----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2003 10:53
PM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] new
book
Hi Selma,
If you think that work
exciting, try "A Course In Miracles", copywritten 1975, by Foundation For
Inner Peace.
This work constitutes the
most enlightening and meaningful ideas on mind vs. brain you'll ever
encounter, and you won't need scientific evidence to convince you of its
perspective because truth resounds as self-evident once it is felt deep
down.
The Course maintains from
the outset that mind is totally in control of brain, and not the reverse--as
so many want to see it. Not only is one drawn to the beautiful presentation
of ideas, which can be likened to Shakespeare for both richness and
because so much of it is in iambic pentameter, but the answers to the most
important questions we have in life are, for many like myself,
satisfactorily answered. Why we are here, what is important, what is real
and what is not.
If I may, I'd like to
quote from the preface: (Please read on-I know this is going to be offensive
to some, and the masculine use of the word God is not anything but
convenience for agreement of pronouns)
"Nothing
real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.
"This is how A Course In Miracles begins. It makes a
fundamental
distinction between the real and the unreal:
between knowledge
and perception. Knowledge is truth, under one law,
the law of love
or God. Truth is unalterable, eternal and
unambiguous. It can
be unrecognized, but it cannot be
changed. It applies to
every-
thing that God created, and only
what He created is real. It is
beyond learning because it is beyond time and
process. It has no
opposite; no beginning and no end. It merely
is.
"The world of perception, on the other hand, is
the world of
time, of change, of beginnings and endings. It is
based on inter-
pretation, not on facts. It is the world of birth and
death, founded
on the belief in scarcity, loss, separation and
death. It is learned
rather than given, selective in its perceptual emphases,
unstable
in its functioning, and inaccurate in its interpretations.
"From knowledge and perception respectively,
two distinct
thought systems arise which are opposite in every respect. In
the
realm of knowledge no thoughts exist apart from
God, because
God
and His Creation share one Will. The world of
perception,
however, is made by the belief in opposites and separate wills,
in
perpetual conflict with each other and with
God. What percep-
tion sees and hears appears to be real because
it permits into
awareness only what conforms to the wishes of
the perceiver.
This leads to a world of illusions, a world which
needs constant
defense precisely because it is not real.
"When you have been caught in the world of perception you are
caught in a dream. You cannot escape
without help, because
everything your senses show merely witnesses to the reality
of
the dream..."
I hope that those God
words didn't offend the scientifically minded as much as they once offended
me, and I hope that the "offensive" words were substituted with
Creation, Source, Goddess, or whatever name you'd care to give to the
oneness that is Life. This is not a book on a new religion, it is not
religious, yet is intensely spiritual and metaphysical, and the best
psychologist a person could have. It may have been written by another
so-called prophet, but was actually delivered to a Professor Helen
Schucman of Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons in
New York City, and she was anything but spiritual.
Whether it was related to
her by a divine source, or whether it is the work of another savant with
schizophrenia is irrelevant. What is significant to this little
note is the content, which I see partially being pursued today
in science, medicine, quantum physics, etc. To cite the example of
positive behavioural reinforcement on an individual's neural pathways,
with the actual effect of physically changing the old pathways that
took challenged people down roads of tortured thought. Well, I've worked for
many years with people with mental illness. Change how someone sees things,
not behavior so much, but get them to recognize a universal truth. I know
that if most had not been thinking or forced to think along the
pathways of fear and defensiveness when growing up, their propensity for
mental illness would not have had such a jump-start, and these very
pathways could have developed physically differently. Perhaps 85% or more
patients suffered extreme physical, emotional or sexual abuse in their
first homes. Those with whom I had contact were almost at the 100%
figure for abuse.
The New York Times
recent papers on origins of the universe, big bang theory, accelerated
expansion of same, all seem to be drawing conclusions you can find in the
Course, such as we are the creators of the physical universe, by virtue of
Free Will.
We are free to
experiment with all forms of illusion. We are dreaming the universe
collectively, and at night each one of the fragmented parts of the
collective soul that participates in the dream, dreams their very own dreams
which only they will experience, yet believe to be true because of the
source of their creation. Tell yourself to be afraid, and you will be. Tell
yourself the nightmare is unreal, and the dream changes usually to
happier events. Whatever you wish or feel will occur. On a larger scale,
collectively as the one creation of a Creator, in the realm or mindspace in
which we never actually could leave the source, both God and Heaven are
unaware of anything being prayed for in a realm that does not really exist.
Prayer is for
guidance, but mostly a song to your fellow-human to wake up to Heaven that
is possible now. One has but to change one's mind. Forgiveness is the
key--and that is what the miracle is. It is the closest thing to real love
-- which scientists will eventually learn is the only real force that exists
-- we will experience on Earth.
Check it out!
No books but one, a course in how to unlearn what you were taught
badly, no gurus, leaders, no sacred places or things to buy to help you in
your journey. This path is not for everyone, it remains one of
many.
Natalia
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2003 1:38
PM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] new
book
Thanks, Arthur. That looks like one of the
reviews I saw on Amazon.
I'm looking forward to reading
it.
Selma
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2003 3:31
PM
Subject: RE: [Futurework] new
book
This review looks good. Seems to lend
credence to the analysts (vs. the "everything is hard wired"
school)
A landmark work that offers new answers to one of
the oldest mysteries in human thought: the connection between mind and
brain.
Conventional science has long held the position that "the mind" is
merely an illusion, a side effect of electrochemical activity in the
physical brain. Now comes a major work, grounded in two decades of
research, that argues exactly the opposite: that the mind has a life of
its own.
In The Mind and the Brain, Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz, a leading
researcher in brain dysfunctions, and Wall Street Journal science
columnist Sharon Begley demonstrate that the human mind is an
independent entity that can shape and control the functioning of the
physical brain. Their work has its basis in our emerging understanding
of adult plasticity -- the brain's ability to be rewired not just in
childhood, but throughout life, a trait only recently established by
scientists. But in this paradigm-shifting work, Schwartz and Begley take
neuroplasticity one critical step further. Through decades of work
treating patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Schwartz
made an extraordinary finding: while following the therapy he developed,
his patients were effecting significant and lasting changes in their own
neural pathways. It was a scientific first: by actively focusing their
attention away from negative behaviors and toward more positive ones,
Schwartz's patients were using their minds to reshape their brains.
The Mind and the Brain follows Schwartz as he investigates
this newly discovered power, which he calls self-directed
neuroplosticity or, more simply, mental force. It describes his work
with noted physicist Henry Stapp to establish the basic mechanics of
self-directed neuroplasticity in quantum physics, and reveals its
connections with the ancient practice of mindfulness in Buddhist
tradition. And it points to potential new applications that could
transform the treatment of almost every variety of neurological
dysfunction, from dyslexia to stroke -- and could lead to new strategies
to help us harness our mental powers.
Yet as wondrous as these implications are, perhaps even more
important is the philosophical dimension of Schwartz's work. For the
existence of mental force offers convincing scientific evidence of human
free will, and thus of man's inherent capacity for moral choice.
Challenging the scientific mainstream, Schwartz and Begley suggest
boldly that we human beings are more than mere automatons -- that with
the ability to shape our brains comes the power to shape our destiny.
The conclusions they draw, and the questions they raise, should provoke
debate among not only scientists but philosophers, legal scholars, and
anyone who cares about the role of man in the universe.
I have just ordered the book *The Mind
and The Brain* by Jeffrey Schwartz and Sharon Begley.
Has anyone read this? I found the reviews
particularly interesting in that he argues that we can use our minds
to change the wiring of our brains. Apparently he has considerable
evidence from his work with Obsessive Compulsive
Disorder.
Apparently he brings in all kinds of
interesting stuff about free will in regard to this newly discovered
information from his studies.
Selma
