Mindfulness meditation benefits and changes brain structures in 8 weeks

Mindfulness meditation benefits and changes brain structures in 8 weeks

Death Penalty and Buddha

Not too long ago I was reading a friend's online comments about the death penalty having been repealed in Connecticut.  There were several viewpoints express by many who responded. I did not reply, but it got me thinking. 


Without explicitly stating my position on the whole thing, I feel comfortable stating that I am  OK with not penalizing folks who need to kill another in self-defense. But, what about when the damage is done? What about when someone does something terrible and someone needs to be held accountable? 


I started thinking about the act of inflicting death...killing...etc. I thought about the horrible executions committed by the likes of Hitler, Manson, etc...  Then I imagined that I was side by side with a total stranger and someone said one of us has to die, and I had to decide who it was. What would I do? I wasn't sure. At first I thought, "If it's me or him who has to go, it's him." Then I thought, "What would Jesus or Buddha do?" ...He probably wouldn't say "it's him."  What would make this scenario more helpful? I thought about how maybe greater universal powers are really at play when it comes to life and death. Assuming that, then it would be more realistic to imagine that it was Buddha telling me that I or my neighbor has to die. And then it came like an epiphany. I remembered an old Zen Koan: "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him!" 


I laughed out loud. That Koan is designed to get Zen practitioners to understand that if one met Buddha (found enlightenment) on the road (in their practice), then one should kill him (disregard what they think is enlightenment because it is just an illusion that one will get attached to.) I had suddenly found a different use for it. The Koan reminded me that the problem is not whether or not the person needs to die; The problem is in whatever is making us decide to kill. Anyone who thinks that killing is the wise thing to do, may want to meditate on the koan to understand that killing is an illusion of the right or wise thing to do. And to the person who needs to kill in self defense - they are just killing the Buddha they meet on their path. 

Catholic Jesus, Buddha, incense, and gold

Today I was in a Catholic Church...probably for the first time in over 8 years, and as I stood in the pew and took it all in, I began to realize why I was enjoying it so much. I was surrounded by hard-wood, red carpets, frankincense, and gold. It was quiet. The vibe was formal, sacred, (and also more patriarchal than I like to admit in this case). I asked myself, "where have I felt this before, recently?" ...And then it dawned on me. The reason it felt so familiar and proximal was that about a week and a half before today I visited the international Buddhist meditation center. There, too, I had found myself surrounded by tall statues, red carpets, quiet humble silence, gold... and Buddhist centers also often burn incense.

I have always been one of the first to find common denominators between religions. Just the same, I was amazed to find these striking similarities in these two very different (or maybe no so different) religious contexts.

How many other religious sanctuaries would provide the same effect?? ...You have to wonder.

Then I wondered about all the things that the two god-heads have in common. But this wasn't about Jesus and Buddha. Many protestant churches are different from this. This was specifically about the Catholic church and the most formal Buddhist places of worship.

Here are some of my thoughts about this...

...I have heard many refer to Buddha as the Jesus of the East. Historically speaking, however, it Jesus would be the Buddha of the West. That's because the first Buddha (Siddhartha Gotama) was actually born about 500 years before Jesus. Anyway, they were both highly evolved human beings who had profound spiritual revelations and were in some ways prophets in that they directly experienced the divine and shared their wisdom with others.

... Jesus and Siddhartha Gotama were both men, and the original followers of these prophets were primarily men, and the living god-heads (like the Pope, and Tibetan Buddhism's Dalai Lama and their respective Cardinals / archbishops / priests, and monks) ...are all men.   ...making both of their religions highly patriarchal.

...Gold, red carpets, and incense: Gold is valuable, Red carpets are regal, and incense is smoke. It makes sense for us to place valuable things such as metals (like gold), around things that we value or worship. I think this is about the personification of divinity. I also think that this may tie back in some ways to patriarchy and power. (Money=Power=Control). Red carpets are not so valuable, but somehow got culturally ingrained as being associated with the sacred. We know that red is a symbol of passion, so maybe that has something to do with it, too. Lastly, in many modes of religion and spirituality, smoke is viewed as having the ability to send prayer and intention up to the gods or into the universe towards manifestation. Smell is also one of the most powerful ways that the brain makes associations. We associate the smell with the sacred. Once we smell it, we quirky become open and poised for spiritual growth.  So functionally, the smell will bring you back and open you to the sacred. Speaking of association, the same goes for gold and red. All these factors form a beautifully self-reinforcing cycle that keeps them in place, and helps these two religions stay strong.

(I final caveat.  There are many Buddhists and Christians who practice in the absence of these factors. I know and repeat this, I was focusing here on larger social and psychological trends)

...Any way you put it, it's amazing what some time in a spiritual place of worship can do for you!

UPDATE: Modern Family Therapy and Pragmatic Spirit

Greetings!
As you may have noticed above above, I have made made some changes to the Title and Description of this blog so that it better represents what I initially set out to do with it. It just took me a little more time to transform it from an abstract thought to something more daily communicated with words...

If you know anything about me, you know that I strongly believe that total wellness is physical, mental and spiritual, and that I try to live from the pou stó in my personal, social, and professional lives. I wanted to have a space to write and share and learn with others about how people are living like this, or grappling with dilemmas related to this. I hope to connect with others who get as much meaning as I do from discussing these kinds of ideas.

Best Wishes,
-Nate

"Me Time" After work

I sometimes pop into a bar after a long day of work. Often I marvel at that wide range if people - mostly people who just finished working, from what I can tell, with ties, blue collars, construction boots, to backpacks. Don't they have families? I'm sure they do, as do I. If I can back the next day, would I find all the same people? I imagine only a few are nightly regulars. I am left thinking about what people do to unwind after work, if anything. Is unwinding even needed? I will go ahead and say YES, especially of you have a family or some other continued responsibilities once you get home! Now the bar is certainly not the go-to unwind strategy, not if you need something regularly, and not if you have a family. The point is thy we should all have a few different thugs to choose from that can help to take a little "me time" before transitioning from work to family. This prevents you from suffering as well as your family from suffering from your unhappiness. I'm only talking about a couple of minutes. I am interested in hearing how you all do this....a good radio show on the way home? ... A hot shower when you get home? Maybe you get your "me time" once everyone is in bed... Either way you're probably doing something and if not I challenge you to think of something that works for you and your family ( if you have one).

Live Positively

Did you know that according to the research of positive psychologist Dr. Marc Seligman, people with pessimistic and self-blaming attribution style of explaining bad events are more likely to suffer from depression, experience hormonal and immune system changes, and are more likely to die younger?

Changing your attitude about the things that happen to you can take some time and maybe even some help from others. To get a head start, you can keep a journal of things that you are grateful for, and make sure you write something in it every day. Another thing you can do is practice self-forgiveness. If you blame yourself, focus on the thing that you did, and just make a commitment to do something different next time - this focuses your mind on your options and power to make choices. This also prevents you from mentally sealing your fate.  Lastly, I recommend beginning some kind of mindfulness based meditation practice. This will help you to become more aware of automatic thought and emotional patterns, and also to become less reactive to them. If you can do this, even if you have a tendency to shame yourself, you can see it happening, and chose to let it be a fleeting thought instead of a trap.

Acknowledging Holotropic States of Consciousness in a New Paradigm of Science - PART 1

Abstract

The current leading Newtonian-Cartesian paradigm falls short in accounting for a wide range
of data, warranting a more holistic and multidisciplinary paradigm This paper is a theoretical analysis of the current paradigm, as well as the emerging one. The classical leading paradigm is reviewed in historical context. The shortcomings and limitations of the current paradigm are described. Various books, selected journal articles, and personal observations are used to validate the necessity for a shift from the current paradigm. The emerging paradigm unites modern physics and consciousness research with ancient wisdom traditions. Fritjof Capra and Lawrence LeShan describe parallels between modern psychics and ancient wisdom traditions of the East. The works of Rhea White, Michael Harner, and Stanislav Grof are used to confirm the ubiquity  and  validity  of  holotropic  states  of  consciousness.    Grof’s  Holotropic  model  and   Hutchins’  Gnosis  model  are  described  as  two  of  the  many  holotropically  oriented  models  of  the   psyche. The support from these contemporary intellectuals sustains the argument for a necessary paradigmatic shift taken by transpersonal psychology.

Acknowledging Holotropic States of Consciousness in a New Paradigm of Science 

The last three centuries of scientific exploration have been based on a paradigm dominated
by the work of a British scientist named Isaac Newton, and a French philosopher named René Descartes . These two classical thinkers set the stage for most of the advancements in social science, natural science, and technology. The resulting framework of reality is one limited to (a) classical physics: three-dimensional space, absolute time, and matter reducible to fundamental building blocks; (b) physiologically based perception; and (c) biographically bound human psyche. In spite of all this, modern theorists and researchers are accumulating enough data to seriously question the foundation of all our scientific advancements. Their culminations call for a shifted paradigm of reality – one that is able to encompass Western science and Eastern wisdom.

Shortcomings of the Newtonian-Cartesian Paradigm

Classical Paradigm

Newton

Newton worked within the framework of a mechanistic universe made up of atoms—the indestructible, fundamental building blocks of life. His contribution to this Greek-derived atomistic  model  was  a  “precise  definition  of  the  force  acting  between  the  particles”  (Grof,  1985,   p. 18). Newton recognized this force as gravity, and determined that is was directly proportional to the masses involved, and indirectly proportional to the square of their distance. It was understood as an instant intrinsic attribute of matter.
Newton also defined an absolute Euclidian three-dimensional universe that is constant and always at rest. Here, matter and empty space are clearly distinct, and time is unconditional and independent  of  matter.    Stanislav  Grof  (1985b)  stated  that,  “According  to  Newton,  all  physical  

Acknowledging Holotropic States 3

processes can be reduced to movements of material points that result from the force of gravity acting among them and causing their mutual attraction”  (p.  18).    Thus,  Newton  defined  a   mathematically deterministic clockwork universe, where everything can be explained as consequences of these fundamental physical mechanisms.


Descartes
The renowned and ground-breaking French philosopher, René Descartes, also made an essential contribution to the leading paradigm. He formulated a fixed dualism between mind and matter. According to these assumptions, everything in the material world can be described objectively. This perspective maintains that the human observer has no influence on the observation. Grof (1985b) states that although it was the basis of the development of the natural sciences,  one  of  the  setbacks  of  this  notion  “has  been  a  serious  neglect  of  a  holistic  approach  to   human beings, society,  and  life  on  this  planet”  (p.  19).    
Scientists owe much to the revolutionary discoveries of these two classical thinkers. However, we also owe them an explanation for distorting their messages. According to Grof (1985b), the notion of God was an indispensable part of the philosophies and world views of both Newton and Descartes. But the Newtonian-Cartesian paradigm, which is the basic metaphysical assumption of common understanding, ignores all but the profane aspects of its originators. The models of many physicists from Newton to Albert Einstein included inherent implications about the nature of God, but they have never been mentioned in textbooks (Capra, 1985; Grof, 1985b). When taken out of context, entire models are skewed towards secularity. 


(To be continued. Feel free to contact me for full citation of any works referenced)