On Dec 17, 2008, at 5:14 PM, Sal Sunshine wrote:
On Dec 17, 2008, at 1:45 PM, curtisdeltablues wrote:
But the older I get the less I see evidence of people really changing
that much. Even people who appear to for short periods of time
from a
traumatic event eventually go back to their patterns before they got
shifted temporarily from their MO.
Curtis, I'm of the mind the older I get that it really isn't
possible after a certain time to change our thought
patterns, but it almost always is possible to change
our actions. And that's really all that counts (for
those of us non-sps, anyway!)
The science is in on this: once you reach the age of about 24 IIRC,
the most people will change is about a quarter of a stage in terms of
human development, in other words: nothing statically remarkable (that
includes all the traditional methods of psychotherapy and counseling,
etc.). HOWEVER, if you have a good meditative technique: you CAN
change several, 2 or 3 levels, in a relatively (months, years) short
period of time. The recent data on Mindfulness Meditation and
neuroplasticity really proves this: change your mind and you can
change your brain. The more you do it, the more you change. You don't
have to be < 24.
However in Dr. Pete's and Curtis' example of the Sociopath, as a non-
changing entity: it is such an extreme example, you truly need
extraordinary change of circumstances to affect real change. Some
might even say the 84 Mahasiddhas in Hinduism/Buddhism are good
examples of just that level of change (some were murderers, thieves,
chronic liars, temple whores, you name it). But they 'did it'. They
"escaped" into higher levels of human development. So it may be
possible, but it's not very probable. Given the discovery of
meditative neuroplasticity, we at least now have the suggestion, and a
mechanism, for such possibilities.
A friend of mine, a Zen Roshi, is a huge advocate for contemplative
sentencing for this very reason. Why waste a human being? If you can
get them to agree to try to change: sentence them to meditation (of a
kind that works) till the change occurs. But then, when the change
does occur, set them free. It's that last part that most would be
leery of (and understandably so). But at least he has the foresight
and the courage to advocate for this level of possibility. Given that
he's an engineer as well, with numerous patents to his name, I think
people will listen.
