Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Understanding Life’s Purpose



Brain has three distinct processing modes, called serial, parallel and synchronous. Serial processing is associated with intelligence quotient functions in the left brain. Parallel processing is associated with emotional quotient functions in the right brain and synchronous processing is associated with spiritual quotient functions in the whole brain.

About 40Hz oscillations propagate across the whole brain synchronously, and are associated with conscious attention and the state of presence. By linking part-brain functions from both hemispheres; namely, intelligence quotient, emotional quotient and spiritual quotient into the integrated field of the whole brain, 40Hz synchronous oscillations connect mind, self and world into a meaningful whole. Consequently, 40Hz oscillations constitute the neural basis for spiritual quotient.

Neuroscience confirms that spiritual intelligence is hard-wired. But spiritual quotient circuitry remains largely dormant and undeveloped unless it’s actually used. Random moments of spiritual quotient occur spontaneously, but not often enough to be useful. Therefore, it is important to know how to activate your spiritual quotient intentionally. This converts spiritual quotient from a random fleeting experience into most valuable personal resource.

The neural pathways are highly malleable. New pathways grow quickly in adult as well as infant brains. Neural pathways are strengthened by using them. For example, taxi drivers have an enlarged part of the brain that deals with direction-finding, and violin players have an enlarged brain area that deals with the left hand, but not with the right hand. This reflects the extra use required to control the left hand on the strings, compared to the right hand holding the bow. The use of spiritual quotient over time likewise evolves a brain optimized for spiritual quotient.

The spiritual brain is optimized neurologically for spiritual quotient. The default setting of attention in the spiritual quotient brain is at the subject pole, not the object pole. The spiritual quotient brain therefore replaces the ego with the soul, both as the governor of intelligence quotient and emotional quotient, and as the seat of personal identity. The spiritual quotient brain uses intelligence quotient and emotional quotient to express the qualities of the soul, which are experienced in moments of presence, in the form of wisdom, compassion, integrity, joy, love, creativity, and peace.

Neuroscience has identified the particular type of brain processing that corresponds to spiritual experiences. The spiritual quotient paradigm combines neuroscientific evidence with findings from psychoanalysis and with evidence from cognitive and transpersonal psychology. The resulting inter-disciplinary synthesis reveals that spiritual experiences as detected neurologically are associated with a particular sense of self, distinct from the ego that corresponds with the traditional religious notion of the soul, in terms of qualities, capabilities, and self-identity. The spiritual quotient paradigm represents the neuro-psychology of the soul.

According to traditional religious beliefs, the incarnation of the soul is a supernatural event. But the spiritual quotient paradigm identifies the incarnation of the soul not as a supernatural event, but as a psycho-physical process, by means of which the brain is optimized neurologically for spiritual quotient, thereby shifting the seat of self-identity from ego to soul. Intentional use of spiritual quotient develops spiritual quotient brain circuitry, until the default setting of attention shifts from the object-pole to the subject-pole, thus replacing the ego with the soul, both as the seat of personal identity, and as the governor of intelligence quotient and emotional quotient. The spiritual quotient brain therefore represents the incarnation of the soul.

Human evolution is not primarily about modifying the shape of the human body, but evolving the brain to a higher level of functioning. Spiritual quotient represents the next level of functioning beyond intelligence quotient and emotional quotient. The spiritual quotient-optimized brain therefore represents the direction of human evolution. Consequently, human evolution is now under our conscious direction.


Saturday, April 20, 2013

Human Nature


We should live in a world which belongs to our real inner self or original nature of human being. This world is bright and brilliant, where there is no dispute and we are not bothered by material concerns. It is pure and peaceful, enjoying leisure and not sorrowful; but we never try to act in response to this world, we never try to be a friend of Our Real Inner Self. The only thing we do day in and day out is to try and climb up socially. This is what is called; attending to the superficies and neglecting the essentials.

When our real inner self is led astray by human desires, and we all know that desires are bottomless; we all will not be able to do anything of our own free will, and we become the slaves of human desires. The power of temptation of human desire is brutal. Some people always try to attain their desires with nefarious tactics. The moment we have a thought like this, the moment we lose the chance to contact our real inner self, we are going to be gone far away from purifying our mind.

Our mind will not stop producing thoughts because of human desires. Therefore, our real inner self will be clouded by material desires forevermore, and our original nature will be contaminated forevermore also. Why does our mind always produce thoughts? According to the experienced people's idea; being greedy for everything, angry at everything, and not understanding the real truth is the most common evil ingredient in our mind. These evil ingredients poison mind strongly. That is the reason why our mind produces thoughts every minute of the day. What one is thinking of at any given moment is often evil thoughts. From this, we should understand that fighting these evil thoughts is the most important thing we are to do.

There are other ways to reduce thoughts in our mind. We have to try our level best to understand that all living things in the universe are equal; otherwise, we will have a special mind; which always looks at things from a dualistic perspective; for example, making a distinction between the good and the bad. All problems start here, such as forever pursuing our own ideas, always arguing, always hating, and always fighting and never stopping.

We should try to make our mind like Mother Earth, and be tolerant of other people's mistakes, or wrongdoing or weaknesses. Try to express solicitude for friends, enemies, good, and bad equally. Try not to dispute or discuss in minute detail gaining or losing. Try not to be moved by sad or delighted things. Try not to feel so pleased when people respect or praise us. Try not to hate or abhor when people slight us. When people show their beautiful virtues like helping others, we should show our respect and join in their actions, and we should try not to be jealous of other people's beautiful virtues. When we see people facing trouble, we should not gloat over their disaster.

The highest wisdom comes from a merciful heart, the merciful heart comes from solving people's problems without any conditions and helping people to get peace, calm, and sagacity without any conditions either. If we look at things or treat things unequally, from here, all the worry, trouble, and prejudice will be produced right away. Thus if we want to purify our mind, we have to learn to treat things with level-headedness.

Someday, when we realize that all the beings are equal and could be blended or mixed together, and become one in some way, we will understand what real truth is!

Friday, April 19, 2013

A mysterious question is whether a person is responsible for what he does or will everything depend upon fate or God? Religious scriptures offer one both the answers. They say person is responsible for what he does and has created a set of do’s and don’ts for them. Scriptures also states that a person who sins, goes to hell, and the person who does good deeds goes to heaven. Scriptures also say that we should surrender before God as whatever takes place in this world are the will of God and not a blade of grass moves without his will. Therefore, a person is not a doer nor responsible for his acts.

Scientifically, we find that a person is responsible for each and every action that he takes in life. We find that what we do is the will of nature or result of endless factors present within and outside of us. For an authentic comprehension, we first have to define who ‘I’ is in the body? Analyzing, we find that ‘I’ is the one experiencing all inputs from various sensory organs like eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, etc. and is the one that commands the body to perform various functions through hands, feet, mouth, etc., in addition to making all the decisions.

To know who is responsible for karma, we have to analyze ‘I’ more deeply. On analysis, we find that on one hand, we are the ‘I’ in this body and are responsible for each and every decision or action that we take. On the other hand, ‘I’ or our body consists of trillions of microbes without which it cannot survive, in addition to trillions of cells and endless factors both within and outside the body.

Every thought that enters our mind or decision that we take is a joint effort of all these endless number of organisms and factors both within and outside our body. So, we can conclude that on the one hand, we are fully responsible for each and every action that we take and on the other hand, we have nothing to do with anything, and everything depends upon our Fate or on God. So, if any person says that he is responsible for everything or he is not responsible for anything, then both ways, he is half correct and half wrong.

In other words, Karma and Fate are like two sides of the same coin and one cannot survive without an equal amount of other side. Whatever we do in life equally depends upon karma as well as our fate. The question is, once we decide that both Karma and Fate are equally responsible for all our actions, then how should we conduct ourselves, as no human being or life form can remain without work for even a moment in this world.

The answer is, we should conduct ourselves in a manner that is considered normal or acceptable by society at that given point of time without any expectation in return, and leave the results to Fate or God. By way of explanation, we should behave in a manner in which we expect our fellow human beings to behave with us and leave everything else upon Fate or God.

Karma means action. It is also the reaction that follows on an action. The process of compensation for any given feeling, thought or deed is completely automatic. Karma in its sense of law keeps the cosmos in balance and harmony. Life in cosmos is severely restricted on some planets more than others. Here, there are both physical and personal limitations on what you can do. Karma, however, is your unrestricted power of choice, and it makes sure that for every choice you make there will be just consequence. The law of karma is often expressed with this quote: "As you sow you shall reap". Good seeds produce good fruits, while evil seeds produce evil fruits. That said, karma does not concern itself with good or evil. It simply returns what has been given. To make it slightly more complicated, karma is only produced when pain is nourished and joy quelled. If instead joy is nourished and pain quelled no karma will be produced.

All karma must be experienced or resolved. Karma can be resolved through understanding. Karmic seeds understood as to their consequence as they are sown as well as to their result as fully developed fruits will be resolved. Unresolved karmic seeds will develop into karmic fruits providing experience equal to that sown. Karmic fruits understood as to their cause will bring evolution away from action.

When trying to move up the ladder of cosmic existence, you will be confronted with experiences trying to keep you down. Conversely, when falling down you will face experiences trying to move you back up. Only, if you insist on changing your position it will indeed be changed. After the change a new status quo will be established. Karma in the sense of reaction is different from fate in the way that fate involves your total experience, while karma is produced from action alone and not from creation or meditation.

Karma and Fate like other dualities such as life-death, good-evil, happiness-sorrow, night-day, cannot exist without an equal amount of the other. Rise above such dualities, and perform duties without desire or hatred, and attain ultimate peace and contentment in life.

Monday, April 15, 2013

What is Spiritual Intelligence?




Inquiry into spiritual intelligence suggests that it is one of several types of intelligence and it can be developed relatively independently. Spiritual intelligence consists of many ways of knowing and blending of the inner life of mind and spirit with the outer life of work in the world. It can be developed through pursuit, inquiry, and practice. Spiritual experiences may also contribute to its development, depending on the context and means of integration. Spiritual maturity is conveyed through wisdom and kind acts in the world. Spiritual intelligence is essential for making spiritual choices that add to psychological happiness and generally healthy human development.

Spirituality exists in minds of men and women everywhere, within religious traditions and independently of tradition. Spirituality is the domain of ultimate concern, and then everyone is spiritual because everyone has ultimate concerns. However, the term ultimate concern can be interpreted in many different ways. Some do not consider themselves or their concerns to be spiritual. Spirituality, like emotion, has varying degrees of depth and expression. It may be conscious or unconscious, developed or undeveloped, healthy or pathological, naive or sophisticated, beneficial or dangerously distorted.

Spirituality involves highest levels of any of the developmental lines, for example, cognitive, moral, emotional, and interpersonal.  Spirituality is itself a separate developmental line.  Spirituality is an attitude such as openness to love at any stage.  Spirituality involves peak experiences not stages. An integral perspective would presumably include all these different views and others as well.

Spirituality is ultimate belonging or connection to the transcendental ground of being. Spirituality can be in terms of relationship to God, to fellow humans, or to the earth. Spirituality can also be devotion and commitment to a particular faith or form of practice. To understand how spirituality can contribute to the good life, defined in humanistic terms as living authentically the full possibilities of being human, it seems necessary to differentiate healthy spirituality from beliefs and practices that may be detrimental to well-being. This leads to the challenge of defining and cultivating spiritual intelligence.

Because there is little agreement about definitions of spirituality, discussions of spiritual intelligence need to be exploratory rather than definitive.  By asking what is meant by spiritual intelligence, we can hope to stimulate further understanding of spirituality that I think merits further investigation.



Enhanced by Zemanta

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Serial, Parallel & Synchronous Modes

Brain has three distinct processing modes, called serial, parallel and synchronous. Serial processing is associated with intelligence quotient functions in the left brain. Parallel processing is associated with emotional quotient functions in the right brain and synchronous processing is associated with spiritual quotient functions in the whole brain.

About 40Hz oscillations propagate across the whole brain synchronously, and are associated with conscious attention and the state of presence. By linking part-brain functions from both hemispheres; namely, intelligence quotient, emotional quotient and spiritual quotient into the integrated field of the whole brain, 40Hz synchronous oscillations connect mind, self and world into a meaningful whole. Consequently, 40Hz oscillations constitute the neural basis for spiritual quotient.

Neuroscience confirms that spiritual intelligence is hard-wired. But spiritual quotient circuitry remains largely dormant and undeveloped unless it’s actually used. Random moments of spiritual quotient occur spontaneously, but not often enough to be useful. Therefore, it is important to know how to activate your spiritual quotient intentionally. This converts spiritual quotient from a random fleeting experience into most valuable personal resource.

The neural pathways are highly malleable. New pathways grow quickly in adult as well as infant brains. Neural pathways are strengthened by using them. For example, taxi drivers have an enlarged part of the brain that deals with direction-finding, and violin players have an enlarged brain area that deals with the left hand, but not with the right hand. This reflects the extra use required to control the left hand on the strings, compared to the right hand holding the bow. The use of spiritual quotient over time likewise evolves a brain optimized for spiritual quotient.

The spiritual brain is optimized neurologically for spiritual quotient. The default setting of attention in the spiritual quotient brain is at the subject pole, not the object pole. The spiritual quotient brain therefore replaces the ego with the soul, both as the governor of intelligence quotient and emotional quotient, and as the seat of personal identity. The spiritual quotient brain uses intelligence quotient and emotional quotient to express the qualities of the soul, which are experienced in moments of presence, in the form of wisdom, compassion, integrity, joy, love, creativity, and peace.

Neuroscience has identified the particular type of brain processing that corresponds to spiritual experiences. The spiritual quotient paradigm combines neuroscientific evidence with findings from psychoanalysis and with evidence from cognitive and transpersonal psychology. The resulting inter-disciplinary synthesis reveals that spiritual experiences as detected neurologically are associated with a particular sense of self, distinct from the ego that corresponds with the traditional religious notion of the soul, in terms of qualities, capabilities, and self-identity. The spiritual quotient paradigm represents the neuro-psychology of the soul.

According to traditional religious beliefs, the incarnation of the soul is a supernatural event. But the spiritual quotient paradigm identifies the incarnation of the soul not as a supernatural event, but as a psycho-physical process, by means of which the brain is optimized neurologically for spiritual quotient, thereby shifting the seat of self-identity from ego to soul. Intentional use of spiritual quotient develops spiritual quotient brain circuitry, until the default setting of attention shifts from the object-pole to the subject-pole, thus replacing the ego with the soul, both as the seat of personal identity, and as the governor of intelligence quotient and emotional quotient. The spiritual quotient brain therefore represents the incarnation of the soul.

Human evolution is not primarily about modifying the shape of the human body, but evolving the brain to a higher level of functioning. Spiritual quotient represents the next level of functioning beyond intelligence quotient and emotional quotient. The spiritual quotient-optimized brain therefore represents the direction of human evolution. Consequently, human evolution is now under our conscious direction.


Enhanced by Zemanta

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Introspection and Rumination

Rumination is defined as the compulsively focused attention on the symptoms of one's distress, and on its possible causes and consequences, as opposed to its solutions. Rumination is similar to worry except rumination focuses on bad feelings and experiences from the past, whereas worry is concerned with potential bad events in the future. Both rumination and worry are associated with anxiety and other negative emotional states. There is a difference between rumination and introspection. Anyone spending a lot of time in one’s own head is at risk of digging into rumination holes. One has to be mindful to prevent healthy self-examination from degenerating into unproductive rumination. Introspection is examination of thoughts, desires and conducts and is productive, rumination is not. Rumination is repetitive, negativistic, and often self-flagellating and a major risk factor for anxiety and depression.

Time spent alone in thought can be positive; a rich environment for personal growth and creativity, but it can also be dangerous when it is negatively turned against one’s self. Introspection is a process of healthy self-reflection, examination, and exploration, which is good for well-being of brain.

Neuroscientist and mindfulness experts describe time reflecting on oneself as “time in;” a period in which a person checks in with himself to see where one is emotionally. This “time in” is one of seven suggested activities on healthy mind platter. The problem is that mind is not always a safe place. Every person is divided between a healthy attitude toward self that is goal-directed and life-affirming, and a destructive side that can be self-critical, self-denying, paranoid, and suspicious. This inner critic or anti-self or critical inner voice can take over thinking and lead to rumination. Rumination occurs when one becomes trapped in negative cycle of circular thinking. This kind of thinking has a strong link to depression and suicide.

When one is in the realistic point of view of real self, one can have positive self-reflection. When one is in the point of view of anti-self, experiencing thoughts that focus on self as bad, one must avoid ruminating. When introspecting, one must adopt an attitude of curiosity, openness, acceptance and love and think about what one wants to challenge in self and how to differentiate from negative past influences. This gives life a meaning and direction without falling victim to inner critic that confiscates back and prevents one from achieving goals.

Another definition of rumination is repeated and passive thinking about the consequences of problems rather than getting into problem solving. For example, thinking about, "Why can’t I stop binge eating?" instead of chopping up a salad to take to work for lunch. Also, people often ruminate about comments other people have made. The trap of rumination sometimes thinking in-depth does lead to useful insights. When anything works intermittently such as a child asking parents for chocolate, those behaviors tend to be very resistant to change. It is the intermittent reinforcement trap.

Introverts needs silence to think about thoughts, because they often are more sensitive to everything around them, they need that down time, without interruption and input from the outside world, to process the stuff of the day, the interactions, their reactions to them, and simply to think their thoughts.

Introspection is about growth, we look inward in order to learn. Rumination is about getting stuck; the wheels are turning, but not getting anywhere other than to frustration, depression and anger. I don't think we'd worry about spending too much time being introspective, but when it comes to ruminating; if someone showed us the exit, we'd take it!

Instead of rehearsing, regurgitating, replaying experience, start making action plans. Explore, what can be done about the situation one cannot stop thinking about, and then face up to the conflict. Write out action plan. Even if not ready to take action, seeing action plan in writing will be part of the "getting ready" process. Set a time limit on rethinking, make five-minute appointments with yourself a couple of times during the day where you can ruminate if you like, but between the appointments, refuse to take worry's call: say, “You are too busy.”

The point that differentiates rumination from introspection is a great one. That point in some form often comes up in therapy. One often just knows when one is going over old ground or problem solving. There is a difference. The feeling that comes along is different with each one. With introspection, there is a sense of exploring something, considering new perspectives, and is more aware of feelings. Rumination feels like not just going in circles, but also digging in to oneself further into distressed feelings. So, being aware of thoughts, feelings, and reasons are essential for knowing the difference; and being compassionate to the struggle is essential in working ways through it. For this reason, one has to develop compassionate self-awareness, that is to say, a combination of self-compassion and self-awareness. Compassionate self-awareness provides a helpful perspective for many struggles.

Mindfulness comes up in anything we imagine to achieve in life. Wherever you go, there you are, so practice living a quiet life in this noisy world.

Blogger Labels: Fine,Line,Introspection,Rumination,attention,consequences,feelings,events,Both,difference,self,examination,desires,factor,depression,Time,environment,growth,reflection,exploration,brain,Neuroscientist,period,person,activities,platter,attitude,

Warm Thought on a Cold Day

It is hard to take pleasure in life when you don't care for yourself. People who haven't learned to accept and get along with themselves tend to have more difficulty accepting and getting along with others. I personally had a hard time getting along with people, until I finally realized how my difficulty with other people was rooted in my difficulty with myself.

The produce of life comes from the root within us. If you are rooted in humiliation, guilt, inferiority, rejection, lack of love and acceptance; the fruit of your relationships will suffer. However, once you are exposed to unconditional love and begin to accept yourself and others, these new roots will produce good fruit, and your relationship will flourish.

Never say or think negative things about yourself, such as, "I never do anything right." "I'll never change." "I'm ugly." "I look terrible." "I'm dumb." "Who could ever love me?" By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned, as we think in our mind, so we are. The way we think about ourselves reveal how we feel about ourselves.

Talk good things about yourself in line with what the word says about you. I like starting the day making good declaration of my guilt. You can do this while you're driving to work or cleaning house. Never compare yourself with other people. Variety is the spice of life or we wouldn't have been all different even down to our fingerprints. You'll never succeed at being yourself if you're trying to be like someone else. Other people can be a good example to you, but photocopying even their good traits will look different through your individual personality.

Zoom in on your potential instead of your limitations. Refuse to concentrate on the supposed limitation and decide to concentrate on your potential. Hit upon things you like to do that you do well, and do it over and over. If you spend your time doing things you're not good at, it will frustrate you and cause you to feel defeated and ineffective.

Dare to be different and deal with disapproval. Be a God-pleaser, not a man-pleaser. If you dare to be different, you'll have to expect some criticism. Going along with the crowd when we know in our heart we must be going in a different direction is one reason we don't succeed at being ourselves. You won't like yourself very much if you go against your own convictions.

Don't let the way another person treats you determine your worth. Keep your flaws in perspective. People with a high level of confidence have just as many weaknesses as people without confidence, but they concentrate on their strengths, not their flaws or weaknesses.

To finish, let me remind you of my opening declaration: It is tough to take pleasure in life, when you don't like yourself. When you learn to succeed at being yourself, you will be on your way to enjoy life fully.