Google [CBS News When low expectations achieve big results] for research that reveals how oneās expectations get in the way of happiness. This is not to say expectations arenāt useful or natural. Indeed, a kind of natural expectation, or sense of anticipation plays an integral role in survival. This impulse drives all living things to […]
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Flow Triggers
The Flow Genome Project researches Flow, which Steven Kotler describes as when performance sharply increases. Google [How to open up the next level of human performance], [How To Get Into The Flow State], and [The Science of Maximizing Human Potential]. Anyone familiar with the Zen(1) point of view will recognize Flow right off. Steven rephrases […]
Continue reading…Profound Connections Enlighten
Chapter 56 offers what could be another description of sleepā¦ Knowing doesnāt speak; speaking doesnāt know. Subdue its sharpness, untie its tangles, Soften its brightness, be the same as dust, This is called profound sameness. Profound sameness is a continually enlightening point of view. Thus, any research that explores this, even tangentially, warrants review. First, […]
Continue reading…Religionā¦ an Opiate?
Karl Marx famously said, āReligion is the opium of the peopleā. He went on to identify āreligious distressā as the symptom of a social ācondition which needs illusionsā.(1) Blaming cultural conditions for the dysfunction he saw is putting the cart before the horseāsomething we do frequently. To see it this way, he must have had […]
Continue reading…You are Immortal!
Preface: Our mind irresistibly seeks out stories to fill its cognitive space. Taken to heart, this story may help nurture what chapter 16 alludes to as The way therefore long enduring, nearly rising beyond oneself. The idea of immortality arises from our selfās keen sense of mortality, so Iāll begin by addressing this side of […]
Continue reading…Good Enough Is!
Good enough is good enough, and naturally so. As chapter 46 notes, Therefore, in being contented with oneās lot, enough is usually enough indeed. Besides, isnāt this how nature plays outā¦ step by step? Surely, this is the sentiment expressed in chapter 64, A thousand mile journey begins below the feet. This is how reality […]
Continue reading…Breathe Into It
It helps me to regard language as the smoke that arises out of emotionās fire. You could say words are the cognitive reflections of human emotions. As such, theyāre more fantasy than reality. For example, you can understand a volcano with words metaphorically, symbolically, abstractly, but you cannot truly know it through words. You can […]
Continue reading…The Truth vs. The Middle
The Chinese language uses dual characters (1) as shown here (right). While searching for background on this, I stumbled onto this articleā¦ google [Culture, dialectics, and reasoning about contradiction (1999)]. This Abstract of the article succinctly portrays a noticeable difference in the way East and West view reality. Culture, dialectics, and reasoning about contradiction by […]
Continue reading…Networks of Networks ofā¦.
The Science News report, When Networks Network, is striking in its implications so you may want to read it first. Go to, Networks-of-Network.pdf. This research hints at humanity’s gradual cognitive evolution toward what I would call a small ‘t’ Taoist (p.154) point of view. Research like this, along with quantum theory, nudges secular common sense […]
Continue reading…Can we pull the plug?
A short video essay on cell phones gave me food for thought. Of course, I need more of that like I need another hole in my head, but I canāt pull the plug on thinking. The essay is ostensibly about the wide use of cell phones. However, scratch the surface and it offers insight into […]
Continue reading…Naked Thought
Styles of thinking and clothing have a lot in common. We are born with mind simple and body naked. We soon dress our body in clothes and our mind in thoughts. Wishing to return to our original self physically, we can just go naked. Wishing to return to our original self mentally is another matter. […]
Continue reading…Is Rock Conscious?
A while ago, I attempted to pin down a friend (1) of mine on the subject of consciousness. My view that a rock could be conscious didnāt go over too well. He said, āWords are sounds that gain meaning with use.Ā Saying that a rock is conscious is like saying a rock is alive.Ā That might work […]
Continue reading…See No Evil
While discussing life with a friend the other day the word evil came up. He sees America as an āevil empireā that commits acts of torture that surpass anything al-Qaeda has done. I think he was referring to all the bombs dropped over the last 100 years. In any case, this provided grist for my […]
Continue reading…Don’t trust anyone under 60
The Science Newsā article, Donāt trust any elephant under 60, reveals factors elephants use to choose a leader. (Google [Leadership in elephants: the adaptive value of age].) Surely, their criterion applies to all animals including people. Our choices for what to look for in a leader runs the gamut, as this excerpt from the Science […]
Continue reading…Fear Rules
The 2011 disasters in Japan triggered much anxiety among some people in America. This is curious considering how far removed we are from that experience. Thinking easily exaggerates (or minimizes) reality and makes matters feel even worse than they actually are, or vice versa. Media only adds to this by feeding our fears and needs. […]
Continue reading…What Shapes How You Think?
Google [Does Your Language Shape How You Think?] for research that speaks to my recent post Thinking Clouds Consciousness (p.119). This offers interesting details underlying this question, although, in my view this is a no-brainer. Clearly, language and thinking are inextricably linkedā¦ It takes one to do the other. If you can, flip off the […]
Continue reading…The Worry Gene
Have you noticed how something always seems to be wrong no matter how right things appear initially? There is an apparently endless supply of issues to fret over. After we resolve our pressing life and death issues, youād think we could relax and appreciate that victory. Alas, no sooner is one problem solved than we […]
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