From The Study...a conversation about possibilities

We all carry in our heads a model of reality put there by tradition,

training, and customs. When the events of life and the behavior of

persons around us conform to this model, we are at peace; and when

they don't conform, we feel upset. Thus, what in truth upsets us is not

those persons or those events, but the model of reality we carry with us...Doc

Discovering Ourselves...syllogistic reasoning

It all started long ago. Somehow during that still mysterious time of neuronal arrangement an ancestor realized its brain could carry simple reasoning. The new device might have enabled the brain to ask a question. Perhaps the brain noted nausea, and our poor ancestor just blurted out, "why am I feeling so shitty?" Was it that smelly caveman last night, or was it that weird green plant I ingested or what about the presidential election?"

All kinds of animals can figure out what makes them sick. Rats remember shit like that. They learn. That sort of simple associative reasoning abounds in the animal kingdom. What does not abound is the capacity to ask the next questions. "Why did the plant make me sick?" "How can I avoid that crap?" Sustained syllogistic reasoning, the capacity to state a major premise, then a minor one, followed by a deductive belief conclusion...our species alone can do that...pretty amazing! "I can't believe I ate that shit again!!"

Draw your own conclusions about yourself...after all, it's just my version of the truth, and I could be wrong...Doc

Discovering Ourselves Series...interesting species

In general the mind seeks to understand the world. In doing so it creates the illusion that we are in control of all our actions and reasoning. We become the center of a sphere of action so large it has no walls.

The manifest presence of the mind, rearing its magnificent head above the sea of species around us, raises the question, "Why us?" It is really a special device, or is it the mere consequence of the brain getting too big and loaded up with neurons? Is it truly a human instinct, an adaptation that supplies a competitive edge in enhancing reproductive success? What ever it is, this device, it has helped us conquer the vicissitudes of the environment and enabled us to become psychologically interesting to ourselves as a species.

Now with all that said, draw your own conclusions about yourself. After all, it's just  my version of the truth and I could be wrong...Doc

Discovering Ourselves...the fictional self

Discovering Ourselves...the fictional self

"There is no life that can be recaptured wholly, as it was. Which is to say that all biography is ultimately fiction. What does that tell us about the nature of life, and does one really want to know?" Bernard Malamud, Dublin's Lives

Well we do know about the fiction of our lives and we should want to know. Resconstruction of events starts with perception and goes all the way to human reasoning. Funny, the mind is the last to know things. After the brain computes an event, the illusionary "we" (that is, the mind) becomes aware of it. It reconstructs the brain events and in doing so makes telling errors of perception, memory, and judgement. The clue to how we are built is buried not just in our marvelously robust capacity for these functions but also in the errors that are frequently made during reconstruction. Biography is fiction. Autobiography is hopelessly inventive.

Now with all that said, draw your own conclusions about yourself.  After all, it's just my version of the truth and I could be wrong...Doc

From The Study...a conversation of possibilities

Use suffering to end suffering..

Happy experiences make life magical, painful experiences lead to growth. This does not mean we are to seek suffering and provoke pain. There is enough suffering in life. No reason to add to it, but we do with our "unreason". True reasoning is...we must use our suffering when it comes for its Nobel purpose.

Never say to yourself, "I'll be happy when this suffering passes." If you are not happy with things as they are with you now, you will never be. If you wait to get out of jail in order to be free, you'll never be free. Learn how to feel free while you are in jail, and then you can be free anywhere. A Nobel task for a Nobel purpose...

Lessons From The Sane Asylum..."un enlightenment"

Revelation always comes as somewhat of a shock, not only to the person who receives the revelation, but also to those with who it is shared. It is the nature of revelation to be shocking and startling because when it hits up against our cherished beliefs, we become conscious of the degree to which our minds have been conditioned, by opinion and theories in human thinking. Suddenly we realize the extent of our "un enlightenment".

The Human Conservancy...field office

“Humanity suffers terribly from the demons it has created over lengths of time.
We learn from nothing that we do. we create religions, heritage, race, traditions, then they all in turn become our stumbling blocks from becoming one. We suffer from the creations of our own inability to interpret history. the only thing we have succeded on is seperation. We are not that different from one another as we think we are.  But we are too corrupted to break our destruction.”
― Jeffrey Fischer

From The Study...a conversation of possibilities

A Personal Statement...Human Ecology

Today's psychology, as a collection of theories, concepts, and techniques, has attempted to help individuals and the society realize relief from mental problem solving methods that do nothing to increase ones understanding of the role of thought. This has led to the misperception that rituals, techniques or other placebos are the route to change. Thus, by creating the illusion of change through altering the form or format through which people express their insecurity, negative feelings, and dependencies, psychology has unwittingly contributed to its own inability to progress as a science and as a field of study. There is nothing to be found in studying and explaining the attributes of placebo sugar pills, water injection, or psychotherapeutic rituals, because in the end it is the human beings level of understanding and ability to think that brings results.

The field of psychology will take a new exciting direction when we begin to look directly toward the mental power we as humans possess. Once this new wisdom is formulated and shared with people, the benefits will spill over into our society to help many people looking for relief from emotional dis-ease. Mostly from their own fear created anxiety and recurrent life of self destructive behaviors that seem just out of individual control. Life Adjustment issues I call them.

This direction is also the one that will help the most people in the long run become better humans. Whether they are talking about improving the quality of their own individual reality, or possibility that of a society or even an entire humanity, the principle is the same. The only barrier to accomplishing these feats are those of thought. It is the knowledge of this fact that will allow human beings to successfully break the perceptual, emotional, and behavioral barriers that we all struggle with.

It's a beginning...but now the idea must mature into a reality. Our evolution of humans being human as a science will emerge. After all, consciousness is now being studied as a mass, something akin to matter and other quantities that can be measured. Our evolution will emerge as a willingness to accept something new, to listen to someone saying that the world is round rather than flat; that the earth is not the center of the solar system; that energy, matter, and space are alloted. Or perhaps by shifting our focus away from the manifestation of people's problems and move to the principles of thought, reality, consciousness, and emotions we will see our connection to mental well being. Society may just find the route to its own wisdom.

Human Ecology, The Human Conservacy, a new way of being human, a new humanity...it's time, it's a possibility...Doc

From The Far Side Of The Glass...doppelgangers

 Scientists have found that we’re friendlier to people who look like us. University of Washington scholar Ryan Calo thinks that will lead advertisers to morph the faces of spokesmodels in personalized, targeted ads to look like us so we’re more likely to buy their products. Scientists have also found we are more attracted to doppelgängers. That research led an entrepreneur to start a facial recognition-enabled dating site a few years back called “Find Your FaceMate” that embraced narcissism as the secret to true love. Though it claimed in 2012 to have attracted 50,000 customers, it shut down after its founder died at the end of 2013. FindYourFaceMate.com now contains tips for “smart motor mechanics.”

Lemme Think About It...thoughts

" Maybe, just maybe, we don't think in language, or think in words. Is it possible we think in visual images, or in auditory images? Could it be we think in abstract propositions about what is true about what? Is it possible that language is only a way of communicating thoughts, of getting them out of one head and into another by making noise?" ...Na, just a funny thought again...Doc

I think most people agree that we do not actually think in words. If we did: we would not search for the right word to express a thought; we could not think as pre-verbal infants; we would not have integrated thought if we were bilingual – and on and on. We do not think in actual words but perhaps in something like concepts. Those concepts could be represented by words or pictures or sounds or whatever. But do we actually think in concepts. Some would say that we think in symbols and with them we can ‘compute’ or think. Perhaps we have symbols standing for concepts and we manipulate these with some sort of rule system. Lemme think about it...

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Therapy...false memories.

"Well Doc, I'm here to develop some false memories,
so I can forget about my miserable life."

How Your Brain Keeps You Believing Crap That Isn't True

Much of what you believe to be true probably isn't, thanks to a mental shortcut your brain takes without you realizing it. There are things we do not know we don't know.

From The Far Side Of The Glass

Though the brain is ever malleable and able to rewire itself to any situation, almost instantly, it will take some time before neurologists know exactly how the internet has altered the brain’s makeup and what it might mean for cognition. We haven’t even mapped the entire organ, yet. So deeper understanding will take time. Still, there are a lot of indicators to how the ubiquity of the internet is changing how we think.

One example of a recent discovery with major implications is our further understanding of neuroplasticity. Simply put, we used to think our brain was what it was — unchangeable, unalterable. We were stuck with what nature gave us. In actuality, our brains are like plastic. We can alter neurochemistry to change beliefs, thoughts processes, emotions, etc. You are the architect of your brain. You also have the power to act against dangerous impulses such as addiction. The therapeutic possibilities here are endless.

The Human Conservancy...field office

Just a few times in our life do we meet a person whose character and personality qualities stop us in our tracts. Their presence fills the room. Charismatic but substantive. Confident but humble. Authoritative but gracious. Exuding strength invested in a lifetime of headwaters but drunk deeply from the sources of humanity. The more we see and feel of this person, the more WE seem to be...When you meet this person, listen with the depth of your senses. Listen to all that is possible...you are going to be listening for the lesson.

Listen for the lesson in every person you meet, and that in itself is an enormous privilege and adventure...Doc

Lessons From The Sane Asylum...sensations

.

"Consciousness itself is an instrument of adaptation. Sensations are not ends in themselves. They are merely occasions or signals to inform us it is proper to do certain things..."