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September 9 - November 18, 2023
The invention of microscopes enabled scientists to investigate what were once deemed invisible “spirits” that cause disease and to catalogue them as microbes.
A RETURN TO THE FEMININE
YOUR COMPUTATIONAL MIND
the Dalai Lama states, “Those on a high level of spiritual experience have . . . developed meditative concentration to the point of becoming clairvoyant and generating miracles.”
THE BRAIN AND ENLIGHTENMENT
In the East, enlightenment has traditionally been associated with qualities such as generosity, compassion, peaceful acceptance, and an experience of oneness with all creation.
West, our rather vague notion of enlightenment suggests an acceptance of the world as it is, or of discovering how we can change it for the better.
On functional MRI scans, people who meditate regularly are shown to have developed brains that are wired differently than the brains of people who don’t meditate.
The Dalai Lama is suggesting that enlightenment is a state of freedom from destructive emotions and from the limiting beliefs and repetitive behaviors created by these emotions.
ATTAINING SYNERGY
People in the East say the path to brain synergy is through the practice of meditation. Shamans use the term clear perception.
the challenge is to dis-identify with your limited sense of self that was created by destructive emotions.
Shamans believe that, to interact with the vast information fields of the biosphere, you must enter a state of clear perception. Your mind must be at peace in order to perceive the true nature of the world and not merely the reflection of your own below-the-surface drama created by your destructive emotions.
Once you heal your emotional brain and create the state of brain synergy, the gifts of your prefrontal cortex will come online naturally.
CHAPTER 2 THE POWERFUL MIND
research has shown that patients who use techniques such as mindful meditation not only are less stressed emotionally by their illness but also experience better physical health.
In the July 2009 issue of Scientific American, the neurologist Martin Portner describes the case of Gretchen, a participant in a 2005 study on the viability of a testosterone patch to treat hypoactive sexual desire disorder, a condition in which a person’s libido is so diminished that he or she feels no sexual interest or attraction.
the most amazing part of the story is that Gretchen, unbeknownst to her, was part of the study’s control group and the patch given to her was a placebo with no testosterone in it whatsoever.
sexual appetite was clearly related to a change in her neural wiring,
We know that we can worry ourselves sick, and we suspect that we can laugh ourselves to health.
Studies have shown, for example, that a sugar pill can be as effective as morphine in 56 percent of people.
By dismissing the placebo effect, Western medicine has, in reality, failed to investigate how this phenomenon can give us a glimpse into the immense power of the prefrontal cortex.
David: Cancer? What Cancer?
A nocebo is an otherwise harmless substance or inert medication that can cause harmful effects due to the patient’s negative expectations, beliefs, or psychological condition—regardless of the person’s physical condition.
When the patient came in for a consultation, the healer informed the patient that his nausea and headaches were being caused by this curse, that there was nothing he could do to help him, and that he should prepare himself and his family for his passing. Within 24 hours the man was dead.
the man had broken a village taboo but it was his own fear that had killed him.
we will be able to volitionally heal ourselves from physical and emotional disorders, without having to resort to trickery.
we first have to understand how the brain works, and how trauma can injure the brain regions that allow us to tap into these abilities.
MacLean’s model became known as the triune brain, and it describes how we have three evolutionarily distinct neurocomputers, each with its own intelligence, subjective feel of the world, and sense of time and space.
The first brain is the reptilian brain,
This brain region is completely instinctual and is primarily interested in survival.
regulates most autonomic functions, such as breathing, heart rate, ...
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The second brain is the limbic system,
this as the brain of instinct and emotion.
In the limbic system, signals are decoded according to four fundamental programs, known as the Four F’s—fear, feeding, fighting, and fornicating.
Anatomy of the Limbic Brain
Events, like video, are more complex and involve relationships that are both spatial as well as temporal. This mental activity is called episodic memory.
When the hippocampus begins to deteriorate, new experiences are less likely to be stored and memorialized, and this is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.
the hippocampus begins to fail due to free radical and chemical damage caused by trauma and stress.
Conventional wisdom believes that the ability to process information through higher brain centers is stunted, that our emotional repertoire is diminished, and that genuine feelings become inaccessible.
neurodegeneration is preventable
The New Brain
The third brain identified by MacLean is the neocortex, which is well developed in all the higher mammals and is responsible for speech, writing, and higher-order thinking in humans.
If we do not need to fear, fight, seduce, or dine with a person we encounter in any particular situation, the thalamus relays the sensory information, colored by the joys, excitements, worries, or concerns of the limbic brain, to the neocortex for reflection and appropriate behavior.
The neocortex processes signals in a holistic fashion, interpreting environmental sights and so...
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The neocortex reminds us to call friends for no reason other than to say hello and wish them well and not only when we need to ask a favor.
It is in these higher cortical areas that selfless love, reasoning, and logic take place.
the neocortex, associated with the higher executive functions, is able to think in terms of time and not only of space.
Perhaps it is the neocortex’s ability to comprehend our limited time on earth that generates a fear of death and keeps many of us from exploring its potentials.
the limbic brain does not realize that death will happen to us and somehow imagines that we are immune from it.
