Opening to Life

     "A human being is part of the whole called by us 'universe',
a part limited in time and space.
We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of consciousness.
This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.
Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison
by widening our circle of compassion
to embrace all living creatures
and the whole of nature in its beauty." Albert Einstein

     "The small man builds cages for everyone he knows. While the sage keeps dropping keys all night long for the beautiful, rowdy prisoners." Hafiz

 

Wisdom of the Deathbed

     “In his recent book, The Five Invitations, (Frank Ostaseski) offers the living what he’s learned at the bedside of thousands of people as they died. He distils the wisdom of the deathbed into five invitations to be fully present in life:

• Don’t wait.
• Welcome everything; push away nothing.
• Bring your whole self to the experience.
• Find the place of rest in the middle of things.
• Cultivate 'don’t know/ mind.

      Ostaseski has learned that the activities of caregiving are quite ordinary. He writes, ‘You make soup, give a back rub, change soiled sheets, help with medications, listen to a lifetime of stories lived and now ending, show up as a calm and loving presence. Nothing special. Just simple human kindness, really.’ ”

https://www.lionsroar.com/how-will-you-die/?utm_source=Lion%27s+Roar+Newsletter&utm_campaign=1777846eb5-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_11_28&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1988ee44b2-1777846eb5-21110717&mc_cid=1777846eb5&mc_eid=9d27166e2a

Shawn O'Hagan "The Moon Suggests" www.fogforestgallery.ca

Phases of Life in Traditional India

     In India during the Buddha’s time, “the so-called retirement years were seen as a time for the eventual fulfillment of one’s life. (There were) four distinct phases of one’s life: 

          1) as a ‘student,’ where one is expected to remain celibate, learn a trade or profession, train in martial arts if one belongs to a warrior class, or train in conducting rites and rituals if one belongs to a priestly class; 

          2) as a householder, fully participating in a family life – copulation, reproduction, civic and family duties, and so on;

          3) as a ‘retiree,’ where husband and wife together leave all familial responsibilities and join other spiritual strivers in a community in the forest; 

          4) the last stage of life where one leaves even the community behind and walks on into the mountains to be alone and look into the face of death with the courage and dignity one has cultivated in the third phase of life."

       Mu Soeng, Gloria Taraniya Ambrosia, Andrew Olendzki. “Older and Wiser. Classical Buddhist Teachings on Aging, Sickness and Death.” Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, 2017.

Who's in Charge? Are you Sure?

     Whether we see basic drives as the will to survive personally & as a family line; survival of the fittest within the human species; or survival as a species among other species; it boils down to surviving personally by whatever means, mating, raising & defending our offspring so that they too can do the same. 
     The sense of "me & mine against the world" dominates. Fear, anxiety, possessiveness, aggression, sex, competitiveness, time-poverty, goal-orientation, etc are inherent. We not only share all these with sea lions, wolves, & other animals, but are driven by these primitive reflexes far more than we tend to realize. This is literally natural, adaptive - a residual evolutionary set of survival skills. The problem however is that most, if not all of these are inappropriate in today's world, and thus cause us a great deal more harm than good.
     Mindfulness training (MBSR) & practice helps us to clearly see our own mind in action, free ourselves from acting out these primitive reflexes, and thus allow us to make much wiser behavior choices: http://healthyhealers.blogspot.ca/2017/10/where-do-you-wish-to-stabilize-on.html
     Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is a secular derivation of Buddhist Mindfulness- or Insight-Meditation. To gain a clearer, more in-depth, direct understanding of how & why MBSR, and to a large extent all the other Mindfulness-based Interventions (MBIs) work, one needs to become a serious, consistent practitioner of meditation. 
     Furthermore, serious secular meditation practitioners, clinicians & teachers (even famously anti-religious ones like Sam Harris) tend to eventually study the Buddhist roots and regularly sit silent Buddhist meditation retreats. This new book is a very clear, enjoyable, contemporary investigation of Buddhist Mindfulness- or Insight-Meditation: 
     Robert Wright. "Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment." Simon & Schuster, 2017.
    "Wright leads readers on a journey through psychology, philosophy, and a great many silent retreats to show how & why meditation can serve as the foundation for a spiritual life in a secular age. At once excitingly ambitious & wittily accessible, this is the first book to combine evolutionary psychology with cutting-edge neuroscience to defend the radical claims at the heart of Buddhist philosophy. With bracing honesty and fierce wisdom, it will persuade you not just that Buddhism is true—which is to say, a way out of our delusion—but that it can ultimately save us from ourselves, as individuals and as a species."
     NOTE: two or more truth claims, from different psycho-social-spiritual perspectives, can be equally valid. Serious meditation practitioners, whether secular or religious, as well as monks & mystics of any of the world's wisdom traditions tend to transcend apparent paradoxes that others might (mis)perceive as irreconcilable black-and-white dichotomies.

Katie Hoffman      "Over My Head"      www.katiehoffman.com

Where Do You Wish to Stabilize on the Spectrum?

     On one extreme end of a continuum, one feels alone, afraid, anxious - struggling to survive. The environment feels harsh. Relationships feel adversarial, "cut-throat" competitive. Everything feels like "do or die", "every person for themselves." All threats feel life-threatening and evoke equally powerful reactions - "fight, freeze or flight."
     We've all known rough & tumble characters who can't hold back from saying exactly what's on their mind, nor even restrain themselves from physical aggression, regardless of consequences. Such consistent reptilian reactivity puts a huge strain on all relationships, jobs, civilized society, and perhaps most of all on one's own quality of life!
     In this universally common level of consciousness (with a wide range of intensity & consistency), even an innocent remark - a mere slight to one's self-concept (ego) - can feel life-threatening, and therefore provoke disproportionately powerful "fight-freeze-flight" reactions, which to objective observers will seem extremely inappropriate. And yet, most of us have more than one "button", that when pushed, reliably triggers immediate inappropriate reactions which we regret later. 

     Van Der Kolk writes that if your past environment & genetics have trained ("conditioned") you to feel chronically frightened & unwanted, then your brain is specialized to manage feelings of fear & abandonment ie life feels like a chronic struggle to survive, and naturally, you'll tend to be in survival mode which is rarely if ever appropriate in modern times.

      If, on the other hand, you've been conditioned to feel safe & loved, then your brain is specialized to explore, play & cooperate, so you'll naturally spend most of your time near the opposite end of the continuum ie life feels like a pleasant, interesting adventure, and you'll be behaving appropriately, and at times even wisely, regardless of circumstances. Bessel Van Der Kolk. “The Body Keeps the Score. Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma.” Penguin Books, 2015.

     In this qualitatively different, universal but usually fleeting level of consciousness, we experience peace, ease, equanimity, clear awareness, timelessness, stillness, silence, effortlessness, loving-kindness, and joy.

     My first dog had been mistreated before we got him at 2 months of age. For the first few weeks, he was terrified, hid under furniture, and would urinate in fear from almost any stimulus. Gradually he learned to trust us, became very loving towards us, but was aggressively protective. When we once left him in a kennel over a weekend, his feelings were so hurt that on our return, it took about half an hour before he could even look at us.
     My second dog was treated well by the people who gave him to us, again at 2 months of age. He was happy & friendly with everyone, including strangers who came to our door, greeting all with enthusiastic affection. Once he was eating from his dish in the backyard, and a little kid around age 3 accidentally ran right into him - not advisable for a stranger to do to a large dog. All my dog did was lift his head, look at the child, then continued eating. He had no concept of fear, anger or violence. We had to give him away, and did so to a friend who lived about a block from our place. They never tied him up, yet he never tried to return. Not only was he not offended, but was perfectly happy with the new owners.

     Unlike animals, our minds can instantly & effortlessly shift from survival to wisdom mode. The more skillfully we train to perform this shift, the more our mind stabilizes in this far more evolved wisdom mode or level of consciousness. 
     See: http://jglovas.wixsite.com/awarenessnow/single-post/2017/10/14/Two-Ways-of-Being
       and: http://jglovas.wixsite.com/awarenessnow/single-post/2017/10/28/Communication-Basics

 

Katie Hoffman      "Nana’s Garden"      www.katiehoffman.com

Wisdom - Scientific Research Overview

     "Wisdom is an ancient concept that has gained new interest among clinical researchers as a complex trait relevant to general physical and mental health, well-being, happiness, life satisfaction, personal mastery, and resilience. (Referenced) studies suggest that wisdom is a useful construct with important implications for individuals as well as society. 

     The concept of practical (as opposed to theoretical) wisdom has been discussed since the times of Aristotle, but is used in recent years to refer to knitting together the cognitive, social, and emotional processes involved in everyday decision making i.e., actual decisions and choices one might make rather than the abstraction of a ‘wise’ person. Erikson (1959) proposed the last stage of psychosocial development culminating in wisdom. Beginning in the 1970s, Baltes and others initiated empirical research on wisdom, focusing on cognitive abilities. Subsequently, several investigators drew attention to the importance of emotional regulation, and Vaillant, Cloninger, and Blazer stressed the potential role of wisdom in well-being.

 

Defining wisdom:

     Based on a review of empirically based definitions of wisdom published in peer-reviewed journals, mostly from western countries, we identified six most commonly included components of wisdom: 

(1) general knowledge of life and social decision making - ability to give good advice, life knowledge, and life skills; 

(2) emotional regulation - affect regulation and self-control; 

(3) pro-social behaviors - e.g., empathy, compassion, altruism, and a sense of fairness; 

(4) insight - the ability and desire to understand oneself and one's actions at a deep level; 

(5) value relativism (tolerance for divergent values) - being nonjudgmental and accepting of other value systems; and 

(6) decisiveness - the ability to make quick and effective decisions.

 

     Current thinking in wisdom research considers the entity of wisdom not as a collection of distinct traits, but rather as a higher-order construct that includes various domains such as prosocial behaviors, emotional regulation, and others listed above. Thus, overall wisdom is greater than the sum of its parts in terms of its utility to the self and the society. 

     In a separate survey study using the Delphi method, international researchers in the field agreed that the components mentioned above were key to defining wisdom. Finally, a mixed-methods study of wisdom in the Bhagavad Gita, a scripture written in India several thousand years ago, suggested that most of those components had also characterized the ancient Indian construct of wisdom. The same seems to hold true for the Books of Wisdom in the Bible and documents in most other religions. Whereas the relative emphasis on specific components of wisdom has varied across cultures and times, there have been more similarities than differences among different postulated concepts of wisdom over the centuries and around the world, suggesting that there is an underlying biological substrate of wisdom that influences and is influenced by life experiences.

Putative neurobiological basis:

     By examining the neurobiology of consistently identified components of wisdom, one can begin to hypothesize how such a complex human characteristic may be orchestrated within the human brain. Accordingly, we reviewed studies focusing on neuroimaging / brain localization and neurotransmitters associated with individual components of wisdom. Prefrontal cortex and amygdala seemed to be the main brain regions related to all of these components. The prefrontal cortex figures prominently in emotional regulation, social decision making, and value relativism, primarily via top-down regulation of limbic (amygdala) and striatal regions. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex facilitates calculated, reason-based decision making, whereas the ventromedial prefrontal cortex is implicated in emotional valence and prosocial attitudes / behaviors. Reward neurocircuitry (ventral striatum, nucleus accumbens) also appears important for promoting prosocial attitudes / behaviors. 

     We also approached the putative neurobiology of wisdom by examining behavioral effects of localized brain damage. Severe damage to the above-mentioned areas, especially the prefrontal cortex, either through trauma or disease, results in a loss of personality characteristics associated with wisdom. A number of cases have been described, starting with the well-known case of Phineas Gage, in whom damage to frontostriatal and frontolimbic circuits resulted in loss of behaviors listed as components of wisdom. A noteworthy example is the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia, with brain atrophy restricted to anterior portions of the prefrontal lobes, which is associated with dramatic changes in personality as the patients become impulsive, socially inappropriate, and emotionally inept, with behaviors antithetical to wisdom."

       Thomas, M.L., et al., "A new scale for assessing wisdom based on common domains and a neurobiological model: The San Diego Wisdom Scale (SD-WISE)." Journal of Psychiatric Research (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2017.09.005

 

Katie Hoffman      Boy (Crystal Stare)      www.katiehoffman.com

Mere Respite - OR - Self-Transcendence?

     “I believe that love that is true and real, creates a respite from death. All cowardice comes from not loving or not loving well, which is the same thing. And then the man who is brave and true looks death squarely in the face, like some rhino-hunters I know or Belmonte, who is truly brave... It is because they love with sufficient passion, to push death out of their minds ... until it returns, as it does, to all men ... and then you must make really good love again. Think about it.”

     Ernest Hemingway's character, in the 2011 movie "Midnight in Paris."


     “With right view we are aware of what is happening in the present moment. We are experiencing nature happening. There is no body, no person.”

     Sayadaw U Tejaniya. “Where Awareness Becomes Natural. A Guide to Cultivating Mindfulness in Daily Life.” Shambhala, 2016.