God hath given you one face and you make yourselves another.
- Hamlet 3.1, Shakespeare
This is an example of how great koans can be found in non-traditional sources.
And more importantly, it is a reminder of how any statement is a question and a pointer for inquiry.
Is Everything We Know About the Universe Wrong? is another excellent BBC Horizon documentary.
Cosmology is undergoing a great shift. The traditional Standard Model is unsatisfactory because it does not explain dark matter or dark energy. And the modifications to the Standard Model that do are unsatisfactory because they are inelegant add-ons. Something is missing from our understanding of the universe, and it is either new forms of matter and energy, our understanding of the basic habits (natural laws) of the universe, or a combination of both.
It is another reminder that what we think we know about anything, however elaborate or useful it may seem, is vanishingly small compared to the infinity we do not know. Our experience is always very limited. (*) And our interpretations of this experience is just one of an indefinite number of possible interpretations, some of which would make equally much or more sense to us than the ones we are currently aware of.
Whenever we have a story about something, there will always be something that doesn’t fit. And if this is something that appears significant to us, or if many smaller things that do not fit keep cropping up, it requires us to reorient, to reorganize how we look at ourselves and/or the rest of the world.
It is a continuous process for us at individual and collective levels.
From Premonition (Giant Empty Iron Vessel) by David Sylvian and Holger Czukay
Spirituality can refer to many different things.
When I look at the type of spirituality I am most familiar with, I find three facets. And one, two, or three of them can be present at once, in any combination.
First, there is fascination. We can be fascinate by many things, including the idea of what we may get out of spirituality (awakening, healing, peace, good rebirth), our own path and experiences (insights, dreams, glimpses), the stories in the tradition (cosmology, teaching stories), the teacher (personality, what they represent), more peripheral aspects such as reincarnation, supernatural powers, and auras, or even more peripheral things such as astrology, foreseeing the future, reincarnation, and also anything unexplained and weird such as UFOs, crop circles, ghosts and so on.
Fascination can be very helpful. It can make us feel good, hopeful, and inspired. It can help us stay with a path. It can be a needed temporary escape from problems. And it brings up projections, inviting us to find here what we see over there.
It is always interesting to notice how different practices work together and how they may mutually support each other.
For instance, The Work and exploring sense-fields have a great deal of similarities, and there is also some cross-fertilization there.
In The Work, I explore the effects of taking a story as true, and find what is more honest for me than the initial belief.
And through exploring the sense-fields, I notice gestalts made up of image overlays on sense fields, what happens when gestalts are taken as real and substantial, and what happens when the images are recognized as a simple overlay of images.
The questions and sub-questions of The Work guide my exploration of the sense -fields. The sense-field exploration helps me notice the mechanisms here now, and in more detail. And through The Work, I get to see how beliefs play themselves out in my life in more detail.
Again, very simple, and perhaps obvious both in a psychological and spiritual context. But also something I find helpful and fascinating just about every day. I often do this before falling asleep and after waking up, and also at times throughout the day.
I can explore what is here in sensation, either as an open exploration of the sense field.
Or if a specific symptom, emotion, mood, or anything else draws my attention, I can explore that.
What do I find when I bring attention to sensations? How does it show up in sensation? What is its sensation facet?
What is here as images overlaid on those sensations?
How do they combine? How do I experience the combination of the two?
EACH year some 30 million American men undergo testing for prostate-specific antigen, an enzyme made by the prostate. Approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1994, the P.S.A. test is the most commonly used tool for detecting prostate cancer……
Prostate cancer may get a lot of press, but consider the numbers: American men have a 16 percent lifetime chance of receiving a diagnosis of prostate cancer, but only a 3 percent chance of dying from it. That’s because the majority of prostate cancers grow slowly. In other words, men lucky enough to reach old age are much more likely to die with prostate cancer than to die of it.
Even then, the test is hardly more effective than a coin toss. As I’ve been trying to make clear for many years now, P.S.A. testing can’t detect prostate cancer and, more important, it can’t distinguish between the two types of prostate cancer — the one that will kill you and the one that won’t…..
So why is it still used? Because drug companies continue peddling the tests and advocacy groups push “prostate cancer awareness” by encouraging men to get screened….
I never dreamed that my discovery four decades ago would lead to such a profit-driven public health disaster. The medical community must confront reality and stop the inappropriate use of P.S.A. screening. Doing so would save billions of dollars and rescue millions of men from unnecessary, debilitating treatments.
Source: The Great Prostate Mistake, op-ed by Richard Ablin who discovered PSA in the ’70s
A reminder of one of the many reasons why universal health care makes sense.
In the current US system, doctors prescribe tests and treatments they - quite often - know are not needed or are likely to not work. They do it because of pressures and benefits received from interest groups, and because they expect their patients to feel better if something - preferably elaborate and expensive - is done. And how do they get away with it? The insurance companies pick up the tab.
In Europe and other places with universal health care, there is a much stronger incentive to use procedures that are appropriate to the person and situation, and known to work.
The years from 1957 to 1962 were a golden age of science fiction, as well as paranoia and exhilaration on a cosmic scale. The future was still the future back then, some of us could dream of farms on the moon and heroically finned rockets blasting off from alien landscapes. Others worried about Russian moon bases.
Source: NY Times, Reaching for the Stars When Space Was a Thrill
It doesn’t get better than this if you have a fascination for science fiction, early space exploration, cool retro-art, and the futurism of the 50s. Another Science Fiction: Advertising the Space Race 1957-1962 is published in a few weeks.
I find it amusing when people talk about evolutionary dead ends and failed experiments.
It all depends on our perspective, from when we look in time and the time span we use.
If we look exclusively from our vantage point in time, and at a human time span, then - yes - it may appear that some species were evolutionary dead ends and failed experiments, and whichever species are alive today “made it”. But that is obviously a very myopic view, and not aligned with the vast time spans of evolution.
All species are born and die, this earth was born and will die, this universe was born and will die (heat death or big crunch). So in that sense, all species - including humans - are evolutionary “dead ends”.
Or we can say that all species are wonderful and awe-inspiring expressions of the amazing creativity of the Earth and this universe.
The NEO PI test shows roughly where we are on the Big Five personality traits.
It is easy to think that being low on neuroticism and high on the other four is always and inherently good. After all, that is what our culture tells us. But it is fortunately not quite true.
It depends on our role. For instance, as an army officer, it may be good to be low on some of the facets of agreeableness (able to make tough decisions that harms certain individuals), and perhaps higher on some of the facets of neuroticism (more alert). A philosopher, psychologist, or artist may benefit from being higher on neuroticism as it allows more inner processing and insight. A nuclear plant operator, or anyone in a role where innovation is of little or no advantage, or where it may even be harmful, may benefit from being low on openness to experience.
It depends on how it is expressed and how we relate to it. Whether we are high or low on any factor or facet, we can find ways to use it in a constructive way, and find genuine appreciation for its benefits.
And as a society, we need all types. There are many roles that needs to be filled in a society, so it is good people come with different tendencies and orientations.
I took the brief online NEO PI test again.
My energy level fluctuates some due to the chronic fatigue, which is reflected in some of these results. When I feel better, as I do now, my level of extraversion goes up slightly, and my level of neuroticism goes down. I also suspect my conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness to experience goes up. With more rest, as I have had the last several days, I feel a bit more energetic, am more able to get things done, feel more friendly towards others and myself, and am more interested in life in general.
I saw The Hurt Locker a while ago. It is very well crafted. Shot and told in an apparently neutral documentary style. Suspenseful. Heartbreaking. Entertaining.
But it isn’t neutral of course.
The story may seem free of ideology. It may seem that the author and director missed an opportunity for commentary or including a message. And it is exactly in that neutral emptiness the message lies. War is meaningless, especially as experienced from the point of view of the soldiers, and especially this war.
Can We Make a Star on Earth? is another great BBC Horizon documentary, this one hosted by the always excellent Brian Cox.
This segment is especially interesting, highlighting our need to use our current petroleum-based energy to develop new energy sources, including fusion. If we don’t speed up our efforts dramatically, it will be too late before we know it. If we apply a great deal of human and energy resources now, we can create a smoother transition for ourselves.
This is also a reminder of why the global warming debate is a sidetrack. First, because there is universal agreement among climate scientists that (a) significant climate change is happening and (b) it is caused by human activity. (The ones sowing the seeds of confusion are not climatologists, and the campaign to create confusion is fueled by the petroleum industry, taking a cue from the tobacco industry.)
More importantly, fossil fuel is running out and we need to put a great deal into the transition right now. We can’t afford to wait, partly since we need the current petroleum resources to fuel the transition, and partly because we don’t know how much oil is left. We have to act on the worst case scenario. The consequences of making a timing mistake are too great.
A part of our life is the experience of some things not being fully resolved.
And one way of working with it is to resolve it here, for instance through visualizations, acting out, or dialogue.
It is quite simple, maybe even so simple it sounds silly.
Take the unresolved situation. Stage it and include the important characters. Allow it to play itself out and find a full resolution.
Some stories seem unquestionably true.
I am a man. A Norwegian citizen. Of a certain age. A human being. An object in the world.
My culture - and most or all cultures - would say these are true, so I take them as obviously true.
And yet, if I take a closer look at them, what do I find? Are they as obviously true as they first appeared?
Beliefs are all the same in their dynamics. At the same time, there are different types of beliefs.
We have peripheral and central beliefs, mild and strong beliefs, and also disputable and apparently indisputable beliefs.
And we can find these in just about any combination.
What do we do with the things we don’t understand?
If it seems mysterious and important enough, we have traditionally explained it through God and religion. There is lightning and thunder, so perhaps a thunder god is behind it. We die and don’t know what is after death, so create mythologies to fill in the gap. We live a life, but don’t quite know what it is for or how we fit into the larger whole, so we create religions to give us a sense of meaning.
And I see that every time I create a belief for myself, I do the same. I don’t know, am uncomfortable with that not-knowing for whatever reason, so create a belief to explain the mysterious and give me a sense of somewhere to stand, a viewpoint I can identify with.
Cooking is something we all take for granted but a new theory suggests that if we had not learned to cook food, not only would we still look like chimps but, like them, we would also be compelled to spend most of the day chewing…..
Cooking food breaks down its cells, meaning that our stomachs need to do less work to liberate the nutrients our bodies need. This, says Wheeler, “freed up energy which could then be used to power a larger brain. The increase in brain-size mirrors the reduction in the size of the gut.” Significantly Wheeler and Aiello found that the reduction in the size of our digestive system was exactly the same amount that our brains grew by - 20%. Professor Stephen Secor at the University of Alabama found that not only does cooked food release more energy, but the body uses less energy in digesting it. As a consequence, more time was available for social structure to develop.
- from BBC, Learning to Cook Produced Bigger Brains
Changing food habits is a good example of how we shape our own evolution.
Our evolved biology makes our behavior and culture possible. Our behavior and culture changes, and this allows us to make use of our evolved potential in new ways. Both of these changes our selection pressures. Which in turn changes us biologically as a species. And this changes what is possible for us as individuals and as a culture.
We have evolved so it is possible for us to use tools and cook food. Cooking food allows us to make better use of food nutrients, which in turn allows us to make different and new use of our evolved potential. Both of these changes our circumstances and selection pressures, so different characteristics are selected for. This changes us biologically as a species. And this opens new options for us as a species and a culture.
Nowadays, our own culture is perhaps the most significant source of our own evolutionary change, as it has been for tens or hundreds of thousands of years. Through culture, we change our social and ecological environments, which in turn changes the selection pressures, which in turn changes who we are.
For a good introduction to what sets humans apart from other animals, you can’t do much better than Alan Alda’s three-part series The Human Spark.
It is easy to think that since the lives of humans are so different from the lives of other animals, there must be big differences in how we are put together.
But is that the case? Are humans very different from other animals? No. We share almost everything with at least some, and often many, other species.
It is the small differences - often in degree - that sets us apart. As we know from the butterfly effect, in a complex system, small differences in the initial conditions can lead to big differences in how it all unfolds over time. In this case, small differences in biology leads to big differences in how we live our lives.
It is these small differences that leads to what we see as uniquely human such as relatively advanced culture, technology, and social organization.
Small differences can have big consequences.
I have written about this before, which is not unusual for me since I tend to revisit themes.
When I do The Work, I don’t have to only stick to my own beliefs.
I can also imagine what belief someone else has, and inquiry into that one as if it was my own.
I usually don’t make references to traditions here since I feel that the references are implicit everywhere, and I want to keep it simple. But sometimes, it can be helpful - or at least interesting - to more explicitly look at traditions. They offer great questions and pointers for own exploration.
One of the terms from the Indian traditions is sat cit ananda - existence consciousness bliss.
There are immense benefits of beliefs.
Stories themselves are obviously essential. They helps us orient and navigate in the world, and guide attention and action. Stories help us remember the past, envision the future, and make sense of the present.
We can of course use stories as guides, whether we see them as just guides or make them into beliefs.
So what is the function of beliefs? Why do we have beliefs when stories themselves are sufficient? What is the unique contribution of beliefs?
The human brain is a big believer in equality — and a team of scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, has become the first to gather the images to prove it.
Specifically, the team found that the reward centers in the human brain respond more strongly when a poor person receives a financial reward than when a rich person does. The surprising thing? This activity pattern holds true even if the brain being looked at is in the rich person’s head, rather than the poor person’s.
- from Science Daily
From an evolutionary perspective, it is not surprising that we may be predisposed for justice. We are social animals, and in many cases, justice benefits the group as a whole.
There is a shared view among all human sciences:
Our biology makes everything we know possible: metabolism, walking, digesting, feeling, thinking, anger, joy, sadness, culture, technology, imagination, creativity, compassion, ethics, a sense of meaning, and anything that is part of our individual and collective lives.
Some of it is shared among all Earth life. Much of it is shared among all animals. A great deal of shared among all mammals. Even more is shared among all humans. And some is differently emphasized among humans.
Slightly revised, and from a previous post I just finished:
It is easy for us to recognize physical tools as tools only, and to use these with a measure of pragmatic wisdom.
And yet, it is so difficult for us to do the same with stories. At least for many of us.
Why is it so?
Before falling asleep in the evening, and after waking up in the morning, I like to take some time to explore the sense fields. And as I often write about here, one of the things I explore is the three times. How does the past, future, and present appear in the sense fields?
I may begin with bringing attention to each sense field - sensations, sight, sound, smell, taste, and thoughts/images - one at a time, and notice what is there.
Then, I close my eyes if they are not already closed, and notice how I have an image of my body laying there in the bed, in a room, in a building, at the outskirts of a small town, next to a forest, in a country, on the Earth. All of that happens in my own world of images. It is the movie I play for myself about the world. I recognize it all as images.
My energy level was drained yesterday due to a fuller-than-usual schedule. Normally, it restores during the late afternoon and the evening, as I relax, take a nap, and eat some good food, but not yesterday.
It’s too late. (To make my life as I would like it.)
Again, a very simple pointer, but that’s OK. It is how it is applied that matter.
I can create the conditions for whatever happens to nurture growth. To go from being a problem to support.
And it is all in how I receive it and relate to it.
I can allow experience as is, with heart. Can I be with what I am experiencing now?
I can notice and inquire into beliefs, to find what is more honest for me than the initial belief.
And I can live from the most juicy turnarounds, and in general live from more integrity.
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