New Poem: Not Present

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Not Present

Being in the past--is jealousy on my part--in general
~ Leslie Scalapino


Not sentient : reliving an old photograph from college,
standing with her outside the dorm, last day
of the quarter, sunshine blinding me

Life is not retrospective : memory
confuses the brain : iron anchor

The floating world : being miserable on pages
of dust-stained journals : holding a mirror
to the boy, immature, who spilled ink
and so much more
in misguided efforts to be

Not sentient : not present

_____

Some mornings I do not know who I am until
someone speaks to me : captivated by the sunrise
or a dream encasing me in a cocoon of imagery

Not present : picking at a hangnail

10,000 things cloud my eyes, and still the raven
can wake me from retrospection and root my body
in the waking moment, the caw of now

_____

Lost presence : when her touch awakened me
to this flesh, everything reversed, the floating world
receded : how many years have passed?

____

Sentience : a boy at the time, and not present, then
the knock of death, everything reversed, split
wide open, a gaping whole in my chest

Fathers do not die : misguided child : the heart stops
and the earth opens its arms in acceptance

_____

All these things : not present : an inversion
of the laws, emptiness beneath the surface
of the fragile ice I called my life

Obviously : being fairly immature my whole life
as I waited for someone to speak to me, to know
what I was seeking : barking dogs, temporary
tattoos, blue cream Nehi

But not present : obviously

_____

Standing beside Sabino Creek, I drew circles
in the sand, reminders of something, something
I read in a book, or dreamed : circles mean
something about presence, or sentience, or . . . .

_____

Not sentient : being in the past

_____

Awareness : opening the ivy-covered heart, seeking
the girl I once knew only to find her grown and married,
lost to me, and yet, and yet . . .

There is feeling, not sentience, but presence : pain,
and the roots of my flesh secured in soil

Knowing nothing : everything opens

_____

Not present : seeking the anchor's weight,
setting memory aside : everything
opens : knowing nothing

Raven's caw : a circle

Tags: New Poem, Not Present, poetry, presence, memory, sentience

Daily Om: Listening With Your Heart

This was yesterday's very cool Daily Om:

Inner Hierarchy
Listening With Your Heart

Most of us were born and raised in cultures that value the head over the heart and, as a result, we place our own hearts below our heads in a sort of inner hierarchy of which we may not be conscious. What this means is that we tend to listen and respond from the neck up, often leaving the rest of our bodies with little or no say in most matters. This is a physical habit, which sometimes feels as ingrained as the way we breathe or walk. However, with effort and awareness, we can shift the energy into our hearts, listening and responding from this much deeper, more resonant place.

The brain has a masterful way of imposing structure and order on the world, creating divisions and categories, devising plans and strategies. In many ways, we have our brains to thank for our survival on this planet. However, as is so clear at this time, we also need the wisdom of our hearts if we wish to continue surviving in a viable way. When we listen from our heart, the logical grid of the brain tends to soften and melt, which enables us to perceive the interconnectedness beneath the divisions and categories we use to organize the world. We begin to understand that just as the heart underlies the brain, this interconnectedness underlies everything.

Many agree that this is the most important work we can do at this time in history, and there are many practices at our disposal. For a simple start, try sitting with a friend and asking him to tell you about his life at this moment. For 10 minutes or more, try to listen without responding verbally, offering suggestions, or brainstorming solutions. Instead, breathe into your heart and your belly, listening and feeling instead of thinking. When you do this, you may find that it’s much more difficult to offer advice and much easier to identify with the feelings your friend is sharing. You may also find that your friend opens up more, goes deeper, and feels he has really been heard. If you also feel great warmth and compassion, almost as if you are seeing your friend for the first time, then you will know that you have begun to tap the power of listening with your heart.

This has been the core of my inner work for the past few years. One of the great things about Buddhism, and especially the teachings of Pema Chodron, is that it has helped me soften the barriers around my heart. When our hearts are tender and open, we are at our most human.

I am a perfect example of someone who has lived from the neck up for most of my life. It has cost me relationships, made me miserable on many occasions, and until I began to work at having more access to heart energy, it made me a selfish and self-centered person -- I was in life for what I could get, not what I could give.

I'm still working on this stuff, but if I can change from the selfish person I was to who I am now, anyone can.

Tags: Daily Om, Listening With Your Heart, Inner Hierarchy, Buddhism, personal growth, self exploration

Dalai Lama Quote of the Week

This is the Dalai Lama Quote of the Week from Snow Lion Publications.

Selflessness in Context: Ultimate Bodhichitta

Let us return for a moment to the beginning of [the Heart] Sutra where the Buddha enters into the meditative absorption called "appearance of the profound" and Avalokiteshvara beholds the practice of the profound perfection of wisdom. Generally speaking, the expression "appearance of the profound" refers to the bodhisattva deeds, which are encompassed in the practice of the six perfections. Here, however, the expression refers particularly to the perfection of wisdom, known in Sanskrit as prajnaparamita. What the text means by "perfection of wisdom" is a direct, unmediated realization of emptiness that is also called "ultimate bodhichitta." This is not the direct realization of emptiness alone; rather it is this direct realization in union with bodhichitta--the aspiration to become a buddha in order to free all beings. This union of wisdom and method constitutes the first bhumi, or level of bodhisattva attainment.

The importance of this altruistic aspiration cannot be overstated. Bodhichitta is not only important as a motivating factor at the beginning of practice, it is also important as a complementary and a reinforcing factor during every stage of the path. The bodhichitta aspiration is twofold, comprised both of the wish to help others and of the wish to become enlightened so that one's assistance will be supremely effective.

~ From Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama's Heart of Wisdom Teachings by H.H. the Dalai Lama, translated & edited by Thupten Jinpa.

Tags: Dalai Lama, Dharma Quote, Selflessness, Ultimate Bodhichitta, Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama's Heart of Wisdom Teachings, Buddhism, Snow Lion Publications

Martin Amis on Religion

Martin Amis was interviewed for The New Republic, and of course the conversation came around to religion.

I just read a quote of yours, "Atheists have as much conscience, possibly more, than people with deep religious convictions," and I have noticed that recently you have been talking a little more about atheism. You also contributed an essay to a new book called The Portable Atheist. What are your thoughts on the "New Atheist" movement, which has gotten so much publicity and sold so many books in the last year or so. Do you think it differs from strains of atheism in the past?

I am a little baffled as to why it is called the "New Atheism." There is a very long tradition of free thinking, and the arguments made against religion tend to be the same but made over and over again. But I think what has happened is that there have been a number of good, articulate books--Hitchens, Dawkins, Dennett, Sam Harris, and so on. What they have discovered to their own great surprise is that in the United States, and right across the South too, there are an enormous number of people who also think this way. I don't think they have suddenly been persuaded by this rash of books--the feelings were there anyway--but they didn't have a voice, they didn't have a focus. When Hitchens took his book across the Bible Belt and debated with Baptist ministers in churches, there were huge audiences, most of whom, it seems, from when they spoke to him afterwards, were somewhat irritated that the place in the United States that they lived in was called the Bible Belt. I think there was something there that people had not taken into account. Quite heartening really, given that America is meant to be a secular republic with a strong tradition of upholding all freedom of thought.

Do you see religion as ineradicable, or do you think there is a chance to change people's minds on religion?

I think it is ineradicable, and I think it is a terrible idea to suppress it, too. We have tried that and it joins the list of political oppression. It seems to be fairly deeply stitched into human nature. It seems to be part of all cultures, so I don't expect it to vanish. And yet at the same time, if it is built into human nature, why are there so many people who don't believe in it? I think it is important that people with no religious beliefs speak up and speak for what they value. It is a bit of a problem, the title "Atheist"--no one really wants to be defined by what they do not believe in. We haven't yet settled on a name, but you wouldn't expect a Baptist minister to go around calling himself a Darwinist. But it is crucial that people who do not have a sky god and don't have a set of supernatural beliefs assert their belief in moral values and in love and in the transcendence that they might experience in landscape or art or music or sculpture or whatever. Since they do not believe in an afterlife, it makes them give more valence to life itself. The little spark that we do have becomes all the more valuable when you can't be trading off any moments for eternity.

It's good to see a prominent atheist admitting that we can not eradicate religion or religious beliefs. Dan Dennett falls into this camp, and Christopher Hitchens would keep religion around simply for the amazing art it can produce.

More and more, people like Richard Dawkins are appearing as extremist in their views as the believers they ridicule. Like all belief systems, there are moderates and there are fundamentalists. It's good that this distinction is becoming more clear in the atheist movement.

Tags: Martin Amis, The New Republic, Religion, authors, atheism, Dan Dennett, Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins

Chogyam Trungpa - Conflicting Emotions

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The Ocean of Dharma quote for this week -- Rinpoche makes a very useful distinction between the energy of an emotion and when that emotion becomes conflicted through attachment to ego. If we can avoid the attachment element, emotions as energy will come and go; but as soon as they get caught in the web of ego needs, we've bitten the hook.

CONFLICTING EMOTIONS

Ego presents a twofold barrier: conflicting emotions and primitive beliefs about reality. You might call conflicting emotions anti-shunyata, anti-emptiness, because they do not allow or experience any space or lubrication to develop things. They are solid and definite. It is like the analogy of the pig, the symbol of ignorance, which just follows its nose and never sees any direction of any kind at all. It just keeps following , constantly guided by impulse. And whatever comes in front of its nose, it just consumes it and looks for the next one....

In this case, we are talking about emotions as primitive emotions. Take the example of anger, for instance. There is the primitive, conflicted quality of anger and there is also the energetic quality of the anger, which is quite different. Conflicting emotions are those that are purely trying to secure ego's aim and object, to fulfill ego's demand. They are based on constantly looking for security, maintaining the identity of "I am." Conflicting emotions also contain energy, which is the compassionate nature, the basic warmth and basic creative process. But somehow in that situation of primitive emotions, there is very little generosity of letting energy function by itself.

~ From "Fruition," in Glimpses of Shuntaya, page 53.

Tags: Chogyam Trungpa, Conflicting Emotions, Glimpses of Shuntaya, Ocean of Dharma, Buddhism, attachment, ego

Deborah Gordon: How Do Ants Know What To Do?

This is an old TED Talk, from 2003, that was just posted this month.

Armed with a backhoe and a handful of markers, Deborah Gordon studies ant colonies in the Arizona desert. She asks: How do these chitinous creatures get down to business -- and even multitask when they need to -- with no language, memory or visible leadership? Her answers could lead to a better understanding of all complex systems, from the brain to the Web.

Tags: Deborah Gordon, How Do Ants Know What To Do?, TED Talks, ant colonies, organizations, systems, biology, science, evolution, nature

Jon Stewart Talks With David Frum

So glad Stewart is back.

Tags: Jon Stewart, David Frum, The Daily Show, politics, humor, Rudy Giuliani, Ron Paul

New Poem: Mistaken Identity

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Mistaken Identity

This is a fiction, in the way that breath
is not the inhalation and exhalation of air,
in the way that meaning is not constructed
in the moment my back slides down
along the solid and stable trunk of an oak

In that way, these words do not tell the whole
story, nor do they reveal the skeleton
within this flesh, the frame upon which we
hang moments on the cross, worshiping
the slow passage of time, on our knees

* * * * *

The walls of these rooms reveal the images
that sustain me, but much can be read
in the white spaces, the emptiness

There are stones on the altar, memories
of weather-beaten shores, mountains
I have climbed, but the emptiness is loud

* * * * *

You might be forgiven your assumptions
of who I am, even I struggle to piece
together the elements: earth, air,
fire, and water: so little is solid

Books are no help, lined upon the shelves
and stacked in corners, volumes on every
subject suggest an eclectic mind, or
a body seeking solid ground

* * * * *

This is a fiction, in the way that all
things are unreal, in the way that minds
build towers of meaning that lack
earthy foundations, lack the roots
that hold trees against fierce winds

In that way, anything I might write
is only a proposition, words without
anchors, like liquid poured into the sea,
one word among many, so few words
to say what can never be spoken

Tags: New Poem, Mistaken Identity, poetry, words, language, life, time

More on Biophotons

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I blogged a while back about biophotons and evolution, but now there is some more proof in support of such a view.

One view of biophotons is that they are produced within the DNA of individual cells. From this perspective, biophotons are a means of communication between cells and between organisms. The premise is that these biological photons are forms of coherent light, meaning that the photons carry some form of information.

This theory has led to procedures for testing food safety in Germany and disease detection in humans (unhealthy cells emit different biophoton patterns than do healthy cells).

Now, finally, US researchers are finally looking at the protons emitted by living cells.

New Mode of Cell Communication Discovered

By Steve Mitchell
ScienceNOW Daily News
9 January 2008

Like teenagers, cells in our bodies constantly chatter back and forth. But instead of zapping text messages, they relay signals with molecules. Now, researchers have discovered a surprisingly tiny new messenger in worms: protons. The find raises the possibility that the subatomic particle plays the same role in humans, the researchers say.

Research in mice has hinted that protons--hydrogen atoms stripped of their electrons--might act as messengers, but until now direct evidence has been lacking. A team led by biologist Erik Jorgensen of the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, made the discovery while investigating how the worm Caenorhabditis elegans contracts certain muscles around its intestines to squeeze out waste. Previous experiments had ruled out several neurotransmitters known to aid defecation, suggesting that a novel molecule might be playing a role.

After sequencing the DNA of worms with defects in muscle contraction, the team identified mutations in a gene called PBO4. This gene encodes a protein located on the outer surface of intestinal cells, where it brings sodium ions into the cell while pumping protons out. This hinted that protons might play a role in making the muscles contract.

Next, using a protein that glows green until it contacts protons, the researchers found that protons flood from the intestinal cells and into the surrounding muscle cells just before the muscle contracts. Finally, the researchers inserted protons bound to a light-sensitive molecule into the space between the intestine and the muscle in mutant worms with a defective PBO4 gene. When a flash of light set the protons free, the muscle contracted, the researchers report in the 11 January issue of Cell. Further experiments identified a receptor on the muscle cells that triggers contraction when protons bind to it.

Jorgensen speculates that protons probably act as neurotransmitters in humans and other vertebrates, but so far there is no evidence of this. He notes that this could explain why humans have proton pumps in brain cells that are the same as the proton pumps found in their intestines.

Les Iversen, a neuroscientist at the University of Oxford, U.K., agrees with that notion. But Charles Stevens, a neurobiologist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, California, says that the protons may only be used as neurotransmitters in worms and other invertebrates. "Oftentimes, invertebrates have evolved special mechanisms that are not so widely used in vertebrates," Stevens says.

Granted, this study is looking at invertebrates, and they are looking merely at the protons used to cause muscle contractions, but this might be enough to generate some more interest in researching these unique communication systems within and between cells.

Tags: Biophotons, Science, biology, protons, Caenorhabditis elegans, cell communication, DNA

New Poem: Unconventional Love Sonnet - The Last

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Unconventional Love Sonnet - The Last

Her eyes are a storm of dark skies. I thought
she was someone else: the mornings we sat
together drinking coffee, warm sunshine and
the simple, quiet comfort of touching hands.

Maybe she is that woman. But the cruel hag
in her mirror tells her she is fat, ugly,
unlovable, the fairy tale turned inside out,
and she believes, slumped shoulders.

Her words feel frantic, a torrent of pain
pouring from black clouds she lives with,
as though the woman I knew has surrendered

to the rising waters, not wanting to swim.
Her drowned body in the mirror, but the glass
only distracts her from the stormy loss of self.

Tags: New Poem, Unconventional Love Sonnet - The Last, poetry, relationships, pain, suffering

Speedlinking 1/11/08

Quote of the day:

"A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he gets to know something."
~ Wilson Mizner

Image of the day:


BODY
~ Weighing the New Diet Books -- "Every December, publishing houses flood bookstore shelves with a plethora of new diet titles, hip to the hordes of repentant holiday bingers who will be desperate to make their New Year's resolutions stick come January. And there are more and more of us in that category every year. This year's crop of diet books run the gamut — from low-carb to vegan, from anti-caffeine to tea-around-the-clock. Some appear based on sound nutritional advice; some decidedly less so."
~ Cranberry juice can prevent flu and stomach ulcers...but only in women -- "Drinking two glasses of cranberry juice a day can ward off flu, stops teeth from rotting and keep away bladder infections and stomach ulcers - but only in women."
~ Fit Tip: Cross Train -- "If you are going gang busters at the gym, as many people do come January, and are just tackling the treadmill I am here to urge you to cross train. Variety is the spice of life and if you are mixing up your workouts the chances of getting bored and stopping significantly decreases. Boredom is one major fitness routine killer."
~ For A More Youthful Heart Either Eat Less Or Exercise More -- "Overweight people who lose a moderate amount of weight get an immediate benefit in the form of better heart health, according to a study conducted at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. And the heart improvements happen whether that weight is shed by eating less or exercising more."
~ Family dietary coach fuels healthy eating: study -- "Having a nutrition coach actively coach families on how to make healthy changes in their diet appears to help parents and their children improve their nutritional intake, researchers found."
~ When Fitness Means Life or Death -- "Are you in good enough shape to flee a burning building?"
~ Chewing Gum Sweetener Can Cause Dangerous Weight Loss -- "Many sugar-free chewing gums contain a sweetener called sorbitol. Sorbitol is a laxative which is poorly absorbed by the small intestine. An article in this week's British Medical Journal (BMJ) warns of the dangers of excess sorbitol intake. The warning comes after doctors came across two patients who had chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain and dangerously excessive weight loss."
~ Fat to fitness coach: Man loses 120 pounds -- "Two years ago, Tim Lenczowski dreaded walking from the parking lot into his office. Weighing 335 pounds, he suffered constantly from pain in his knees and ankles. At the age of 39, he was diagnosed with a heart condition and hypertension. Lenczowski knew it was time to make a change."
~ Atkins Diet Results Are In & Some People Aren’t Going To Like Them -- "At the end of the two-week period, the patients lost an average of 3.6 pounds each and their blood levels normalized. But what about the low-carbohydrate diet caused them to lose weight? Interestingly, though they were not given calorie restrictions, the patients inadvertently cut their caloric intake by a whopping one-third." The reality behind this study is that protein and fats create greater satiety than do carbs, so you eat less and feel more full. The other aspect is that protein foods require 25% of the consumed calories simply for digestion, while carbs and fats are much lower, under 10%.


PSYCHE/SELF
~ Pets: Good for Your Health? -- "Research shows that caring for an animal can improve your mental and physical well-being—with a few caveats."
~ Media Psychologists: Educating The Public; Demystifying Psychotherapy And Modeling Professional Ethics -- "News is often about human behavior, thus there's a natural role for psychologists and other mental health professionals to work with the news media to help people understand behavior and other mental health issues."
~ Men Do Care - British Psychological Society -- "Men worry more about their work-life balance than their female counterparts."
~ Fighting over inner experience -- "Salon has an entertaining review of the new book Describing Inner Experience which is sort of a combination of an argument and a self-consciousness showdown between philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel and psychologist Russell Hurlburt."
~ abstracts related to ageing, mitochondria, neurodegeneration etc -- Lots of cool, geeky links.
~ Is there a moral grammar? -- "One of the most controversial new approaches, promoted by Marc Hauser of Harvard University, is to study moral reasoning by analogy to linguistics. For instance, what are the phonemes of moral reasoning? What is the grammar that determine whether an action is considered moral or not?"
~ What Everyone Should Know About Their Own Minds: 6 Introspective Insights From Psychology -- "Ever wondered where your opinions come from, how you manage to be creative, or how you solve problems? Well, don't bother. Psychology studies examining these areas and more have found that while we're good at inventing plausible explanations, these explanations are frequently completely made-up."
~ Medicating People Because It’s Easier than Talking to Them -- "Sadly, antipsychotics are not the first medications ever to be used to basically sedate people, so they would be more manageable to the individuals and organizations charged with their care. The use of psychiatric and other medications for control of behaviors, rather than treatment of diseases or disorders, has a long history. Time and time again, research shows that it’s the human relationship we share with one another that have a significant, perhaps the most significant impact, in how we feel. And how we feel has an impact on our treatment and feeling better."
~ What is Happiness? -- "Because happiness is something most of us aim for, how we define it has important implications for how we conduct our lives. To see why, compare these two competing definitions of happiness...."


CULTURE/POLITICS
~ Middle-Class Capitalists -- "Supply-side economics had a good run, but continual tax cuts can no longer be the centerpiece of Republican economic policy. The demographics have changed. The U.S. is an aging society. We have made expensive promises to our seniors. We can’t keep those promises at the current tax levels, let alone at reduced ones." Wow, David Brooks is sounding like a centrist.
~ "We're all fascists now" -- "An interview with conservative pundit Jonah Goldberg, who argues that fascism is left-wing, not right-wing, and that contemporary liberals are fascism's intellectual offspring." Some partial truths turned into broad generalizations, as well as some bad reading of history -- still, interesting.
~ Exchanges in Latest Debate Highlight a New Dynamic in the Republican Field -- "The performance by Mr. Thompson, which including several pointed one-liners, capped a debate that showed the altered terrain of the Republican field as it moved beyond contests in Iowa and New Hampshire."
~ Review: To the Edge of the Precipice -- "Shelby Steele, who was a black radical in the 1960s, has since acquired a view of both blacks and whites that is almost completely unclouded by dogma. Dr. Steele, who has been a fellow at the Hoover Institution since 1994, is perhaps the first mainstream author to analyze white guilt and describe the tremendous damage it does. Dr. Steele does not get everything right, but his elegant dissection of white self-absorption and black opportunism is one of the best antidotes now available to the shelves of nonsense that pass for wisdom on race."
~ A big-tent approach to worship -- "At Unionville’s Pathways United, Christian traditions mix with Hindu music and teachings from the self-help shelf. It’s a seductive mix for those scared off long ago by rigid dogma. Of course, the approach has its critics."
~ Faith Without Borders -- "On the one hand, Perennialism rejects a modern world that has slipped off the rails. Yet it also embraces all variations of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish faith, as well as Asian religions and indigenous schools of thought. Perennialists believe that all religions are part of one great religion; that all wisdom makes up a great river of truth that all modern people should return to for what the Gospels call 'living water.'"
~ Tony Sachs: Roll Over Radiohead And Tell Trent Reznor The News -- "Music is a thing. It's always been more than the beats and melodies coming out of your speakers or headphones. It's being able to hold a physical object in your hand and say "This is mine - I own it." For all the Utopian talk of file sharing and subscriber services that will render music ownership as we know it obsolete, the needs and preferences of the record collector, the force that's kept the music biz going since there were records to collect, are being ignored."
~ Supporting Hillary or Barack? Stop Apologizing for It -- "It's time to stop ignoring gender and race as reasons to support a candidate."
~ The New Hillary -- "Clinton has abandoned a controlled and cautious persona for a more passionate fighting version of herself. Will post-N.H. voters buy it?"
~ Paul on CNN -- "I haven't been in the libertarian movement long (I'm 32, and I really only became a full-fledged movement libertarian at 25, when I started working for Cato). But reading the long-time activist's descriptions of those newsletters and how they were written, edited, and distributed, when Paul says he had no idea who wrote them, and that he rarely read them—well, I simply don't believe him. Nor do I think that would be a viable excuse even if it were true."


HABITATS/TECHNOLOGY
~ New Mode of Cell Communication Discovered -- "Like teenagers, cells in our bodies constantly chatter back and forth. But instead of zapping text messages, they relay signals with molecules. Now, researchers have discovered a surprisingly tiny new messenger in worms: protons. The find raises the possibility that the subatomic particle plays the same role in humans, the researchers say." Biophotons aren't new, but American researchers have been slow to examine this field of research.
~ Do Monkeys Pay for Sex? -- "It turns out that one of humanity's oldest professions may be even older than we thought: In a recent study of macaque monkeys in Indonesia, researchers found that male primates "paid" for sexual access to females — and that the going rate for such access dwindled as the number of available females went up."
~ CES 2008: Wrapping Up Another Year of Gadget Glut -- "From a humongous HDTV to Bill Gates' date with Slash, the annual orgy of consumer electronics delivers plenty of surprises. Enjoy a roundup of the biggest hits and misses."
~ Astronomers on the Universe: Hey, It's a Jungle Out There -- "The things astronomers discover as they probe deeper into the universe -- orphaned baby stars, planet-devouring black holes -- paint a bleak picture of "out there." Heck, we might as well stay home."
~ Gasoline Is Here to Stay, But It's Greener Than Ever -- "For all the hydrogen, electric and hybrids we'll see at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the green stars of the show may be the next generation of gasoline and diesel internal combustion engines."
~ Warming Climate Can Support Glacial Ice: It Did In Much Warmer Times -- "New research challenges the generally accepted belief that substantial ice sheets could not have existed on Earth during past super-warm climate events. The study provides strong evidence that a glacial ice cap, about half the size of the modern day glacial ice sheet, existed 91 million years ago during a period of intense global warming."
~ Why Chimps Eat Dirt -- "It turns out our closest animal relations have a good reason for feasting on soil."
~ Bond between ants, trees breaks without large animals -- "For thousands of years, thorny African acacia trees have provided food and shelter to aggressive biting ants, which protect the trees by attacking animals that try and eat the acacia leaves."


INTEGRAL/BUDDHIST BLOGS
~ Deepak Chopra: "I Know I'm Right, So Why Be Fair?" -- "Below is an article forwarded to me by its author, the noted biologist and evolutionary thinker, Rupert Sheldrake. It's about an encounter with the equally noted biologist and evolutionary thinker, Richard Dawkins. The subject isn't atheism, Dawkins' last hobby horse, but reason and science."
~ “Universal Man” -- "An illumination of Hildegard von Bingen — 12th century Christian nun, composer, and more." Very cool picture.
~ Gerald Ford’s Buddhism: Then and Now -- "Here of course, I am talking about me, Gerald Ford, which is my online screen name,* not the ex-president. While on my recent break, I’ve been spending a lot of time reading and writing outside the blog. Among the things I am reading (in no particular order)...."
~ The Sensual Approach to Self-Enquiry -- "When I talk about attention, I'm not talking about an abstraction, I'm talking about the very real and obvious phenomena of noticing that we are aware of one another, of ourselves, of these bodies, of these hands and eyes and feet, of the whole gamut of sensual experience, including the sensuality of thought, of emotion, of observing ourselves in this moment from head to foot, and everything in between. What are we observing that is not attention?"
~ Talking about art -- "With regard to conversations about the fine arts, I think the traditional means of learning to do so remains the best: poetry analysis. Namely, in the course of learning how to close-read poetry, and talk about the close-reading bursts of recognition that one glimpses during that, you learn how to talk about all the fine arts." Yep.
~ Sweet Seattle Rituals -- "When we're not adorned with our clunky metal armor, I often don't find people exhibiting the same willingness to extend oneself into another person's personal space in kind and friendly ways. hmmm... how can I start living this more fully?" As a former Seattle resident, this post made me homesick.
~ I-Thou: Twenty-four Hour Lament -- " The following account of a day in the life of a social worker is excerpted with the author's permission from Reviving Our Interiors: Serving the Mentally Ill Living On Our Streets, by Annie McQuade."
~ What's Next for Integral Buddhism? -- "Perhaps the future of Buddhism is integral. ISC Teacher Patrick Sweeney sees his purpose as creating mandalas or practice environments that faithfully embody Buddhism, in its most integral form. But what is Integral Buddhism?"

Tags: Annie McQuade, interiors, kindness, Seattle, talking about art, attention, self inquiry, Buddhist studies, integral, Buddhism, Deepak Chopra, Richard Dawkins, Rupert Sheldrake, Universal Man, Hildegard von Bingen, Integral Buddhism, ISC, Patrick Sweeney, acacia trees, chimps, climate change, ice caps, green gasoline, violent universe, CES 2008, monkey sex, cell communication, Ron Paul, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, gender, race, politics, online music sales, Perennialism, open worship, Shelby Steele, GOP debate, Jonah Goldberg, We're All Fascists Now, middle-class capitalists, happiness, antipsychotics, introspection, moral grammar, psychology links, Describing Inner Experience, Eric Schwitzgebel, Russell Hurlburt, work-life balance, psychology's image, pets, Atkins Diet, fat loss, sorbitol, diet coaches, eat less, exercise more, cross training, cranberry juice, diet books, speedlinking

Symphony Mechanique (circa 1925) Georges Antheil

It's not art, it's dada. I've always been a fan of dada, so I thought I'd post this strange musical composition and film. Very, um, unconventional.

From Wikipedia:

"Antheil, an American composer, wrote this score to accompany a dadaist film. This piece of ballet music which is impossible to play in full, is set to a film by Fernand Léger (1881 - 1955). Strangely, it was not until the 1990s that the film and score were brought together. The film and music is a masterful example of the movement. It is hard to believe that this is from the 1920s, nearly 100 years ago. Here is the Ballet Mécanique (with plane propellers and various other strange instruments). This is Antheil’s most famous work."

via videosift.com

Tags: Symphony Mechanique, Georges Antheil, dada, Fernand Léger, ballet, film, art, music

Daily Dharma: Our Four Functions

[image source]

Today's Daily Dharma from Tricycle:

Our Four Functions

With regard to the Four Noble Truths we have four functions to perform: The First Noble Truth is Dukkha, the nature of life, its suffering, its sorrows and joys, its imperfection and unsatisfactoriness, its impermanence and insubstantiality. With regard to this, our function is to understand it as a fact, clearly and completely.

The Second Noble Truth is the Origin of Dukkha, which is desire, "thirst", accompanied by all other passions, defilements and impurities. A mere understanding of this fact is not sufficient. Here our function is to discard it, to eliminate, to destroy and eradicate it.

The Third Noble Truth is the Cessation of Dukkha, Nirvana, the Absolute Truth, the Ultimate Reality. Here our function is to realize it.

The Fourth Noble Truth is the Path leading to the realization of Nirvana. A mere knowledge of the Path, however complete, will not do. In this case, our function is to follow it and keep to it.

--Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught; from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book.

Tags: Daily Dharma, Our Four Functions, Buddhism, Tricycle, Four Noble Truths, Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught

Biosemiotics

Hmmm. Didn't know that post-modern language theory had infiltrated the hard sciences, but then I stumbled upon Biosemiotics.

Here are some of the definitions given for this field of study:

What is BIOSEMIOTICS?

(i) the study of signs, of communication, and of information in living organisms (Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 1997. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 72).

(ii) biology that interprets living systems as sign systems (Emmeche, Kull, Stjernfelt 2002: 26).

(iii) the scientific study of biosemiosis (Emmeche, Kull, Stjernfelt 2002: 9).

Go to an encyclopedia article 'Biosemiotics'.

The term biosemiotic was first used by F.S.Rothschild in 1962.

Go to Gatherings in biosemiotics

Below are few definitions of biosemiotics as taken from various authors.

"The process of message exchanges, or semiosis, is an indispensable characteristic of all terrestrial life forms. It is this capacity for containing, replicating, and expressing messages, of extracting their signification, that, in fact, distinguishes them more from the nonliving - except for human agents, such as computers or robots, that can be programmed to simulate communication - than any other traits often cited. The study of the twin processes of communication and signification can be regarded as ultimately a branch of the life science, or as belonging in large part to nature, in some part to culture, which is, of course, also a part of nature." (Sebeok 1991: 22)

"The life science and the sign science thus mutually imply one another." (Sebeok 1994: 114)

"Biosemiotics proper deals with sign processes in nature in all dimensions, including (1) the emergence of semiosis in nature, which may coincide with or anticipate the emergence of living cells; (2) the natural history of signs; (3) the 'horizontal' aspects of semiosis in the ontogeny of organisms, in plant and animal communication, and in inner sign functions in the immune and nervous systems; and (4) the semiotics of cognition and language. /../ Biosemiotics can be seen as a contribution to a general theory of evolution, involving a synthesis of different disciplines. It is a branch of general semiotics, but the existence of signs in its subject matter is not necessarily presupposed, insofar as the origin of semiosis in the universe is one of the riddles to be solved." (Emmeche 1992: 78)

"A modern unification of biology /../ has to be based on the fundamentally semiotic nature of life." (Hoffmeyer 1997)

"The most pronounced feature of organic evolution is not the creation of a multiplicity of amazing morphological structures, but the general expansion of 'semiotic freedom', that is to say the increase in richness or 'depth' of meaning that can be communicated" (Hoffmeyer 1996: 61).

"The sign rather than the molecule is the basic unit for studying life." (Hoffmeyer 1995: 369)

"Sign processes penetrate the entire body of an organism. [...] Signification is the fundamental property of living systems that can be taken as a definition of life. Hence, biosemiotics can be viewed as a root of both biology and semiotics rather than a branch of semiotics." (Sharov 1998: 404-405)

"Biosemiotics can be defined as the science of signs in living systems. A principal and distinctive characteristic of semiotic biology lays in the understanding that in living, entities do not interact like mechanical bodies, but rather as messages, the pieces of text. This means that the whole determinism is of another type. /../ The phenomena of recognition, memory, categorization, mimicry, learning, communication are thus among those of interest for biosemiotic research, together with the analysis of the application of the tools and notions of semiotics (text, translation, interpretation, semiosis, types of sign, meaning) in the biological realm." (Kull 1999: 386)

"With the discovery that a set of symbols has been used by nature to encode the information for the construction and maintenance of all living things, semiotics - the analysis of languages and texts as sets of signs and symbols - has become relevant to molecular biology. Semiotics has given students of the DNA text a new eye for reading, allowing us to argue for the validity of a multiplicity of meanings, or even for the absence of any meaning, in a stretch of the human genome." (Pollack 1994: 12)

It looks like you can find all you might ever want to know about biosemiotics at this site, which links to lots of papers, people in the field, and so forth.

Tags: Biosemiotics, Science, language, signs, post-modern, organisms

Colbert Is Back

Looks like this is free offering from Comedy Central to let people know Colbert is back.

Tags: Stephen Colbert, Colbert Report, humor, satire, media, culture, news

Satire: Syria Attends Mideast Peace Talks For Free Continental Breakfast

From The Onion:

Syria Attends Mideast Peace Talks For Free Continental Breakfast

January 10, 2008 | Issue 44•02

ANNAPOLIS, MD—Despite years of diplomatic stalemate in the Mideast crisis, Syrian officials appeared eager to mend troubled Arab-Israeli relations this week by participating in a second round of U.S.-led peace talks, which feature representatives from every country in the region, as well as a complimentary continental breakfast in the hotel lobby.

"We are attending this conference in the interest of peace, and intend to take full advantage of the opportunities afforded by this historic summit," Syrian deputy foreign minister Faisal Mekdad said Tuesday. "I understand that a total of five different beverage options, including milk, tea, and assorted juices, will be available free of charge."

Enlarge Image

Syrian delegates maintained their position on the so-called "Danish situation."

Now in its second day, the summit has reportedly been a success for the Syrians, who described themselves as "optimistic" and "full" and are already pointing to a number of positive developments, including fresh pastries and a new policy of unlimited coffee refills.

A number of observers applauded Syria's apparent commitment to peace after Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, who selected a raspberry Danish and small cup of vanilla yogurt sprinkled with granola from the ice-filled bin in the hotel reception area, laid out his country's goals for the five-day summit.

"This is a chance for us to get something truly worthwhile out of the arduous peace process," al-Assad said. "Now is the time to put aside petty concerns and take advantage of this incredible generosity. The continental breakfast is only available for a limited time each morning, so we must be focused and diligent about getting down to the lobby before hotel staff remove all the doughnuts at 10:30."

According to the State Department, the first day's discussions—centered around Palestinian statehood and security along Israel's border with the Gaza Strip—went relatively smoothly, though the Syrian delegation did not appear until 90 minutes after the scheduled 9 a.m. start. Upon their arrival, however, the Syrians introduced themselves to their international counterparts and, as a measure of goodwill, offered them croissants, small wedges of grapefruit, and toast with jelly packets.

"We are encouraged by the Syrians' willingness to help promote freedom in the region," U.S. spokesman Sean McCormack said. "We just hope they will be ready to start talks before 10:31 tomorrow morning."

The meetings were not without setbacks. Small arguments broke out sporadically throughout the day over the status of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, and the Kuwaiti ambassador taking the last three cream cheese packets.

"We deserve unfettered access to the cream cheese," said the head of the Syrian parliament's foreign relations committee, Suleiman Haddad, addressing a group of delegates assembled near the milk and cream table. "This must not be taken away from us. It is unacceptable. What will we put on this bagel?"

Tensions were relieved by some Syrian representatives who took a more conciliatory tone, pointing out that it's nearly impossible to find good bagels in their native country at all, while expressing hope that a more equitable cream cheese–sharing arrangement could be arrived at the following morning.

Enlarge Image

Syria's president and prime minister hold an emergency meeting near the coffee.

In Tehran, meanwhile, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was not invited to the talks, was highly critical of the summit, claiming that the European-style breakfast was indicative of a pro-Israel bias.

"It is quite obvious that the Annapolis summit will offer little real substance to those in attendance," Ahmadinejad said. "The little single-serving boxes of cereal are not even sizable enough to constitute a real meal."

Nevertheless, many within the State Department said they were encouraged to witness a number of delegates working together to clean up a cup of spilled coffee. At one point, the Israeli prime minister even offered to give up extra napkins to Syria's president in order to stop the liquid from flowing over the side of the counter.

In comments made to the Syrian state newspaper, Syrian prime minister Muhammad Naji al-Otari said he was confident there was even more to achieve during the conference.

"I am pleased to report that there will be a variety of instant oatmeal flavors being offered in the near future," al-Otari said. "I am certainly looking forward to learning more about the apples and cinnamon, maple and brown sugar, and the plain oatmeal flavors."

While the United States organized an opening-night gala to welcome the participating ambassadors, the Syrians did not attend the event, claiming they had to go to bed early in order to get plenty of sleep for some "very important business" they had to attend to at 7 a.m. the following day.

Tags: Satire, Syria, Mideast Peace Talks, Free Continental Breakfast, humor, politics

Gratitude 1/10/08

I've been lax in my gratitude posts of late. I've been trying not to blog too much in the evening. But that's no good excuse.

Anyway, first some gratitude for blog stats. December was the busiest month ever for IOC, with over 13,000 visitors. January is looking to be even busier, with a current average of more than 500 hits a day. Thanks to all who read this blog regularly or just stumble upon it by accident.

Next, I want to express my gratitude for my job. I have several new clients already this month, two of whom are husband and wife. Both are serious cyclists, and it's fun to train people who take their fitness seriously. I love my work, and I feel fortunate to have such a great job, one that allows me to help other people.

Finally, I am grateful to have met some new friends through my friend Susie. They are intelligent kind people, and I am glad to know them. It's been a challenge to meet people outside of work, so for this I am grateful to Susie, and just plain grateful.

What are you grateful for today?

Tags: gratitude, blogging, work, friends

Speedlinking 1/10/08

Quote of the day:

"In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress."
~ John Adams

Image of the day (John Craig):


BODY
~ Tips for Longer, Healthier Living -- "With chronic disease such as high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity on the rise, so are many guys’ concerns about living a longer, happier life. There are certain things you can do every day to live a longer, healthier, more fulfilling life. Here are some tips on staying healthy and fit."
~ Preparing for Battle -- "If you need to decide what to eat, track down those foods in the proper amounts, and then finally take a bite — the chances of you skipping that meal are much higher. Here's how to take the thinking out of eating."
~ A Warm Welcome to 2008 From Fortress! -- "Fortress thinks people who make New Year's Resolutions are, well, "ass clowns." He'd prefer the SOBs just fail miserably; smoke more, drink more, become fat and weak, and lose more money on online betting sites."
~ Fitness: They’re Playing My Song. Time to Work Out -- "There is a rough science to choosing performance-enhancing music." To each his/her own, but for me, it's aggressive, angry metal -- cathartic as well as boosting hormone levels.
~ The Latest Diet Books: Recipe for Success? -- "ALL of the popular diet books and programs, regardless of the "scientific" explanations they give, recommend menus that give you 1500-1800 calories or less per day. For most people this means you will be taking in fewer calories. You can lose weight on ANY OF THEM, but ask yourself: Is this a way of eating I can follow for the rest of my life? (If not, you will regain the weight as soon as you go back to your old eating habits.)"
~ Study Results Provide Surprise Benefits Of Cholesterol -- "If you're worried about high cholesterol levels and keeping heart-healthy as you get older, don't push aside bacon and eggs just yet. A new study says they might actually provide a benefit. Researchers at Texas A&M University have discovered that lower cholesterol levels can actually reduce muscle gain with exercising." I've had this issue. So I adjusted my fat intake to 1/3 monounsaturated, 1/3 polyunsaturated, and 1/3 saturated (where we get cholesterol), to good results.
~ You Are What You Eat - Benefits of Superfoods -- "Do you know that "an apple a day can keep the doctor away"? Well that's what this famous saying indicates. Now maybe it won't keep the doctor away completely but it sure has some tremendous health benefits. It's considered by Dr. Steven Pratt, MD to be a "superfood." A "superfood" is a whole food. And whole foods are foods that are unprocessed or are minimally processed in such a way that none of the nutritional characteristics have been intentionally modified."
~ Cranberries have medicinal qualities -- "Many know cranberry juice can help prevent urinary tract infections, but an Israeli researcher says the tart berry has other medicinal qualities."
~ Diet affects older men's weight training success -- "Getting enough protein and moderate amounts of fat from food may help older men's muscles respond better to weight training, a study suggests." It's silly that they still have to do studies to reveal the obvious.


PSYCHE/SELF
~ Do We Have a Natural Bias Toward Superstitions? -- "A top British psychologist is attempting to explain the biological basis for superstitions."
~ Anxious babies have more bad dreams as preschoolers -- "Preschoolers' odds of having nightmares may be related to their temperament as infants, which may be noticed as early as 5 months old, new research suggests."
~ Study Finds Link Between Bipolar Disorder and Later Substance Abuse -- "In a study published in the January issue of the journal Archives of General Psychiatry, researchers interviewed subjects over a period of 20 years in order to discover connections between mood disorders and alcohol, cannabis, and benzodiazephine abuse and dependence. They found a strong association between bipolar disorder as well as sub-threshold mania and subsequent use of all the substances included in the study."
~ Did You Know? -- "Fast facts on antioxidants, depression, and multitasking."
~ 11 Tips to Carve Out More Time to Think -- "How much time do you get a week to just think? Not while listening to music, driving your car or during group brainstorms. Not while playing video games, doing chores or taking a shower. Just you and your brain."
~ The Great American Meditation Challenge Transforming 100,000 American Minds -- "One Oregon woman is challenging Americans to transform their relationship to the idea of "waiting" by turning waiting rooms across the country into meditation rooms. She has launched a nationwide campaign called the "Don't Wait - Meditate Challenge" to help people across the America utilize the estimated 42-50 mts a day that they spend waiting for miscellaneous events to happen."
~ How to Write a Personal Mission Statement to Make 2008 Your Best Year Ever -- "2008 is here and it is time to take a personal inventory to make this year your most productive year ever. You may be asking yourself, “How am I going to do that?” You, my friends, are going to write personal mission statements."
~ Psychoanalysis And Medications -- "As Americans increasingly seek a "quick fix" to physical and mental ailments, psychoanalysts can be caught in the crossfire of a debate about the potential benefits and drawbacks of including medication in their treatment plans. A panel discussion entitled, "The Uses of Medications in Psychoanalysis: What We Know; What is Uncertain," will be led by internationally renowned psychoanalyst Glen O. Gabbard, M.D., at the American Psychoanalytic Association's 2008 Winter Meeting."
~ The psychology of the politics of fear -- "Newsweek has a fantastic article on the psychology and neuroscience behind the politics of fear which draws directly on examples from the current and past US elections."
~ Read A Good Book And Reduce Your Stress Levels -- "Whether the book you choose to read is one that will have you looking into the future world of Big Brother, going back to the days or prehistoric monsters, or the kind which will make you drift off with the sounds of small silver waves lapping on a white sandy beach, reading the book is sure to be a great help in reducing your stress levels."


CULTURE/POLITICS
~ Pentagon, Big Pharma: Drug Troops to Numb Them to Horrors of War -- "The DoD is flirting with the idea of medicating soldiers to desensitize them to combat trauma -- will an army of unfeeling monsters result?" This is just plain scary.
~ New World Symphony and Discord -- "In the Gilded Age, a Czech visionary saw America's musical future in 'negro melodies'."
~ Democracy: inevitable no more -- By Madeleine K. Albright -- "In 1989, when the Berlin Wall came down, it appeared that the global debate had been settled in freedom's favor, yet almost two decades later, the struggle to define and defend self-government still rages on every continent. Indeed, a real danger exists that the world will again be split by competing ideologies, not communist versus capitalist but democratic versus autocratic."
~ Language past its use-by date -- "You can picture the scene. It's Friday evening at the Hilton Chicago, and Private Dining Room 2 is bustling with grammarians, etymologists, lexicographers and morphologists: America's linguistic elite are awaiting the announcement of the American Dialect Society's Word of the Year 2007 with barely contained excitement. As the moment gets nearer, the tension mounts. By the time the golden envelope appears it's hardly bearable. Then it's time, and the winner is ... " subprime!" The crowd goes wild."
~ Can Obama Build a Movement? -- "Democrats were supposed to return to the good old days of Clintonism, with its war rooms, relentless partisanship and parsing denials. But Hillary's version seems less compelling than her husband's -- a Clintonism without charm. And despite his loss to Clinton in New Hampshire on Tuesday, this has allowed Sen. Barack Obama to turn a coronation into a real race."
~ Consuming Our Way to Unhappiness -- "Our excessive consumption is trashing more than just the planet."
~ Kofi Annan to Lead Kenya Mediation -- "Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is taking over mediation in Kenya's disputed presidential election."
~ The Voter ID Fraud -- "Garrett Epps | Conservative Supreme Court justices are poised to uphold draconian ID requirements on voters that will redefine electoral politics in America."
~ An Old Democratic Fault Line -- "Beneath the profound novelties of this year's Democratic race lurk the same rifts that have characterized the party for 40 years. Breaking down New Hampshire's vote, the old divisions of class, and the sometime divisions of age, are plain to see."


HABITATS/TECHNOLOGY
~ A Brief History of Infinity -- "The paradoxical twists and turns of infinity have baffled many great thinkers. The first person to truly come to grips with the concept was the remarkable Galileo Galilei."
~ Scientists riff on fabric of the universe -- "Their music may be the scourge of parents, but the thrashing guitars of heavy metal bands like Metallica and Iron Maiden could help explain the mysteries of the universe." If this was how they taught science when I was in high school, I'd probably be a physicist.
~ The Big Bang Wasn't the Beginning -- " What if the Big Bang wasn't the beginning of the universe, but only one stage in an endlessly repeated cycle of universal expansion and contraction? So suggests mathematical physicist and string theorist Neil Turok. He thinks there may be many universes, at once interpolated but separate, like a mixture of gases."
~ Study: Daily Visits to Video-Sharing Sites Double -- "The number of internet users checking out YouTube and similar sites jumps to 15 percent, according to a new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project."
~ Math Trek: Small Infinity, Big Infinity -- "A mathematician develops a new proof showing that infinity comes in different sizes."
~ New X-ray Source In Nearby Galaxy Spawns Mystery -- "Astronomers studying a nearby galaxy have spied a rare type of star system -- one that contains a black hole that suddenly began glowing brightly with X-rays. Though this type of star system is supposed to be rare, it's the second such system discovered in that galaxy, called Centaurus A. The discovery suggests that astronomers have more to learn about the lives and deaths of massive stars in galaxies such as our own."
~ Feeling the Heat: Berkeley Researchers Make Thermoelectric Breakthrough in Silicon Nanowires -- "Energy now lost as heat during the production of electricity could be harnessed through the use of silicon nanowires synthesized via a technique developed by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy`s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley. The far-ranging potential applications of this technology include DOE`s hydrogen fuel cell-powered “Freedom CAR,” and personal power-jackets that could use heat from the human body to recharge cell-phones and other electronic devices."
~ Scientists: Earth Barely Supports Life -- "Without earthquakes, life on earth would cease to exist."
~ Fighting pollution the poplar way: Trees to clean up Indiana site -- "Purdue University researchers are collaborating with Chrysler LLC in a project to use poplar trees to eliminate pollutants from a contaminated site in north-central Indiana."


INTEGRAL/BUDDHIST BLOGS
~ Freedom Is Just Another Word For Freedom -- "In case anyone got the wrong idea, the purpose of this blog is not to give a blow-by-blow account of my experiments in the practice of self-inquiry, but simply to post whatever seems relevant to me in the course of attempting to immerse myself in this process. I'm not even sure how to describe self-inquiry in that way."
~ TEACHERS AND STUDENTS -- "The whole teacher/student thing is interesting to watch. At a big residential place like San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC) where I've been staying for the past week or so, it's vital to keep some clear lines of demarcation between teachers and students."
~ "Mapping the Dharma"--A Book Review -- "If you are just a bit like me in these respects, there’s help for us in the form of a neat little book called “Mapping the Dharma: A Concise Guide to the Middle Way of the Buddha,” 2007, by Paul Gerhards. Gerhards sets out to provide 'a visual guide to the teachings—more a map than a text,' with the recognition that 'The Buddha said that a map is not a territory; it is merely a tool of discovery.'"
~ Studying Happiness -- "I’ve been spending much of my time over the past few weeks reading about happiness. My new course on the philosophy of happiness begins on Friday – with Aristotle – and so I’ve been putting in a fair amount of preparation. The course is designed to look at various approaches to happiness from the perspective of philosophy, the sciences and systems of practice such as Epicureanism, Stoicism, Taoism and Buddhism, and I hope that it will be a truly hands-on course, looking hard at the roots of happiness in our lives and trying to put these various philosophies to the test."
~ Buddhism as philosophy -- "In modern Western culture there is a tendency to suppose that certain questions are to be settled through the use of reasoning, while others can only be addressed through faith and feeling. This is the dichotomy between reason and faith, with reason seen as a matter of the head and faith a matter of the heart." The post presents an excellent Mark Siderits quote.
~ Red ~C Diary: So, Am I an Atheist? -- "With all my postings about religion, politics, atheism, and the New Atheists, I think it's time that I reflect on where I stand within the psycho-socio-spiritual spectrum."
~ A 5-Level Model of Youth Organizing -- "It is commonly know that human development and justice are limited by social divides. This is especially the case among economically disadvantaged children and youth. In order to address the complex issues and life conditions of youth everywhere a wide spectrum of non-profit and charitable organizations have emerged to try and address inequality and social deprivation."
~ The Complete English Translation of Great Master Dogen’s Shobogenzo -- "This is a remarkable achievement on the part of Rev. Hubert Nearman and the monastics of Shasta Abbey. I’ve read through Volume One, in which the first 11 chapters were published, many times but this complete translation makes another 85 chapters available. That’s over 1,100 freely downloadable pages of Great Master Dogen’s writing. I am speechless - which is good because I have a lot of reading to do." Great link -- I look forward to checking this out.

Tags: Dogen, Shobogenzo, Buddhism, integral, youth organizing, atheism, philosophy, happiness, Mapping the Dharma, teachers and students, freedom, pollution, trees, earthquakes, silicon nanowires, x-rays, black holes, infinity, video sites, Big Bang, string theory, Democrats, Voter ID, Kenya, consumerism, Barack Obama, language, Democracy, Dvorak, drugging soldiers, reading, politics of fear, psychoanalysis, medications, personal mission statement, great American meditation challenge, time to think, facts, bipolar disorder, substance abuse, anxious babies, superstitions, diet, weight training, cranberries, superfoods, cholesterol, diet books, workout music, new years resolutions, meal preparation, live longer, be healthy, speedlinking

Sarah Chang: Mendelssohn Violin Concerto Mvt.1

Because great music is the voice of the soul.

Mendelssohn Violin Concerto Movement 1 Allegro, molto appassionato. Sarah Chang, violinist, with the New York Philharmonic & Kurt Masur.

Part One:


Part Two:

Tags: Sarah Chang, Mendelssohn, Violin Concerto Mvt.1, Allegro, molto appassionato, New York Philharmonic, Kurt Masur, classical, music

Jeff Foster - Meeting in Nonduality (Advaita)

Nice pointing out instructions. On a personal reaction -- although what he says makes perfect sense, how he says it seems "off." Kind of looks like he's trippin' on LSD or something. Maybe that's just me.

Jeff Foster ("Life Without A Centre") speaking about nonduality in Birmingham, UK, October 2007.

"Here, we speak of another possibility, a possibility the seeker in his/her desperate quest for spiritual enlightenment could never, ever accept: That there is only ever the present appearance of life, with no separate "individual" at its core who could ever escape, even if they wanted to. This message is about nothing less than the possibility of absolute freedom from suffering and seeking, right here, right now, in the midst of this very life. A life lived by no-one. A life without a centre...."

Tags: Life Without a Center, Jeff Foster, meditation, self exploration, spirituality, pointing-out instructions, non-duality, Advaita

Movement and Stillness: Chinese Ink Wash Animation

Very cool.

This very short video, "Movement and Stillness," was made by Yi-Hsuan Kent Chin as part of his graduate degree in film from an NZ Media Design School. He was working on the simulation of hand-made artwork in 3D animation, particularly the simulation of Chinese ink wash painting.

via videosift.com

Tags: Movement and Stillness, Chinese Ink Wash, Animation, art, film, Yi-Hsuan Kent Chin, NZ Media Design School, 3D

A Mixed Bag of Alternative Remedies

US News & World Report takes a look at alternative healing approaches. Not surprisingly, they take the traditional medical establishment viewpoint. Even meditation doesn't warrant their support, even though it is now widely studied and proven to be useful in physical illness as well as some forms of mental illness.

Anyway, here is their assessment:

This handful of unconventional practices only hints at the breadth of the spectrum. Journals, guidebooks, government resources, and private publications and websites provided the information.

Herbals and dietary supplements

Herbals such as echinacea for colds are a key element of traditional Chinese medicine. Dietary supplements range from vitamins and minerals to melatonin for insomnia and psyllium for cholesterol.

Pro/con: Some herbals, such as green tea and flaxseed, may turn out to have significant benefits, but few have been rigorously tested for effectiveness, and their safety, purity, and potency are loosely monitored. Dietary supplements also are understudied. Vitamin E for heart health was shown to add rather than reduce risk; glucosamine and chondroitin, however, hold promise for moderate-to-severe knee osteoarthritis.

Homeopathy

To treat a malady, a tiny amount of a substance is administered that in large doses would induce symptoms like those caused by the illness—for flu, say, something that would cause nausea. The substance often is diluted in water to the point that it is undetectable. The water is said to "remember" it.

Pro/con: Supporters say that homeopathy is safe and often helpful, so gold-standard proof is unnecessary. Large, systematic studies have failed to show its effectiveness for any condition.

Magnet therapy

Permanent magnets (like those in refrigerator magnets) embedded in items such as straps, shoe inserts, and mattress pads are used to treat pain.

Pro/con: The purported benefits have been attributed to the magnetic field's effect on cell function or blood flow. A recent analysis of numerous studies, however, found that for any of several conditions studied, magnets were no better than a placebo. Experts warn that magnets might affect implanted devices such as insulin pumps or pacemakers.

Reflexology

Reflexologists believe specific spots on the bottom of the feet are linked to other parts of the body, and massage or applying pressure to a part of the foot addresses problems in the associated organ.

Pro/con: Reflexology has been shown in preliminary studies to ease headache pain, severity of premenstrual symptoms, and, in cancer patients, anxiety. But the evidence that it counters specific diseases is weak. Experts urge caution with foot conditions such as unhealed wounds, a recent fracture, or active gout.

Meditation

Tuning out the everyday by finding a peaceful place and focusing inward on a word, an idea, or the act of breathing is a form of deep relaxation that may have health benefits beyond lowering stress.

Pro/con: An analysis of 311 studies found that the strongest and most consistent benefits were lowered heart rate, blood pressure, and cholesterol. But its authors declined to draw firm conclusions because the studies were not methodologically sound and the results varied widely by the study design and the kind of meditation.

Naturopathy

An overall approach to health emphasizing natural prevention and care. It draws on both conventional and unconventional practices, including nutrition, exercise, herbals, and homeopathy.

Pro/con: Naturopathy promotes a healthful lifestyle by encouraging sound eating habits, physical activity, and contact with nature. But some naturopaths oppose certain childhood vaccinations. And enemalike colonic irrigation, a cleansing therapy favored by many naturopaths, carries a small risk of infection (and a tiny one of bowel perforation) with little if any evidence that it helps.

They also take a look at some alternative healing modalities in more detailed articles:

• Embracing Alternative Care
• Touch Therapy
• Acupuncture
• Yoga
• Reiki

I wonder how much longer it will take for the mainstream medical establishment to start taking some of these ideas more seriously. Obviously some of them don't hold much reality (magnets, homeopathy), but the majority do, although one has to be aware of unsound practices -- but this is true in conventional medicine as well.

Tags: Alternative Remedies, US News & World Report, health, medicine, science

Satire: Hillary Schedules Official Crying Jag for South Carolina

For the record, I don't really think that Hillary's New Hampshire "emotional moment" was staged. But the fact that so many people do think so shows how calculated her image is to the public and/or the pundits.

Anyway, Andy Borowitz riffs on the situation in his usual irreverent manner.

Hillary Schedules Official Crying Jag for South Carolina

Posted January 9, 2008 | 06:41 PM (EST)

Saying that she has learned valuable lessons from her victory in the New Hampshire primary, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) today announced that she was scheduling an official crying jag for the eve of the South Carolina primary on January 26.

Speaking to reporters in Las Vegas this morning, her eyes noticeably watery, Mrs. Clinton said that her election eve crying jag would be scheduled for 4 PM EST on January 25.

But the newly lachrymose junior senator from New York indicated that her South Carolinian waterworks would only be one stop on an ambitious tear-drenched campaign schedule leading up to SuperDuper Tuesday on February 5, an itinerary which she and her aides are calling her "Sniffling Tour."

"I'm going to be crying so much you're going to think I'm Anderson Cooper," she wept.

But even as Mrs. Clinton said that "this election is a crying game, and I'm in it to win it," some political observers wondered if the New York senator would be able to cry at will as often as her punishing schedule demands.

According to strategist Mark Penn, a trusted group of campaign aides would have the job of inducing tears from Mrs. Clinton by "saying mean things to her" before every appearance.

Additionally, Mr. Penn says, Mrs. Clinton has a secret weapon in her latest endeavor, former president Bill Clinton: "No one can make Hillary cry like Bill can."

Elsewhere, denying reports that he was scaling back his presidential campaign, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney said that he was making "a major media buy at Kinko's."

Tags: Satire, Hillary Clinton, Official Crying Jag, South Carolina, Andy Borowitz, humor, politics, culture

Satire: Media Won't Drop Out, In Race for Long Haul

From Scrappleface, that other satire site.

(2008-01-09) — Despite embarrassing finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire, the mainstream media (MSM) today dismissed talk of an early withdrawal from the presidential race, saying political correspondents and pollsters are “in it for the long haul.”

The unnamed MSM spokesperson blinked back tears as she described the difficulty of predicting election outcomes, not to mention the hardship of life on the road and the stress of waiting for the next gaffe or personal attack from a candidate.

“It’s hard,” the MSM source said, “because we passionately want to take the country back to the days when we controlled the message and the distribution channels.”

Tags: Satire: Media Won't Drop Out, In Race for Long Haul, Scrappleface, humor elections, politics, media

Speedlinking 1/9/08

Quote of the day:

"There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun."
~ Pablo Picasso

Image of the day:


BODY
~ Playing 6 Questions With Dr Berardi -- "I caught up with JB and tried to get him to answer 20 questions. We compromised at 6."
~ Resolution: Run More -- "The passing of another year means it’s that time again; time to look to the future and resolve to create that better you. For many, personal health and fitness become the centerpiece of the New Year’s table, so where better to begin than running? Following a simple running guideline can ensure your running resolution lasts longer than a week."
~ Applied Nutrigenomics -- "Did you know that one person's physiological response to a certain drug or supplement can be 70 times stronger than it is in another person? It all has to do with the science of Nutrigenomics." More from Dr. Berardi.
~ What Is The Stone Age Diet? -- "The Stone Age Diet has many names - the Paleolithic Diet, The Paleo Diet, the Prehistoric Diet, The Caveman diet, or the Hunter-Gatherer Diet. The theory goes that modern human genes are the result of life conditions that did not change for over a million years before the introduction of agriculture. Farming did not exist until about 10,000 years ago. Humans have been around for over one million years. The Paleolithic era ended about 20,000 years ago - before the advent of agriculture."
~ How to Choose Achievable Goals -- "You want to build muscle & lose fat this year. Eating healthy will help, but that alone doesn’t make it. You need to get stronger. More strength means more muscle. More muscle is more calories burned."
~ FDA cracks down on 'bio-identical' hormones -- "Government health officials on Wednesday began cracking down on Internet sales of custom-mixed hormones for menopausal women, a market born when doctors deemed prescription estrogen therapy too risky for many."
~ Drug that targets cannabinoid receptors cuts appetite, burns more energy -- "The first clinical studies of an experimental drug have revealed that obese people who take it for 12 weeks lose weight, even at very low doses. Short-term studies also suggest that the drug, called taranabant—the second drug designed to fight obesity by blocking cannabinoid receptors in the brain—causes people to consume fewer calories and burn more, researchers report in the January issue of Cell Metabolism, a publication of Cell Press."
~ Potential To Restore Range Of Motion, Accelerate Healing Using Freeze-Dried Tendon Implants -- "Donated, freeze-dried tendon grafts loaded with gene therapy may soon offer effective repair of injured tendons, a goal that has eluded surgeons to date. According to study data published in the journal Molecular Therapy, a new graft technique may provide the first effective framework around which flexor tendon tissue can reorganize as it heals."
~ Surprise -- cholesterol may actually pose benefits, study shows -- "If you`re worried about high cholesterol levels and keeping heart-healthy as you get older, don`t push aside bacon and eggs just yet. A new study says they might actually provide a benefit."


PSYCHE/SELF
~ School Popularity Affects Girls’ Weights -- "Does thinness lead to popularity for teen girls, or is it the other way around?"
~ Understanding The Role Of Stress In Just About Everything -- "Stress, to put it bluntly, is bad for you. It can kill you, in fact. A study now reveals that stress causes deterioration in everything from your gums to your heart and can make you more susceptible to everything from the common cold to cancer."
~ Embodied, Situated and Distributed Cognition -- "From 1990 to 1999, the U.S. Library of Congress and National Institute of Mental Health sponsored an interagency initiative that designated the 90’s as the Decade of the Brain. Paradoxically, the cognitive science of this decade was marked by a major methodological and conceptual change that one can summarizes as “cognition beyond the brain”. Whereas the brain was traditionally conceived as being the only seat of intelligence, many trends of research emphasized the functional entrenchment of the brain in the body, environment and culture."
~ New Year’s Resolution: Let it Be -- "A fever for change hits us all -- to get healthier, slimmer, more productive, to be better people, whatever that means to us. To start again. But is this not aggression against ourselves? And does violence not breed violence?"
~ Genetic Factors Could Enhance Risk of Depression Following Stress -- "Genetic and environmental factors can interact and increase an individual's chances of developing mental illness, as researchers demonstrated in a 2003 study published in the journal Science. In the study, researchers found that individuals with one or two copies of the S allele of the serotonin transporter gene had a greater chance of becoming depressed or suicidal following stressful events than those with two copies of the L allele."
~ How to Practice Forgiveness -- "It's been said that "to error is human, but to forgive is divine." While this is a true statement, it's also vital to forgive if you want to move forward and enjoy a life."
~ Is Modern Self-Help Just a Massive Money-Making Scam? -- "Of course self-help books vary considerably, in both quality and popularity - but are the most popular also the highest quality? In an article to be published in the Journal of Happiness Studies, Ad Bergsma looks at the most popular self-help books and asks whether their advice can really help us (Bergsma, in press)."
~ 15 Proven Tactics to Fire Up Enthusiasm -- "The journey to success is long, and enthusiasm is the fuel that sustain you. It is the fire that lights you up and keeps you moving forward in the face of difficulties. It lifts you up when the situation looks dark, and it energizes you when you are tired. That’s why Winston Churchill said that not losing enthusiasm is essential for success."


CULTURE/POLITICS
~ Big Brains, Small Impact -- "Later intellectual generations, including, paradoxically, the rebellious 60s cohort, do give interviews; do write articles on demand; and most evidently do participate in symposia. They grew up in a much-expanded campus universe and never left its safety. Younger intellectuals became professors who geared their work toward their colleagues and specialized journals. If this generation — my generation! — advanced into postmodernism, post-Marxism, and postcolonialism, where the Daniel Bells and Lewis Mumfords never trod, it did so by surrendering a public profile."
~ Rumi for Twentysomethings -- "His nonsectarian love for God and his passion for creation attract people of all ages, including Madonna and Deepak Chopra. But recently, younger people have been tuning in to his work, especially as UNESCO commemorates the poet’s 800th birthday this year."
~ Twelve Ways to Know the Past -- "A culture is a unique kind of inheritance. It represents a hoard that can be preserved, nurtured, imaginatively enhanced, and sometimes even invented. It can be wasted, neglected, or allowed to fall to ruin, but it cannot be spent. One cannot trade, say, some hispanidad for a bit of English stiff upper ­lip. But a cultural legacy is never simply given. As Goethe observed, one must acquire it in order to possess it."
~ Voting in the age of 'Dr. Phil' -- "What Americans really want when they look into a politician's eyes is to see their own images reflected back, like in Narcissus' pool. The presidency in particular has become the highest ground in the culture war." I don't agree with his whole premise, but it contains some partial truths.
~ Angry White Man: The bigoted past of Ron Paul -- "But, whoever actually wrote them, the newsletters I saw all had one thing in common: They were published under a banner containing Paul's name, and the articles (except for one special edition of a newsletter that contained the byline of another writer) seem designed to create the impression that they were written by him--and reflected his views. What they reveal are decades worth of obsession with conspiracies, sympathy for the right-wing militia movement, and deeply held bigotry against blacks, Jews, and gays. In short, they suggest that Ron Paul is not the plain-speaking antiwar activist his supporters believe they are backing--but rather a member in good standing of some of the oldest and ugliest traditions in American politics."
~ Erica Jong: Tears & Fears -- "So now we have to do the hardest thing of all: not rush to judgment, wait, cultivate watchfulness not opinion mongering. Can we do it? Our democracy may depend on it. Kafka had this word over his desk: WARTEN (WAIT). Every writer must learn to do that while the unconscious works and underground forces prevail. Maybe countries have to do that too."
~ How black America can revive Obama's campaign -- "So much for the post-race horse race. The exit polls in New Hampshire were accurate for the Republicans and for the second-tier Democrats. The only miscalculation was the amount of support for Obama. That miscalculation is about race. Iowa caucus-goers stood by Barack, in part, because when voting with their bodies, in front of their neighbors, Iowans are held accountable. In the quiet, solitary space of the voting booth, some New Hampshire voters abandoned Barack."
~ Thompson Will Play as Long as 'Fred Funds' Hold Out -- "Friends of Fred Thompson, the almost-forgotten GOP presidential hopeful, plan to stay in South Carolina as long as fans pump money into his campaign." He's done, and never really got started.
~ Romney pulls ads in South Carolina, Florida -- "Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has decided to pull his advertising from South Carolina, where he was hoping to take on Mike Huckabee and John McCain, and from Florida, where Rudy Giuliani has been spending time and money."


HABITATS/TECHNOLOGY
~ Glowing pig passes genes to piglets (AP) -- "A cloned pig whose genes were altered to make it glow fluorescent green has passed on the trait to its young, a development that could lead to the future breeding of pigs for human transplant organs, a Chinese university reported."
~ Coming TV Conversion Raises Fears Among Suppliers -- "Millions of Americans will need digital converter boxes when television stations make the switch from analog to digital signals in February 2009. Demand will skyrocket and companies that will supply those converters hope they're up to the task."
~ Ancient Cave Bears Were As Omnivorous As Modern Bears -- "Rather than being gentle giants, new research reveals that Pleistocene cave bears ate both plants and animals and competed for food with the other contemporary large carnivores of the time: hyaenas, lions, wolves, and our own human ancestors."
~ Molecular Basis Of Monarch Butterfly Migration Discovered -- "An ancestral circadian clock mechanism is defined in monarch butterflies, in which two proteins function as critical components. The proteins may also function as output molecules that connect the clock to the sun compass for successful navigation."
~ Deep Sea Vents: Hot, Wet, Weird -- "The ocean floor's plumbing system works in strange ways, scientists report."
~ Astronomy Team Discovers Ancestors Of Milky Way-type Galaxies -- "Astronomers have discovered galaxies in the distant universe that are ancestors of spiral galaxies like our Milky Way. They are quite small -- one-tenth the size and one-twentieth the mass of our Milky Way, and have fewer stars -- one-fortieth as many as are in the Milky Way. Several of these galaxies, sometimes 10 or more, pulled together over the ensuing few billion years to form a single spiral galaxy."
~ Rogue Black Holes Roam Milky Way -- "Hundreds of middle-weight black holes may lurk inside our own galaxy."
~ Whither the ice caps? -- "Are the ice sheets about to melt away? Andrew Revkin of the New York Times offers a news story and a blog post that explores what the scientists trying to answer the question have to say. Both are worth reading, but I found the "Dot Earth" blog post, which is just as journalistically sound as the "official" story, more interesting."


INTEGRAL/BUDDHIST BLOGS
~ New Hampshire Victory for Hillary (and Science) -- "The 2008 presidential election is another history in the making. The issues are more crucial (e.g. Iraq, health care, climate change, energy policies, etc.) The race to the primaries is tighter. Thanks to Youtube, we can watch the election from anywhere in the world (I'm watching it from Ireland right now). And there's a good chance that we'll either have a first woman president, or a first black president. Historic times, indeed."
~ My Latest Guru -- "It's a reality show called “The Dog Whisperer”, and it documents the work of Cesar Milan, a famously skilled dog trainer, dealing with ordinary people's problems with their dogs. He has amazing success dealing quickly and effectively with the kinds of dog behavioral problems that most owners can't seem to make a dent in for years and years. Even more remarkable is the way he goes about it, and the understanding that he brings to both the people and the dogs."
~ Not drawn to the appeal of O-mentum -- "I keep hearing about "change", and "hope" and how Obama is the guy that will "get us there". And now all the Democratic and Republican Presidential hopefuls are trying to position themselves as agents of change. But everyone always wants those things. I think many people want something to believe in, and that Obama is the blank canvass onto which people can project that desire."
~ Surrender and Joy in the Pursuit of Excellence: Reader Discussion -- "There have been many excellent questions raised at the end of the previous post, Surrender and Joy in the Pursuit of Excellence. I have no definite answers, but I’d like to give my perspective on them here – and encourage my readers to give theirs in the comments section."
~ Who Will Be The "First Scientist"? -- "While the focus of most people in the U.S. is the Presidential primaries, a number of science bloggers had already chimed in on their "candidates" for the position of Presidential Science Adviser."
~ Living with Time to Enjoy Life -- "In each moment we have the potential to be present, or to miss it. If we miss the moment, we never get it back, and when it happened we were essentially dead. Along the journey of evolution, we seemed to picked up the habit of not living in the moment, spending time either in the past, as memories, or in the future, as planning."
~ Epiphanies to Come -- "I have been learning and letting myself change at an unprecedented rate over the past two years, and I know more change is in the cards. Somehow I know that this next great change in my ideas, my philosophy, my intentions, will be about simplicity, about making things easier. Our lives are too hard, too complicated, too busy. And most of the people I know are not very happy."
~ Obama and McCain -- "Here's a wonderful op-ed piece that just ran in the New York Times today, about some of the key distinctions between Barack Obama and John McCain. Notice the writer's keen obervation of masculine (agency, rights, justice) and feminine (communion, care, relationship) dynamics at play among these two very different candidates." Links to a David Brooks column that I think is pretty on target.

Tags: Barack Obama, John McCain, David Brooks, simplicity, being present, first scientist, surrender, joy, The Dog Whisperer, Hillary Clinton, ice caps, black holes, galaxies, deep sea vents, Monarch Butterflies, cave bears, digital TV, glowing pig, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, rave and politics, Erica Jong, gender, Ron Paul, narcissism, history, Rumi, intellectuals, academe, enthusiasm, self-help, forgiveness, depression, stress, resolutions, embedded, distributed, cognition, popularity, cholesterol, tendon implants, taranabant, bio-identical hormones, goals, stone age diet, Nutrigenomics, running, John Berardi, speedlinking

Daily Dharma: Changing Like the Weather

[image source]

Today's Daily Dharma is a nice quote from Pema Chodron:

Changing Like the Weather

The first noble truth says simply that it's part of being human to feel discomfort. We don't even have to call it suffering anymore; we don’t even have to call it discomfort. It's simply coming to know the fireyness of fire, the wildness of wind, the turbulence of water, the upheaval of earth, as well as the warmth of fire, the coolness and smoothness of water, the gentleness of the breezes, and the goodness, solidness, and dependability of the earth. Nothing in its essence is one way or the other. The four elements take on different qualities; they're like magicians. Sometimes they manifest in one form and sometimes in another.... The first noble truth recognizes that we also change like the weather, we ebb and flow like the tides, we wax and wane like the moon.

~ Pema Chodron, Awakening Loving-Kindness; from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book.

Tags: Daily Dharma, Changing Like the Weather, Buddhism, Tricycle, Pema Chodron, Awakening Loving-Kindness, First Noble Truth

Exercise: Ipsilateral Back Lunge

Bill Hartman recommends the ipsilateral back lunge as a great exercise to work the hips, legs, shoulders, and core. The best core exercises involve torso stability while reaching overhead. This is a great example of such as exercise that anyone can do.

The example here is with a light weight, but bump it up to 35-50 pounds and this is a tough exercise.

Tags: Exercise, Ipsilateral Back Lunge, Bill Hartman, fitness, weight training, Health

Vote Ralph Wiggum

This is from a very funny recent episode of The Simpsons.


via videosift.com

Tags: Vote Ralph Wiggum, The Simpsons, Politics, humor, cartoons

Obama: There Has Never Been Anything False About Hope

Well, Hillary made a great comeback from being down in the polls to take a much-needed win in New Hampshire.

But, Barack Obama's concession speech is as inspiring as if he had won.



It's going to be interesting to see what he can do in the coming weeks.

Tags: Barack Obama, There Has Never Been Anything False About Hope, politics, culture, inspiration, New Hampshire

Speedlinking 1/8/08

Quote of the day:

"The wages of sin are death, but by the time taxes are taken out, it's just sort of a tired feeling."
~ Paula Poundstone

Image of the day (Robert Heverly):



BODY
~ (Recipe) Celebrate National “Eat Something Raw” Day -- "Hesfit.com invites you to celebrate today, January 8, 2008 as, “National Eat Something Raw Day.” Eating raw foods has many benefits, such as higher nutrient value, enzymes which aid in digestion, also preventing chronic disease such as diabetes."
~ The 2008 Fat Loss Roundtable, Part II -- "Our fat-loss panel shoots down just about every dieter's tip known to fat bastards the world wide. Fortunately, the single-digit body fat trio offers up a bunch of stuff that works, too."
~ Teen Nutrition - A Diet Blueprint To Overcome The Odds! -- "Being a teenager and proper nutrition don't exactly mesh too well. In fact, the average student probably finds it almost impossible to eat clean... Here a few sample meal plans along with some important nutrition tips!"
~ Personal Training Redefined - What Truly Makes A Personal Trainer? -- "Personal training has been a profitable commodity in the fitness industry within the past decade… Distinguish between the fake and respected trainer from the following: required credentials, respected institutions, what to be weary of, and much more!"
~ Issue May Really Be How Far Players Will Go to Gain an Advantage -- "With items like over-the-counter pills and prescription injections, baseball players’ medicine cabinets have expanded as unmistakably as their physiques."
~ Healthy Living Probably Gives You 10 More Years, Study -- "A study of middle aged and older people living in Norfolk, UK, has suggested that not smoking, being active, eating enough fruit and vegetables and drinking only moderate amounts of alcohol can increase lifespan by an average of 10 years compared to people who do none of these things."
~ The Secret To Successful Dieting -- "Every year, there seems to be some new diet craze that drives consumers to buy into the vain hope that they can be thin and healthy in little time without changing their habits. However, there is one dieting technique that deserves attention that has stayed true since the beginning of time and has yet gone unchanged. It is simple: eat less and exercise more."
~ Significant Lowering Of Glucose In Oral Tolerance Test For Proprietary Version Of Resveratrol, SRT501 -- "Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. that announced SRT501 (Proprietary Version of Resveratrol), apart from being safe and well tolerated, also significantly lowered glucose in an oral glucose tolerance test in a Phase 1b, 28-day, clinical trial with patients who had Diabetes Type 2." It also lowers cholesterol and reduces estrogen in men.
~ Weak at the Knees -- "Female athletes are especially vulnerable to ligament injuries. They can learn to protect themselves—by behaving more like boys."
~ Oatmeal’s health claims strongly reaffirmed, science shows -- "A new scientific review of the most current research shows the link between eating oatmeal and cholesterol reduction to be stronger than when the FDA initially approved the health claim’s appearance on food labels in 1997."
~ Words To Live By (Part I): The Athlete’s Guide to Yoga -- "You know what a dumbbell is; how sore your abs get in a 15-min core class; and how raw your butt gets if you forget padded shorts in spin class. But being the bonafide athlete you are, do you know what yoga’s Pigeon pose can do for your tight hips? To help the jock in you find its inner yogini (for health only), we asked runner, triathlete and yoga instructor, Sage Rountree to give us the best hatha yoga poses for specific sports from her new book: The Athlete’s Guide to Yoga."


PSYCHE/SELF
~ Finding Balance in Graceful Movement -- "Do you ever bust out of your office at 11:49 AM for a noon yoga class that’s supposed to melt the workday’s tension away? How about scarfing down a healthy salad between phone meetings at your desk? In your quest to achieve a healthy balance, are all of life’s moving parts making you feel off kilter?"
~ Psychiatric Genetic Counseling Grows More Popular -- "In the (approximately) 20 years since researchers began to focus more intently on the hereditary aspects of mental illness, psychiatric genetic counseling has grown into a field which, while nearly invisible to the average citizen, could grow exponentitally larger in the near future. Like other practices designed to predict and, in some cases, artifically shape the course of human life, it raises nebulous ethical questions about the power we have over our own development the dangerous precedents that could be set by its expansion."
~ Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Top 5 Tips for Building the Life You Want -- "Bodybuilding world champion numerous times. One of the most highly paid actors in the last few decades. And now the governor of California. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s resume sounds more like the resume of three men rather than just one. How did he do it?" Whatever I think of Arnold, he certainly has built success from nothing but desire and discipline.
~ The Psychology of “Deal or No Deal” -- "The results of psychological research surround us every day, but few of us are aware of them. Psychology is interested in the study, observation and explanations for individual human behavior. It’s not about studying mice in labs anymore (although that’s still done, mostly in undergraduate psychology classes) so much as it is about studying real people in pseudo-real situations to better understand how and why people act, think or feel in the ways that they do."
~ 5 Ways to Help a Grieving Friend -- "The stages of grief are well-known and accepted, and last approximately six months. Here's 5 practical ways to help a grieving friend through the mourning process."
~ Stressing the Hippocampus: Why It Matters -- "The hippocampus is a brain area involved in memory that animal studies have shown to be sensitive to the effects of stress. Meanwhile, studies in adults with post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) related to either early childhood abuse or adult traumas like combat have found smaller hippocampal volume. Two recent meta-analyses of the literature on PTSD and hippocampal volume (Kitayama and colleagues 2005, which I co-authored, and one by Michael Smith, also in 2005) found smaller volume for both the left and the right hippocampi in both men and women with chronic PTSD."
~ Literary Gluttony - How to Consume More Books This Year -- "I might only have read four of five books outside of class in 2002. My decision to build the habit of reading more books came from being sold on the benefits of reading more. Here are some of the reasons to start...."
~ Psychotic Illness Can Be Predicted In Up To 80 Percent Of High-Risk Youth -- "Youth who are going to develop psychosis can be identified before their illness becomes full-blown 35 percent of the time if they meet widely accepted criteria for risk, but that figure rises to 65 to 80 percent if they have certain combinations of risk factors, the largest study of its kind has shown."
~ Reacting to External Things -- "Here's a great quote I have been carrying around with me for several decades: If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself but to your own estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment ~ Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (from Meditations) What are things that are external to you that may stress you?"


CULTURE/POLITICS
~ Smoking in Movies Linked to Kids Lighting Up (HealthDay) -- "Young people who start smoking may be influenced to do so by movies they saw in early childhood, new research suggests."
~ Experts chide Dr. Phil over Spears drama -- "Dr. Phil’s public brand of tough love sometimes makes him tough to love, particularly among mental health professionals who are accusing television’s self-help guru of making an uncalled-for house call on Britney Spears this week. "
~ Campaign Therapy -- "The French deconstructionists taught us that, sometimes, the best way to understand something is to look not front and center but at some small, seemingly insignificant detail on the very fringe. In that spirit, perhaps the best way to understand the upcoming year of presidential campaigning is to look at the candidates who do not stand a snowball’s chance in hell, who will probably never generate the slightest name recognition and may, indeed, be certifiably insane."
~ The Power of Being Influenced -- "Sometimes an idea spreads through society like a newly-mutated cold virus zooming through a class of first-graders. Other times, a good idea never seems to take hold. What makes the difference? Scientists want to know, and marketers want to know even more, since they make their living spreading ideas about their products."
~ Art as spectacle -- From India -- "Despite increasing interest, the autonomy and subversive potential of art seem threatened. This ‘dumbing down’ is particularly lethal for the arts because the discourse about arts in the media is brought on par with the language of selling soap or toothpaste."
~ Art without the artist -- "Like any museum of contemporary art, the Institute of Contemporary Art. is full of works built by somebody other than the artist, from Kelly Sherman's Foster Prize-winning "Wish Lists," a collection of personal wish lists gathered from the Internet, to "Cell (Hand and Mirror)," a mysterious Louise Bourgeois piece featuring a pair of carved marble hands in the center of miniature room."
~ Is Bush Inventing Another Constitutional Power? -- "Instead of issuing a regular or return veto, which returns the bill to the house of origin, and therefore provides for the opportunity of congressional override, Bush stated that he needed to pocket veto the bill, arguing that "the adjournment of the Congress has prevented my return" of the bill to it. Unlike a regular veto, pocket-vetoed bills die; no congressional override is possible. But here's the anomaly: in this case, Bush did, in fact, return the bill to Congress, doing so, according to his veto message, "to leave no doubt that the bill is being vetoed." Bush's actions - a pocket veto claim combined with the act of return - not only create doubt, but grab a power for the president that the Constitution's framers emphatically and repeatedly denied the office: a nearly unlimited absolute veto."
~ The Online Beat: Ten Questions In Search of Answers From New Hampshire -- "Who drops out? Who changes strategy? Who gets picked for vice president? And will Fox News declare their guy Romney the winner even if he tanks?"
~ The FundamentaList (No. 15) -- "Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney jockey for the support of the Christian base."


HABITATS/TECHNOLOGY
~ ActNow!: How Green is Your Candidate? -- "Grist details the candidates' environmental plans."
~ Clockwork in Orange and Black -- "Monarch butterflies navigate using an internal compass and a mammal-like clock."
~ Indian Farmers Poison 50 Rare Jackals -- "At least 50 rare jackals were poisoned to death in northern India by farmers angry over alleged attacks on children and damage to crops blamed on the animals, a forest official said Tuesday."
~ MP3s Are Still A Crime to RIAA, Despite Post Correction -- "The music industry still believes that ripping CDs into MP3s is illegal, despite successfully getting The Washington Post to issue a correction to the contrary. Rippers aren't likely to be sued unless they share tracks on the internet, but the music industry still thinks its customers with iPods are thieves."
~ Deliciously Over-Engineered Gadgets Loom on the Horizon -- "Cruising through the booths on the CES show floor, a few things catch our eye, though most are on the horizon, not available yet. A fuzzy keyboard, Dick Tracy "watch" and a sci-fi keyboard with mouse should be fun."
~ Apple's Tower of Power: New Mac Pro Has 8 Processor Cores Standard -- "It's got eight -- count 'em -- eight core processors. The new Mac Pro comes standard with up to 3.2-GHz and can drive up to eight 30-inch displays."
~ New Blueberry Bushes Offer High Yields Of Plump, Phytonutrient-rich Fruit -- "Combining tenacity with taste, Agricultural Research Service scientists have bred three new blueberry cultivars that can take the heat of growing in the South while offering high yields of plump, phytonutrient-rich fruit."
~ US Ranks Last Among Other Industrialized Nations On Preventable Deaths, Report Shows -- "The United States places last among 19 countries when it comes to deaths that could have been prevented by access to timely and effective health care, according to new research. 101,000 fewer Americans would die annually if the US improved its preventable death rate to that of the 3 top performing nations."


INTEGRAL/BUDDHIST BLOGS
~ Virtual Zen: Dropping Here and There -- "Jundo Cohen, student of Gudo Wafu Nishijima Roshi, and abbot of the almost completely virtual Treeleaf Zendo joined us to discuss his virtual sangha. Jundo formed the community to meet the needs of those people who were living in highly isolated situations, or were too sick or elderly to continue to sit with a local Sangha. Using technological tools such as Skype, U-Stream, and Operator 11 Jundo has found a way to do daily sittings, ceremonies, and even retreats online. Listen in and find out more about this ground-breaking endeavor."
~ Blind Compassion -- "I have been working to understand compassion and learn how to apply it in my work and life for the past several years. Recently, however, I’ve been looking at compassion from a different perspective. When does compassion not really look like compassion - or how we have been led to believe compassion should look? When is it more compassionate to be fierce? To say no? To hold another accountable for their actions? And how can we use true compassion to effectively serve another?"
~ We all Contribute to the Beauty and Prosperity of the World -- "If we focus on the bigger picture we can see that just like pixels on a big screen television which on there own seem tiny and insignificant but when seen as a whole create a profound, beautiful and vibrant reality. So too our seemingly small and limited life when seen as apart of a bigger essence is suddenly seen as critical to this grand project we call existence."
~ Green Hermeticism -- "In order to create a greener, sustainable world, we must engage with Nature as a living, breathing (through prana yo), intelligent being that deserves our respect and adulation. Furthermore, Hermeticism's famous maxim, "As above, so below," also known as the law of the Macrocosm and Microcosm, is essentially non-dual."
~ Hydras, Sybil, I Am That I Am -- "The personality of Katherine reasserted itself with a vengeance, and Life helpfully met it with many hard walls to break itself upon. It has been quite the lightbulb to witness how sharp the boundaries are between the sub-personalities. There seem to be four that are left...." Great post on the nature of struggling with our parts.

Tags: subpersonalities, green hermeticism, part of existence, compassion, Jundo Cohen, Buddhist Geeks, health care, blueberries, Apple Mac Pro, gadgets, MP3, jackals, green candidates, GOP, Christian base, ten questions, New Hampshire, Bush, vetoes, manufactured art, radical art, Network theory, fringe candidates, Dr Phil, Britney Spears, smoking, reacting, predicting psychosis, read more books, stress, hippocampus, grief, Deal or No Deal, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the life you want, genetic psychiatry, balance, yoga for athletes, oatmeal, knee injuries, women, resveratrol, dieting, healthy living, athletes and drugs, personal trainers, teen nutrition, fat loss, eat something raw, speedlinking

Daily Dharma: Buddha as Archetype

[image source]

Today's Daily Dharma from Tricycle:

Buddha as Archetype

[We can] view the Buddha as a fundamental archetype of humanity; that is, as the full manifestation of buddha-nature, the mind that is free of defilement and distortion, and understanding his life story as a great journey representing some basic archetypal aspects of human existence. By viewing the life of the Buddha... as a historical person and as an archetype, it becomes possible to see the unfolding of universal principles within the particular content of his life experience. We can then view the Buddha's life not as an abstract, removed story of somebody who lived twenty-five hundred years ago, but as one that reveals the nature of the universal in us all. This becomes a way of understanding our own experience in a larger and more profound context, one that connects the Buddha's journey with our own. We have undertaken to follow the same path, motivated by the same questions: What is the true nature of our lives? What is the root cause of our suffering?

~ Joseph Goldstein, Seeking the Heart of Wisdom; from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book.

I like this approach. Buddha was a human being just like any of us.

He undertook the same hero's journey that is available to each of us. Most simply, the journey has three phases:

1) Buddha left his life of wealth and comfort in search of truth (separation)
2) He sought teachers and masters to impart their wisdom to him, culminating in his realization of the Middle Path, and his enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree (initiation)
3) Upon his illumination and realization of the truth, he began his career as the Buddha, teaching all who would hear the truth he had discovered (return)

Joseph Campbell broke it down even further in his monomyth:

Campbell's insight was that important myths from around the world which have survived for thousands of years, all share a fundamental structure. This fundamental structure contains a number of stages, which includes

1. A call to adventure, which the hero has to accept or decline
2. A road of trials, regarding which the hero succeeds or fails
3. Achieving the goal or "boon", which often results in important self-knowledge
4. A return to the ordinary world, again as to which the hero can succeed or fail
5. Applying the boon, in which what the hero has gained can be used to improve the world

Because the monomyth is an archetype, it is available to all of us. Each person can choose to follow this path, test the Buddha's injunctions, and discover their own truth about the nature of samsara.

Tags: Daily Dharma, Buddha as Archetype, Tricycle, Buddhism, Joseph Goldstein, Seeking the Heart of Wisdom, Buddha, monomyth, hero's journey, Joseph Campbell

Don Beck on Emergent Stages

Don Beck makes another cogent defense of the Spiral theory, and in this case, a point that I think gets repeatedly lost when AQAL proponents dismiss SDi as nothing more than a values line in the integral model.

As far as I am concerned, the identification of the eight stages is of secondary usefulness, at best. The important element in the Spiral model is how it addresses and understands change -- how new stages emerge or don't emerge, based on a variety of factors.

This is from the SDi listserve.

With regard to the current conversation regarding 4Q/8L -- our version is 4Q/8L and AQAL is Wilber's version, the concept of "allometry" might be of use. The danger is to reduce the quadrants to separated boxes as if they are self contained entities. They are not. In a recent posting I made on Third Tier, I described the role of the Spiral in the vortex among the four, as the "verb" that drives the "rise" and meshes the various concentrations and combinations. It is quite OK to separate them for an educational purpose but quite reductionistic and artificial to attempt to decide which one comes first etc. etc. This is the reason we use the term "Integral."

The real contribution of Graves and Spiral Dynamics is not in the array of levels that he identified in his research; rather, the key is in the Dynamics of the Spiral itself.

I have a great deal of difficulty understanding how other theories explain how/why/when the emergence occurs. To my knowledge Graves offers the very best explanation within the "Double Helix" - the interaction between/among Life Conditions, human Capacities, and specific Contexts. As early as 1971 at a presentation in Washington DC (National Institute of Mental Health) he "climbed out on a fragile limb" to declare how Life Conditions shape what we know as the interiors, and why these patterns have correlates within the brain's structure, neuronets, chemical flows, and energy swirls ... nobody else was saying it so well, especially then.

When I speak or write of Spiral Dynamics, I'm referring to the "emergent, cyclical, double helix model of bio-psycho-social systems" -- the Master Code -- not the specific "systems" that many have identified. I didn't find any of this in Loevinger's initial research, for example, and have difficulty tracking the process that creates new world views or value systems in other models. This is one of the reasons I decided, after studying 42 systemic models, that I should cast my lot with Clare. I have never had second thoughts.

( We just completed an empirical study of 20,000 people in Iceland.)

I think this is a useful clarification. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Tags: Don Beck, Stages, Spiral Dynamics, integral theory, emergent, cyclical, double helix model, bio-psycho-social systems, Clare Graves

Matt Rentschler - 5 Reasons Why I'm Voting for Obama

Matt Rentschler is the Managing Editor of AQAL: Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, published by Ken Wilber's Integral Institute.

I pretty much agree with his five reasons. I'm not completely convinced that point #1 is true. Obama has a consistently liberal voting record in the Senate. However, he is also able to compromise and work with Republicans, so this is one of those points where we'll have to wait and see.

However, I do need to admit that his campaign speeches have been highly non-partisan, and seem to be seeking unity -- so maybe he has changed course?

5 Reasons Why I'm Voting for Obama
by Matt Rentschler

1. His third way politics: not ideologically driven, and not merely political compromise, but a pragmatic flexibility that allows him to move from left to right on, and ultimately through, issues.

2. His cognition, self-identity, and morality are seemingly Green to Teal or higher, which means he meets the prerequisite altitude(s) to handle the complexities of 21st century foreign and domestic policy.

3. As a result, what he lacks in experience or age (his two biggest criticisms) he more than makes up for in political judgment and intuition, as exemplified in his decision to not authorize the invasion of Iraq in the first place, as well as his current stance on Iran.

4. His image. Or more specifically, his face and name. As a man of color with a Muslim background, Obama has the potential to rebrand the long war against global extremism as a truly connected and impartial effort to minimize human suffering, rather than some profit-driven imperialist adventure or fundamentalist crusade.

5. His faith, or "secular humanism." With so much terrorism carried out in religion's name and with the US itself facing a similar pressure cooker, Obama's complex, mature spirituality is a huge asset in both foreign and domestic policy.

I could come up with 5 more reasons, but those will do for now. Probably more so than any other presidential candidate, Obama offers a way to transcend several dualisms and dichotomies: liberal v. conservative; atheist v. fundamentalist; black v. white; Christian v. Muslim. Whether or not he can make good on this potential remains to be seen, but presidential elections are always a gamble, no matter who you vote for. So, as it stands now, Obama has my vote if he gets the nomination, because he holds the most promise of being an "integral leader."

(For an excellent, and I believe Teal, perspective on Obama's candidacy, see Andrew Sullivan's article "Goodbye to All That.")

Tags: Matt Rentschler, 5 Reasons Why I'm Voting for Obama, AQAL Journal, integral theory, politics, culture

Wile E Coyote - Zip Zip Hooray

In response to two young children watching his adventures, Wile E Coyote explains to his young viewers why he wants to eat the road runner.

There's a kind of erasing of boundaries in this episode that I like -- there's also a self-referential humor that is cool.


via videosift.com

Tags: Wile E Coyote, Zip Zip Hooray, Road Runner, cartoons, humor, culture

Satire - Report: American Schools Trail Behind World In Aptitude Of Child Soldiers

The Onion News Network is back from vacation.


Report: American Schools Trail Behind World In Aptitude Of Child Soldiers

Tags: The Onion, News, Satire, American Schools, Aptitude, Child Soldiers, humor, culture

Tribal Religion, Transcendent Religion

Eboo Patel, author of The Faith Divide blog at the Washington Post, has posted this partially true but useful (inasmuch as it recognizes that all faith is not the same) entry:

Tribal Religion, Transcendent Religion

There is a story about a Christian minister living abroad during World War II. His congregation sends him money so that he can return home for Christmas. When he doesn’t come back, they ask him why. He says that he used the money to help a group of Jews escape Hitler’s death camps and flee to safety.

“But they’re not even Christian,” writes one member of his congregation.

“Yes, I know,” the minister responds. “But I am.”

All religions have both types of people – the tribal and the transcendent. The tribal type see in the particular narratives of their tradition a narrowing of concern, and therefore care only about the people who look like them, talk like them and pray like them.

The transcendent see in the same particularity a universalizing of care, and therefore focus their energies on all people, especially groups most in need, regardless of creed.

If tribal religion wins, it necessarily pits groups against one another based on identity, and it means that people like Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris are right – religion will destroy everything.

If transcendent faith wins, it opens the possibility for different identity groups to use their particular narratives to articulate a collective vision that includes everybody.

If that isn’t the future, there will be no future.

This is why Dietrich Bonhoeffer is one of my faith heroes. A German Lutheran religious scholar and pastor, he was one of the most important leaders in the resistance to Hitler in Germany, ultimately dying for his cause.

After Kristallnacht, he said to his fellow Christians on German radio, “Those who did not stand up for the Jews do not deserve to sing Gregorian Chants.”

Bonhoeffer died for the Jews of Europe because he was a Christian, one who found the transcendent instead of the tribal in the particular. Drawing on the depths of his faith, Bonhoeffer spoke of “the cost of discipleship” -- which meant a commitment to the transcendent ethic of Jesus and the universalizing word of God, not a narrow concern for a tribe that shared his particular religious rituals.

All of our faiths have a definition of discipleship that transcends the tribe. Acting on it determines the quality of our faith, and the possibility of our future.

Patel's distinction is useful, if simplified, in the current debate between the atheists and religion. Dawkins, in particular, sees ALL religion and all forms of faith as harmful. Most of the others also have issues with faith in one way or another, but transcendent faith, as Patel describes it, should be something we seek to encourage.

We might, again in an overly simplified way, see transcendent faith as the "healthy" form of religion. If we accept that premise, we should encourage those who hold a religious (as opposed to spiritual) worldview to become less tribal and more transcendent. I'm not sure how we would do this, but it seems like an issue worth considering.

Tags: Tribal Religion, Transcendent Religion, Eboo Patel, The Faith Divide, faith, religion, culture, atheism

Speedlinking 1/7/08

Quote of the day:

"There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line."
~ Oscar Levant

Image of the day:


BODY
~ Twenty of the World's Healthiest Foods -- "When it comes to eating healthy most people think of dull, boring food that's green in color. In reality, most of the world's healthiest foods not only taste great, they also come in a vast array of vibrant colors. Many require little, if any preparation, yet provide you with the energy and stamina to get through the day. They are the ultimate fast food!" The list doesn't include fish or chicken, but it's still useful.
~ Plyometrics: Getting Stronger And Faster -- "Plyometrics are a form of exercise designed to produce the greatest strength gains in as short a time as possible. Plyometrics actually use gravity to store potential energy in the muscles, then quickly turn this stored energy into kinetic energy. Here are some examples of plyometric drills that can be useful to a guy who plays football recreationally, or who is looking to just increase their strength and add variation to their workouts." I LOVE plyos.
~ The 2008 Fat Loss Roundtable, Part I -- "It's the New Year, the traditional time to think about ditching all that blubber. What's the best way to do it, low carbs, low fat, low calories, exercise, supplements, or some novel approach?"
~ Pilates: Why Every Guy Should Try It -- "Pilates is a fitness craze taking the world by storm. Classes are popping up in gyms, home fitness gurus like Denise Austin have put out video tapes, and Pilates mats are being sold everywhere from Target to health food stores. More and more men are practicing Pilates by the day."
~ How to Exercise in Cold Weather -- "It’s freezing outside, it’s freezing when you exercise. Your home gym isn’t isolated. Your gym manager doesn’t heat the gym. But that doesn’t stop you. You decided to stop making excuses not to exercise because it’s too cold."
~ Chronic Pain Relieved By Strength Training Of Neck Muscles -- "Neck pain has been steadily increasing over the past two decades and is now second to back pain, the most common musculoskeletal disorder. Women are more likely than men to suffer from persistent neck pain, in particular those who engage in repetitive tasks such as working at a computer keyboard."
~ Help your preteen get strong the safe way -- "You would expect to find pre-algebra, American history and grammar in a middle-school curriculum, but what about a lifetime lesson in fitness? As childhood obesity reaches epidemic proportions, an increasing number of schools are paying closer attention to what's being taught during physical education."
~ Scientists Explain How Alcohol Causes Hypoglycemia (Too Low Blood Sugar) -- "Scientists at the leading Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have now disclosed the mystery how alcohol may cause exaggerated insulin secretion resulting in severe hypoglycemia (too low blood sugar)."


PSYCHE/SELF
~ Actually, happiness isn't within -- "There is, it turns out, little difference between You and Me. Both outlooks reflect a firmly held and particularly American belief that happiness lies deep inside the inner you, or me, or whatever.The self-help industry has it wrong."
~ Language doesn't influence our thoughts ... except when it does [Cognitive Daily] -- "The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis -- stated in its strongest form -- claims that language determines thoughts: if a language doesn't have a means of expressing a particular idea, then people speaking that language can't even conceive of that idea. This strong form has long since been rejected: There are plenty of thoughts we can have without having the words to express them."
~ Progress & Change Aren't Possible if You Keep Doing the Same Things -- "When you feel safe inside of the status quo of whatever it is you have done to this point in your life, and when you feel safe in any field of endeavour that has formed part of your life to this point, you are inside your comfort zone. It is only when you notice the tug of fear, of apprehension, perhaps merely of discomfort, that you actually are feeling the call of what may very well lead to potential growth and change."
~ Fantasies: In Your Dreams -- "Why anxious women fantasize about anonymous sex."
~ How Do We Know When We Have Enough? -- "One of the challenges we face in life is realizing when we have enough. Often there are times when we think we need more of something only to find out that we had it all along. Other times, we feel our lives are missing something – we feel an emptiness that we can’t identify. That emptiness is often a sign that we are missing or don’t have enough of a certain item in our life – be it enough family time, education, happiness or a myriad of other things."
~ The Four Laws of Simplicity, and How to Apply Them to Life -- "It’s been nearly a decade since I first started trying to simplify my life, and in those years I’ve struggled with clutter, I’ve had surges and ebbs of complications and simplicity, I’ve tried dozens of methods of simplifying from as many sources. It’s been an interesting journey, although not one that I can recommend to everyone. If you’re looking to simplify a certain aspect of your life, you don’t want to go through that kind of confusion."
~ Sol Snyder on Finding God in the Brain [Terra Sigillata] -- "The first 2008 issue of New England Journal of Medicine came yesterday in the snailmail box and I read the following story with such great interest that I nearly walked into a tree. Bear with me but the news lately has taken me on a neuroscience streak without my having specific professional expertise in the area."
~ The reading cure -- "The idea that literature can make us emotionally and physically stronger goes back to Plato. But now book groups are proving that Shakespeare can be as beneficial as self-help guides. Blake Morrison investigates the rise of bibliotherapy."


CULTURE/POLITICS
~ "There Will be Blood" wins top critics' awards -- "'There Will Be Blood' took top honors from the National Society of Film Critics on Saturday, scoring wins for best picture, best actor for Daniel Day-Lewis and best director for Paul Thomas Anderson."
~ Will the Humanities Save Us? -- "Do the humanities ennoble? And for that matter, is it the business of the humanities, or of any other area of academic study, to save us? The answer in both cases, I think, is no."
~ Revolution -- "Change, particularly generational change, was also at the heart of Barack Obama's victory over John Edwards and Hillary Clinton. Voters under 30 supported him by better than 5 to 1 and he carried independents by more than 2 to 1, according to media entrance polls."
~ Look back in wonder -- "What is the nature of memory? And can it be captured in literature? Craig Raine considers the most successful attempts at doing so, from Wordsworth's 'spots of time' to Proust's tea-soaked madeleines."
~ Can You Count on Voting Machines? -- "But when Platten went to retrieve paper copies of each vote — generated by the Diebold machines as they worked — she discovered that so many printers had jammed that 20 percent of the machines involved in the recounted races lacked paper copies of some of the votes. They weren’t lost, technically speaking; Platten could hit “print” and a machine would generate a replacement copy. But she had no way of proving that these replacements were, indeed, what the voters had voted. She could only hope the machines had worked correctly."
~ Election 2008: What Happens When Politicians Promise Change -- "It is hard to imagine the candidates providing much change when their political strategists are the same crew who've been around for years."
~ You're a Good Man, Charlie Gibson -- "Saturday night's GOP/Democratic debate featured an unusual moment: ABC's Charlie Gibson, its moderator, took advantage of the debate's back-to-back, Republicans-then-Democrats format to ask all the candidates, from both parties, to share the stage."
~ GOP's Focus Is Fear -- "Look for an emphasis on terrorism, taxes, and immigration." That ain't news, it's GOP politics as usual.


HABITATS/TECHNOLOGY
~ Some Biofuels Are Worse Environmentally Than Fossil Fuels, Analysis Shows -- "Biofuels reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in comparison to fossil fuels. In the journal Science, researchers consider environmental costs of biofuel production. Corn, soy and sugarcane come up short. The authors urge governments to be far more selective about which biofuels they support, as not all are more environmentally friendly than fossil fuels."
~ Intel Banks on Another Wireless Gadget -- "Intel Corp. is betting on a big expansion of "ultra-mobile" computing, an idea that depends on people being willing to tote around a portable device beyond their ubiquitous cell phones."
~ Sunspot is harbinger of new solar cycle, increasing risk for electrical systems -- "A new 11-year cycle of heightened solar activity, bringing with it increased risks for power grids, critical military, civilian and airline communications, GPS signals and even cell phones and ATM transactions, showed signs it was on its way late Thursday when the cycle`s first sunspot appeared in the sun`s Northern Hemisphere, NOAA scientists said."
~ Ceramic hybrid needles take the sting out of shots -- "New polymerization technology may one day take the pain out of injections and blood draws. A team of researchers at the University of North Carolina and Laser Zentrum Hannover have recently used two-photon polymerization to create hollow needles so fine patients wouldn`t feel them piercing their skin. Clustered together on a patch, these microneedles can deliver drugs or draw blood efficiently as standard hypodermic needles."
~ Prairie grass energy boost studied in the field -- "Using switchgrass as a biofuel yields five times more energy than is used to grow it."
~ Why Are Chickens Getting So Fat? -- "Over the years, poultry breeders have bred chickens that grow faster and produce more meat in response to a growing worldwide consumer demand. But modern broiler/breeder chickens don't adequately balance their feed consumption to match their energy requirements. When these birds are given unrestricted access to feed, they will overeat and become obese."
~ Scientists find cultural differences among chimpanzee colonies -- "Socially-learned cultural behaviour thought to be unique to humans is also found among chimpanzees colonies, scientists at the University of Liverpool have found."


INTEGRAL/BUDDHIST BLOGS
~ Allowing Nirvikalpa -- "There's an interesting comment from an earlier post that I thought was worth responding to. It's from mayagaia, who has an interesting website worth checking."
~ Ayaan Hirsi Ali Tells It Like It Is -- "Ayaan Hirsi Ali reviews The Suicide of Reason by Lee Harris on the NYTimes Sunday Book Review. She sympathized with Lee Harris on his efforts to bring about awareness on radical Islam, but then she left a big gaping hole on the main argument put forth by the book."
~ Why I Don't {Heart} Huckabee -- "I'm quite sure that Mike Huckabee has policies that make perfect sense to his supporters, not to mention their attraction to his religiosity. Case in point: See this Exclusive Interview: Governor Huckabee Speaks with Catholic Online. But this article on Physorg puts it succinctly...."
~ Steve Whitmire on Integral Naked - It's Not Easy Being Teal -- "Steve Whitmire is one of the few individuals who has carried on the whole-hearted legacy of Jim Henson, and the mastery and development of puppetry through Jim’s unique Muppets. Since the passing of Jim Henson in 1990, Steve has served as the animating force and puppeteer for beloved characters such as Kermit the Frog and Sesame Street’s Ernie."
~ Overcoming gender -- "Your gender is a constraint. This is an inalienable truism, regardless of whether you’re a man or a woman."
~ Meditation as Natural History -- "To say that the world is an illusion is not to say that there is nothing going on out there. This is the kind of claim that may succeed in amusing idle philosophers and would-be mystics, but that is pretty darned useless for any other earthly purposes. And earthly purposes are the purposes I care about."
~ The Universe Project Continued... -- Andrew Cohen -- "Deepak [Chopra], I’ve come to appreciate, is a deeply genuine and authentic human being. He’s thoughtful, reflective, sensitive, generous, and caring. I have to admit that I didn’t always see him this way. My original—and erroneous—impression from his public persona (and I hope he will forgive me for saying this!) was that he was kind of a lightweight salesman whose ambition superseded his spiritual depth."

Tags: Andrew Cohen, Deepak Chopra, meditation, natural history, gender, Steve Whitmire, muppets, Integral naked, Mike Huckabee, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Nirvikalpa, chimps, culture, fat chickens, switchgrass, biofuel, ceramic needles, sunspot, Intel, biofuels, GOP, fear, Charlie Gibson, politics of change, voting machines, memory, literature, humanities, National Society of Film Critics, bibliotherapy, Sol Snyder, laws of simplicity, having enough, fantasies, change, language and thought, happiness, alcohol, preteen fitness, neck pain, exercise, cold weather, pilates, fat loss, plyometrics, healthy foods, speedlinking

Daily Dharma: Hidden Wealth

Today's Daily Dharma from Tricycle:

Hidden Wealth

Imagine a very poor man living in a decrepit little shanty, the only thing he owns in the world. What he does not know is that just beneath his shanty, but hidden in the dirt, is an inexhaustible vein of gold. As long as he remains ignorant of his hidden wealth, this pauper remains in poverty; but when he attends more closely to his own dwelling, he is bound to discover his own fathomless wealth. Similarly, all we need to do is unveil our own nature, and we will find an inexhaustible source of wisdom, compassion, and power. It is nothing we need to acquire, from anywhere or anything. It has always been there. Seen in this light, the Buddha-nature requires no additions. One does not have to memorize sutras, recite prayers or accumulate virtues to create it. All one needs to do is unveil it.

~ B. Alan Wallace, Tibetan Buddhism from the Ground Up; from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book.

Tags: Daily Dharma, Hidden Wealth, Buddhism, B. Alan Wallace, Tibetan Buddhism from the Ground Up, Tricycle, Buddha-nature

John Searle on the Human Mind and the Nature of Intelligence

An interesting, though brief, defense of mind and soul from the onslaught of rationalist, reductionist models that "computerize" the brain and discard the idea of consciousness. But Searle's concept of "intentionality" still is not sufficient for neuroscience to accept the idea of consciousness.

From Ovi:

Modern rationalists whose paradigm of reality is Descartes’ philosophy and its idea that we are nothing but so much matter extended into space and complicated biological machines are fond of pointing out that our brains are similar to a computer program and that therefore computers are conscious or will soon be. In some way artificial intelligence is superior to human intelligence: quicker, more precise, clearer and so the sooner we become “humbots,” the better. After all, doesn’t a computer beat most of us at chess most of the times? What is never mentioned, or is considered superseded in this kind of reductionism, are the ideas of mind and soul, very well know to the ancients as integral characteristics of human beings.

But we need not go all the way back to Plato, or closer to us, Vico, to find major opponents of this dehumanizing view of the nature of man. There is a contemporary philosopher of language still alive who has dedicated his life to the study of the mind and has become a pioneer in the field of cognitive science. His name is John Searle.

Searle counters what he dubs “strong AI” (Artificial Intelligence) with a famous thought experiment, which he calls the Chinese Room argument. This is how it goes: imagine you find yourself in a room containing an enormous rule book, which allows you to look up Chinese sentences and tells you how to reply to them in Chinese. Through a hole in the wall you are handed a piece of paper with a question written on it in Chinese. Using the rule book, you look up the answer to this question which you write on another piece of paper, in Chinese, and pass through another hole. To the people outside the room you appear to have thorough understanding of the Chinese language, whereas in fact you could perform the required task without understanding a word of it.

Searle argues that the Chinese room is an analogy for so-called artificial intelligence. The rule book is the equivalent of a computer program, which manipulates symbols according to a set of rules, and produces answers. By doing so it can give the appearance of being intelligent. But it is nothing of the sort. A computer model of the mind is not actually conscious, just as a computer model of the digestive system cannot actually eat pizza. A computer model of falling in love or reading a novel or getting drunk does not actually experience these things, but simply produces a simulation of these processes. The basic ingredient that distinguishes human minds from computers, according to Searle, is intentionality. Computers are defined syntactically, in terms of formal symbol manipulation, and that, he argues, is insufficient to imply consciousness.

So if consciousness is not something that can be experienced by a computer, what is it exactly and how does it emerge? In his theories about the mind and consciousness, Searle rejects Cartesian dualism—that the mind is something non-physical and separate from the body. He also rejects the reductionism of thinkers such as Daniel Dennet, who believe that consciousness can be reduced to a series of physical processes in the brain similar to a software program.

Instead Searle adopts a position which he call biological naturalism. As per this view, consciousness is an emergent phenomenon of the brain. To explain what he means by this, he cites as an analogy the liquidity, or wetness, of water as being an emergent phenomenon brought about by the behavior of the molecules that it is composed of. You cannot pinpoint a particular molecule and say “this one is wet”—the wetness is a feature of the whole system of molecules. In the same way, one cannot point to a neuron and say “this one is conscious.” Consciousness emerges as a result of the whole system. Events at the micro-level—perhaps at the level of individual neurons—causes a phenonmenon, which we call consciousness, at the macro-level.

Some have seen biological naturalism as a form of dualism since micro-level properties can be objectively studied by a brain surgeon. But the brain surgeon cannot in the same way access macro-level properties such as pain, desire, joy. Searle rejects this suggestion. He stresses that consciousness is a type of physical property; it is not something separate like a kind of juice that is squirted out by the neurons, it is the state that the system is in, part of that system and inseparable from it. How it works—how micro-level behavior creates consciousness at the macro level—is a question for the neuroscientists. But as a problem for philosophers, Searle regards it as solved.

His philosophy solves it by intentionality which is the attachment of meaning to an object, such as a belief about it, possession of it or contempt towards it. In his Collective Intentions and Actions, Searle seeks to show how intentionality can operate on the collective level. He contends that collective intentional behavior exists and is not the same as the sum of individual intentional behavior. Vico called it “common sense” while Jung calls it “the collective unconscious,” but Seale insists that there is no such thing as group mind or group consciousness; society consists of individuals. In this there are clear parallels with his theories of mind and his rejection of dualism and reductionism as explanations of consciousness.

In his The Construction of Social Reality (1996), Searle applies his theory of intentionality to society, looking at the way certain aspects of our world are created as a result of the combined intentionality of those who make use of them. We assign functions to physical objects—turning matter into chairs, money, swimming pools and countries, for example—by our common intention to treat objects in that way, and by our willingness to conform to rules for the treatment of those objects.

Other essential readings for an in depth study of Searle’s theories are Speech Acts: an Essay in the Philosophy of Language (1969), Minds, Brains and Programs (1980), Intentionality: an Essay in the Philosophy of Mind (1983).

Merlin Donald is attacking this issue from the realm of neuroscience itself, and therefore makes a stronger case. You can check out a selection of his articles online (all are PDF format).

More on this, and on Donald's viewpoint when I have more time.

Tags: John Searle, Human Mind, Nature of Intelligence, brain, psychology, philosophy, Merlin Donald, rationalists, reductionist, consciousness

Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie: The Subject of Language

I love these guys.


via videosift.com

Tags: Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, The Subject of Language, humor, British

Philip Glass - Sesame Street Animation

Strange. Maybe this explains the Gen Y fascination with trance music.

Description:

Sesame Street has featured some surprising musical guests since its debut in 1969 (has any other show ever included a singing appearance by Ralph Nader?), but we were the wrong age (too old to be children, too young to have children) during its foray into minimalist, avant-garde music videos. Written in 1979, when Philip Glass was still relatively little-known and cutting-edge, the pieces, called “Geometry of Circles,” paired gorgeously animated geometric shapes with his entrancing music. And Glass makes sense for Sesame Street: What child doesn’t like bright colors and strangely calming, repetitive music?

Now you can see “Geometry of Circles” on YouTube (of course) in an extended format that combines the four available clips into one. Glass is one of the few living “serious” composers most people in Generation X recognize — and this clip will show you why: He started courting this audience when it was in diapers.

via videosift.com

Tags: Philip Glass, Sesame Street, Animation, geometry, circles, abstract, hypnotic

Gever Tulley: 5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do

A rather interesting TED Talk.

Gever Tulley, founder of the Tinkering School, talks about our new wave of overprotected kids -- and spells out 5 (and really, he's got 6) dangerous things you should let your kids do. Allowing kids the freedom to explore, he says, will make them stronger and smarter and actually safer.

This talk comes from TED University 2007, a pre-conference program where TEDsters share ideas.

Tags: Gever Tulley, 5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do, TED Talks, education, self exploration, children, Tinkering School

The Dalai Lama on Compassion

Dalai Lama Quote of the Week from Snow Lion Publications:

In the frenzy of modern life we lose sight of the real value of humanity. People become the sum total of what they produce. Human beings act like machines whose function is to make money. This is absolutely wrong. The purpose of making money is the happiness of humankind, not the other way around. Humans are not for money, money is for humans. We need enough to live, so money is necessary, but we also need to realize that if there is too much attachment to wealth, it does not help at all. As the saints of India and Tibet tell us, the wealthier one becomes, the more suffering one endures.

...Eating, working, and making money are meaningless in themselves. However, even a small act of compassion grants meaning and purpose to our lives.

~ From How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life by the Dalai Lama, translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins

Tags: Buddhism, The Dalai Lama, Compassion, Snow Lion Publications, How to Practice, The Way to a Meaningful Life

Christopher Hitchens on Freedom of Speech

Hitchens is always entertaining.

Context:

Christopher Hitchens was invited to speak at the University of Toronto's Hart House Debating Club on the topic, "Be It Resolved: Freedom of Speech Includes the Freedom to Hate."

Part One:


Part Two:

Tags: Christopher Hitchens, Freedom of Speech, Freedom to hate, authors, culture, Politics

National Geographic - Journey of Man

Very long and cool documentary - contains all 13 parts.

From National Geographic:

By analyzing DNA from people in all regions of the world, geneticist Spencer Wells has concluded that all humans alive today are descended from a single man who lived in Africa around 60,000 years ago.

Modern humans, he contends, didn't start their spread across the globe until after that time. Most archaeologists would say the exodus began 100,000 years ago—a 40,000-year discrepancy.

Wells's take on the origins of modern humans and how they came to populate the rest of the planet is bound to be controversial.

His work adds to an already crowded field of opposing hypotheses proposed by those who seek answers in "stones and bones"—archaeologists and paleoanthropologists—and those who seek them in our blood—population geneticists and molecular biologists.

Over the last decade, major debate on whether early humans evolved in Africa or elsewhere, when they began outward migration, where they went, and whether they interbred with or replaced archaic species has moved out of scientific journals and into the public consciousness.

Wells addresses these issues in a new book, The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey, and a National Geographic documentary of the same title. In a straightforward story, he explains how he traced the exodus of modern humans from Africa by analyzing genetic changes in DNA from the y-chromosome.

"As often happens in science," he said, "technology has opened up a field to new ways of answering old questions—often providing startling answers."

Of course, not everyone agrees with him.

Read the rest.


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Tags: History, Genetics, Science, National Geographic, Spencer Wells, evolution, Journey of Man