M.J. Mandoki's Blog, page 4
June 18, 2018
The Veridicality of Near-Death Experiences
I have just started writing my PhD thesis and I have decided to share this journey with my audience through my blogs. Every now and then, I will post my thoughts, ideas and questions on my developing thesis. Here is my first post on the topic itself.
My thesis is entitled, The Veridicality of Near-Death Experiences. The central question is: Are near-death experiences veridical? Are they real?
What is a near-death experience? A near-death experience is an experience from the first person point of view of the dying person in an altered state of consciousness. For example, a person has a heart attack. His heart stops and he needs to be revived. When he is revived, he awakes with a story to tell about what has happened to him during his ordeal. He may speak about having left his body and having entered into another world. The experience is somewhat similar to a mystical experience.
Traditionally, near-death experiences are thought to have five key elements: 1) peace and sense of well-being; 2) separation from the body; 3) entering the darkness, 4) seeing the light and, 5) entering the light. In addition to the basic narrative, there are other, less universal, elements that might be a part of the experience.
What does veridicality mean? Instead of the word “veridical”, I could have used the word “real”. Most people understand the word “real” much better. However, I avoided this word because it has been overused in philosophy and its meaning is unclear. “Veridical” comes from the Latin words “verus” and “dicere”, which means truth telling. Veridicality simply means that it has a close relationship with the truth. Something is veridical when it tells the truth about itself. The word is mostly used in philosophy of religion in relationship to mystical and religious experiences.
Basically, my topic is the truth-telling of near-death experiences. The question is whether NDEs are telling the truth about themselves. The thesis has an epistemological approach, but it reaches into areas of philosophy of religion and metaphysics. It includes scientific studies and personal anecdotes, as well.
This is the topic I’ve always wanted to work on for my PhD. This is my topic. I am going to have a wonderful time writing it! Wish me luck!
May 19, 2018
Harry and Meghan’s Wedding: A Goddess Was Present in the Form of Karen Gibson
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If there was a significant performance at Harry and Meghan’s wedding, it belonged to Karen Gibson and her choir. The “Stand By Me” song has been the most genuine and heartfelt part of the entire wedding. The entire choir touched the heart of all inside the chapel and around the world. It was difficult not to shed tears.
At the centre of that performance stood Karen Gibson, the choir leader. She is a beautiful, tall, grey-haired woman who led her choir like a goddess pouring herself into the world through her musical command. The expression on her face and her body language spoke of a genuine presence of a divine force. In the light of the chapel, she appeared like the highest manifestation of the mystery of the world unfolding for the mortals to listen and to capture it. If there is a true, musical expression of the Goddess, she must look like Karen Gibson.
Karen Gibson’s conducting of the choir was the highlight of all performances. She was the embodiment of the divine making its presence known. She had an unforgettable presence.
April 12, 2018
The Psychology of Social Media: The Road to Unhappiness
It is disturbing. The more time people spend on social media, the unhappier they get. Why?[image error]
The answer is that most people put only their happy moments on social media. It seems that they all travel, have fun with family, make new friends, get spectacular jobs and so on. It seems that when you log on, the whole world is wonderful and everybody is having a great time. Everybody, but you. Have you had that feeling?
The issue is that you never hear about people not having money to travel, suffering from health problems, having had fights with their family or having been rejected by their friends. Life seems always awesome on social media. Sometimes it seems that the whole world is becoming rich, famous and successful. Everybody , that is, but you.
The cause of all this apparent happiness is the delusion social media creates. In a competitive society, nobody wants to reveal their defeats, sob stories or depressive moments. Honesty is overrated. Social media is the happy pill to make everything and everybody appear greater and larger than life. Everybody, but you.
If you remain on social media, the belief that everybody’s life is great, but yours, can destroy your life. It leads to jealousy, envy, sense of inadequacy and low self esteem.
The remedy is to realize that it is all a made-up world. Life is challenging for everybody at times. We all get beaten down into the mud. You are not alone down there. Yet, what is important is not that you are down in the mud, but to realize two things: 1) You are not alone and, 2) You can get up.
Here is a helpful exercise. Look at a picture of somebody who inspires you. It can be a religious figure, a mythological being or a real-life person. I use the Greek Goddess, Sophia, for this exercise. Ask the being what you can do to make your own self happier, wiser, stronger and better. Listen to the voice inside. Whatever the voice says, do it!
The point is that you should stop looking at other people’s fake happy lives and create your own. Stop the delusion by getting off of social media whenever you can and spend time making your own life happier. The social media happy pill will just make you miserable. It will give you the feeling that everybody is happy, but you. Instead, ask what makes you happy and do it. Happiness is not a matter of competition. It is all about you.
So, ask the picture what makes you happy! Then, log off and do it.
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I hope this piece of wisdom has helped somebody out there!
February 19, 2018
Consciousness Conference
I am part of the Consciousness Discussion Group at King’s University College at Western University, in London, Ontario. We came up with a brilliant plan a few months ago to organize a Consciousness Conference.
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The conference is free to attend. It runs from 9 am. to 6 pm. on March 3, 2018. Since it takes place on a Saturday, it should be easy to make plans to attend. Parking is free and there is free coffee. Please, check out the website and the speakers’ list below. It is possible to show up at any time, for any speaker. You do not need to be an academic or an expert to attend. All are welcome! All we, organizers, ask is that you register on our website for logistics reasons. Here is the website: https://www.kings.uwo.ca/about-kings/visitor-info/calendar-of-events/consciousness-conference/
The following is the official description of the conference. I will also attach the list of speakers. I will see you there!
The Consciousness Discussion Group at King’s University College has organized a Consciousness Conference to showcase the study of consciousness: from artificial intelligence to altered states of consciousness; traditional approaches to virtual reality; and meditation to near-death experiences. The outstanding contributions from our nineteen speakers will provide an opportunity to reflect deeply on the nature of consciousness and the applications of “consciousness technologies” that are emerging from the cutting edge of Consciousness Studies.
There will be a single stream of plenary talks only. Each talk will be 20 minutes in length, with each speaker presenting for the entire duration of her time. We will hand out file cards for attendees to write out questions directed toward particular speakers, which will be collected during the day. At the end of the afternoon, a selection of the questions will be answered by the speakers to whom they are directed.
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December 15, 2017
Published Again!
Two of my works got published. My short story, “The Witch Trap”, is published in the Canadian anthology, The Stand (2017). And, my poem, “How Many Times?”, is published in the Canadian poetry book, Let’s Fly Away (2017). As of now, I have three short stories, two poems, a collection of short stories and a novel published. All in all, I can say that I have done really well in the past few years!
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September 5, 2017
Should We Watch the News or Read the News?
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Despite the fact that I am a writer and a graduate student, which means that I read a lot, I have been watching the news for most of my life. There is a sense of comfort in sitting down in the morning with a cup of coffee in hand and watch what is happening in the world. It just seems like the natural thing to do.
Lately, I have had doubts about the practice of watching the news, though. It seems that the news production has changed dramatically over the years–and, not for the better. Yes, this is about the treatment of facts. No, it’s not that the facts do not matter. The problem is that there is very little of it on television anymore. Facts have been reduced to the minimal, while drama has been increased to the maximal amount. It seems that reality television has overtaken the news channels.
A good example is the Houston flooding. It is true that the flooding caused suffering and even death. However, the news coverage worried very little about the reality of the facts and more worried about getting the drama of rescue on footage. The fact is that, although there was a historical amount of rain coming down from the hurricane, Mother Nature did not cause most of the suffering. Most of the suffering has arrived in the form the human stupidity through the practice of populating a flood plain where the water needs to be directed in case there is too much rain. Of course, the coverage of human stupidity was minimized on television. In fact, it took several days for most broadcasting stations to even consider talking about it. Even when they admitted this fact, the all-day coverage shifted back to the drama of rescuing people. Television crews, instead of rescuing people, were busy shoving cameras into suffering people’s faces, racing for the most dramatic rescue missions. They were in competition with each other to outdo the rest of the crews in delivering the best reality show. In the midst of all this reality show, somehow, the facts became of little importance.
In his work, The Phaedrus, Plato, the ancient Greek philosopher, presents a great argument between Socrates and Phaedrus. Plato proposes that the good speech requires knowledge, first and foremost. Phaedrus objects. He believes that what is believed to be knowledge by the audience is required rather than true knowledge. Socrates explains through a long speech that speaking the truth is the goal rather than manipulating the masses.
This piece of Platonic wisdom applies for news production today. Speaking the truth should be the goal. This would mean sticking to the facts rather than manipulating the masses, based on the knowledge and expectations of reality shows that bring in large audiences. The goal should be the truth, not the increasing of viewership at the cost of minimizing facts and maximizing drama.
At the end of my contemplation on the news delivery on television, I decided that it was much more valuable to actually read the news. The written material has little chance of being dramatized in the absence of reality show styled footage. The writers have to actually say something meaningful to fill up the pages. This means more facts and less drama. If a writer has nothing valuable to say, I can close the page and get on the next story of my choice. This offers me the opportunity to be in control where I can get more news and less attempted manipulation through unnecessary drama. So, after decades of watching the news, I decided to read the news on websites. I can say that it does save valuable time!
It seems that reading the news is more valuable than watching it nowadays. It offers more facts, knowledge and control. Watching the news is valuable only if one is into reality shows. However, getting out the popcorn to watch our fellow human beings go through unimaginable suffering is a very morally questionable behaviour. Thus, reading the news overall seems to offer the better and even more morally sound choice in today’s world.
August 8, 2017
The Erosion of Free Speech in the Politically Correct Society
[image error]Philosophers know that there are at least two sides to every story. The art of argumentation is based on the principle of evaluating the pros and cons of the matter in question. Since René Descartes, it has been acknowledged that nothing can be known with absolute certainty other than, “I think, therefore, I am”. The most anybody can have is probable knowledge. In the world of probable knowledge, even if knowledge, as philosophers often advocate, is justified true belief, the process of justification of the probability and the relevant facts supporting this probability are always a source of debate. Basically, people need to question the supporting facts one is using to argue, the process used for the argument and the conclusions reached. In short, people need to debate their issues.
Lately, the problem has become that people not only emotionalize rational debates, but also moralize it in line with political correctness. It is true that political correctness is important to ensure civilized behaviour. For example, calling people on nasty names to stereotype them and creating a negative picture of an entire group of people is unacceptable. However, political correctness has gone too far lately. Let’s take the example of illegal immigration. The law says that anybody who enters a country needs permission of the country to enter it. This means that to legally enter a country, one needs a passport. If the person enters a country without a passport by evading the authorities at the border crossing, the person has broken the law because he or she entered the country illegally. The word is “illegal” because it is a form of trespassing, which is against the law in all civilized countries. Unfortunately, due to political correctness, the term “illegal” became an unpalatable word. It was replaced by the word “undocumented”, which actually means something else. The point is that political correctness has been taken to a level where, not only civilized behaviour is ensured in the interest of fairness and justice, but also distortion of the rules and laws of society has taken place to score political points. The problem is that political correctness has been taken too far.
Moreover, this political correctness is being moralized. To stay with the example of illegal immigration, people who protest the idea of changing the word “illegal” have been shunned by the movement that insists on the word “undocumented”. People who would like political correctness to be reined in are looked at as not only wrong, but as morally inferior, uncompassionate, and even evil. Basically, the issue has been moralized. This is no longer a rational debate, but a moralized issue where people are either on the right side or the wrong side of the argument.
This is alarming. Free speech is based on the idea of rational argumentation where the argument is based on valid facts and well-thought out supporting ideas. It should be free of moralizing the argument in such a way where holding a well-formulated point of view is automatically thought to be wrong and shameful. This is a sign of the loss of human freedom because people are hesitant to disagree in fear of persecution in the form of being shunned by others. Lack of disagreement in this atmosphere creates a political society where only one vision dominates. Basically, human beings fall prey for what Martin Heidegger calls the “they” or “the anonymous one”.
Heidegger argues that in an inauthentic mode of living, people exists in the mode of the anonymous one. It means that one’s unique self is depersonalized and reduced to exist and fit into the world of customs, habits and conventions of everyday life. In this everyday life, the person conforms to the public opinions and accepts their standards. He or she becomes the anonymous one who thinks what the public thinks, feels what the public feels and does what the public does.
Pressuring people to become the anonymous one through a type of political correctness that has been taken too far means destroying people’s authentic self where they can freely exists with their genuine opinions and being able to express them without fear of public shaming. It means the enforcement of the anonymous society where an idealized moral judgment destroys people’s ability to disagree with others.
Free speech is precious. It needs to be defended, not just from legal threats using legislative powers, but also from psychological and cultural pressures by leaving the moralizing techniques out of it. People’s opinions may be judged to be wrong, but they should not be judged to be morally inferiour just because they disagree with the polite society or the current political standard of correctness. Free speech should be free even if one does not like what the other person has to say.
July 17, 2017
Vacation Helps
Sometimes, vacation helps to put life into a better perspective. How? It offers a change of scenery, change of pace and change of people. Moving out of the everyday, stress-filled life helps to examine it and to realize that it is not as bad as one originally thought it was. It also helps to make some needed adjustments in order to move toward one’s goals.
Here are some pictures to prove the beauty and the excitement of a getaway:
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June 29, 2017
In Times of Exhaustion
There are times in life when a person feels absolutely exhausted and even slightly discouraged. I feel this way right now. I feel overwhelmed with the amount work I have to do given the fact that I am both a full time worker and a full time graduate student.
In trying times, a person needs encouragement, something to hold onto, something to provide the extra energy needed. I turn to the following feeling of triumph and success to gain that extra energy:
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June 11, 2017
Law of Attraction: Temporary Setback
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A person decides to start thinking positively. Things seems to get better in life. But, then, an application gets suddenly rejected, a job interview goes wrong or a birthday party plan falls apart. What is happening? Why does the positive trend stop?
I learned that it actually does not stop. The story is different. When a person asks for something specific in life, life wants to bring the best case scenario to the person. This means that the application gets rejected because there is something better waiting that would be prevented by the application being approved. The same is true with getting the job or the birthday party plan being successful. These events would stop the best case scenario from happening.
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So, when something does not come together the way one plans it, there is no reason for anger or tears. It is a temporary setback. Life is working on bringing something much better to the person. This means that it is time to continue the positive thinking and keep smiling!
