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Category Archives: Body, Mind & Spirit
Ervin Lazlo on Quantum Consciousness
Cosmic Symphony — A Deeper Look at Quantum Consciousness
by Ervin Laszlo on April 9, 2010
The rise of quantum consciousness could be the biggest step our species has taken since it came down from the trees. It would bring us to a new stage of species maturity — and could also enable us to surmount the problems that threaten our life and our future.
But just what is quantum consciousness — QC? I have spoken about QC in my previous posts, but the question merits a further, deeper look.
First of all, what is consciousness? The commonsense assumption is that consciousness is a stream of experience produced by the brain. As long as the brain functions, there is consciousness; when the brain shuts down, consciousness vanishes. This, however, is not necessarily the case. It could be that our brain no more produces consciousness than the radio produces the symphony that comes through its speakers. The symphony, too, disappears when the radio is shut down, yet we know that it’s not produced by the radio. Both the radio and the brain pick up signals, transform them, and display the result in our stream of conscious experience.
According to received wisdom, the things and events that make up our experience of the world originate in the world. People and things around us reflect light and make sound; for the most part they can be seen, heard, touched, smelled, or tasted. The corresponding signals reach our eye and ear in the form of waves in the electromagnetic field, in the air, and in the physical, chemical, and biological fields in and around our body. Our exteroceptive senses transform this information into nerve signals, and the signals are analyzed, sharpened, and interpreted by our brain. The result is the experience that appears in our consciousness.
This is the gist of the standard scientific explanation of our perception of the world, but it’s not complete. It’s incomplete not only because it fails to solve the age-old philosophers’ puzzle, how physical signals can transmute into intimately felt conscious experience (is this transmutation the work of the brain, or does the brain also transmit forms of consciousness from the external world?), but also because it doesn’t account for all the things that appear in our consciousness. Some of the things that appear in our consciousness convey information about the world even though we cannot see how they could be based on sense-perceivable events. Happily, unlike the philosophers’ “hard problem,” this is no longer an unsolved puzzle. We now realize that our brain is not limited to capturing sense-organ conveyed information, for it’s not just a classical biochemical system. It’s also a “macroscopic quantum system,” and such a system can “resonate” with the world. On the quantum level it can capture and process signals that far exceed the range of the signals available to the bodily senses.
The quantum-perception of the world is just as real as its sensory perception. Here, in brief, is why.
All things in space and time emit waves, and these waves interact with the waves produced by other things. They create wave interference patterns. Pressure waves in the air, and electric and magnetic waves in the EM field diminish with distance and the patterns they produce are limited to our immediate vicinity. Quantum waves, however (waves that propagate in the nearly infinite virtual-energy domain that fills cosmic space), move instantly over any distance. The kinds of interference patterns they create constitute quantum holograms, and quantum holograms are “entangled” with each other — they are instantly connected. As a result the information carried by one quantum hologram can be transferred to any other quantum hologram. Thus a system that can “read” the information in one hologram has access to the information carried by all. Our quantum-resonance-decoding brain could in principle capture information on anything and everything that creates quantum-interference waves in the universe.
Evidently, to capture this kind of information our brain must have the corresponding receptivity. Scientists are now beginning to understand how quantum-hologram receptivity might be built into the brain.
It appears that quantum-level signals are picked up by microstructures in our brain’s cytoskeleton (the cytoskeleton is a protein-based structure that maintains the integrity of living cells, including neurons). The neurons in the brain are organized into a network of microtubules of microscopic size but astronomical number. There are about 10**18 microtubules in the human brain, and “merely” 10**11 neurons (though this number is still larger than the number of stars in the galaxy). With filaments just 5 to 6 nanometers in diameter, our network of microtubules — the so-called “microtrabecular lattice” — is believed to capture, process, and convey information.
Physicist Roger Penrose and neurophysiologist Stuart Hameroff claim that consciousness emerges from these quantum-level elements of the brain’s cytoskeleton. The microtrabecular lattice could be responsible for the quantum-receptivity of our brain, picking up, transforming, and interpreting information based on phase-conjugate resonance.
If this is the case, there is not just one mode of perceiving the world available to us, but two. We have what neuroscientist Ede Frecska and anthropologist Luis Eduardo Luna call the classical “perceptual-cognitive-symbolic” mode, based on information conveyed by our bodily senses, and we also have the “direct-intuitive-nonlocal” mode, enabled by the quantum receptivity of our brain’s microstructures.
In today’s world we tend to perceive the world in the classical mode, yet we could, and sometimes do, perceive aspects of it in the direct mode as well. However, our left-hemisphere dominated perceptual mode represses information that doesn’t accord with our established ways of thinking. Only in spiritual, religious, or mystical experience does such information penetrate to our everyday awareness — and then, just fleetingly.
Yet our brain could operate in a more balanced way: the cerebral functions underlying our everyday awareness could be more embracing than those in the classical perceptual mode. Operating in this way is possible, and has already been achieved by a few people. This was the finding of British psychophysiologist Maxwell Cade, who in the 1970s examined the EEG patterns of more than 3,000 individuals. He had found four typical patterns, made up of specific combinations of alpha, beta, and theta waves. (He did not consider dreamless deep sleep, where delta waves predominate.) Each combination turned out to be associated with a particular state of consciousness. The consciousness accompanying dreamful sleep, the state between waking and sleeping, and deep meditation each exhibits a typical combination of EEG waves. Dreamful sleep, the transitory state between waking and sleeping, and meditation all show pronounced alpha and theta waves. Our state of ordinary awareness is dominated by beta waves.
But Cade also found a “fifth state.” This is the remarkable state that comes to light in the EEG-portrait of accomplished healers. Cade called the consciousness associated with this state “awakened mind.” Here alpha and theta waves are strong, much as in the meditative state, but there are also beta waves. In some healers this state has become the norm, maintained not only during active healing, but also in everyday life.
Just as remarkably, in the fifth state the EEG waves are balanced across the left and the right hemispheres. This is important. The brain-state underlying ordinary consciousness is left-hemisphere dominated, and we know that the left hemisphere filters out experiences that do not mesh with our established beliefs and expectations. We also know that deep prayer and meditation activate the right hemisphere, and tend to synchronize the two hemispheres. A hemisphere-synchronized brain can operate in the direct quantum-resonance mode: as experiments I have witnessed myself demonstrate, expert meditators synchronize not only their own left and right hemispheres, but can also synchronize their left and right hemispheres with the synchronized hemispheres of others who meditate with them. And this synchronization occurs in the entire absence of sensory contact among the meditators. They can be in different rooms, different cities, even on different continents. (I reported on these experiments in my book, Science and the Akashic Field, and in other books.)
Unfortunately, a state of deep prayer and meditation is not functional in the everyday context: in most cases we need to sit with closed eyes, detached from the world around us.
A truly evolved consciousness would have the quantum-receptivity of deep prayer and meditation, but it would operate also in the everyday context. It would display a broad EEG wave-spectrum, embracing alpha and theta as well as beta waves. And it would show that the two brain hemispheres are highly coordinated, so that the information processed by the quantum-mode receiving right hemisphere is readily communicated to the sensory-information processing left. An evolved consciousness is wider and deeper than the everyday consciousness of people today, and more functional than the consciousness of those engaged in deep prayer and meditation.
In the past this kind of consciousness has been limited to exceptionally sensitive and creative people: to healers and poets, prophets and spiritual masters. In the future it could spread to a wider segment of the population. Humanity could be evolving its consciousness.
In closing, let us return to the example of the radio. Tuned to the right station, our radio can pick up and bring to us a great symphony. Imagine what our quantum brain could bring to us when, in the expanded and balanced mode, it would be tuned to the information encoded at the heart of the cosmos. This would be veritably a cosmic symphony. Of course, we could never capture all of it — only God could do that — but we could capture far more than we do today. This would make us more empathetic as individuals, and more cooperative as citizens in our interactive and interdependent global community. The rise of these attributes in a critical mass could be the key to our continued survival. QC may be not only the next step in our species evolution; it could also be our collective salvation.
Published at Huffington Post
from: http://ervinlaszlo.com/notebook/2010/04/09/cosmic-symphony-a-deeper-look-at-quantum-consciousness-2/
Nicolya Christi on Spirituality
Contemporary Spirituality for an Evolving World
Nicolya Christi
Breakdown Leads to Breakthrough
We are living in unprecedented times of accelerated change—change that is evident all around us and which we experience in every arena of our lives, from the political, economic and financial, to the social and religious.
More and more people are asking fundamental questions regarding their basic human rights and overall wellbeing, and beginning to question the influence that external “powers” have over our lives.
No longer content with dismissive answers from those in positions of “power,” people are beginning to recognize that they have the freedom to choose. The balance between “power” and empowerment is beginning to shift.
Humanity stands on an imminent threshold which is about to take it into a New Paradigm. We are witnessing the early stages of the birth of a New World.
As this New World emerges—as prophesied long ago by many advanced indigenous cultures, and portended by rare astronomical alignments currently taking place in our Galaxy, including the completion of a 26,000-year Galactic Cycle—everything is set to change.
We are now bearing witness to the collapse of political, economic, social and financial systems, as people respond to the call of the New World, the call of our time, and the call of their soul.
These courageous people are reaching out for a better quality of life, for equality, for their basic survival needs to be met, and for an overall sense of wellbeing, all of which are our fundamental birthright.
People are reclaiming their individual power; and if they can use this wisely, this will help to empower millions of fellow humans across the globe. We are bearing witness to a re-evolution, on a global scale.
The energy of change is sweeping the globe. People are “waking up” to the reality of their lives and to the current state of the world.
Under the spotlight of radical questioning and these sweeping changes is religion, or in a broader sense, spirituality. Are religion and spirituality one and the same?
At the center of all religion lies a spiritual heart. However, this spiritual heart, like the human heart, lies buried under thousands of years of conditioning and distortion, which has dominated and hidden the pure heart of religion.
The heart of religion and the human heart are not dissimilar in their historical fate. For the most part, both have remained buried under eons of fear-based constructs, which have manifested a distorted and unrecognizable caricature of religion, and of the human being.
It is said that all rivers lead to the same ocean and that, in a similar way, all religions lead to the same fundamental message and meaning: Love.
“Canyon Tree” 2012 © Sol LuckmanContemporary Spirituality
What is Contemporary Spirituality? We could say that Contemporary Spirituality is an extraction of the purest essence of all religion.
It is what lies at the heart of all religion and at the heart of any spiritual practice or philosophy which has developed a complex doctrine, a fundamentalist and inaccurate set of scriptures and texts, and a dysfunctional set of rules and code of conduct.
Contemporary Spirituality is a current spirituality that speaks directly to us now in the times we live in. It is a Way which brings our spiritual focus into the Now.
Religion is an ancient system that was birthed in an unrecognizable (to our modern mind) and vastly different time in our ancient human history. Its rise to prominence took place when our conscious evolution was in its formative stages.
The heart of religion was adapted beyond all original meaning by those who held power, in order to control, manipulate and dominate the human being of 2,000 and more years ago.
Our conscious evolution has come a long way since then. We are no longer in the infancy stages of our conscious evolutionary development.
Therefore, it is entirely out of context to be following antiquated religious doctrine created by, and for, our less consciously evolved predecessors.
Contemporary Spirituality consists of a Way, which is uncorrupted, uncomplicated, and non-fundamental. It is an expression of spirituality and religion in its purest form. It represents the true heart of all religion, which was hidden by power hungry rulers long ago.
The heart of Contemporary Spirituality is open and available for all to see. It is a heart that is exquisite in its simplicity, transparency, beauty, and purity.
Contemporary Spirituality invites ALL, no matter what race, denomination or creed, to be inspired and seek to aspire and embody its proposals. It is a Way which is an infinitely pure and true expression of what lay at the heart of religion and certain spiritual paths.
Contemporary Spirituality invites us toward Self-mastery, in which we learn to master our bodies, senses, emotions, thoughts, and lives. It encourages us to cultivate self-discipline, self-love, self-awareness, self-knowing, and self-realization.
Contemporary Spirituality leads us along a clear path, devoid of rules, judgments, expectations, dogma, or fundamentalist belief systems. It guides us towards enlightenment.
Contemporary Spirituality requires no intellectual predisposition, as it is a language of the heart. It invites us to explore, practice and master the Seven Cornerstones of Contemporary Spirituality (see below).
The joy of Contemporary Spirituality is in its simplicity. It is a stripped back to the core spiritual Way forward for humanity.
It gently encourages and guides us to let go of dualistic and separatist religious indoctrination, and instead, embrace the concept of equality, unity, and unifying as one global family, with one “religion,” one spiritual practice, at the heart of humanity—that of Love.
This is something that we are now ready to embrace as contemporary, consciously evolving human beings.
The Light Shadow
Contemporary Spirituality embraces the human shadow, recognizing that when we explore ourselves with consciousness and awareness, and are therefore engaged in our own evolutionary process, the shadow is not dark, but indeed Light.
Contemporary Spirituality discounts the existence of a fundamentally dark nature within the human being, and instead acknowledges that there exists, within each of us, a primal wound, a separation from Source (God, Divinity, our Divine Nature).
However, this is not a wound we must bear as part of being human. We experience it only because we have been steeped in dualism, brought about by the misinterpretation or obscuration of what lay at the heart of religious and spiritual philosophies throughout human history.
The Light Shadow is referred to as such because by becoming aware of and healing the human shadow, its existence has brought us further enlightenment.
When compassion and empathy are offered as balms with which the human shadow can be healed and transformed, this results in its integration, and the conscious evolution of the human being.
For thousands of years we have lived under dictatorships, flawed regimes and a misinterpretation of the fundamental meaning of all religions, which is Love.
We have lived in duality, at a personal and collective level. We have been separated from the heart of religion and spirituality, and therefore our own hearts.
The primal wound of humanity, separation from Source, is one which can be healed. The way to healing all perceived sense of separation (for we have never truly been separate, only perceived ourselves to be so) is to become Love and only Love.
To live, breathe, sleep and live Love in every moment. To be a Master of the Heart. To reclaim and embody our natural state of being—which is Love.
This is what lies at the heart of Contemporary Spirituality: a new Way forward for a new human and a new world.
Seven Cornerstones of Contemporary Spirituality
The following is a list of the Seven Cornerstones of Contemporary Spirituality. Each is a teaching in itself, and all tend to be explored, practiced and embodied at the same time.
Each supports the transformation of the Light Shadow into a vast and beautiful Light which can surround and radiate from us.
The Seven Cornerstones are as follows: Unconditional Love, Empathy, Compassion, Forgiveness, Conscious Communication, Unconditional Positive Regard, and Compassionate Action.
When all seven of these foundational qualities of Contemporary Spirituality are mastered and lived realities, every day, we have attained Self-mastery.
This is when our true essence is fully awakened. This is when the heart has become fully transparent. When all humans embody this Way, as a lived reality, we will live in a transcendent world.
Copyright © 2012 by Nicolya Christi. All Rights Reserved.
[Nicolya Christi is Founder of WorldShift Movement, Co-founder of WorldShift International, and Co-initiator of WorldShift 2012. Nicolya’s focus is on human evolution, inner peace, and world peace. She is author of 2012: A Clarion Call—Your Soul’s Purpose in Conscious Evolution. Visit her website at www.nicolyachristi.com.]
from: http://www.phoenixregenetics.org/resources/dna-monthly/current-issue
Thrifty Eco-Friendly Air Fresheners
5 Low-Waste Air Fresheners for the Home
by Mary Mazzoni 01/05/12
We all want our homes to smell fresh for winter company. But store-bought air fresheners can cost a fortune and often contain less-than-friendly chemicals. For a sweet scent that’s easy on the planet (and your wallet), check out these five all-natural air freshers that you can make yourself.
Combine dried flowers with seasonal ingredients like fruit, pinecones and fresh spices for a warming scent. Photo: Flickr/goaliej54
1. Seasonal potpourri
Price: Less than $5
Homemade potpourri is a cheap and easy way to make your home smell inviting. For green brownie points and an extra-sweet scent, use ingredients you already have on hand and spice it up with some local and seasonal flare.
If you receive floral bouquets as host or hostess gifts this winter, save the dried flowers for potpourri. And don’t forget your own backyard! If you live in a warm climate, pluck some flowers from the garden, or pick up a few pinecones if you call a cooler state home.
Combine your foliage with fresh spices like cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg from the farmer’s market, and add some local fruits for a seasonal scent. Orange and grapefruit peels will make perfect additions for those in warm climates. If you live in a cool-weather state, set aside some cranberries while preparing your holiday dinner.
Make sure all the ingredients have dried completely, and combine them in the container of your choice to freshen any room of the house. As the scent wears off, toss in a few drops of your favorite essential oil to get the most out of your potpourri, and don’t forget to compost the leftovers!
from: http://earth911.com/news/2012/01/05/5-low-waste-air-fresheners-for-the-home/
Meditation & Time Perception
NOTE: I, more often than not, rather than practicing meditation, take part in the exercise of Meditation-Procrastination. It is not because I do not want to meditate, it is just that I am not making it a priority. And there are many reasons for taking time out to meditate. Susan Morales enumerates a few:
Susan Morales, M.S.W.
Psychotherapist and student/practitioner of meditation
Can Meditation Change Our Perception of Time?
Posted: 11/13/11 11:58 AM ET
I often hear, “I don’t have time to meditate.” In our society where time equals money, this statement is hard to dispute. The new movie “In Time” takes this concept to the extreme. Time has become the currency. A cup of coffee costs four minutes of one’s life.
The very fact that time is precious is the reason we should meditate. I have found that taking time to meditate gives me time — the same way that exercising takes energy but ultimately helps one have more energy.
#1: We See The Big Picture
When we close our eyes and focus inside, we are able to see get an overview, a broader perspective of our lives. We step away from the minutiae and see the broad-brush strokes that make up our days. Meditation gives us the opportunity to see what is really important. Try this exercise: Imagine a day in which you were very over-scheduled. You felt overwhelmed. (I hope this isn’t every day!) Now let your mind float over the activities without trying to judge them. Which stand out as important and/or meaningful? Which could you have done without? Perhaps there were some phone calls you didn’t really have to make or a lunch date that could have been postponed.
When we’re overwhelmed we have less energy to focus on the important tasks. Sometimes we end up rushing things that need more attention. We may even make mistakes that cost us more time.
Meditation can help you sort out what is important, help you prioritize so that your time is spent where you really want it and not on activities that are less important to you.
#2: Our Perception of Time Is Expanded
When we are busy and engaged, time flies. When we are bored or not where we want to be, time drags. Of course, time doesn’t change, it is merely our experience of it that changes. During peak performances athletes describe being in “the zone.” This phenomenon also occurs in traumatic events. Time seems to expand, slow down. I stumbled this last spring while playing tennis, going up and back to hit an overhead. The fall that took my head to the concrete probably took a split second, but I had time to think at least a dozen thoughts, including “Is this how my life is going to end?” I had time to break the fall with my hip so my head only bounced off the court causing a moderate concussion. This sensation of time slowing can also happen in meditation. By focusing on our internal sensations, or our breath, our brain waves shift to a slower rhythm allowing the sense of time to expand.
When time seems to slow down, we feel we have time for whatever we want. Our bodies and minds relax and stress is reduced. Not stressing means more time!
#3: We Focus On The Present Moment
Our thoughts, our feelings and our actions happen in the present moment. So why are we so focused on the past and the future? Consider how often you anticipate what is going to happen or worry about something that might happen. Conversely, how much do you dwell on the past? Obsess about how you should have done something or said something differently. Or how so-and-so did you wrong?
This past or future focus can be a huge drain on our energy and our time. Being in the present moment gives us the chance to channel all our energy on what we’re doing, on whom we’re with. Meditation can teach you this kind of focus and concentration. One of the things that I’ve noticed is that I am more efficient, less distracted. The pay off is more time for what’s important to me.
There’s also a big bonus to keeping your attention in the present moment: Your memory improves. What I’ve experienced — granted after many years of a regular meditation practice — is that I retrieve information more quickly, forget things less often and find misplaced items more easily. All of this translates into more time.
My life is extremely full. Often I’m asked, “How do you do all of it?” My answer is simple. “I meditate.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-morales-msw/making-time-for-meditation_b_1083308.html?ref=healthy-living-spirit
Phoenix Rising Star in Ego
Messages from my heart: Healing Ego Driven Responses
I was anticipating a future conversation, feeling that anxiety, that sinking feeling that says ‘this isn’t going to be pretty’.
I was organizing a come-back in my mind. Trying to think of the best and fastest way to make my point, to not allow myself to be put down, and to respond so brilliantly, there would be no further discussion.
This woman really gets to me. Fortunately I don’t have to deal with her very often, but when I see an email from her, I cringe. She’s power driven, uses corporate-minded tactics that cuts the rug out from under me, and pressures everyone to do things her way.
I haven’t yet figured out a way to work with her without anxiety on my part.
As I was mulling this over, creating my exceptional responses, I suddenly realized what I was doing. I was just as much in my head as she was. I was responding from my head to her actions from her head; from the ego.
And I was judging HER for this.
Ouch.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that’s how ego works. It creates a scenario, and the automatic response in most of us is to respond in kind. Her power driven words were causing me to try to respond in an equally power driven manner.
And it wasn’t working. I was failing miserably at it; feeling badly. The words weren’t coming out right. Nothing about my comebacks worked or felt right.
And that is also how ego works. There will never be enough. There will always be a shortage, a limitation, a lack, a need that is unfulfilled with ego. Nothing will ever be complete with ego. ‘An eye for an eye’ will go on until there are no more eyes.
There’s a part of us that understands that lack is not in alignment with our soul. Our natural state as a soul is to be abundant. This awareness gives us the opportunity to look at other options for our reactions, our emotions, our thoughts, our ways of living. Propelling us into living in the heart. If we choose it.
I decided to call this my healing opportunity.
Healing my automatic reactions to ego driven experiences.
Healing my ego responses and choosing to react from my heart.
Or rather, to not react, but to be in my heart.
Period.
I didn’t really know how to do this.
There may be a manual on it, but I doubted that amazon.com had it.
Just thinking about books gave me an idea, though.
I went into my sacred space of my heart.
I’m very visual, so when I’m there, I see incredible details.
In my sacred space of my heart, I have an Akashic records room. It looks just like an old library or book collection. Books are on shelves, and the shelves stretch way up over my reach. Fortunately there is a ladder for me to climb so I can get to the very top if need be.
Volumes and volumes and volumes of bound books are in my records room.
Recording all my awarenesses, knowledge, understanding, hopes, dreams, aspirations, as well as all the people, players, situations, lifetimes, and experiences I’ve had.
Ever.
When I need something, I go here.
Everything has already been experienced.
I’m just reliving it or relearning it, if I so choose.
I figured this wasn’t the first time around this knowledge.
Now I choose to remember it and live it.
As I entered my Akashic record room, I asked for the book or chapter that would help me heal the automatic reaction of my ego.
Immediately I was led to the top shelf of the third bookcase from the left. Climbing the ladder to retrieve it, I was a bit overwhelmed to see a huge volume entitled, “Healing Ego Driven Responses”.
Curiously I took it down from the shelf, climbed back down the ladder, and took the volume into my tiny space of my heart. Curling up in a comfortable position, the book fell open to a section titled, “Addictions”.
Under this title, written similarly to a medical dictionary, there were different addictions in sub-categories such as ‘Sugar’. ‘Emotions/Drama’. ‘Mental Beliefs’. ‘Spiritual Experiences’.
And under each sub-category, was a description of that particular addiction as well as its origin. With suggestions for healing.
I knew I probably could learn from the sub-category of sugar, but I found myself irresistibly drawn to Mental Beliefs.
Under that sub-category were several chapters on different belief systems.
Again I was irresistibly drawn to one.
‘The Need To Be Right’.
Curious, I began reading.
“The need to be right is demonstrated in the actions of a person who insists. It can also be seen in actions similar to stubbornness and persistence, but in a manner that indicates an unwillingness to allow for any one’s opinions, thoughts or feelings. This need can also be demonstrated in control issues, because controlling the outcome ensures the individual is always right.
“The origin of this addiction may be in past lives that were not healed, and also in childhood of the present lifetime. Individuals who were looking for validation outside of themselves, and were never encouraged to believe in his/her own perspective or intuition will many times build this belief system within. Individuals who were sporadically, but not consistently rewarded for good ideas, sometimes build this addiction over time. Individuals who are filled with fear of making a mistake will also build this addiction.
“Like all addictions, mental beliefs build on themselves. It starts with a subconscious decision, and in the cellular memory, becomes reinforced through subsequent experiences. Until eventually, the individual actions become those that feed the addiction, in this case, the need to be right, rather than the focused intention of the occasion or meeting.
“Healing this addiction begins with healing the fear of making a mistake. The individual must recognize that mistakes are old programs frequently associated with shame and blame. When the word opportunity is substituted for mistake, the negative connotation is replaced, and the painful emotions are neutralized. Thus, enabling the individual to view everything as an opportunity for growth. Not to be judged harshly.
“Healing this addiction may also be accomplished through the intention of releasing the cellular memory where this belief began. And with the intention that the replacement of that memory be a higher belief system embodying self love and support.
“Healing this addiction may also be accomplished through the experience of seeing it in others. Having others reflect it back. Becoming aware of it within through the viewing the actions without. Using heart-felt intention will create a powerful transformation in this way.”
Oh my goodness!
I recognized that what was giving me anxiety about this situation was my own fear of making a mistake. Of not being right. Of being judged for it. I had this very fear within me. And seeing it in her, made me aware of it. ‘Becoming aware of it within through viewing the actions without.’
I knew what I needed to do.
I invited the woman I had viewed as egotistic and the antagonist into my tiny space of my heart. The place closest to God. My space of creation for my heart’s desires.
I intended to share with her what I had learned about myself. What I had learned about us. What I learned about humanity.
When she came in, she appeared younger than I’d ever seen her. She looked around interestedly and then sat down.
We sat and smiled at each other.
And kept smiling and smiling.
I found I had nothing to say.
There was nothing to say.
It was complete.
“Healing this addiction may also be accomplished through the experience of seeing it in others. Having others reflect it back. Becoming aware of it within through the viewing the actions without. Using heart-felt intention will create a powerful transformation in this way.”
I felt at peace.
And so, it appeared, did she.
After quite a long time of sitting in silence and smiling at each other, quite comfortably, she got up and left.
Later that morning, when I went to my computer, I saw an email from her.
And I smiled. Feeling quite at peace.
Respectfully yours,
Phoenix Rising Star
from: http://www.spiritofmaat.com/jan12/healing_ego_driven_responses.html
Logic & Gut Thinking
People Don’t Just Think With Their Guts: Logic Plays a Role, Too
ScienceDaily (Dec. 29, 2011) — For decades, science has suggested that when people make decisions, they tend to ignore logic and go with the gut. But Wim De Neys, a psychological scientist at the University of Toulouse in France, has a new suggestion: Maybe thinking about logic is also intuitive. He writes about this idea in the January issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science
Psychologists have partly based their conclusions about reasoning and decision-making on questions like this one:
“Bill is 34. He is intelligent, punctual but unimaginative and somewhat lifeless. In school, he was strong in mathematics but weak in social studies and humanities.
Which one of the following statements is most likely?
(a) Bill plays in a rock band for a hobby.
(b) Bill is an accountant and plays in a rock band for a hobby.”
Most people will let their stereotypes about accountants rule and pick (b). But, in fact, we have no idea what Bill does for a living — he could be a politician, a concert pianist, or a drug dealer — so it’s more likely that only one random possibility, the rock band, is true, than that both (a) and (b) would happen to be true.
This line of research has suggested that people don’t use logic when making decisions about the world. But the truth is more complicated, De Neys says. When most people read a question like the one above, there’s a sense that something isn’t quite right. “That feeling you have, that there’s something fishy about the problem — we have a wide range of ways to measure that conflict,” De Neys says. For example, he has shown with brain imaging that when people are thinking about this kind of problem, a part of their brain that deals with conflict is active. “They stick to their gut feeling and don’t do the logical thing, but they do sense that what they are doing is wrong,” De Neys says.
De Neys thinks this sense, that something isn’t quite right with the decision you’re making, comes from an intuitive sense of logic. Other scientists have found that children start thinking logically very early. In one study, 8-month-old babies were surprised if someone pulled mostly red balls out of a box that contained mostly white balls, proof that babies have an innate sense of probability before they can even talk. It makes sense, De Neys says, that this intuitive sense of logic would stick around in adults.
This research deals with the basics of how we think, but De Neys says it may help explain more complex decision-making. If you want to teach people to make better decisions, he says, “It’s important to know which component of the process is faulty.” For example, if you want to understand why people are smoking, and you think it’s because they don’t understand the logic — that smoking kills — you might put a lot of energy into explaining how smoking is bad for them, when the actual problem is addiction. It’s a long way from a question about Bill’s career to understanding something like why someone decides to get married, for example; but research like this should help,” De Neys says
from: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111229131356.htm
Thoughts on 2012 by Antot Masuka
Year of Destiny: 2012 Journey Through Time and the Cosmos! By Antot Masuka
THE MAYAN CALENDAR
The Mayans developed a simple yet comprehensive calendar system that allowed them to describe the internal processes of time or nature, often referred as an underworld, meaning that which goes on within that is often kept from plain sight.
The following article will be appearing in this month’s Winter Edition of ‘Ingress’ magazine, a publication of The National Council for Geocosmic Research NCGR http://www.geocosmic.org
The Mayans used a Vegesimal system that rises by factors of twenty, with one exception. A day is a Kin. Twenty (20) Kins is a Uinal. Eighteen (18) Uinals represents a Tun (360 days). Twenty (20) Tuns is a Katun (7,200 days). Twenty (20) Katuns is a Baktun (144,000 days). A Pictun consists of 2,880,000 days, a Calabtun is 57,600,000 days and a Kinchilitun is 1,152,000,000 days or 3 million 154 thousand years, Alautun, which is 20 tuns raised to the sixth power or 63.1 million years and finally a Hablatun, 20 tuns raised to the 7th power or 1.26 billion years. Each cycle is broken down into thirteen stages, evolutionary processes or heavens that evolve from seed to maturity.
AZTEC AGES OR SUN GODS
The idea that December 21, 2012 may bring the end of the world is based on the Aztec Sun Disk (shown above) that shows 5 ages or Sun gods. The first Sun god Tezcatlipoca took the form of a jaguar and destroyed the world. The world was destroyed by a great wind when the reign of the second Sun god, Quetzalcoatl, came to an end. Tlaloc was the third Sun god, but Questzalcoatl wasn’t happy and made fire rain down causing destruction and the end of that age. The fourth Sun god was Chalchiuhtlicue (lady of the jade skirts), the goddess of water – lakes and streams. The fighting gods caused a flood, which destroyed the Earth. The fifth Sun were two gods, Tecciztecatl and Nanauatl. The gods decided that the first to offer his life in a blazing fire would be Sun god. Both jumped in creating two Suns (bianry stars) that shun brightly. The gods wouldn’t stand for this, so they threw a rabbit into the face of Tecciztecatl to dim his brightness. And so he became the moon, doomed to chase the sun forever, but never to shine as bright.
MAYAN WORLD AGE
Many authors believe that we are living in the fifth and final Mayan world age or cycle that started on August 11, 3114 BC. Our present world age that started in 3114 BC consists of 5,125 years. When you insert the Aztec creation story that describes five world ages of creation (four of which have passed) into the Mayan Long Count calendar the number of years is close to a precession year lasting 25,625 years (5,125 times 5).
Many authors believe that four world ages came immediately before the start of the Mayan calendar in 3114 BC, but the historical records do not support the existence of such earlier cycles or ages that we can easily fit into a neat package of 5,125 years periods going back into time or readily associate with the Aztec Sun Disk. No author has offered dates for these four previous world ages that can be used as a guide to understanding the cycle that started 3114 BC. Some claim that the prior world ages or cycles were longer than the fifth world age that started 3114 BC. Dr. Paul LaViolette believes that some earlier cycles lasted up to 820 million years for the Age of the Jaguar or Mammalian Age.
Scientist and author, Maurice Cotterrell, The Super Gods and The Mayan Prophecies, strongly insist that this period is not the completion of a cycle that can be attributed to the Mayan calendar.
In fact Cotterrell argues that the Mayan calendar goes beyond 2012 to include other cycles far into the future that exceed 1,872,000 days and that “at best it can only be considered to be 13/20ths of the Pictun, the next largest period” that began on August 11, 3114 BC.
THE AGE OF MAN
Zacharia Sitchin, author of The Twelfth Planet believes that The Age of Man, a time when human beings were given dominion over the Earth, started around 3,100 BC. The Mayan universe that started on August 11, 3114 BC corresponds to the start of ‘The Age of Man’ described by Sitchin. This date also corresponds neatly with the starting dates of civilizations that seem to spring up from out of nowhere in Sumer, Egypt, India and further east in China. Mênes was the first Egyptian Pharaoh to unite Upper and Lower Egypt starting the 1st Dynastic Period dated around 3,100 BC – 3,200 BC defining the apex of Egyptian civilization. On the Atlantic side of the globe, early Mayan and Mesoamerica civilizations took off as well with new monolith constructions at Palenque, Mexico.
Sitchin own viewpoint is that Mayan 2012 prophecies hold no particular significance, and does not mark the return date for Nibiru often referred to as Planet X.
John Van Auken of the Association of Research and Enlightenment, Virginia Beach, Virginia identifies the world ages as 1) Age of the Jaguar, 2) Age of Water or the Fish, 3) Age of Fire, 4) Age of Turkeys, 5) Age of Movement, 6) Age of Spirit of All Living Things, and 7) Age of Melting Into Oneness Again! He believes that we are ending the Age of Movement on December 21, 2012, the image in the center of the Aztec Sun Disk surrounded by four diagonal squares, entering the Fifth Sun or Age of Spirit of All Living Things after which we will enter the last and final Age of Melting into Oneness Again. He does not offer dates for when the sixth or seventh world age will end, but notes that Nostradamus saw into the future well up to 3797 AD.
AZTEC AGES OR SUN GODS
The idea that December 21, 2012 may bring the end of the world is based on the Aztec Sun Disk that shows 5 ages or sun gods. The first Sun god Tezcatlipoca took the form of a jaguar and destroyed the world. The world was destroyed by a great wind when the reign of the second Sun god, Quetzalcoatl, came to an end. Tlaloc was the third Sun god, but Questzalcoatl wasn’t happy and made fire rain down causing destruction and the end of the age. The fourth Sun god was Chalchiuhtlicue (lady of the jade skirts), the goddess of water – lakes and streams. The fighting gods caused a flood to destroy the Earth. The fifth Sun were two gods, Tecciztecatl and Nanauatl. The gods decided that the first to offer his life in a blazing fire would be Sun god. Both jumped in creating two Suns (bianry stars) that shun brightly. The gods wouldn’t stand for this, so they threw a rabbit into the face of Tecciztecatl to dim his brightness. And so he became the moon, doomed to chase the sun forever, but never to shine as bright.
MAYAN LONG COUNT CALENDAR
The date of origin of the Mayan Long Count calendar is August 11, 3114 BC, representing a cycle of 13 Baktuns which ends on December 21, 2012. But the real meaning of the ending of this cycle is open to debate since most of the records and inscriptions which were written by the Mayans in the Classical period (250 BC – 900 AD) that would have given us an unequivocal understanding of what the closing of this stage or heaven truly means were destroyed by Europeans who conquered the Americas during 15th and 16th centuries.
Contemporary Mayans living in the Yucatan, Mexico and the greater part of northern Peru and Central America believe that when this world ends, possibly through annihilation or destruction around December 21, 2012, another world shall begin! Will this renewal come from Super Gods as Cotterrell maintains is unknown.
Contemporary Mayans also believe that each world age was part of an evolutionary cycle designed to perfect life in the world. They believed that man’s perfection will be achieved at the end of this world age. In their view, the world will not end suddenly in 2012. Man will be recreated anew! There will be a new beginning after the end of this world age to allow life to continue, only that the new world will be very different from the one in which we live. These views are very much in line with the spirit, myths and cosmology mastered by Mayans living on the Classical period, but they are not rooted in any specific Stela or inscription found at Mayan archaeological sites that can be quoted authoritatively. Part of the reason for this is that Mayan prophecies and cosmology is still part of a secret order of Mayan elders who use the oral tradition of passing knowledge and wisdom from one generation to another.
Maurice Cotterrell argues against ideas proposed by John Major Jenkins that the winter equinox of 2012 shall come into direct alignment with the Galactic Center. Cotterrell believes that this is not accurate nor is it scientifically valid. If any such alignment were to take place it would not occur at a single moment in time because of the vast area that the center of the galaxy represents, which is still under debate by scientists. The Sun’s crossing of the galactic center would most likely take a greater period of time exceeding the proposed 36 years advocated by proponents of this theory.
In Cotterrell’s viewpoint, it is impossible to accurately calculate the line for the galactic elliptic. To do so would require knowing the mass of the galaxy, a task which science has not yet undertaken. Proponents of this argument claim that the Sun will cross an imaginary galactic elliptic, that is only a guess, between 1980 and 2016, which includes December 21, 2012 as one of those dates robbing it of its mystical Mayan Long Count calendar meaning and significance.
For the Mayans, the dark rift near the center of the Milky Way galaxy marks the black road to the underworld. This is visualized as a celestial mouth akin to the vagina from which new life emerges. The emergence of Lord Xibalba is synonymous with birth. The appearance of the Sun from the dark rift would be a natural point in Mayan cosmology indicative of a new beginning from some ending point. December 21, 2012 seems to suggest that some ending of the current world order will take place around this date triggering a renewal of life on Earth shortly thereafter.
Many cultures celebrate winter solstice as the death, burial and resurrection of the Sun. On the 20th of December the Sun is mythical killed (stops in the sky), buried on the 21st (stationary on the elliptic), and resurrected on the 22nd (increase in declination moving towards the summer solstice).
There is no shortage of ideas, opinions and speculations of what will happen when the Mayan Long Count calendar ends on December 21, 2012, which has fed a frenzy of news stories, articles and media publications!
Nevertheless, when you closely examine the Mayan Calendar system, some interesting facts emerge that tie into cycles found in nature. For example, the 400-year Baktun cycle is equivalent to the amount of time it takes the Earth’s core to rotate around a fixed point on the surface. The twenty-year Katun cycle corresponds to the time it takes the Earth’s magnetic field to rotate around a fixed point on the surface.
The Mayan Calendar allowed them to accurately record the cycles of other planets. Venus was particularly important to the Mayans. Its dual rising in the east and the west forms a Vesica Piscis representing the incarnation of spirit into matter, which is the basis of all life on planet Earth. Being the brightest celestial object in the night sky, Venus is associated with the star of Bethlehem.
MAYAN PROPHECIES FOR 2012
Mayan 2012 prophecies that relate to the Mayan Long Count calendar come from The Book of Chilam Balam of Tizimin. These prophecies state that:
- “In the final days of misfortunes, in the final days of tying up the bundle of the thirteen (baktuns) … then the end of the world shall come and the baktun of our fathers will ascend on high.”
- “Presently the Baktuns thirteen shall come sailing… Then the god will come to visit his little ones. Perhaps ‘after death’ will be the subject of his discourse.
- “These little valleys of the earth shall come to an end. For those katuns (7,200 days) there shall be no priests, and no one believes in his government without having doubts”.
Don Alejandro Cirillo is the elected leader of the National Mayan Council of Elders of Guatemala and a thirteenth generation Quiche priest. He believes that 2012 shall be characterized by major earth changes, probably earthquakes and floods, but most significantly by a darkening of the Sun that will last many days where electricity will fail, crops will fail and we will not be able to buy clean water, fresh food or fresh air. When the Sun returns, this will signal the start of a new world age.
2012 is expected to bring about the fifth world of creation, marked by the return of ether, the fifth element allowing for the fusion of polarities changing forever the nature of material things and the start of the fifth root race according to Edgar Cayce.
Some researchers believe that when the boundary of the galactic plane is reached, you get a kind of Coriolis Effect, changing or reversing the resonance we experience coming from the galactic center.
The Mayans calculated the orbit of Venus with amazing accuracy and detail. Venus transits the Sun in pairs of transit 8 years apart. On June 6, 2012 Venus will transit the Sun. Venus last transited the Sun on June 8, 2004. In 2004, Ronald Reagan died three days before the Venus transit took place on June 8th. And two days after the transit, the beloved Ray Charles passed away as well.
The Mayans considered the first appearance of Venus as an evil omen and considered it to be a good day for warfare. They viewed the transit as the warrior twin of Venus. The first sighting of the morning star that was frequently represented by bloody situations. The Mayans glyph for the Venus transit shows the Chief holding the severed heads of his enemy with blood trailing from the victim’s neck.
Prior to June 2004 transit, the last transit occurred in 1761 and 1769. Future Venus-Sun transits will occur in December 2117 and December 2125.
EARTHQUAKE PREDICTIONS FOR 2012
Major Earthquake coming for North America at about 8.0 magnitude. Once this earthquake strikes the west coast of California, they shall not stop. The eastern side of the Pacific Ring of Fire shall become activated forcing people to move from California to Arizona and adjoining states. Watch the San Joaquin Valley! This earthquake is likely to send oil and food prices soaring, triggering massive inflation and collapse of the dollar.
A major earthquake shall also strike Northwest, USA in the Montana/Wyoming/Colorado area east of the Rockies!
6.1 – 6.6 million people shall be overtaken by earthquakes.
Florida shall come under heavy flooding around June 2012.
USGS world earthquake activity map on the Internet shall show lots of earthquakes striking all over the world, all at the same time, throughout Asia, Middle East, and Europe in an almost even-spaced distribution! These earthquakes shall range from 5.0 to 7.0 magnitude.
POLE SHIFT
Some researchers believe that we may experience a reversal of the Sun’s polarity that may trigger the possible reversal of the Earth’s magnetic field, which all could be triggered by a celestial phenomenon coming from out of the dark region of the Milky Way Galaxy.
NEPTUNE IN PISCES
Neptune ingress of the astrological sign of Pisces on February 4th, 2012 promises to fulfill the meaning of the word ‘Maya,’ which means illusion. Illusion is a veil of consciousness. Being the ruler of the mutable signs, Neptune sits on the rim of the known versus the unknown. It promises that we shall have new thoughts and ideas of things that we have never thought of before. The mysteries of Mayan prophecies and 2012 predictions shall be revealed to us as time marches on, but few if any will have their expectations met on what Mayan 2012 prophecy and cosmology is all about. One thing is almost certain, as we move through 2012 to meet 2013 and 2014, the Mayan Long Count calendar shall give birth and impetus to a new string of research and understanding that shall transform our understanding of astrology, astronomy and cosmology forever!
LOOKING AHEAD
Much of the current world order is crumbling; the environment is under attack. In almost every sphere of life things seems to be falling apart. It is self evident that we are reaching an ending of some sort, a point of crisis if you wish – terminal saturation according to Riley Martin!
At a minimum, Mayan 2012 prophecy assurance us that a new world is coming, that there shall be a new beginning, a new dawning and new recreation of the current world order. Our role and place in that world is unknown. We saw what happened to the Mayans, how they were brutally treated by their conquerors. We also saw what happened to just about every other civilization since the dawn of creation. Case in point, the Library of Alexandria; how those precious, irreplaceable books were burned three times over the course of history just to extinguish their light. The people of enlightenment throughout the ages and the history of the world since the start of the Mayan Long Count calendar in 3114 BC have all been under attack and most have been destroyed. No period was more destructive than the Age of Pisces (55 BC to 1781 AD) that brought us into total darkness and complete utter ignorance. Conquerors hate light, they hate to assimilate or learn from those whom they conquer. There is no reason to believe that we will be spared similar fate, catastrophes, annihilation or destruction. Nothing under the Sun gives us that divine right and privilege. It seems to be the path of nature to destroy and recreate.
At best, we can look around and observe what is dying and what is on the rise in our personal life and in society. We have lost faith in government. Pastors and priests no longer serve us anymore. Money is abundant but not evenly distributed. In the abundance of great wealth, people and animals are dying and suffering. Technology is on the rise. How will the blessings and seed of technology become our worst nightmare in the future? Already this is expressing itself in the unemployment lines. There needs to be a realignment of values. But how will this come about? Who will start it? What will trigger a realignment of the global society? These are the unanswered questions that Mayan 2012 prophecies beg us to ponder.
CONCLUSION
We have reached a point in time where oil, money and technology can no longer sustain us. Venus transit of the Sun shall demand that we seek the natural order questioning intensively the road upon which we have traveled since the fall in 9,500 B.C. We have moved out of the Golden Age, the Garden of Eden of prehistory and have developed a profound understanding and control of natural forces and have uniquely developed the capacity to dominate and extinguish all life forms on planet Earth. On the verge of committing ecocide, we have become the agent of death for the world’s ecological system. Who or what shall become our agent of death other than ourselves? Within the twinkling of an eye we have become space travelers embarking on a planetary and cosmic journey of inter-galactic dimensions.
Mayan Long Count calendar and predictions ask us to question our role in the universe and on the planet in particular. We can no longer hide from the enormous burdens and responsibilities that the new age demands of us as individuals or as a society. Mayan 2012 prophecies demand that we pay close attention to detail least we delude ourselves into believing that we are in any way, shape or form different from our brothers and sisters that walk this Earth or any of the creatures of the land, air and seas that live in the flesh.
We are on the cusp of our own evolutionary path that shall lead to a higher human form that is now in the process of being changed or re-birthed! Since our creation, but more accurately, since the event of the Flood, we have been in the midst of two different evolutionary paths: one of the masters of space and time and the other of the extinct hominids that preceded us. As time marches on, we are slowly and slowly being disconnected from the path of the sky gods and native hominids, and more and more we are coming into our own being of who we are and were intended to be. Hence, the development of man is not complete, and for this we must press on and be prepared to endure a lot!
Antot Masuka
NCGR – Ingres
Copyright © 2011 – All Rights Reserved
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from: http://www.newrealities.com/index.php/articles-on-shamanism/item/1844-year-of-destiny-2012-journey-through-time-and-the-cosmos-by-antot-masuka
fr/Doreen Virtue Archangel Michael on 2012
Doreen Virtue: Archangel Michael Message for 2012
posted 1 January, 2012, 298 views, no comments –
From meditations and prayers, the messages for 2012 are: continuous clearing and shielding of lower energies is essential right now. Do this daily. Shield yourself vigilantly. The dichotomy of darkness and light is at a peak right now, like high noon when the shadows appear the darkest. The darkness has an effect similar to ticks upon a dog, and must be addressed and not ignored . . . or it will grow bigger. Don’t fear the darkness, as this just gives fuel and power to it (which in spiritual truth is nothingness). The darkness is afraid because it knows that its time to rule is drawing to a close. We must also devote daily time to praying for everyone’s abundance, health, and happiness. Your contribution to the light is essential right now. Everyone’s participation in acknowledging the non-material world is essential. Daily prayer for world peace is extremely helpful. You can make a huge positive difference by praying for everyone.
Check out this link for Doreen’s Full Message:
from: http://www.youtube.com/user/4AngelTherapy?feature=watch
Oh So Human Traits To Think About
The New Year’s Resolution We Should Be Making
Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer
Date: 30 December 2011 Time: 03:16 PM ET
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| The time to enact New Year’s resolutions draws closer. CREDIT: Csaba Peterdi, Shutterstock |
We all know that popular New Year’s resolutions involve dieting, exercise and the nixing of bad habits. But what if we could fix things we didn’t even know were wrong with us?
Even good people have mental weaknesses. Just ask psychologists, whose research often turns up sour news on the human psyche. We can be jealous and arrogant, willing to look the other way when horrible things are going on, and even the nicest of us harbor subtle racial bias.
In our best New Year’s fashion, we asked social scientists to tell us what they see as the worst hidden weaknesses of humans — and whether there’s anything we can do to overcome them. Their responses suggest that this year, we should all resolve to see things from others’ perspectives.
We Fear the Other
One unflattering trait we share with many other animals is Fear of the Other, which is just the flipside of a rather clinging, excessive and obsessive love of (Just Like) Me. Social psychologists call this “in-group” bias; cognitive psychologists see its advantages in fluent, speeded-up processing of the familiar. We’re long used to who we are, and so no real thought is necessary to deal with ourselves. Thus, in order to preserve our precious laziness of thought, we heavily invest in surrounding ourselves with people just like us. We segregate into neighborhoods and work and leisure environments where any others closely approximate us in age, race, income, political allegiance and even sexual orientation or the accepted type of facial hair.
The consequence is that we never get to meet anyone who isn’t like us. This, in turn, leads to failing to imagine any Other, and to a loss of desire to even consider the Other as someone who exists, a real human being just like us, except not just like us. At its most innocent, all this fencing-in creates little upticks in closed-mindedness inside one person’s skull — missed opportunities for jolts of fun or learning. At its worst, for instance when manipulated by clever demagogues who realize that nothing binds us together more than fear of that ultimate other, the imagined enemy, it leads to the Holocaust, Vietnam, Rwanda, Darfur, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and so on.
What to do? Go visit. Uncozy yourself. Get a move on. Practice loving-kindness with someone truly other. (If you’re in academia, maybe take your Republican-voting pariah colleague out for lunch, and listen for a change.) Or, at the very least, next time you find yourself at lunch agreeing with everyone’s astute observations, do realize: “Well, duh.”
— Paul Verhaeghen, professor of cognition and brain science at Georgia Tech
We indulge in ill-informed stereotypes
We’ve been busting myths about women since the 1960s; it’s time we bust some myths about men. Single in America, a 2011 national study of singles based on the U.S. census and conducted by Match.com (and myself), does this in spades.
This study clearly shows that men are just as eager to marry; 33 percent of both sexes want to say “I do.” Moreover, men in every age group are more eager to have children: 51 percent of men age 21 to 34 want kids, while 46 percent of women in this age range yearn for offspring. Men are less picky about a partner, too. Fewer men “must have” or regard it as “very important” to have a mate of the same ethnic background (20 percent of men versus 29 percent of women); and fewer say they “must have” or regard it as “very important” to have a partner of the same religion (17 percent of men versus 28 percent of women). And get this: Men experience love at first sight more often; just as many men under age 35 believe you can stay married to the same person forever (84 percent); and in a committed relationship, men are less likely to want nights out with friends (23 percent versus 35 percent of women); less eager to keep a separate bank account (47 percent versus 66 percent of women); and less keen to take a vacation on their own (8 percent versus 12 percent). [Busted! 6 Gender Myths in the Bedroom and Beyond]
I study the brain in love. My colleagues and I have put over 80 men and women into a brain scanner (MRI), and we found no gender differences in romantic passion. This Single in America study tells it like it is: Men are just as eager to find a partner, fall in love, commit long term and raise a family. And the sooner journalists (particularly those writing for women’s magazines), social scientists (particularly those convinced that men are evil), TV and radio talk-show hosts, and all the rest of humanity that berates men begin to embrace these findings, the faster we will find — and keep — the love we want.
— Helen Fisher, biological anthropologist at Rutgers University and the chief scientific advisor of Match.com
We go with our gut
The emerging view in psychology is that morality is something we feel more than think. Rather than reasoning our way to decide what is right and what is wrong, there is now overwhelming evidence to suggest that moral evaluations are “gut” reactions that we justify after the fact with what seem like principled arguments. This simple truth is the source of both humankind’s most ennobling acts of kindness and some of its most-callous and malicious misdeeds.
When victims of misfortune are close to us — when we can see and feel their suffering — we are capable of incredible generosity and self-sacrifice. When our connection to victims is less visceral, however, even when we “know” full well of their suffering in a
cognitive sense, we are often unmoved by their plight and able to rationalize our inaction. Heinous acts committed by people or groups whom we love and admire can be excused as necessary or accidental, just as relatively benign acts of our enemies are often imbued with evil intent and taken as justification for retribution. Our tendency to mistake what we feel for what we think, especially in the realm of moral judgment and
decision-making, plays a central role in intergroup conflict and moral hypocrisy, and because the problem lies as much in our guts as in our minds, it is a challenging weakness to overcome.
My suggestion to friends is to turn the emotional table by submitting judgments to the “shoe on the other foot test.” When faced with a difficult moral choice, ask yourself how you would feel and what you would do if a victim of misfortune was your loved one, or the perpetrator of some morally questionable act was you.
— Peter Ditto, professor of psychology and social behavior at the University of California, Irvine
We lack empathy
In my view, the most pervasive limitation in people is the ability to accurately understand the feelings and needs of others, and to fully appreciate their own impact on other people.
This ability is typically conceptualized in terms of “empathy,” “emotional intelligence,” “social intelligence” or “interpersonal intelligence,” and it clearly varies in strength from person to person.
While I think that people broadly recognize the value of this ability for selfish gain (e.g., to be an adept communicator, or to “charm” others), it also plays a critical role in caring for others — empathy most certainly does this in motivating altruistic behavior.
As to what can be done about this limitation? Can we strengthen our ability to be in tune with others and be less focused on the self? I think it begins with endeavoring to hold to the “golden rule” that we should treat others as we wish to treated, and also by trying to imagine ourselves on the outside interacting with us — as someone else on the outside, would like who we are very much? Would we consider ourselves kind, compassionate and considerate, or self-centered, selfish and thoughtless?
In short, always try to put yourself in the other’s position before speaking or acting —sounds rather obvious and simple, but it turns out to be quite a bit more difficult than one might think, and I believe a persistent challenge in our interpersonal relationships, both casual and close, that we face throughout our emotional and intellectual development.
— Jordan Litman, psychologist at the University of South Florida
We act out of self-preservation
One of the most disturbing things I have learned about people is that they are very self-protective, sometimes at the expense of others. My research in sexual harassment demonstrates that people will blame others in a manner that protects their own interests. People who unconsciously find themselves to be similar to victims of sexual harassment will assign a relatively stronger level of blame to sexual harassers. This is not particularly disturbing; what is disturbing is that people who unconsciously find themselves to be similar to sexual harassers tend to let people off the hook for sexual harassment and even go so far to blame the victims of the harassment. They seem to kick these people (typically women) when they are down. This added insult to injury compounds the negative psychological effects of harassment.
Furthermore, the reason for blaming victims of harassment may relate to the same reason they harass in the first place — an inability to see the perspective of others. Harassers and those similar to harassers cannot really see the world from the perspective of other people. They find their own behavior to be normal, acceptable in part because they simply cannot or refuse to see what it does to other people. If you were to boil this message down to a New Year’s resolution, I would say to always try to put yourself in someone else’s shoes before you do something stupid. It’s amazing what people will do without considering others’ feelings.
— Colin Key, professor of psychology at the University of Tennessee, Martin
from: http://www.livescience.com/17688-years-hidden-weaknesses.html