"He did not even mention CC in his conclusion (above) either."
Er, talk about selective quoting. There's no conclusion section, but the discussion section, which you only partially quote, actually starts out talking about the integration of transcendental experiences with waking, dreaming and sleeping (CC). To suggest that he doesn't mention it when its the first line of the first paragraph, is, well, overtly deceptive: Discussion Brain patterns that defined transcendental experiences during TM practice and the integration of transcendental experiences with waking, dreaming, and sleeping were mainly found in frontal brain areas. This suggests that frontal circuits may play a critical role in transcendental experiences and the growth of higher states of consciousness. These states could be called higher states in that (1) the subject/object relationship is different in these states compared to waking, sleeping, and dreaming; (2) the sense of self is more expanded in these states; and (3) the physiological patterns are distinct from those during waking, dreaming, and sleeping. The development of higher states may be an extension of the developmental trajectory that began as a toddler and continued into adulthood, supporting the emergence of adult abstract reasoning. Brain development begins in posterior sensory areas, which myelinate by age four. Posterior areas process sensory experiences and create the concrete present. Activity in posterior areas are associated with the first two stages of cognitive development described by Piaget—the sensorimotor and preoperational stages.[53] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.12316/full#nyas12316-bib-0053 The corpus callosum, which connects the left and right hemispheres, myelinates from age 7 to age 10. Now the dominant level of awareness de-embeds from sensory experience and reintegrates at the level of concrete operations—the ability to think about the objects that you see. The last brain circuits to myelinate are connections with frontal executive areas. These circuits begin to myelinate around age 12 and end around age 25.[54] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.12316/full#nyas12316-bib-0054 With frontal myelination, the dominant level of awareness de-embeds from thinking and reintegrates at the level of formal operations—the ability to think about thinking. Now the teenager can see consequences; they can generate different reasons to explain observations. Language learning is considered the engine for the development of abstract adult thinking. Language provides a symbolic system to represent objects and so allows a child to mentally manipulate concrete objects.[55] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.12316/full#nyas12316-bib-0055 However, we can become stuck in our words and concepts. To develop beyond language-based thinking, we need a technique to transcend language and enable the experience of pure (content-free) consciousness underlying the changing activity of thinking and feeling. The experience of Transcendental Consciousness transcends language and provides a platform for experiencing the world more with repect to inner abstract structures and less with respect to outer, changing concrete objects. This experience of Transcendental Consciousness is not a luxury and should not be isolated to a few individuals transcending during meditation practice. Rather, the experience of Transcendental Consciousness should be available to everyone to allow them to realize their full human birthright. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <anartaxius@...> wrote : But CC really isn't enlightenment, it's just 'glorified ignorance' as M said. You get inner wakefulness and silence along with a deluded mind. So this paper is not about enlightened people. It's about people who have a certain degree of opening to spiritual experience, but far short of the goal. Fred's problem is he does not have access to currently used state-of-the-art equipment in the study of consciousness, and even if he did, he probably would not be allowed by the TMO to use it (fMRI for example), and he is probably under some other research restrictions as well, as he likely would be booted if he published any negative results. Fred: 'The experience of Transcendental Consciousness transcends language and provides a platform for experiencing the world more with re[s]pect to inner abstract structures and less with respect to outer, changing concrete objects. This experience of Transcendental Consciousness is not a luxury and should not be isolated to a few individuals transcending during meditation practice. Rather, the experience of Transcendental Consciousness should be available to everyone to allow them to realize their full human birthright.' He did not even mention CC in his conclusion (above) either. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <LEnglish5@...> wrote : Fred Travis published research on enlightened people. This review paper looks at the research: Transcendental experiences during meditation practice - Travis - 2013 - Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences - Wiley Online Library http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.12316/full Transcendental experiences during meditation practice - Travis - 2013 - Annals of the New Yor... http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.12316/full 1 Shear, J. 2006. The Experience of Meditation: Experts Introduce the Major Traditions. Princeton, NJ: The Infinity Foundation. 2 Travis, F. & J. Shear. View on onlinelibrary.wiley.com http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.12316/full Preview by Yahoo Fred is doing new research on people in CC and will be using more sophisticated EEG analysis, and possibly other measures as well. L
