----- Original Message -----
From: <mailto:[email protected]>Ray Harrell
To: <mailto:[email protected]>'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME
DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION'
Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2010 4:06 PM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Here's to mental health at 90!
That is what we do Natalia. I have a close friend who studied with
the Salish people and who helps me with these things. Its not hard
for a Traditional Indian to image these things and its also not hard for
a musician who knows that reality is created in the mind and disappears
when you finish with it unlike the people tied to the tyranny of touch
and see and what they choose to call the Material world. For me it
is a matter of the English language which is locked in Subjects and
Direct Objects and hard nouns and has a problem with describing process
or the flow of reality.
This is from the new Thaut book that I told you about:
With the advent of modern cognitive neuroscience and its new tools of
studying the human brain, "live," music as a highly complex, temporally
ordered and rule-based sensory language quickly became a fascinating
topic of study, probably driven by the quiet hope that these new tools
and paradigms would bring us closer to an understanding of the function
and role of music and its mechanisms to attract our minds. In parallel
to these aspirations, however, another highly significant development in
studying music scientifically occurred, which was possibly less foreseen
by many researchers. We now know that by studying the physiology and
neurology of brain function in music we can actually obtain a great deal
of knowledge about general brain function, in regard to the perception of
complex auditory sound stimuli, time and rhythm processing, differential
processing of music and language as two aural communication systems,
biological substrates of learning versus innate talent in the arts, and
processing of higher cognitive functions related to temporality and
emotion. Music has become a very useful model for brain research in
perception and cognition.
It has become quite clear in recent years that one of the most
interesting and provocative suggestions coming out of these efforts in
music and brain science is the realization of music as a biologically
deeply ingrained function of the human brain. The brain has neural
circuitry that is dedicated to music. Music is associated with a specific
yet complex brain architecture. Sensitivity to music plays a critical
role in the development of all children regardless of the presence or
absence of later artistic achievement. Music is ubiquitous in all known
historical and present cultures. It is safe to say that music is much
more than cultural artifact, an icing on the cake of human evolution
after basic biological needs and developments were adaptively satisfied.
This will be discussed further in this book in relation ship to a new
paradigm of a neuroscience of aesthetics.
Rhythm, Music and the Brain: Scientific Foundations and Clinical
Applications, Michael H. Thaut. Routledge pg. viii.
Best,
REH.
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Darryl or Natalia
Sent: Monday, July 19, 2010 8:03 PM
To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Here's to mental health at 90!
That lovely lady's body would be suffering all the more if not for her
wise active mind. She's fortunate to have put it to good use to
eventually ease the transition to the next life.
Do you ever wonder how much easier this transition from active mind to
frailty to physical death would be if people could learn to accept
altered states as a natural function of their time on Earth? If they had
a shaman, spiritual or psychotherapist guide them through these changes,
is it possible they could unravel some buried stuff and sojourn into new
realms with dignity in tact rather than be branded with senility?
As I glance at a list of Salish spirit quest altered states of
consciousness symptoms, described by Ludwig in the context of trance and
possession, 1968, I start to wonder:
1) alterations in thinking; including predominance of archaic modes of
thought, blurring of cause effect distinction, cognitive ambivalence
2) disturbed time sense
3) loss of conscious control and inhibition which may be relinquished in
order to gain a greater, culturally defined power
4) change in emotional expression towards affective extremes ranging from
ecstasy to profound fear
5) body image changes; feelings of depersonalization, derealization,
dissolution of boundaries between self and environment, often associated
with dizziness, weakness, blurred vision and analgesia
6) perceptual distortions,; hallucinations, illusions, visual imagery,
hyper-acuteness of perceptions, synaesthetic experiences
7) change in meaning; attachment of increased or specific significance to
subjective experience or external cues, leading to thrilling feelings of
insight, and revelation of "truth" which then carries an unshakable conviction
8) sense of ineffable; the essence of the personal experience is felt not
to be directly communicable; and this is often explained by varying
degrees of amnesia
9) feelings of rejuvenation; of renewed hope or of rebirth
10) hyper-suggestibility: a propensity to accept, or to respond
uncritically to statements of an authority figure via identification, or
to cultural and group expectations.
Imagine walking someone through the first parts to have them weave
through the latter--without the feelings of grief and loss over ego self.
Picture them being with someone who knew what to watch for, and who could
interpret what was seen or felt, without being overbearing or subjective.
Western culture would call these altered states psychogenic, most often
observed in hypnosis, religious revelation or hysterical dissociation.
Christians call it something else (like demonic possession), and yet
differences are about cultural rather than psychological or
neurophysiological states. But the term 'trance' designates a state of
double consciousness, between limiting state of awareness of personal
self and dream-like state of the para-personal self. The
"neuropsychological basis of the trance or possession state is the
dissociation of the self, which loses its experiential unity and is
converted into a secondary dual system of relational experience." This
"capacity to attain altered states of consciousness are a universal
property of the human central nervous system, but their prevalence is the
function of socio-cultural variables" says Wolfgang G. Jilek, M.D.,
author of Indian Healing, Shamanic Ceremonialism in the Pacific Northwest
Today. There may be a reason, a personal motivation for induction of
these states by seniors, and we're dismissing/misdiagnosing their
landmark passage as signs of demise.
I've long suspected that a lot of what's going on with cognitive
impairment has to do with mind taking a trek/break from chiefly
psychological pain and restraints. I suspect that at the first signs of
it, people ignore the warnings to search for peace within. Seniors
generally will become frightened and seek out allopathic remedies, which
may or may not be the answer. In my observations, this usually marks the
beginning of the end because the drugs are so harmful, and require other
drugs to alleviate the adverse effects. Then, it's diarrhea city. Every
elderly patient I've observed, be it with Alzheimer's or depression,
post-stroke or what have you, has been bombarded with mind numbing
anti-depressants or systems depressants that typically lead to hip
fractures/falls that wouldn't likely have happened had the patient stayed
home, got meals delivered, and were allowed time to work it out
themselves or with some nursing or counseling. Sure, you have those who
might set the house on fire, but I'll bet they are more in the numbers of
those who are iatrogenic victims than not.
I've wondered how much rigidity and such things as giving away one's
personal power over time have to do with later brain impairment or
demise. Usually permanent physical condition arises out of a
predisposition for it, yet it's always different with each patient. But
if that person had been able to know themselves, others and their world
better in a more connected or fulfilling light, would it have been easier
for them? There's often a pattern of a major resentment or trauma that
should have been addressed. Blockages that can cause very real symptoms
that can all too easily easily be assigned a clinical name. And once they
hand over their own well being to the care of others and pharmaceuticals,
they may never learn that looking at life differently will yield
different results. They've never been taught the tools, or the resources
in naturopathic remedies, and though spirituality might take them there,
their steady diet of religion or resentment thereof fails to direct them.
I believe religions should be taught in school. All religions and
spiritual beliefs, so that people would know choice. Biggest thing going,
along with science and technology, and kids are forced to learn dogma
from within limiting parental purlieus, or worse still, from a religious
school they may be attending. Atheism should also be taught, not just
left fore kids to adopt without knowing the theory.
We all have to dream and experience freedom for our mind's well-being. In
material life, immediate gratification without consequences would
obviously lead to miscreant actions. Aside from all of the physiological
documented evidence one could present, I suspect night dreams are the
mind's coping strategy for daytime maintenance of high energy, low
frequency physicality. If we didn't have the escape from the physical on
a (preferably) nocturnal basis, our minds would go nuts from chronic
imagined imprisonment--not so much physical but psychical. In aging, our
dream recall tends to diminish, resulting in less conscious processing of
subconscious experience. People with vivid recall don't seem to
experience this lessening, but they may become victims of their own
fear-based interpretations as the line between conscious and subconscious
crosses or merges. Most psychologists could help these people to some
extent, but getting the help they need in time never happens.
Just thoughts. Not professional. What do you think?
Natalia
Ray Harrell wrote:
I have to go visit a 90 year old Jewish lady whose brain is not
downsized. Its just her body. What a waste.
Hey Natalia, I was sad before I went. She is bright and worked full
time up until she was 88. She raised a daughter on her own. The
daughter became so self reliant that in her late teens she hiked all over
Europe and a lot of Asia, was a member of the Bread and Puppet Theater
and worked through college to a PHD in Social Work. She rescued a
couple of Indian children from the wars in Central America and raised
them as a single mother. Because they are Indian she brought them to
our community and participated with them in our ceremonials and
rituals. Meanwhile she is known as an angel to the police because she
would step right in front of a policemans gun to protect a child in a
drug dealers apartment. She is now retired but has gone back to
school and is continuing to do her profession privately.
What an amazing little woman with an amazing mother who smiled a huge
smile and spoke beautifully with a mind that speaks for someone much
younger than her 90+ years. So much knowledge in so frail a body.
It was a gift to me today.
Thank you Miriam,
Wado Edoda.
REH
From:
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Michael Gurstein
Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2010 1:50 PM
To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION'
Subject: [Futurework] FW: [p2p-research] newsweek on The Creativity Crisis
-----Original Message-----
From:
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Michel Bauwens
Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2010 4:03 PM
To: Peer-To-Peer Research List
Cc: <mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
Subject: [p2p-research] newsweek on The Creativity Crisis
<http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/10/the-creativity-crisis.html>http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/10/the-creativity-crisis.html
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