The Science of Mysticism

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:07:57 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Well worth reading the article. Another example of how the popularised emphasis on 'intelligence' and AI is well off the mark when it comes to assessing the biological nature of the human organism: feelings (cortical representations and re-representations) are the basis of human experience including reason and language. The hundred years of suggestion in this area from James onwards are now being supplemented by modern neurobiological research. Such a key word as representation offers a potentially rich bridge between neuroscience and philosophy, linguistics and the humanities.

Clip Source: www.science-spirit.org

A stunning new description of how the human body and brain communicate to produce emotional states -- including our feelings, cravings, and moods -- has all the elements needed to explain how the human brain might give rise to spiritual experiences, without the necessary involvement of a supernatural presence, according to Dr. Martin Paulus, a psychiatrist at the University of California in San Diego who is also a Zen practitioner.

Called interoception, it offers a radically new view of human anatomy and physiology based on how information from the body reaches the brain and how that information is processed uniquely in humans.

In this view, spirituality -- an emotional feeling from the body, a sense of timelessness, a suspension of self and dissolution of personal boundaries -- can be explained in terms of brain physiology, which means, of course, that it is subject to experimentation and manipulation.

Tags: neuroscience

Palin as President of the U.S. Senate?

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 23:09:12 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: It's VP's job: But she has never even served in a legislature!How would she possibly know how to manage America's most difficult legislative body? Let alone how she would possibly step in, if needed, for the President, in a nation still at war. Take a deep look at McCain's judgment here. What a reckless, foolishly political nomination this is for the nation!
And compare her credentials to Joe Biden's . . .

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

If voters weren't frightened of a trigger-happy, impulsive McCain before, then they sure had better be now.

McCain's choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice President displays near-reckless judgment.

She's a small-town gal without credentials who will be one heartbeat away from the U.S. presidency. Just 20 months ago, according to her biography, she was mayor of a town of 8,000, in Alaska, then became Governor in 2006

Palin's candidacy fails to meet the most basic requirements for this job:

1. Vice Presidents must assume the reins should the President become ill or deceased

How dare McCain put someone into the biggest most important job in the world who is mere months out of running a tiny village in an isolated part of the country?

2. Vice Presidents also chair the Senate.

Successful ones are savvy and experienced operator at brokering deals and forging bipartisan coalitions

Tags: palin, mccain

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The Science of Mysticism

Palin as President of the U.S. Senate?