China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Anxiety
Published in Carolyn Torkelson, Catherine Marienau, Beyond Menopause, 2023
Carolyn Torkelson, Catherine Marienau
Meditation has been practiced for many centuries in many cultures, each with its own language to describe the techniques and benefits. As a general term representing many approaches with common threads, meditation is essentially a state of being that involves the qualities of contemplation, introspection, nonjudgment, nonattachment, and higher awareness. In Why Meditation Works, James Baltzell, MD, explains meditation from a more conventional perspective. He divides meditation into three stages:8Physiological: the process of relaxing and achieving the relaxation responseInsightful: gaining knowledge to your inner self and mindSpiritual: becoming aware of a higher consciousness
Living language and the resonant self
Published in Anthony Korner, Communicative Exchange, Psychotherapy and the Resonant Self, 2020
For higher consciousness, language is required. Therefore, understanding of the phenomena of higher consciousness cannot be confined to mechanisms within the individual organism. Inner speech is “linguistically realized thinking”, leading to the claim that “inner speech just is higher-order or symbolic thought” (Thibault, 2004, p. 273). Language is a living and embodied phenomenon, not an abstraction isolated from individuals and societies in which it is spoken and written (ibid.).
Transformation of human traits and being
Published in Antonella Sansone, Cultivating Mindfulness to Raise Children Who Thrive, 2020
When we simply see and feel without reacting, we connect more deeply to each moment of the infant’s and our experience and savour it, as Tolle recommends, “Use our senses fully” (Tolle, 1999, p. 52). Babies are born with a fundamental need and capacity for human connection and nurture, and connection is therefore a biological necessity, providing the infant/child (and adult) with a sense of safety (Porges, 2011). The fulfilment of this need shapes babies’ healthy development – the capacity for emotion self-regulation, empathy, social relationships and resilience. Our connections with other people are important for our health, happiness and the health of the planet. When fear or rage undermines our sense of safety, it takes over the rest of the brain and our system, challenging our energies without our realising it (MacLean, 1990). By contrast, meditation states induce feel-good neurotransmitters such as neuropeptide opioids, oxytocin and vasopressin. Serotonin also increases in meditative states, suggesting that it should be called the “rest and fulfilment hormone” (Bujatti & Riederer, 1976). In these states of enlightened presence, the mind can come to new understanding and a higher consciousness. Eckart Tolle offers helpful guidance on enlightened presence, which can be applied in any situation: Use your senses fully. Be where you are. Look around. Just look, don’t interpret. See the light, shapes, colours, textures. Be aware of the silent presence of each thing. Be aware of the space that allows everything to be. Listen to the sounds; don’t judge them. Listen to the silence underneath the sounds. Touch something – anything – and feel and acknowledge its Being. Observe the rhythm of your breathing; feel the air flowing in and out. Feel the life energy inside your body. Allow everything to be, within and without. Allow the “isness” of all things. Move deeply into the NOW.(Tolle, 1999, p. 52) Tolle suggests that through allowing the “isness” of all things, a deeper dimension reveals itself to you as an abiding presence, an unchanging deep stillness, an uncaused joy beyond good and bad. This is the joy of Being, the peace of God. Through this guidance, parents can come to a higher consciousness and understanding of their baby in the womb and beyond birth and immerse themselves in positive prosocial states, such as gratitude, awe and joy, which benefit pregnancy and the baby’s development.
Cerebral Organoids and Biological Hybrids as New Entities in the Moral Landscape
Published in AJOB Neuroscience, 2022
Alice Andrea Chinaia, Andrea Lavazza
Such an entity would certainly be biologically unique, given both its chromosomal equipment and its specific cerebral architecture (which has individualized aspects due to the peculiar development of each organoid, even if we are striving to make them more and more homogeneous for scientific purposes), which affects the general functioning of the cerebral organoid itself. These entities would presumably have a much poorer and more limited life than (almost) any human being, although they might experience pain or pleasure in ways that are unknown to us. The fact that they have been made to become increasingly brain-like for research purposes also puts them in a position to experience suffering and deprivation as well as to approach stages of higher consciousness, the attainment of which would, however, always be linked to human intervention (e.g., by attaching the organoid to a sensor to make it perceive the outside world) (Lavazza 2021a).
The moderating role of personality traits in the relationship between chronotype and depressive symptoms
Published in Chronobiology International, 2022
Joanna Gorgol, Wojciech Waleriańczyk, Maciej Stolarski
When we interpret moderation inversely, we can argue that conscientiousness, encompassing dutifulness and self-discipline, may reduce E-types’ depressive symptoms in two main, intertwined ways: through limiting the frequency of maladaptive behaviors that are associated with eveningness and by affecting sleep hygiene (Duggan et al. 2014). People with higher self-discipline and self-control may regulate their impulses more effectively and thus avoid consuming caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco as well as other sleep-impairing behaviors in the hours just before going to sleep, thus having better sleep hygiene, which in turn improves their quality of sleep. The role of conscientiousness seems even more vital when interpreted together with research showing that this trait can be fostered and developed through various interventions (Robert et al. 2017). Even a two-week intervention may affect the level of self-discipline, a facet of conscientiousness if the accompanying behavioral change becomes habitual and one sees such change as desirable and feasible (Stieger et al. 2020). These behavioral changes at the narrow level may lead to personality change at the trait level (Robert et al. 2017). In light of these findings, diurnal preference and personality traits may be viewed as important factors to consider in both prevention and diagnostics of depression. It seems that the development of higher consciousness and emotional stability may prove to be beneficial in supplementing the main therapeutic process in evening-oriented people.
Amphibious anti-depressants and other wonders
Published in The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 2019
5-MeO-DMT comes from many organic sources, ranging from plants, such as the ayahuasca admixture diplopterys cabrerena, to more exotic sources, such as the Sonoran Desert toad, whose parotid glands produce an exudate that may be dried, pyrolysed, and inhaled. The ceremonial use of 5-MeO-DMT likely dates back millennia, and it continues to be used in communities – both indigenous and syncretic – centered around the consumption of “plant medicines” and other “entheogens.” As reported by the authors, inhaling 5-MeO-DMT leads to profound psychoactive effects lasting about an hour, and characterized by all the hallmarks of a “psychedelic” or mystical-type state: transformations in the sense of self and of reality, and an experience of communion with a higher consciousness. The apparent lack of adverse effects is reassuring and consistent with what we know about these compounds more generally – that when administered in a responsible manner, to suitable and prepared individuals, they are almost invariably well-tolerated.