Please read H&M Chs 1-3 and Nataraja Chs 2 & 3.
For this blog post, and the remaining Reading Blogs, please summarize what you read. After summarizing, you can reflect on the following questions to guide the rest of your writing, but you should not just list and answer them. What did you find most interesting? Most confusing? What do you want to learn more about? Is there any information that you find dubious or that you are suspicious of? You do not need to explicitly answer these, rather, I'm interested in your summary, and ultimately your thoughts and insight on these readings.
Please list the main key words you used in your post.
I found promoting the brain to activate wisdom, mindfulness, and virtue the most interesting. The book explains each concept and how strengthening them will provide positive outcomes on your thoughts, feelings, and actions. I thought this section was interesting because it provided not only an explanation as to why these concepts are important but it also gives a biological perspective. This chapter explains evolutionarily why we experience suffering, and where wisdom, mindfulness, and virtue may be activated in the brain and nervous system. This section also describes how these three concepts are supported by three neural functions including regulation, learning, and selection.
Chapter two in H&M, section The Suffering of Separation was a bit confusing. I think I understand what the author’s point generally is; no one can completely separate themselves from the world or others. However, when the book gave an example “when you regard the world as ‘not me at all’ it is potentially unsafe but once you say ‘I am this body apart from the world’ the body’s frailties become your own” I didn’t really grasp the point the author was trying to make.
I think I would like to learn more about both our evolutionary avoidance of suffering and our purse of opportunities/pleasure. In the book H&M it explains why we are sensitive to negative information, why we experience anxiety, why it was/is important to purse certain opportunities (mating), and more. The book additionally explains that the survival of the fittest was always more in tuned to negative stimuli versus positive, as negative could lead to death. I would like to learn more about other everyday thought processes and reactions that may have been evolutionarily inherited from our ancestors and why.
Overall I thought these chapters were very insightful and provided new ideas and thought processes that I have never heard of prior to this class. I enjoyed learning about biological and evolutionary reasons for our thought processes and how we may learn to strengthen and/or alter them.
Terms: wisdom, mindfulness, virtue, regulation, learning, selection, suffering, opportunities, anxiety, evolution
I want to start out by saying that these readings were very interesting and not at all what I expected. The H & M book really opened my eyes to a world of perspectives that I have never experienced before. One of the most interesting concepts to me is that we have the power to change our brains from the inside out. I think so often we forget just how powerful our brains are. For instance, isn’t it crazy how we use our brains to think about our brains? The authors express how in order to change our brains we have to show ourselves the kindness that we so often save for other people we feel are more deserving of it. The book uses the example of treating ourselves as if we were a child and how we would treat a little kid. The book says that we are deserving of happiness, love and wisdom. That is such a powerful message in a world where we are given so many negative messages about ourselves.
I was also really interested in the discussion about the difference between the mind and the brain. I have never really considered the difference or interconnectedness of our mind and brain. The books “working hypothesis” seems to make the most sense to me. It says that “the mind is what the brain does.” That’s one of those statements that you could just sit there and think about for hours. I also think it’s interesting that although we don’t have a concrete answer on the difference between our mind and brain, in a couple hundred years they may very well know the answer and look back on our time wondering how we missed the bigger picture.
Another section that proved to be extremely interesting to me was the section in chapter 2 of H&M called “Negative Trumps Positive.” It’s interesting to me how easily we as humans forget our successes in light of a failure. It seems that we need ten positives to get rid of one negative thing. In fact the book does say that in relationships it takes about five positive interactions to make up for one negative one. I can attest to that fact at my job. I work at Bremwood and I have been wondering lately how one bad incident can cause my kids to be upset regardless of having good interactions later. I have one particular kid that I have always been able to talk to and calm down when she is escalated. However, I gave all of my kids a lecture on not bullying and being respectful to peers and this particular girl became very upset with me. As I said we have always gotten along and she has always said that she can trust me. However, for the remainder of the day she would not interact with me or show me any respect when I did have to interact with her. I thought it was really interesting how much one interaction can interfere with many positive interactions.
I really want to learn how to go about controlling my brain and emotions better. I think it’s fascinating that we are able to actually change our brains from the inside out just by using our minds. I can’t imagine what it would be like to unlock even more of our brain’s potential. I think that as we learn more about our mind/brain we could really learn to alter our personality to be more positive.
I really do enjoy reading about most of the subject matter but I did struggle with the information provided about the neurons in our nervous system and the journey they take throughout our brain. It’s not that it’s not interesting but it just doesn’t seem like something that I want to read a lot about. I prefer to learn about things that I can do to help change my attitude and the attitudes of those around me. I would love to eventually discover how to unlock the parts of our brain that we don’t even use.
Terminology: perspective, brain, happiness, love, wisdom, mind, working hypothesis, positive, negative, emotions, personality, neurons, nervous system, attitude
Essentially, the main foci of the chapters in the books were how our brain influenced our thoughts, feelings, etc. Specifically, how the brain works in meditation and other mystical experiences (e.g., prayer). For example, there is decreased activity in the orientation association of the parietal lobe during meditation, which means that one’s sense of self is lessened. According to Nataraja, this explains why there is a sense of being part of something greater or the loss of identity during meditation.
Another important aspect would be how our left and right hemispheres work together. Though the main functions of each brain are different (the left hemisphere focuses on analytical, rational and logical processing while the right brain focuses on abstract thought, visual spatial-perception, non-verbal awareness and the expression/modulation of emotion), the idea of the principle of complementarity, or that each hemisphere complements the other but both are necessary for survival, is the prevalent notion of how are brain works. Several different approaches, such as holistic versus linear processing or symbolic versus concrete processing, can be used to illustrate the principle. For example, when making a decision, the left hemisphere analyzes the problem from a wide array of angles and then arranges the information gather in a logical sequence. The right brain will “generate the big picture and work backward from the answer, filling in the details.” Both are necessary; we would not be arrive at sound decisions/stances should we do one and not the other. Another way to look at it would be the cook who uses the left hemisphere to understand the words, mathematical formula, etc. and generally learns through the recipe while the right hemisphere would need a more hands-on experience to learn both. As you could expect, the intersection of each hemisphere, though one is generally more dominant than the other, provides the best manner in which to learn.
The other aspect of the principle of complementarity is that we have to study the brain on both a macro and micro level. We need to look at the individual neurons and analyze their behavior, but also observe the brain on a systematic level. Though, I find the book’s comparison to the particle-like versus wave-like function of quantum mechanics unnecessarily complicated and not quite relevant.
As I found myself reading about the neurons, neurotransmitters and the different functions of each, I noticed myself wondering “Okay, yeah, serotonin affects mood (and other functions), but how??” I have never been able to quite comprehend the jump from the biological process to how I’m actually feeling. As such, when Hanson and Mendius began discussing that idea and how there is very little information on it, my curiosity was piqued. I have a feeling this may be my “exploration blog” for Thursday.
Additionally, Nataraja’s, portrayal of the brain during religious and mystical experiences was particularly interesting. As a Christian, I have often been challenged that my idea of prayer was simply a psychological construct. And I admit, it is hard to refute that, as I have no proof, but my experience is much like what Nataraja explained. It is a pretty concrete sense of knowing; I could not explain it, but am quite convinced. Which doesn’t sound quite rational or logical to me, so it was comforting to see this is common across the board. That being said, Persinger’s explanation of religious/mystical experience as something generated by microseizures in the temporal lobe is a little suspect to me. Granted, I have the bias of being religious, but I don’t see how that explains much. As with Ramachandran’s experiment, the increased brain activity COULD be used to illustrate God’s existence (though I would certainly refrain from calling it proof) or to hypothesize that God is a figment of our brain’s activity. I found Persinger’s differentiation between the levels of lability of the temporal lobes particularly interesting. Persinger considered himself to have an analytical and scientific mind, which explains why the God Machine wouldn’t work on him. I don’t buy it. I mean, his hypothesis makes sense, especially as there isn’t really a logical, rational explanation of God’s existence. However, I didn’t see any evidence that Persinger was predominantly a left-brained thinker, only his claim, or that lower levels of temporal lobe lability have a reduced likelihood of temporal lobe lability. In fact, the books states that “one can assume…” Yeah, no, your assumption isn’t convincing. It is certainly plausible, but I’m skeptical.
Neuron, neurotransmitter, temporal lobe lability, principle of complementarity, mind and brain, parietal lobe, serotonin, oriental association area
The mind, brain, and relationship between them were discussed in the assigned reading. We were also given a bit of background information about the brain and its physical components. It talked about the various structures such as the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, somatosensory nervous system, peripheral nervous system, and the different lobes of the brain. It also mentioned the many neurochemicals in the brain as well as the structure of neurons. It went on to explain suffering and why it exists. Biologically speaking, it serves as motivational force for self-preservations. It produces adverse effects so organisms try to avoid it. Three survival strategies, creating separations, maintain stability, and approaching opponents and avoiding threats, were also mentioned. Something particularly interesting to me was the effects negative thoughts have on our well-being. I read a book called The Secret which is all about how our thoughts affect our lives and the physical manifestations they bring about. It is a very insightful and inspiring book if anyone is interested in learning more about the power of our minds.
I thought the most interesting thing mentioned in the assigned readings was the connection between the brain and the mind. Ultimately, they are separate entities but are also the same thing. Changes in one produce changes in the other. In my opinion, the mind is more of a metaphysical quantity. Although it is greatly influenced by the happenings in the brain, I don’t think it’s a physical entity that someone can find. It is kind of like the relationship between the body and the soul. One of the books mentioned that how the brain and mind work together is one of the top three great unanswered questions about the universe along with the big bang and the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. I definitely would like to learn more about the mind. The brain is very cool and a very powerful organ. It can be studied physically so a lot is known about it. On the other hand, I feel like the mind is more difficult to study and not as much is known about it. It really is a fascinating concept that I would like to know more about.
Some of the analogies the H&M book mentioned were a bit confusing to me. It talked about a simulator at one point and that whole concept was a bit confusing to me. Also, some very large numbers such as the amount of possible combinations of neurons firing and the amount of atoms in the universe were too large and abstract for me to truly understand. Anything that mentions God or any other metaphysical force controlling the universe is something I’m a bit suspicious of. Their existence can’t be proven so it can be difficult to believe and have blind faith in. I took Ecology and Evolution last semester and one of the main topics of conversation my class brought up was religion and whether there really is an omnipotent, all-knowing force in existence and what powers it may or may not have. From a scientific point of view, I am skeptical.
Mind, brain, neurochemical, SNS, PNS, prefrontal cortex, neuron, suffering, creating separations, maintain stability, approaching opponents and avoiding threats
Throughout the readings I feel like there was a focus on the ability to separate oneself from the world. This is portrayed through a few different examples. One example is the emersion in mystical experiences like prayer. Prayer is a method in which the subject brings all focus to the almighty. It is to provide a sense of connectedness to something larger than this world, providing a separation of self and environment. The reason for this mystical experience is something that I find very interesting due to the differing explanations. Ramachandran’s temporal arousal and “God Machine” are extremely fascinating. By stimulating the temporal lobe and causing microseizures Persinger was able to produce mystical experiences in test subjects. While this does not clearly show why that area of the brain is important in these experiences it does lead on to consider the role of the brain in this phenomena. It was the work of Newberg and d’Anquili that help provide a model of how the brain functions during times mystical experience by tracking the blood flow through the brain during such occasion. The results of which were not concurrent with the temporal lobe explanation.
Another area that piqued my interest was the discussion of the mind and the brain. The brain is incredible in that it is used to further analyze and examine itself. The distinctions made between mind and brain, that the mind is the result of function of the brain, is one that makes sense yet is truly mind-boggling. He brain is the structure itself, yet the mind is what is often referred too because it is the conscious and unconscious results of the brains function.
One method of measuring and analyzing a persons meditation is by examining their brain waves by EEG. Meditation is shown to affect brain waves across the board from alpha and beta waves to delta and gamma waves. However, meditation does not affect the brain waves of each person in the same manner. It has been found that those who are new to meditation often show desynchronized alpha waves, where as, experienced meditators show an increase in the synchronization of the same alpha waves. Brain waves are also used to measure the level of a persons consciousness and the relation between the two (consciousness ad meditation) that I will probably examine in my exploration blog.
Terms: mystical experience, temporal arousal, microseizures, mind, brain, consciousness, EEG, brain waves
These chapters mainly focused on the structure of the brain and how it relates to meditation. The first chapter heavily described the different areas of the brain and the functions that they served. I found this chapter to be slightly dull because I had already learned the majority of the information and it had not yet been related back to meditation. Later in the readings, there was much more focus on meditation and I found that a lot more interesting. Particularly, I found the difference between active and passive meditation interesting. I didn’t realize think that focusing on your breathing would be considered active meditation because breathing seems like a passive action to me. However, the definitions that were provided for active vs passive meditation made focusing on your breathing fit into the active category.
The most interesting part about active and passive meditation was the way the book described the brain processes. The book discussed that the information went through specific channels to cause intense relaxation and it even offered an explanation for why meditation makes people feel more calm and focused. There were some areas that seemed to be a little less than scientific to me. The area that stood out the most was the ‘sense of self’ discussion. I believe that it was extremely difficult, if not impossible with our current technology, to understand what makes someone who they are. There is not specific area of the brain that is labeled “Sarah.” It is multiple complex interactions between the different areas of the brain that shape our sense of self so I found that part of the book to be simplistic. I also have a difficult time believing that the right side of the brain is holistic and the left side of the brain is ego-centered. Part of my problem with this is that I felt like the book never gave an adequate definition of what the “ego” is. This confused me because ego can mean many different things depending on context. Also, there have always been misconceptions about the differences between the right and left hemisphere. In general, the differences are not the pronounced when it comes down to how it affects behavior. I would have liked a more in depth explanation of how the hemispheres are different and what impact this makes.
Terms: Active meditation, passive meditation, left hemisphere, right hemisphere, sense of self
For today’s blog, we read chapters 1-3 in H&M Buddha’s Brain and chapters 2 and 3 in the Blissful Brain. Chapter one of H&M delved into the relationship between the brain and the mind. From what I read, the chapter describes the mind as what is happening in the brain – the mind is the culmination of the human experience, like sensory information, how we feel about that information, and what those feelings do to affect our behavior. It is a combination of human biology and psychology. They actually broke the ‘mind’ down into three pillars – neurology, psychology, and contemplative practice. Contemplative practice is basically abstract thought. It is what sets us apart from other animals. Only humans think about the past, present, and future. The chapter then goes on to link the three aspects of the ‘mind’ to three pillars of the Buddhist practice – virtue, mindfulness, and wisdom. I particularly liked the definitions given in this book. Instead of being very abstract, the definitions gave an aspect of biology as well as spirituality. These three pillars of Buddhism were related to three practices of the brain – regulation, learning, and selection. “Virtue simply involves regulating your actions, words, and thoughts to create benefits rather than harms for yourself and others. Mindfulness involves the skillful use of attention to both your inner and outer worlds.
Wisdom is applied common sense, which you acquire in two steps. First, you come to understand what hurts and what helps— in other words, the causes of suffering and the path to its end. Then, based on this understanding, you let go of those things that hurt and strengthen those that help.”
(Hanson, 2009). In these definitions, Hanson relates virtue to the brain’s practice of regulation – exciting and inhibiting certain reactions. Having virtue means exciting reactions that create positive or beneficial results and inhibiting reactions that create negative or harmful results. Being mindful means paying attention to things that are important and not allowing your mind to wander. Through that attention, we learn what is and is not important. This is a skill that takes time to develop, but you can train your brain to be attentive, which is what we are trying to do through meditation. Finally, wisdom involves selecting between different choices. It takes wisdom to make good choices. Half of that comes from experience, and the other comes, I think, from having the maturity to prioritize. Sometimes we have to make choices between what we want and what we need. It’s difficult to do, but I think those who have matured are better able to choose what is needed. Chapters 2 and 3 in H&M focus on the causes of human suffering. A lot of that suffering comes from our own biological drives. Both chapters break down the parts of our brain that focus our attention. All of our human experiences are colored by our emotions. We think of experiences as negative, positive, or neutral. Biologically, we focus on negative experiences. This bias can make us feel more pessimistic. Because we attend to negative experiences unconsciously, we might feel like life has more negative than positive experiences. This is one of the ways we cause ourselves suffering. This makes a lot of sense to me, and some of the things I learned about in other classes provide some more evidence for the idea. I took a Memory and Language course last year and we talked about negative memories. We thought that we remember traumatic experiences better than neutral ones. This is in part true, but not because traumatic experiences are better encoded, but because we rehearse them more often. We attend to negative memories more than neutral ones, and thus remember them better. Chapter 3 further delves into suffering and how suffering affects us both physically and mentally. Different systems in our bodies react physiologically to different stages of mental suffering. Our physical health is directly related to our mental health, which is why maintaining mental health and stability is so important. People nowadays don’t seem to understand the importance of maintaining a healthy mind. Mental health is looked upon with stigma that should not exist. This is a problem that mental health providers have been facing for years. We are still trying to fight the negative stigma of “mental health problems.” I think this book does an excellent job of explaining how the mind and the body work together (sometimes in negative way) to create our overall health. We also read two chapters in Nataraja. Chapter 2 mainly focused on the structures of the brain, as well as some history of psychological and neurological discovery. It was a good review of the parts of the brain and what happens when different sections are stimulated. Chapter 4 of Nataraja discussed more mystical experiences and meditation. When I read the chapter title, I was automatically skeptical. I think just the word “mystical” makes it sound wishy-washy. However, the book did an excellent job of staying true to the physiology and how the brain is directly involved in human experience. The chapter talked about how different parts of the brain are active during “mystical” experiences and different types of meditation, both active and passive. I thought this distinction in activity was really interesting. Passive meditation involved a lot less activation in the hindbrain, most specifically in the visual association area of the brain, than in active meditation. This would make sense since active meditation involves a lot more visualization. Chapter 4 also discussed how our brain wave activity differs during meditation. I haven’t learned much about brain wave activity outside of sleeping studies; so reading about how brain waves change during meditation was really intriguing. Overall, this reading was incredibly interesting to me, especially since I am a self-proclaimed biopsych nerd. I really love reading about how the brain works and how the biological functions of the brain affect our behavior and vice versa.
Terms: Neurology, psychology, contemplative practice, virtue, mindfulness, wisdom, regulation, learning, selection, suffering, memory, mystical experience, passive and active meditation, hindbrain, visual association, brain waves
The H&M readings discussed the brain and its functions, a great deal of focus was on biopsychology. For example, the book described how taxi cab drivers develop a larger hippocampus, which is a key brain region for making visual-spatial memories. There was a bunch of interesting facts about the brain, which focused on the things like neurons, synapses, neurotransmitters and the nervous system. I thought the most intriguing facts was the idea that the mind and brain interact with each other so well that they are a single, codependent, mind/brain system. Which makes a lot of sense when you think about it. The paragraph about the causes of suffering was very informative. It basically explained how and why people are the cause of their own suffering. The key factor of suffering is the brain, which is ironically the path to freedom from suffering. Before I transfer to UNI, I had previously taken a few religions courses at my community college. In my religions courses, I was really fascinated about Buddhism. So I really enjoyed reviewing the three pillars of Buddhist practice (Virtue, Mindfulness and Wisdom). I also learned that the three pillars are supported by the three fundamental functions of the brain, which are regulation, learning, and selection. These three functions operate at all levels of the nervous system and are involved in any important mental activity. I hope to find more articles about Buddhism and meditation to learn more about Siddhartha’s story.
Additionally, the readings in Nataraja’s book were similar to the readings in the H&M’s book. I enjoyed reading about the early views on the brain in Nataraja’s book. It made me appreciate how much science and humanity has progressed over the years. Then, the book went into detail about the evolution of the brain. A great overview of the four lobes of the brain which includes, the frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital lobe were also mention, as well as the thalamus, amygdala, hypothalamus, hippocampus, autonomic nervous system and limbic system. But, my favorite part in chapter 2 was the discussion of left and right hemispheres of the brain. It turns out that the right hemisphere controls movement and receives sensory input from the left hand side of the body, whereas the left hemisphere controls motor and sensory function on the right-hand side of the body. They also gave great examples about what each hemispheres do in certain situation, such as learning to cook a new recipe, tackling a problem or giving directions.
Nataraja’s chapter on meditation and mystical experiences was phenomenal and by far the most interesting material in our reading assignments. Nataraja mentions that there has been extensive research focusing on the brain’s involvement in the realization of altered or higher states of consciousness through meditation. As well as, mediation working as a means of improving one’s health and acting as a way to relieve stress. I also learned that there are two main types of meditation: passive and active. Passive meditation involves a widening of the attention to an all-embracing focus, whereas active meditation involves a narrowing of the attention to a one-pointed focus. Nataraja also talks about brain waves states during meditation such as beta, alpha, theta, delta and other brain waves and then discusses the correlation between brain waves states and stages of meditation The information about the parts of the brain was a little dull for me because I am not the biggest biopsychology fan, but I really enjoying reading the stuff about active and passive meditation, I can’t wait till for go over more information about meditation techniques and benefits.
Keys Words: brain, hippocampus, neurons, synapses, neurotransmitters, virtue, mindfulness, wisdom, regulation, learning, selection, left and right hemispheres, EEG, passive meditation, active meditation
The reading of chapters 1-3 in H&M was the most interesting to me. I enjoyed learning about how the mind changes the brain, and then how the brain also changes the mind. The quote “for if the brain is the cause of suffering, it can also be its cure” was very intriguing to me. The idea that small changes each day can help to shape your brain to help you become more positive and mindful was extremely interesting. Getting to learn more about the biological and evolutionary side of how our brain works was intersecting. The second and third chapters in H&M were the most interesting to me because they related to me personally. I often deal with anxiety and distress, these chapters talking about how realizing suffering can help to overcome it was a very important part to me. Recognizing stress or suffering I believe is really important because it can help affect ones “wholeness” although always having positive things happen to you is nice we don’t learn much from them and I thin it’s important to not just “move on” from negative situations but to reflect on them to help improve yourself. Learning about the two darts was a concept that I had never really though of before I had read it but is something that I reflected on and thought of many instances in my own life if what the first and second darts were in situations that I have encountered. The most confusing parts of the reading were when they started talking about all the parts of the brain and what they all did. I haven’t taken a biology class in many years so reading all these new terms was very difficult to me. Chapter 2 in the Nataraja readings was the most difficult although learning about the history of what people had thought of how the brain worked was intriguing overall the chapter was hard to take in and remember in just one sitting. In my sensations and perceptions class we are also learning about neurons and how they work so I had a little understanding on what the terms were but not what they meant. I hope to learn and have a better understanding about the biological side of the brain and how meditation affects it in the future.
Key terms: suffering, anxiety, evolution, biological, positive, meditation, first and second darts
Our readings really had us focus on the difference and similarity between the mind and the brain. The first chapter starts off with some background knowledge on our brain. It was a nice review of which parts of the brain do what, and how the different parts of the brain intermingle. There was definitely a large emphasis of laying down the neuroanatomy, which I was glad to get a refresher for. The chapter also covered some of the first understandings of the brain. The chapter talked about the argument between the brain and the heart being the center of the human. The famous Aristotle argued that the center of the human and his existence was found in the heart. We now know that he was wrong, thanks in part to Galen, the gladiator surgeon who identified many brain injuries and their effects on people. This chapter was really almost a history and systems review.
I came across a section of the reading that I wasn’t very fond of. It was the part of the reading where meditative experience was referred to as being “mystic” and that experience was thought to be religious. I had a hard time either understanding or accepting this partly because I don’t have a religious experience when I meditate. I also just don’t like the use of the word mystic, because it carries the weight of pop psychology, which isn’t well accredited in the scientific community. Though shortly after explaining the mystical experiences expressed by people, the readings started to put some reasoning into explaining the experience. I have to laugh a little at “god machine” though. I did wonder if the experiences felt by the “god machine” would be similar to experiences of drug highs. Since it would be an out of body, loss of sense of self sort of deal. It would be interesting to see the similarities in brain function during a session of using the god machine and someone who is on drugs.
I did get a little lost in the reading when it started talking about waves and the physics involved within the brain (example: alpha and gamma waves). It was really interesting to read about, but man it was dense. I was recognizing though that much of what was in the section was all just theory base on theory, based on theory etc… But it was still very interesting.
I wanted to read more about the relaxation responses found on page 102. It lists a couple of responses in the body while you are meditating. They include; Decrease in oxygen consumption, reduction in the elimination of carbon dioxide, increase in blood flow to the internal organs etc… I want to know what the benefits of effects of all of these are, and why they happen. I’m actually a little excited for our exploratory post so I can do some research on the physiological benefits during meditation, and not necessarily post meditation benefits.
Terms: neuroanatomy, Mystical experience, god machine, alpha wave, gamma wave, relaxation response, meditation.
These readings focused primarily on the science of meditation, and why it is beneficial. However, there were a number of things that I disagreed with in these chapters, and instead of giving you an exact play by play, I hope to give you an idea of the chapters through my grievances. Although it is clear that the author is trying to use a strong foundation in science (which I appreciate) there are some moments in his writing where he makes an assumption, or a statement that really drove me crazy. "As a result, we now have more way to become happier and more effective in daily life." Sentence structure set aside, how does brain imaging (FMRI, MRI, EEG) help us to become happier individuals? The simple, possibly blunt, answer is that they don't. These are simply tools that we as scientist use to understand the brain, and its complex inner workings. However, these brain imaging devices in no way provide us with any information on how to be happier individuals. Showing a person with clinical depression why they suffer, with a brain scan, is not going to help them at all. "Although 'contemplative' may sound exotic, you'e been contemplative if you've ever meditated, prayed, or just looked at the stars with a sense of wonder." Looking at stars, for me, does not elicit contemplation (usually), and when I meditate I don't think about anything (because I typically use the non-analytic from. Stating this as what seems to be a blanket statement really bothers me; you should not apply your own personal choices to everyone. Another thing that made me more than likely angrier than it should have was his separation between mind and brain. Here you are trying to scientifically explain why meditation is beneficial; and then you throw in a philosophical question that cannot be answered. Why did he have to base a large portion of his discussion on a question that has little empirical evidence? Don't get me wrong, I definitely enjoyed the readings, I found his information on cortisol to be extremely interesting. I relished all of the neurotransmitter data that he subjected us to, but I could do without the filer. Who cares about carrots, and sticks...really.
I legitimately loved the readings this week. The Blissful Brain is honestly one of my favorite books I’ve ever read. Before taking this class I actually looked into a lot of stuff similar to this. The coolest findings in the Blissful Brain, I had already read about in Exploring Happiness: From Aristotle to Brain Science and Why God Won’t Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief. I’ve always had a fascination with psychology and I’ve always had a passion of understanding the science behind ‘mystical’ experiences, such as religion and meditation. So obviously, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Ramachandran’s findings and Persinger’s ‘God Machine’. As I said, most of this was in my other books, but it was more fascinating now that I have some education in psychology.
Vilayanur Ramachandran found that many of his patients who suffered from microseizures in the temporal lobe had ‘religious experiences’. After doing more research, he found that the temporal lobe is certainly related to religious experiences. There was much controversy over the meaning of this ‘God Module’, as to whether or not it scientifically proved or disproved the existence of God. I liked that the book presented a non-biased view saying that it just showed a definitive association. Perhaps more interesting than the findings of Ramachandran were the experiments of Persinger, who had been influenced by Ramachandran. Persinger actually produced microseizures in his patients to test his own theories. While wearing the helmet that he designed, patients would often experience the feeling of an entity being present. What he believed he found, was the artificial creation of religious experiences. This is incredibly fascinating.
I would very much like to go to school for neuroscience, so much of the content of this book is very interesting, and helpful to me. I even found the summaries of brain-structures to be interesting instead of just more review. I thought the sections about the attention, orientation, visual, and verbal-conceptual association areas were incredibly fascinating. I was particularly intrigued by the orientation association area, and how decreased activity in this region contributes to a feeling of unity with everything. . It was very interesting to read about what areas were more and less active during what types of meditation or consciousness. It was also really interesting to read about the five levels of consciousness, and the brainwave activity that is associated with them.
Ramachandran, God Module, Persinger, God Machine, temporal lobe microseizures, attention association area, orientation association area, visual association area, verbal-conceptual association area, neuroscience, meditation, consciousness.
Chapter 1 in H & M was a weight off of the shoulders. It’s not like other books who try to fill our minds with different pieces of knowledge to memorize, but H&M fills our minds with ways of thinking that can change our minds. I liked the quote in Chapter 1 that said, “A single raindrop doesn’t have much effect, but if you have enough raindrops and enough time, you can carve a Grand Canyon. It proceeded to talk about seeing ourselves as children and asked if we thought our child-selves deserved happiness, love, and wisdom and asked if we thought we deserved that still today. It is true people treat others better than they treat themselves. It’s important to remember to treat ourselves well and to practice small positive actions every day to build that “Grand Canyon” of well-being, personal growth, and spiritual practice.
Chapter 2 was filled with information on suffering and why negative feelings and events are more memorable and intense than positive and neutral feelings/events. The chapter related our awareness on negativity back to our ancestors and how it has been produced through evolutionary characteristics in order to survive. Human separate, stabilize, approach opportunities, and avoid threats in order to survive. Humans suffer when trying to separate and avoid circumstances that have previously brought them negativity. This comes with despair for humans are dependent upon their surroundings and it’s a struggle to avoid or separate one from what they body may yearn for. The chapter also talks about situations that provide positive opportunities, but that most of these beneficial opportunities also involve some costs as well. I enjoyed reading how important self-compassion is to be compassionate for others. I thought it was unique how they want us to extend compassion to ourselves by, for example, treating our hearts like that of the hearts of children and comforting it. I love reading this book thus far! It brings comfort to me and even though it’s been a rough week/day, I feel better just reading it.
I didn’t find Chapter 3 as interesting as the previous chapters. Chapter 3 discussed how our reactions to physical and mental discomforts are called the “second darts” which are often destructive. Even when the “first dart” is good, like a compliment, the “second dart” may be negative and is thrown at ourselves or others. The “second dart” results from one or more of the Three Poisons—greed, delusions, and hatred. I enjoyed how the book breezed through somewhat complicated scientific information that are typically learned often in detail that becomes confusing. It provided information about the PNS and SNS and how they interact with each other.
Natajara Chapter 2 covered a lot of neuroscience covered in classes like biopsychology. It discussed how all the part of the brain work together, such as the correlation between the right and left hemispheres. The left side may look at the objects with all of its parts while the right hemisphere deciphers what it is looking at by picturing the objects of the whole. In a way, it’s like bottom-up and top-down processing between the two hemispheres to meet in the middle. Much of the reading was scientific but would try to tie the information into mediation for scientific investigating of the brain may help lead to the phenomena of meditation of the mind. I thought it was interesting to read that the neurons have a stronger connectivity the more they react to multiple events at one time, such as seeing a loved one and their particular perfume/scent.
Chapter 3 in Natajara focused on reactions to religious and mystical experiences. Research showed that those who had larger reactions to religious symbols/words were also more likely to have mini-seizures in their temporal lobe. Other research showed that mystical experiences were associated with specific pattern of brain activity. Meditation creates a mystical experience which involves circuitry through the entire brain. Four areas help to create the meditation experience. The orientation association area decreases in activity, in return lessening the sense of time/space and dampening the self/non-self boundary. The attention association area helps to filter out external noises and internal thoughts during meditation. The visual association area is involved in memory and emotion and helps the mind focus effectively. The verbal-conceptual association area decreases in activity, explaining why the meditator cannot adequately describe the mystical experience in words or images, but it can only be experienced. The two main types of meditation is the all-embracing attention of the passive process, or the narrowing-attention to a single-pointed focus of the active process. An interesting read in this chapter was of the alpha, theta, and gamma brain waves and alpha waves in short-term meditators are desynchronized, yet synchronized in long-term meditators. There is also an increase of theta and alpha waves for long-term meditators.
Keywords: happiness, love, wisdom, well-being, personal growth, spiritual practice; separation; stabilize, approach; avoid; suffering; self-compassion; first/second darts; Three Poisons; greed; delusions; hatred; PNS; SNS; neuroscience; left/right hemispheres; neurons; connectivity; religious/mystical experiences; temporal lobe; circuitry; orientation association area; attention association area; visual association area; verbal-conceptual association area; passive/active meditation; alpha/theta/gamma waves
Chapter one of H&M focused on the potential of new activities to change the brain; basic introductory information on neurotransmitters, neurons, etc in the brain; that suffering is a normal experience and more. The part of suffering was interesting because they explained how things that cause suffering, like creating barriers and being a pleasure seeker, are evolutionarily adaptive. Even though these tendencies help us survive, they can also be our Achilles’ heel. Another idea that I really liked was the part about being on your own side and how we have the greatest control over our future selves. The way that H&M phrased it, made it seem like our future self is separate and depending on our present self to nurture their development. When thinking about present behavior in that kind of context, it becomes much more motivating to do things that are good for us. This chapter also discussed how at each person’s center is the potential to be conscious and pure.
Chapter two of H&M centered on suffering. I enjoyed it because I find it interesting how people can be driven to seek certain pleasures that in the end cause disappointment or pain, especially in the modern world with so many superficial distractions. The authors expanded on our tendencies that make us suffer (creating separation, striving for stability, and chasing opportunities and running away from threats) and told how accepting that everything is connected, changing, pain is unavoidable, and opportunities don’t always live up to our expectations. I always enjoy analogies, so the part about how chasing after carrots causes greed and avoiding sticks causes hatred I found helpful. When it comes to the carrots, biologically speaking, having too high of expectations can lower dopamine when they’re not met, creating an unpleasant feeling tone. A big culprit for reality not meeting expectations comes from the simulations we invent. This subject of the readings I related to the most because I’m very guilty of fantasizing about how events will go. Another bit of research I found intriguing was how negative experiences and news have a more powerful effect that positive ones, so if we’re ruminating through an invented simulation about doing poorly, this can have a big impact despite an equal amount of positive feedback.
The third chapter has one of my favorite analogies: the first and second dart. The first dart is the event or action that happens, the second dart is our reaction to the first part. Like the other chapters informed, we have no control over what first darts get thrown our way, but we do have control over how we react to them. I really connected with the example of not looking forward to something and how this preliminary reaction doesn’t have to exist. H&M connect the second darts with anxiety, depressive, and physical problems and how the sympathetic nervous system is mostly at fault. The SNS is necessary for fast reactions that keep us alive, but when overused and not balanced with the parasympathetic nervous system (responsible for keeping our energy and body going) it can create damage.
Nataraja chapter two explored how the brain functions. It showed the parts of a neuron, reviewed which parts of the brain evolved first, explained what each lobe of the brain primarily does, and more. The frontal lobe is the attention association area, which makes sense because this is an area of higher thinking and planning (very important for meditation). I find that having a background in the brain is helpful, although I often don’t find it as interesting as learning about how meditation is directly involved. From this chapter, one thing that I did find interesting was Hebb’s rule which proposes that when axons send messages and excite one another, they change so that their efficiency becomes increased, which could definitely apply to meditation becoming easier over time.
I absolutely found chapter four to be fascinating how religious/spiritual experiences can be observed in the brain and how areas become more strongly aroused for individuals with temporal lobe epilepsy. The magnetic field triggered by the “God Helmet”, which delivered microseizures to participants in a study, was found to produce spiritual experiences of feeling another presence in the testing room. The rest of the chapter looked at what happens in specific areas of the brain during mystical experiences. One area that I found particularly interesting was how the ability to communicate abstract thought decreases during this (visual-conceptual association area), rendering the meditator unable to fully explain their experience. I also really enjoyed reading about the different changes that occur in the brain during active versus passive meditation.
Terms: neurotransmitters, neurons, suffering, pleasure, evolutionarily adaptive, conscious, neomammalian, paleomammalian, reptilian brain, craving, dopamine, unpleasant feeling tone, first and second dart, sympathetic nervous system, parasympathetic nervous system, neuron, brain, lobe, attention, axons
The beginning of this book does an over view of the science of meditation. What happens in our minds affects our brain therefore if we can use our mind to change our brain and even heal when needed. Mindfulness, virtue and wisdom are the building blocks of day to day wellbeing. They come from the neural functions of regulating, learning, and selection. By making these changes in our own brains it can in return help the world become better.
With our brains evolving with receive both good and bad parts with it. The bad is suffering. This is the cause for anxiousness, irritability, and even lack of fulfillment. Meditation helps to control suffering to live a better more fulfilled life. Some of the main areas in our brain they regulate our actions and emotions, include the amygdala and hippocampus.
Throughout our lives were receive temptations and also “First Darts” such as greed, hatred, and delusion. How we react to these can cause more suffering which can spiral quickly out of control. Suffering can cause physical reactions in your sympathetic nervous system, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. But with rest and digest from the parasympathetic system calms these physical reactions down. For an overall good life all of these must be remained in check and not overloaded on a certain one.
Terms: meditation, Mindfulness, virtue and wisdom, wellbeing, suffering, First Darts, sympathetic nervous system, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis