on EM-type signals. In addition, EM signals require travel time from their source to a receiver, yet thoughts can be perceived simultaneously between individuals across global distances. Thoughts can be displaced in time, operating into both past and future. In precognitive remoteviewing experiments – for example, the hundreds of such experiments by the PEAR Lab at Princeton University – the receiver gets a future thought before it is ever sent. Furthermore, consciousness can operate into the past, as in the experiments involving retroactive intentions. Electromagnetic signals are not capable of these feats. From these differences, we can conclude that consciousness is not an electric signal.
As physicist Chris Clarke, of the University of Southampton, says, “On one hand, Mind is inherently non-local. On the other, the world is governed by a quantum physics that is inherently non-local. This is no accident, but a precise correspondence ...[Mind and the world are] aspects of the same thing...The way ahead, I believe, has to place mind first as the key aspect of the universe...We have to start exploring how we can talk about mind in terms of a quantum picture...Only then will we be able to make a genuine bridge between physics and physiology.”
when scientists muster the courage to face this evidence unflinchingly, the greatest superstition of our age – the notion that the brain generates consciousness or is identical with it – will topple. In its place will arise a nonlocal picture of the mind. This view will affirm that consciousness is fundamental, omnipresent and eternal – a model that is as cordial to premonitions as the materialistic, brain-based view is hostile.
Many researchers in the artificial intelligence community believe the ultimate nature of consciousness resides in algorithms, those calculational programs by which computers do their work. If an algorithm for human consciousness exists, those who take the extreme view of this position speculate it may reside in the actual formula itself, the numbers as it were, and not necessarily in its interaction with the brain.
In this scenario, a robot running the human consciousness algorithm would be no less conscious than a human brain running the same program.
Penrose and Hameroff, on the other hand, argue the human brain's alleged deep connection to nature on the quantum level may preclude machines from ever achieving consciousness as we know it.
"Much of science these days is really just a matter of filling in the blanks," he says. "Most of the big discoveries have already been made. But this is certainly one area where great discoveries are still possible."
"I've argued strongly, for example, that a theory of consciousness will require new fundamental laws connecting physical processes to consciousness. So you might say I suspect consciousness arises from physical processes in the brain, but isn't reducible to physical processes in the brain."
In other words, it's still a mystery. And that's what makes the Hard Problem so fascinating.
-- philosophy professor David Chalmers (Youngest Professor in Oxford)
http://www.quantumconsciousness.org/media/onminds.html
In this scenario, a robot running the human consciousness algorithm would be no less conscious than a human brain running the same program.
Penrose and Hameroff, on the other hand, argue the human brain's alleged deep connection to nature on the quantum level may preclude machines from ever achieving consciousness as we know it.
"Much of science these days is really just a matter of filling in the blanks," he says. "Most of the big discoveries have already been made. But this is certainly one area where great discoveries are still possible."
"I've argued strongly, for example, that a theory of consciousness will require new fundamental laws connecting physical processes to consciousness. So you might say I suspect consciousness arises from physical processes in the brain, but isn't reducible to physical processes in the brain."
In other words, it's still a mystery. And that's what makes the Hard Problem so fascinating.
-- philosophy professor David Chalmers (Youngest Professor in Oxford)
http://www.quantumconsciousness.org/media/onminds.html
Thursday, February 21, 2013
A new book by neurosurgeon, Dr. Eben Alexander, in which he describes his conscious awareness during seven days while in a coma under the care of neurosurgeons at Lynchburg General Hospital in Virgina, challenges the common understanding that consciousness is the domain of a healthy brain function.
He says,
In 2008, while “doctors weighed whether to discontinue treatment, my eyes popped open,”Alexander writes. Rather than experiencing seven lost days of no conscious awareness, with “my higher order brain functions totally offline”, he describes a life-altering journey into a very different world, which he recalls in vivid detail.
His training and experience as a neurosurgeon had taught him that consciousness was impossible during this coma, given that “the neurons of my cortex were stunned to complete inactivity”, but he found he was conscious and aware.
This experience while his “neocortex was inactivated”, gave him “reason to believe in consciousness after death.”
http://www.simcoe.com/blogs/post/2073164-where-does-consciousness-reside-/ http://www.lifebeyonddeath.net/
He says,
In 2008, while “doctors weighed whether to discontinue treatment, my eyes popped open,”Alexander writes. Rather than experiencing seven lost days of no conscious awareness, with “my higher order brain functions totally offline”, he describes a life-altering journey into a very different world, which he recalls in vivid detail.
His training and experience as a neurosurgeon had taught him that consciousness was impossible during this coma, given that “the neurons of my cortex were stunned to complete inactivity”, but he found he was conscious and aware.
This experience while his “neocortex was inactivated”, gave him “reason to believe in consciousness after death.”
http://www.simcoe.com/blogs/post/2073164-where-does-consciousness-reside-/ http://www.lifebeyonddeath.net/
Western science has had remarkable success in explaining the functioning of the material world, but when it comes to the inner world of the mind, it has very little to say. And when it comes to consciousness itself, science falls curiously silent. There is nothing in physics, chemistry, biology, or any other science that can account for our having an interior world. In a strange way, scientists would be much happier if minds did not exist. Yet without minds there would be no science.
It is easier to explain how the universe evolved from the Big Bang to human beings than it is to explain why any of us should ever have a single inner experience. How does all that electro-chemical activity in the physical matter of the brain ever give rise to conscious experience?
Consciousness is like the light in a film projector. The film needs the light in order for an image to appear, but it does not create the light. In a similar way, the brain creates the images, thoughts, feelings and other experiences of which we are aware, but awareness itself is already present.
-- Peter Russell
Read more http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-russell/brain-consciousness_b_873595.html
It is easier to explain how the universe evolved from the Big Bang to human beings than it is to explain why any of us should ever have a single inner experience. How does all that electro-chemical activity in the physical matter of the brain ever give rise to conscious experience?
Consciousness is like the light in a film projector. The film needs the light in order for an image to appear, but it does not create the light. In a similar way, the brain creates the images, thoughts, feelings and other experiences of which we are aware, but awareness itself is already present.
-- Peter Russell
Read more http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-russell/brain-consciousness_b_873595.html
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Monday, February 18, 2013
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Q: What is the difference between fainting and sleep?
M: Sleep is sudden and overpowers the person forcibly. A faint is slower and there is a tingle of resistance to it. Realization is
possible in a faint and impossible in sleep.
Source: Conscious Immortality, Conversations with Sri Ramana Maharshi. Recorded by Paul Brunton and Munagala Venkartaramiah and
published by Sri Ramanasramam.
M: Sleep is sudden and overpowers the person forcibly. A faint is slower and there is a tingle of resistance to it. Realization is
possible in a faint and impossible in sleep.
Source: Conscious Immortality, Conversations with Sri Ramana Maharshi. Recorded by Paul Brunton and Munagala Venkartaramiah and
published by Sri Ramanasramam.
Friday, February 15, 2013
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Open_problems
Few are
Hard problem of consciousness
Origin of water on Earth
...
etc
Few are
Hard problem of consciousness
Origin of water on Earth
...
etc
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