Hi Steve,
This is very interesting, and I appreciate you sharing this. Truthfully, I
only learned a bit about his work when I took a class years ago, "Sensation
and Perception". You may have a much better understanding of his conclusions.
I like how you see buddhist thought reflected here. As you may remember, I
am a fan of Rick Hanson, Ph.D.'s work. His book Buddha's Brain" is a good
foundation connecting neuroscience with buddhism. His web site also has some
quality information to access.
Given your interest here.. The current issue of the journal "Nature" has a
cover article on "Understanding Neural Nets", if that intrigues you. I know the
abstracts are free on-line--and maybe the articles. If not, contact me
privately, and I'll give you my access info that you can use if you want.
Thanks again..k
--- In Zen_Forum@yahoogroups.com, "SteveW" <eugnostos2000@...> wrote:
>
>
>
> --- In Zen_Forum@yahoogroups.com, "Healthyplay1" <healthyplay1@> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Um... so does forensics psychology. So-- its as simple as an unconscious
> > wish --"manifests"?
> >
> > Sorry to interrupt. ..
> >
> > Hi Kristy. Actually, I think that Libet's work supports a rather
> Buddhist way of looking at it. We tend to assume that the conscious
> mind is initiating thoughts and intentions, but Libet's work calls
> this into question. Of course, anyone who has practiced zazen soon
> notices that thoughts and volitional impulses just bubble-up into
> awareness. There is no Little Person in a control room pushing
> buttons to make thoughts and volitional impulses manifest. Our
> conscious minds only become aware of the volitional impulse about
> a half-second after it starts. Libet said that although we clearly
> do not initiate the impulse, we do have a split-second in which to
> veto it. He called this Free-Won't in contradistinction to Free-Will.
> So basically, our volitional impulses, which Buddhists call Samskaras, are
> karmic, which is to say that they are conditioned
> automatic habits. Some researchers, such as Jeffrey Schwartz (who
> is a practicing Buddhist), think that by being mindful of the
> volitional impulse in that little half-second, and refusing to
> identify with and act upon it, allows us to deprive the impulse
> of it's "habit-energy" (vasana) that it needs to perpetuate itself.
> If this is done each time the habitual impulse arises, then the
> impulse will die out. And this, of course, is how Buddhists de-condition
> negative impulses. I, myself, do this on a daily basis.
> When I become aware of a negative impulse such as anger arising,
> I disengage from the impulse by focussing on the Name of the Buddha.
> This provides me with a mental anchor that prevents my attention from
> being swept away by the anger. Of course, this has nothing to do with
> enlightenment, just with deconditioning bad habits of thought, word and deed
> which make me a pain in the butt both to myself and others.
> Steve
>
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