Applied philosophy, appliedsophy: end of boring monologues

Philosophy has often been seen as an investigation into an area not sufficiently well understood to have its own branch of knowledge. What were once philosophical pursuits have evolved into the modern day fields such as psychology, sociology, linguistics, and economics, for example. From this prospective, philosophy has been a noble quest for truth. We also need to be aware that it sometimes degraded into the love of hearing oneself talking, or instrumental in pushing an all inclusive, absolute truth against the people's will, using words as weapons and shutting down any form of non-aligned thinking.

May we declare the end of heavy, long, boring monologues? And the start of applying approaches, not iron-rules, to opportunities and questions in daily life; the rise of appliedsophy!

If you are interested in discussing about applied philosophy, or as it is called there appliedsophy just visit http://www.amareway.org/

Social media how to: social media holistic strategies, social media optimization

Readers searching for social media holistic strategies should check out with "Social media how to guide" with advices about social media optimization. 

Social media protagonists are both producers and consumers of the media. The way prosumers interact with other prosumers is very different from the way a consumer interacts with a producer. Social Media are those applications which allow users to create their own content, share it, mash it with existing content, and access peers’ content. Traditional media base their reach on distribution channels, social media on the network which relays them; the network may be based on the permanent personal contacts of the content producer, or be dynamically created based on mutual interest of the users.

Holistic blog: about holistic blogs, holistic blogging and how to blog holistically

You are reading this post, so chances are you have already one or more blogs. Have you ever considered to blog holistically? We are not talking only about starting a holistic blog, but also about blogging about your favorite topic having one of our best approaches: an holistic one.

If you, too, are open to this approach and believe that serious bloggers should love their readers, and write with their audience in mind, check out this holistic blog strategies white paper.

Chiropractic and Spinal Manipulation courses - Free Alternative Medicine video courses

Course Title: Manipulative and Body-Based Therapies: Chiropractic and Spinal
Credits: 1 hour of CME; 1.2 nursing contact hours (CEU)
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Lecturer: William Meeker, D.C., M.P.H., President, Palmer College of Chiropractic, West Campus, San Jose, CA
Learning Objectives:

- Explain the profession of chiropractic
- Describe the various procedures utilized in chiropractic
- Discuss the potential safety issues associated with chiropractic
- Review the scientific evidence for the efficacy of spinal manipulation and mobilization
- Recognize the research challenges associated with spinal manipulation and mobilization

Visit http://videolectures.nccam.nih.gov/ for this free Alternative Medicine video courses offered by the the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Meditation styles: Christian meditation, Bible meditation

Christian meditation

Christian meditation is often associated with prayer or scripture study; Christian meditation is rooted in the Bible. In the Old Testament, there are two Hebrew words for meditation: hāgâ, which means to sigh or murmur, but also to meditate, and sîḥâ, which means to muse, or rehearse in one's mind. In Joshua 1:8, God commands his people to meditate on his word day and night to instill obedience and enhance relationship and fellowship. This brings us in close touch with God's reality, power, grace, faith and miracles. The psalmist says that "his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night" (Psalm 1:2). The Bible mentions meditate or meditation twenty times.

Christian meditation is meditation in a Christian context. The word meditation has come to have two different meanings: (1) continued, intent, focused thought; and (2) a state of quiet, intentionally unfocused, "contentless" awareness. This double meaning has contributed to misunderstanding and disagreement about the nature, role, and even the appropriateness of Christian meditation. Traditionally, the word meditation (meditatio) had the first meaning, and another word, contemplation (contemplatio) was used for the second.

As stated in the catechism of the Catholic Church, the official Catholic position about Christian meditation is:

- "2705 Meditation is above all a quest. The mind seeks to understand the why and how of the Christian life, in order to adhere and respond to what the Lord is asking. The required attentiveness is difficult to sustain. We are usually helped by books, and Christians do not want for them: the Sacred Scriptures, particularly the Gospels, holy icons, liturgical texts of the day or season, writings of the spiritual fathers, works of spirituality, the great book of creation, and that of history the page on which the "today" of God is written.

- 2706 To meditate on what we read helps us to make it our own by confronting it with ourselves. Here, another book is opened: the book of life. We pass from thoughts to reality. To the extent that we are humble and faithful, we discover in meditation the movements that stir the heart and we are able to discern them. It is a question of acting truthfully in order to come into the light: "Lord, what do you want me to do?"

- 2707 There are as many and varied methods of meditation as there are spiritual masters. Christians owe it to themselves to develop the desire to meditate regularly, lest they come to resemble the three first kinds of soil in the parable of the sower.5 But a method is only a guide; the important thing is to advance, with the Holy Spirit, along the one way of prayer: Christ Jesus.

- 2708 Meditation engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. This mobilization of faculties is necessary in order to deepen our convictions of faith, prompt the conversion of our heart, and strengthen our will to follow Christ. Christian prayer tries above all to meditate on the mysteries of Christ, as in lectio divina or the rosary. This form of prayerful reflection is of great value, but Christian prayer should go further: to the knowledge of the love of the Lord Jesus, to union with him."

Christian meditation - Lectio Divina

Formal Christian meditation began with the early Christian monastic practice of reading the Bible slowly. Monks would carefully consider the deeper meaning of each verse as they read it. This slow and thoughtful reading of Scripture, and the ensuing pondering of its meaning, was their meditation. This spiritual practice is called "divine reading" or "sacred reading", or lectio divina.

Sometimes the monks found themselves spontaneously praying as a result of their meditation on Scripture, and their prayer would in turn lead on to a simple, loving focus on God. This wordless love for God they called contemplation.

The progression from Bible reading, to meditation, to prayer, to loving regard for God, was first formally described by Guigo II, a Carthusian monk and prior of Grande Chartreuse in the 12th century. Guigo named the four steps of this "ladder" of prayer with the Latin terms lectio, meditatio, oratio, and contemplatio.

Christian meditation -  The Cloud of Unknowing (14th century)

The Cloud of Unknowing, an anonymous treatise written in England in the 14th century, is a concise and practical primer on contemplative prayer. The author's premise is that, to experience God, one must strive for a "darkness about your mind, or as it were, a cloud of unknowing." To do this, one must fix one's heart on God, forgetting all else.[citation needed]

Christian meditation -  St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556)

The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola contain numerous meditative exercises. For example, the practitioner is encouraged to visualize and meditate upon scenes from the life of Christ. His Contemplation to Attain Love (of God), is, in a sense, a method that combines intellectual meditation and more affective (emotional) contemplation.

Christian meditation - St. Teresa of Avila (1515–1582)

St. Teresa of Avila practiced contemplative prayer for periods of one hour at a time, twice a day. In her Life she recounts that she found this very difficult for the first several years. She had no one to teach her, and taught herself from the instructions given in a book, The Third Spiritual Alphabet by Francisco de Osuna. Her starting point was the practice of "recollection". Recollection means an effort of the will to keep the senses and the intellect in check and not allow them to stray. One restricts the attention to a single subject, principally the love of God. "It is called recollection because the soul collects together all the faculties and enters within itself to be with God", she says in The way of perfection. Because St Teresa found it difficult to concentrate, she would use devices such as short readings from an inspiring book, a scene of natural beauty or a religious statue or picture to remind her of her intended focus. In due course, the mind becomes effortlessly still. The initial practice St Teresa viewed as the voluntary effort of the individual, while the subsequent stillness and joy she saw as gifts from God. Her best-known book on meditation and prayer is The Interior Castle.

Christian meditation - Madame Guyon (1648–1717)

Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de la Motte-Guyon (1648-1717) was a French mystic and writer. As a 19-year-old, she was greatly influenced by an encounter with a Franciscan priest who had just emerged from a five-year retreat. She asked him why he was having such difficulties with prayer, and he replied: "It is, Madame, because you seek without what you have within. Accustom yourself to seek God in your heart, and there you will find Him". In her mid-thirties, Madame Guyon wrote her Moyen court et très facile de faire oraison, which in English is titled A short and very easy method of prayer[1]. (Note that the book Experiencing the depths of Jesus Christ, which poses as a translation, is in fact an interpretive revision.)

The mysticism of Madame Guyon is generally considered a form of quietism, which is very strongly discouraged, even to the point of being considered heresy, by the Roman Catholic Church.

Christian meditation - The 20th Century

Two contemporary forms of Christian meditation emerged during the twentieth century.

- Fr. John Main, O.S.B. (1926–1982) was a Benedictine monk and priest who presented a way of Christian meditation which utilizes the practice of a prayer-phrase or mantra.[1] In his method, one recites a prayer-phrase as a means of placing everything aside. In this way, instead of talking to God, one is just being with God, allowing God’s presence to fill his heart, thus transforming his inner being. Fr. Main's teachings drew on parallels he saw between the spiritual practice taught by Desert Father John Cassian and the meditative practice he had been taught by the Swami Satyananda in Kuala Lumpur.[2] His work is continued by Fr. Laurence Freeman, O.S.B.

- Fr. William Meninger, O.C.S.O., Fr. Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O., and Fr. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O., were the leading proponents of the Centering Prayer method. Here a sacred word is used to express only the intention to be in God's presence, placing everything else aside. As with Fr. Main's method, the goal is for one to just be with God, allowing God’s presence and action to fill his inner being.

- The forms of prayer described above are part of the apophatic tradition and are quite distinct from, for example, the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

- Richard J. Foster, an Evangelical Quaker, supports Christian meditation or contemplative prayer in Chapter 2 of his work Celebration of Discipline.

Meditation styles: Jewish meditation, Meditation in Kabbalah, Meditation in Hasidism

Jewish meditation includes the teachings of Abraham ben Maimonides. In Kabbalah of Abraham Abulafia, Isaac the Blind, Azriel of Gerona, Moses Cordovero, Yosef Karo and Isaac Luria. In Hasidism of the Baal Shem Tov, Schneur Zalman of Liadi and Nachman of Breslov. In the Mussar Movement of Israel Salanter and Simcha Zissel Ziv.

Jewish meditation refers to several traditional practices of contemplation, ranging from visualization and intuitive methods, or forms of emotional insight in communitive prayer, to intellectual analysis of philosophical and mystical concepts. It often accompanies unstructured, personal Jewish prayer that can allow isolated contemplation, or sometimes the instituted Jewish services. Its elevated psychological insights can give birth to dveikus (cleaving to God), particularly in Jewish mysticism.

Jewish Meditation in Kabbalah

The contemporary teacher of Kabbalah and Hasidic thought, Yitzchak Ginsburgh, describes the historical evoltion of Kabbalah as the union of "Wisdom" and "Prophecy":
Historical Kabbalistic practice focused on Kavanot (meditations) of Divine names. Angels elevated or blocked prayers in the ascending Worlds. The names were seen as keys to gates in Heaven for elevated people, though simple tears of others could also open gates

The numerical value of the word Kabbalah ("Received") in Hebrew is 137...and is the value of the sum of two very important words that relate to Kabbalah: Chochmah ("Wisdom") equals 73 and Nevuah ("Prophecy") equals 64. Kabbalah can therefore be understood as the union (or "marriage") of wisdom and prophecy. Historically, Kabbalah developed out of the prophetic tradition that existed in Judaism up to the Second Temple period (beginning in the 4th century BCE). Though the prophetic spirit that had dwelt in the prophets continued to "hover above" (Sovev) the Jewish people, it was no longer manifest directly. Instead, the spirit of wisdom manifested the Divine in the form of the Oral Torah (the oral tradition), the body of Rabbinic knowledge that began developing in the second Temple period and continues to this day. The meeting of wisdom (the mind, intellect) and prophecy (the spirit which still remains) and their union is what produces and defines the essence of Kabbalah.

In the Kabbalistic conceptual scheme, "wisdom" corresponds to the sefirah of wisdom, otherwise known as the "Father" principle (Partsuf of Abba) and "prophecy" corresponds to the sefirah of understanding or the "Mother" principle (Parsuf of Ima). Wisdom and understanding are described in the Zohar as "two companions that never part". Thus, Kabbalah represents the union of wisdom and prophecy in the collective Jewish soul; whenever we study Kabbalah, the inner wisdom of the Torah, we reveal this union. It is important to clarify that Kabbalah is not a separate discipline from the traditional study of the Torah, it is rather the Torah’s inner soul (nishmata de’orayta, in the language of the Zohar and the Arizal). Oftentimes a union of two things is represented in Kabbalah as an acronym composed of their initial letters. In this case, "wisdom" in Hebrew starts with the letter chet; "prophecy" begins with the letter nun; so their acronym spells the Hebrew word "chen", which means "grace", in the sense of beauty. Grace in particular refers to symmetric beauty, i.e., the type of beauty that we perceive in symmetry. This observation ties in with the fact that the inner wisdom of the Torah, Kabbalah is referred to as "Chochmat ha’Chen", which we would literally translate as the wisdom of chen. Chen here is an acronym for another two words: "Concealed Wisdom". But, following our analysis here, Kabbalah is called chen because it is the union of wisdom and prophecy...

Jewish Meditation in Kabbalah - Abraham Abulafia

Abraham Abulafia (1240-1291), the founder of the school of "Prophetic Kabbalah", wrote meditation manuals using meditation on Hebrew letters and words to achieve ecstatic states. His work is surrounded in controversy because of the edict against him by the Rashba (R. Shlomo Ben Aderet), a contemporary leading scholar. However according to Aryeh Kaplan, the Abulafian system of meditations forms an important part of the work of Rabbi Hayim Vital, and in turn his master the Ari, Rabbi Isaac Luria[citation needed]. See Abraham Abulafia for further discussion of his meditative methods.

Jewish Meditation in Kabbalah - Moshe Cordovero

Rabbi Moses ben Jacob Cordovero (1522-1570 CE), central historical Kabbalist in Safed, taught that when meditating, one does not focus on the Sefirot (Divine emanations) per se, but rather on the light from the Infinite ("Atzmut"-essence of God) contained within the emanations. Keeping in mind that all reaches up to the Infinite, his prayer is "to Him, not to His attributes." Proper meditation focuses upon how the Godhead acts through specific sefirot. In meditation on the essential Hebrew name of God, represented by the four letter Tetragrammaton, this corresponds to meditating on the Hebrew vowels which are seen as reflecting the light from the Infinite-Atzmut.

Meditation in Hasidism - The Baal Shem Tov and popular mysticism

Hasidic prayer left aside previous focus on Kabbalistic Kavanot (mental visualisation) of Divine names, in favour of innate dveikut (cleaving to God) of the soul

The Baal Shem Tov took the Talmudic phrase that "God desires the heart" and made it central to his love of the simple sincerity of the common folk. Advocating joy in the omnipresent Divine immanence, he sought to encourage the disenfranchised populance in their Jewish life. While he taught his close initiates the inner meaning of his teachings, his graspable presentation of Jewish mysticism to the unlearned, encouraged their emotional Dveikus (mystical fervour), especially through attachment to the Hasidic figure of the Tzaddik. In the presence of the Tzaddik, the followers could gain inspiration and attachment to God. In general, the Baal Shem Tov and the Hasidic Masters left aside the previous Kabbalistic meditation on Divine Names and their visualisation, in favour of a more personal, inner mysticism.
[edit] Chabad Hasidism: Hisbonenus - Chochma, Binah, and Daat
Habad differed from mainstream Hasidism in its preparation for prayer by intellectual contemplation of Hasidic philosophy. Nonetheless, an aim of this is to reveal simplicity of soul, which all possess. The Rebbes of Habad were envious of the sincerity of the simple folk

Rabbi Dov Ber of Lubavitch, the "Mitler Rebbe," the second leader of the Chabad Dynasty wrote several works explaining the Chabad approach. In his works, he explains that the Hebrew word for meditation is hisbonenus (alternatively transliterated as hitbonenut). The word "hisbonenut" derives from the Hebrew word Binah (lit. understanding) and refers to the process of understanding through analytical study. While the word hisbonenut can be applied to analytical study of any topic, it is generally used to refer to study of the Torah, and particularly in this context, the explanations of Kabbalah in Chabad Hasidic philosophy, in order to achieve a greater understanding and appreciation of God.

In the Chabad presentation, every intellectual process must incorporate three faculties: Chochma, Binah, and Daat. Chochma (lit. wisdom) is the mind's ability to come up with a new insight into a concept that one did not know before. Binah (lit. understanding) is the mind's ability to take a new insight (from Chochma), analyze all of its implications and simplify the concept so it is understood well. Daat (lit. knowledge), the third stage, is the mind's ability to focus and hold its attention on the Chochma and the Binah.

The term Hisbonenut represents an important point of the Chabad method: Chabad Hasidic philosophy rejects the notion that any new insight can come from mere concentration. Chabad philosophy explains that while "Daat" is a necessary component of cognition, it is like an empty vessel without the learning and analysis and study that comes through the faculty of Binah. Just as a scientist's new insight or discovery (Chochma) always results from prior in-depth study and analysis of his topic (Binah), likewise, to gain any insight in G-dliness can only come through in-depth study of the explanations of Kabbalah and Chassidic philosophy.

Chassidic masters say that enlightenment is commensurate with one's understanding of the Torah and specifically the explanations of Kabbalah and Hasidic philosophy. They warn that prolonged concentration devoid of intellectual content can lead to sensory depravation, hallucinations, and even insanity which all can be tragically mistaken for "spiritual enlightenment".

However, a contemporary translation of the word hisbonenut into popular English would not be "meditation". "Meditation" refers to the mind's ability to concentrate (Daat), which in Hebrew is called Haamokat HaDaat. Hisbonenut, which, as explained above, refers to the process of analysis (Binah) is more properly translated as "in-depth analytical study".

Chabad accepts and endorses the writings of Kabbalists such as Moshe Cordevero and Haim Vital and their works are quoted at length in the Hasidic texts. However, the Hasidic masters say that their methods are easily misunderstood without a proper foundation in Hasidic philosophy.

The Mitler Rebbe emphasizes that hallucinations that come from a mind devoid of intellectual content are the product of the brain's Koach HaDimyon (lit. power of imagination), which is the brains lowest faculty. Even a child is capable of higher forms of thought than the Koach HaDimyon. So such imaginations should never be confused with the flash intuitive insight known as Chochma which can only be achieved through in-depth study of logical explanations of Kabbalah and Hasidic philosophy.

Meditation in Hasidism - Breslav Hasidism: Hisbodedus and communitative prayer
Breslov Hasidim spend time in secluded communication of their heart to God. In Jewish communities they often seek this solitude in Nature at night

Hisbodedus (alternatively transliterated as "hitbodedut", from the root "boded" meaning "self-seclusion") refers to an unstructured, spontaneous and individualized form of prayer and meditation taught by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. The goal of hitbodedut is to establish a close, personal relationship with God and a clearer understanding of one's personal motives and goals. See Hisbodedus for the words of Rabbi Nachman on this method.

Meditation in the Musar Movement

The Mussar Movement, founded by Rabbi Israel Salanter in the middle of the nineteenth-century, encouraged meditative practices of introspection and visualization that could help to improve moral character. Many of these techniques were described in the writings of Salanter's closest disciple, Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv.

Meditation styles: Nām Japō, Dhyāna in Hinduism, Dhyāna in Buddhism, Dhyāna in Jainism

Introduction to the meditation styles: Nām Japō, Dhyāna in Hinduism, Dhyāna in Buddhism, Dhyāna in Jainism.

Nām Japō

Nām Japō is performed by singing Hymns from the Sri Guru Granth Sahib or of the various Names of God, specially the chanting of the word Waheguru, which means Wonderful Lord. Singing of hymns generally is also referred to a ‘Nām Jap’, sometimes also called ‘Nām Simran’. Naam Japo or Naam Japna - Is the remembrance of God by repeating and focusing the mind on His name. The names given to God primarily refer to the attributes of the Almighty and His various qualities. The guideline in the Rehit Mariyada of Guru Gobind Singh demands that the Sikh engages in Naam Simran as part of his or her everyday routine.

Nām Japō is a main pillar of Sikhism and is the term used to refer to this very important activity in the everyday life of a Sikh — the singing, quiet meditation, listening of sacred text or sacred words. Critical importance is given to the meditation in the Guru Granth Sahib.

This concept is also permeated in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib as the way in which humans can conquer ego, greed, attachment, anger and lust, together commonly called the Five Evils or Five Thieves and to bring peace and tranquility into ones mind. The Sikhs practice both the quiet individual recitation of Naam in ones mind. This is commonly called Naam Simran while the loud and communal recitation of Naam is called Naam Jaap. However, this is not a strict definition of these phases.

Dhyāna in Hinduism

In Hinduism, dhyana is considered to be an instrument to gain self knowledge, separating maya from reality to help attain the ultimate goal of moksha. Depictions of Hindu yogis performing dhyāna are found in ancient texts and in statues and frescoes of ancient India temples. Dhyana in Raja Yoga is also found in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. Practiced together with Dharana and Samādhi it constitutes the Samyama.

When the mind has been trained to remain fixed on a certain internal or external location, there comes to it the power of flowing in an unbroken current, as it were, towards that point. This state is called dhyana. When one has so intensified the power of dhyana as to be able to reject the external part of perception and remain meditating only on the internal part, the meaning, that state is called Samadhi.

Dhyāna in Buddhism

Dhyāna in Buddhism is described in the Pali Canon, as the eight progressive states of absorption meditation or jhāna. Four are considered to be meditations of form (rupa jhana) and four are formless meditations (arupa jhana). The first four jhānas are said by the Buddha to be conducive to a pleasant abiding and freedom from suffering (DN 22). The jhānas are states of meditation where the mind is free from the five hindrances (craving, aversion, sloth, agitation, doubt) and (from the second jhāna onwards) incapable of discursive thinking. The deeper jhānas can last for many hours. When a meditator emerges from jhāna, his or her mind is empowered and able to penetrate into the deepest truths of existence.

There are four deeper states of meditative absorption called the immaterial attainments. Sometimes these are also referred to as the "formless" jhānas, or arupajhana (distinguished from the first four jhānas, rupajhana). In the Buddhist canonical texts, the word jhāna is never explicitly used to denote them, but they are always mentioned in sequence after the first four jhānas. The enlightenment of complete dwelling in emptiness is reached when the eighth jhana is transcended.

Jhānas are normally described according to the nature of the mental factors which are present in these states

   1. Movement of the mind onto the object, Vitakka (Sanskrit: Vitarka)
   2. Retention of the mind on the object, Vicāra
   3. Joy, Pīti (Sanskrit: Prīti)
   4. Happiness, Sukha
   5. Equanimity, Upekkhā (Sanskrit: Upekṣā)
   6. One-pointedness, Ekaggatā (Sanskrit: Ekāgratā)

The four progressive states of Jhāna are:
   1. First Jhāna (Vitakka, Vicāra, Pīti, Sukha, Ekaggatā): The five hindrances have completely disappeared and intense unified bliss remains. Only the subtlest of mental movement remains, perceivable in its absence by those who have entered the second jhāna. The ability to form unwholesome intentions ceases.
   2. Second Jhāna (Pīti, Sukha, Ekaggatā): All mental movement utterly ceases. There is only bliss. The ability to form wholesome intentions ceases as well.
   3. Third Jhāna (Sukha, Ekaggatā): One-half of bliss (joy) disappears.
   4. Fourth Jhāna (Upekkhā, Ekaggatā): The other half of bliss (happiness) disappears, leading to a state with neither pleasure nor pain, which the Buddha said is actually a subtle form of happiness (more sublime than pīti and sukha). The Buddha described the jhānas as "the footsteps of the tathāgata". The breath is said to cease temporarily in this state.

The scriptures state that one should not seek to attain ever higher jhanas but master one first, then move on to the next. "Mastery of jhana" involves being able to enter a jhana at will, stay as long as one likes, leave at will and experience each of the jhana factors as required. They also seem to suggest that lower jhana factors may manifest themselves in higher jhanas, if the jhanas have not been properly developed. The Buddha is seen to advise his disciples to concentrate and steady the jhana further.

In Chan, meditation has a leading role. According to tradition, Bodhidharma brought his lineage school of a line of dhyāna masters from India to China. After a somewhat disappointing interview with an Emperor in the south of China, Bodhidharma went into the north and resided in relative obscurity at the Shaolin Temple until several disciples found him. As it became more and more independent, popular and politically influential, the lineage school that was attributed to Bodhidharma became known as the Chan school in China and was transplanted to Korea as Seon, to Japan as Zen, and to Vietnam as Thiền.

Arguably the most influential figure in Chinese Chan is Huineng who, beginning with Bodhidharma, is considered the sixth in line of the founders of the school of Chan Buddhism. Huineng is credited with firmly establishing Chan Buddhism as an independent Buddhist school in China. In the Platform Sutra, Huineng is reported to have said: "Learned Audience, what is sitting for meditation? In our School, to sit means to gain absolute freedom and to be mentally unperturbed in all outward circumstances, be they good or otherwise. To meditate means to realize inwardly the imperturbability of the Essence of Mind. Learned Audience, what are Dhyana and Samadhi? Dhyana means to be free from attachment to all outer objects, and Samadhi means to attain inner peace. If we are attached to outer objects, our inner mind will be perturbed. When we are free from attachment to all outer objects, the mind will be in peace. Our Essence of Mind is intrinsically pure, and the reason why we are perturbed is because we allow ourselves to be carried away by the circumstances we are in. He who is able to keep his mind unperturbed, irrespective of circumstances, has attained Samadhi. To be free from attachment to all outer objects is Dhyana, and to attain inner peace is Samadhi. When we are in a position to deal with Dhyana and to keep our inner mind in Samadhi, then we are said to have attained Dhyana and Samadhi. The Bodhisattva Sila Sutra says, "Our Essence of Mind is intrinsically pure." Learned Audience, let us realize this for ourselves at all times. Let us train ourselves, practice it by ourselves, and attain Buddhahood by our own effort".

Overall, in Mahayana traditions, dhyana - called samadhi - is very important. Dhyāna is the fifth of six pāramitās (perfections). It is usually translated as "concentration," "meditation," or "meditative stability." In China, the word dhyana was originally transliterated as chan-na (禅那; Mandarin: chánnà), and was eventually shortened to just chan (禅) by common usage.

Dhyana together with the second and sixth paramitas are also known as the three essential studies, or threefold training, of Buddhism: moral precepts (sila), meditation (dhyana or samadhi), and wisdom (prajna). In Mahayana Buddhism no one can be said to be accomplished in Buddhism who has not successfully trained in all three studies.

When Buddhism was brought to China, the Buddhist masters tended to become more focused or primarily adept in one of the three studies. Vinaya masters were those who specialized in the monastic rules of discipline and the moral precepts (sila). Dharma masters were those who specialized in the wisdom teachings of the Sutras and Buddhist treatises (shastras). Dhyana or Chan masters were those who specialized in meditation practice and states of samadhi. Monks would often begin their training under one kind of master, such as a Vinaya master, and then transfer to another master, such as a Dharma master or a Dhyana master, to further their training and studies. At that time there was no separate school known as Chan.

 Dhyāna in Jainism

Dhyāna in Jainism is called Samayika, meaning being in the moment of continuous real-time. This act of being conscious of the continual renewal of the universe in general and one's own renewal of the individual living being (Jiva) in particular is the critical first step in the journey towards identification with one's true nature, called the Atman. It is also a method by which one can develop an attitude of harmony and respect towards other humans and Mother Nature.

One begins by achieving a balance in time. By being fully aware, alert and conscious of the constantly moving present, one will experience their true nature, Atman.

Meditation styles: Acem Meditation, Autogenic training, Biofeedback, Natural Stress Relief - Secular meditation styles

There are several forms of non-theistic meditation, developed as a way of overcoming dualism, promoting physical and mental well being:
- Acem Meditation has been developed in the Scandinavian countries since 1966. It is non-religious technique with no requirement for change of lifestyle or adaption to any system of belief.
- Autogenic training was developed by the German psychiatrist Johannes Schultz in 1932. Schultz emphasized parallels to techniques in yoga and meditation; however, autogenic training is devoid of any mysticism.
- Australian psychiatrist Dr Ainslie Meares published a groundbreaking work in the 1960s entitled Relief Without Drugs, in which he recommended some simple, secular relaxation techniques based on Hindu practices as a means of combating anxiety, stress and chronic physical pain.
- Biofeedback has been tried by many researchers since the 1950s as a way to enter deeper states of mind.
- Herbert Benson of Harvard Medical School conducted a series of clinical tests on meditators from various disciplines including Transcendental Meditation and Tibetan Buddhism. In 1975 Benson published a book titled The Relaxation Response where he outlined his own version of meditation for relaxation.
- Jacobson's Progressive Muscle Relaxation was developed by American physician Edmund Jacobson in the early 1920s. Jacobson argued that since muscular tension accompanies anxiety, one can reduce anxiety by learning how to relax the muscular tension.
- Natural Stress Relief is a form of meditation which uses a silent mantra.
- Newer forms of meditation are based on the results of studies with electroencephalography in long-term meditators. Studies have demonstrated the presence of a frequency-following response to auditory and visual stimuli. This EEG activity was termed "frequency-following response" because its period (cycles per second) corresponds to the fundamental frequency of the stimulus. Stated plainly, if the stimulus is 5 Hz, the resulting measured EEG will show a 5 Hz frequency-following response using appropriate time-domain averaging protocols. This is the justification behind such inventions as the Dreamachine and binaural beats.
- The 1999 book The Calm Technique: Meditation Without Magic or Mysticism by Paul Wilson has a discussion and instruction in a form of secular meditation.

Meditation styles: Concentration meditation, Walking meditation

There are several meditation styles which we are going to explore together. In general terms, meditation has been defined as: "self regulation of attention, in the service of self-inquiry, in the here and now." The various techniques of meditation can be classified according to their focus. Some focus on the field or background perception and experience, often referred to as "mindfulness"; others focus on a preselected specific object, and are called "concentrative" meditation. There are also techniques that shift between the field and the object. In mindfulness meditation, the meditator sits comfortably and silently, centering attention by focusing awareness on an object or process (such as the breath; a sound, such as a mantra, koan or riddle-like question; a visualization; or an exercise). The meditator is usually encouraged to maintain an open focus: shifting freely from one perception to the next clear your mind of all that bothers you no thoughts that can distract you from reality or your personal being... No thought, image or sensation is considered an intrusion. The meditator, with a 'no effort' attitude, is asked to remain in the here and now. Using the focus as an 'anchor'... brings the subject constantly back to the present, avoiding cognitive analysis or fantasy regarding the contents of awareness, and increasing tolerance and relaxation of secondary thought processes.

Concentration meditation is used in many religions and spiritual practices. Whereas in mindfulness meditation there is an open focus, in concentration meditation the meditator holds attention on a particular object (e.g., a repetitive prayer) while minimizing distractions; bringing the mind back to concentrate on the chosen object.

Meditation can be practiced while walking or doing simple repetitive tasks. Walking meditation helps break down habitual automatic mental categories, "thus regaining the primary nature of perceptions and events, focusing attention on the process while disregarding its purpose or final outcome." In a form of meditation using visualization, such as Chinese Qi Gong, the practitioner concentrates on flows of energy (Qi) in the body, starting in the abdomen and then circulating through the body, until dispersed. Some meditative traditions, such as yoga or tantra, are common to several religions.

Meditation is a mental discipline by which the practitioner attempts to get beyond the reflexive, "thinking" mind into a deeper state of relaxation or awareness. Meditation is a component of many religions, and has been practiced since antiquity. It is also practiced outside religious traditions. Different meditative disciplines encompass a wide range of spiritual or psycho physical practices that may emphasize different goals—from achievement of a higher state of consciousness, to greater focus, creativity or self-awareness, or simply a more relaxed and peaceful frame of mind.

Interfaith meditation: spiritual meditation, meditation procedures, meditation styles

In the new days, we'll be running a special about interfaith meditation. If you are interested about spiritual meditation, meditation procedures, meditation styles please check this blog regularly. Thanks!

Health and Spirituality courses - Free Alternative Medicine video courses

Health and Spirituality courses - Free Alternative Medicine video courses

Course Title: Health and Spirituality
Credits: 1 hour of CME; 1.2 nursing contact hours (CEU)
Cost: Free

Lecturer: Anne Harrington, Ph.D., Professor for the History of Science in the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University
Learning Objectives:

- To understand the range of research traditions today that are investigating the relationship between health and spiritual practice
- To understand the various historical roots of these traditions and how they interact in our own time
- To understand the different kinds of challenges—intellectual, ethical, political—raised by this research enterprise

Visit http://videolectures.nccam.nih.gov/ for this free Alternative Medicine video courses offered by the the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Effects of Natural Products courses - Free Alternative Medicine video courses

Effects of Natural Products courses - Free Alternative Medicine video courses

Course Title: Studying the Effects of Natural Products
Credits: 1 hour of CME; 1.2 nursing contact hours (CEU)
Cost: Free

Lecturer: Ram Sasisekharan, Ph.D. Professor, Division of Biological Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA

Learning Objectives:

- Describe the role of natural products in health care research
- Describe the role of glycans in regulating biological functioning
- Identify the mechanism of action of glycans
- Describe the integrated approach to therapeutics

Visit http://videolectures.nccam.nih.gov/ for this free Alternative Medicine video courses offered by the the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Neurobiological Correlates of Acupuncture - Free Alternative Medicine video courses

Neurobiological Correlates of Acupuncture - Free Alternative Medicine video courses

Course Title: Neurobiological Correlates of Acupuncture
Credits: 1 hour of CME; 1.2 nursing contact hours (CEU)
Cost: Free

Lecturer: Bruce R. Rosen Director, MGH/MIT/HMS Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging Massachusetts General Hospital Charlestown, MA
Learning Objectives:

- Describe the use of brain imaging to study acupuncture
- Define functional magnetic resonance imaging
- Identify uses of functional magnetic resonance imaging
- Cite examples of acupuncture studies
- Describe the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging to study acupuncture

Herbert Benson - Founder of the Mind/Body Medical Institute

Bodymind: background

Bodymind stands, as self-evident. for body and mind. Still, its precise meaning varies from one meditation tradition to another. These different understandings often complement each other. For example, philosopher Herbert V. Günther has stated that "What we call 'body' and 'mind' are mere abstractions from an identity experience that cannot be reduced to the one or the other abstraction, nor can it be hypostatized into some sort of thing without falsifying its very being".

Modern Western culture inherited a Cartesian Dualism not evident in many other cultures, like the Navajo and Tibetan cultures. In Vajrayana, Mahayana, Theravada, Zen Buddhism the concept of bodymind, or namarupa, is key. In Vajrayana, namarupa is informed by the related doctrines of heartmind and Yogachara's mindstream. Within these traditions, Bodymind is held as a continuüm and field phenomenon. Arpaia and Rapgay discuss the connection of mindbody in the eighth chapter of their book, Tibetan Wisdom for Modern Life , entitled "Health: strengthening the mind-body connection".

David E. Shaner, PhD, coined the compound term "bodymind" in his thesis work at the University of Hawai'i, "The Bodymind Experience in Japanese Buddhism," which he defended in 1979 and published in 1985. Dr. Shaner translated the term Shinshintouitsu Aikidō.

Herbert Benson - Founder of the Mind/Body Medical Institute

Herbert Benson, M.D. (born 1935), is an American cardiologist and founder of the Mind/Body Medical Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He graduated from Wesleyan University and Harvard Medical School.

Benson is Mind/Body Medical Institute Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and director emeritus of the Benson-Henry Institute (BHI). He is the author or co-author of more than 175 scientific publications and 11 books. More than four million copies of his books have been printed in many languages.

Benson is a pioneer in mind/body medicine, one of the first Western physicians to bring spirituality and healing into medicine. In his 35+ year career, he has defined the relaxation response and continues to lead teaching and research into its efficacy in counteracting the harmful effects of stress. The recipient of numerous national and international awards, Dr. Benson lectures widely about mind/body medicine and the BHI's work. His expertise is frequently sought by national and international news media, and he appears in scores of newspapers, magazines, and television programs each year. Dr. Benson's research extends from the laboratory to the clinic to Asian field expeditions. His work serves as a bridge between medicine and religion, East and West, mind and body, and belief and science.

Benson has pioneered mind-body research, focusing on stress and the relaxation response in medicine. In his research, the mind and body are one system, in which meditation can play a significant role in reducing stress responses. He continues to pioneer medical research into Bodymind questions.

What is Mind Body Medicine?

As written on http://www.massgeneral.org/bhi/basics/whatisMBM.aspx "The Benson-Henry Institute's work is based on the inseparable connection between the mind and the body - the complicated interactions that take place among thoughts, the body, and the outside world. Mind/body medicine integrates modern scientific medicine, psychology, nutrition, exercise physiology and belief to enhance the natural healing capacities of body and mind. The end result is self-care, a complement to the conventional medical paths of surgery and pharmaceuticals".

Dr. Benson describes health and well-being with the metaphor of a three-legged stool: one leg is drugs, one surgical procedures, and one self-care.

As stated on the Mind/body Mind/Body Medical Institute website: "medicine is the third leg that incorporates all of the following:

    * The relaxation response
    * Cognitive behavioral therapy
    * Physical activity
    * Nutrition

Exactly how psychological and social factors, personal beliefs, and stress affect the development of disease continues to be studied. It is known, however, that the mind and body communicate constantly. What the mind thinks, perceives, and experiences is sent from our brain to the rest of the body.

Mind/body medicine teaches you how to take control of your life - how to use your own healing power to reduce stress and other negative behaviors and thoughts - and thus maintain or regain health".

Gotukola (Sentella Asiatica), Katukarosana (Picrorhiza Kurroa), Kohomba (Margosa, Azadirachta) - Herbal Medicine in Sri Lanka

Gotukola (Sentella Asiatica)

Gotukola (Sentella Asiatica) this is known as remedy for hey fever and catarrh. It has a high content of vitamin A and folic acid. It's commercially available now as a herbal and in capsule form.

Katukarosana (Picrorhiza Kurroa)

Katukarosana (Picrorhiza Kurroa) the roots of this plant have been used to make a preparation for blood purification; it is also employed in cough remedies.

Kohomba (Margosa, Azadirachta)

Kohomba (Margosa, Azadirachta) has antiseptic properties.

These are medicinal properties of just a few of the many invaluable plants found in Sri Lanka. For every ailment there is probably a plant cure. In ancient Sri Lanka such remedies were commonly and effectively used although down the ages many of these medicinal remedies have become extinct.

More information on Info.lk

Nelli Sri Lanka: more about Medicinal Power and Usage of Nelli

Nelli Sri Lanka: more about the Nelli, found in quantity and quality in Sri Lanka, offered at affordable prices and displayed in markets. Nelli is one of the most important medicines in indigenous treatment; there is hardly any disease for which it is not used, singly or in combination with other herbs. It is believed to have a specific effect on the eyes and is given to strengthen the retina or for weak or defective sight.

Soak the dried Nelly overnight and extract the juice. Take it with sugar candy to taste every morning on an empty stomach or the last thing at night. It is a good laxative for constipation. Nelly leaves boiled are very effective for skin eruptions. For eczema Nelly leaves ground and used as a plaster gives quick relief to the unbearable burning sensation. It also dries the weeping wounds.

Two tablespoonful of Nelli mixed with one tablespoonful of bee's honey taken regularly every morning helps to reduce the bleeding of piles. Nelli will also give you a good complexion. Nelli must be eaten raw. If you drink half a cup of nelli twice a week, it helps to keep bowel movements in order.

Nelli is very cooling. Therefore while nelli is eaten or drunk any other cooling food or drink should not be taken on the same day. Nelli is very good for eczema and rheumatic patients. Also for patients suffering from hemorrhoids. Application of nelli leaves as a plaster on hemorrhoid glands helps to reduce the burning sensation.

Bittergourd, Coral Tree, Karapincha, Kikirindiya, Timbiri - Herbal medicines in Sri Lanka

Bittergourd (Karavila)

The leaves of the Bittergourd plant (or 'karavila') can be crushed, with the juice being massaged into the scalp for a good growth of hair and to prevent hair loss. The bitter fruit of the Bittergourd increases the flow of milk in nursing mothers, when eaten in sufficient quantities.

Coral Tree (Erabadu, Erythrina variegeta)

Coral Tree (also known as erabadu - Erythrina variegeta) is highly recommended for earaches. The juice of the leaves of this decorative tree with brilliant scarlet flowers, can be gently applied in drop form to the ears for relief. The fresh juice of the leaves mixed with a bit of bees honey is a good remedy for tapeworm, threadworm and roundworm and the dosage is one teaspoon once a day. A preventive against worms is the cooking of tender leaves with coconut milk. The juice of the leaves can also be applied to the gums to relieve toothache. A poultice of the leaves can be applied to joints of the body for relief from rheumatic pains.

Karapincha

A popular flavoring leaf known as Karapincha, widely used in Sri Lankan curries, it is also said to have several medicinal properties. The leaves, roots, bark, stalk and flowers can be either boiled or powdered together to relieve any type of stomach disorder.

Kikirindiya (Kasaraja, Eclipta prostrata)

Kikirindiya is known as Eclipta prostrata botanically, and it is a herb used in many forms to cure various diseases. In Sanskrit it is known as 'kasaraja' which refers to growth of the hair. This herb prevents the hair from becoming prematurely gray. Diseases of the skin can also be cured through this herb.

Timbiri (Diospyris malabarcia)

Timbiri's fruit juice is an excellent gargle for sore throats. Known botanically as Diospyris malabarcia, the tree of this fruit is found commonly in the dry zone of Sri Lanka. The ripe fruit is said to contain a high quantity of tannin contained in a gummy juice which is also useful in diarrhoea and internal haemorrhage. A poultice of the bark helps in boils and tumours while a decoction of the bark mixed with ghee is a soothing remedy for burns. A powder of the root bark can be prepared in a manner similar to coffee, which helps cure coughs.




Courtesy of LankaLibrary.com

Nelli Sri Lanka: Herbal Medicine in Sri Lanka

Nelli is an important fruit-medicine from Sri Lanka. It is a small, green sour fruit with a very high quantity of vitamin C. There is hardly any disease for which the nelli is not used either singly or in combination with other herbs.

Nelli's benefits

The nelli is given to strengthen the retina and improves weak and defective vision. If dried nelli is soaked overnight and the juice extracted and drunk each morning, it makes a good laxative. Leaves boiled and applied on skin eruptions is said to be beneficial. The ground leaves are said to cure eczema. Two tablespoons of nelli mixed with a tablespoon of bees honey, taken regularly each morning helps reduce bleeding piles, while raw nelli, sour as it may be, improves complexion. Half a cup of nelli juice twice a week helps keep bowel movements in order.


Courtesy of LankaLibrary.com

Mind-Body Medicine courses - Free Alternative Medicine video courses

Mind-Body Medicine courses - Free Alternative Medicine video courses

Course Title: Mind-Body Medicine
Credits: 1 hour of CME; 1.2 nursing contact hours (CEU)
Cost: Free

Lecturer: David Spiegel, M.D., Jack, Lulu & Sam Willson Professor in the School of Medicine Associate Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University

Learning Objectives:

- Recognize the relationship between stress, altered mental states, and illness
- Discuss the benefits of integrative medicine
- Explain hypnosis and its effects
- Describe the use of mind-body medicine for the treatment of cancer
- Identify the importance of support groups for patients with cancer

2010 Mind & Life Summer Research Institute - Human Development, Education and Contemplative Practice

2010 Mind & Life Summer Research Institute - Human Development, Education and Contemplative Practice

The 2010 Mind & Life Summer Research Institute will focus on bridging the work in contemplative science and practice with the work in the developmental sciences, including developmental neuroscience, to provide a scientific foundation from which we can investigate the feasibility, effectiveness and potential challenges of attempting to introduce secularized versions of contemplative practices into public educational settings.

The purpose of the 2010 Mind & Life Summer Research Institute is to advance collaborative research among developmental scientists, neuroscientists, and educational researchers and practitioners based on a process of inquiry, dialogue, and in some cases, collaboration, with Buddhist contemplative practitioners and scholars and those in other contemplative traditions. The long-term objective of the Mind & Life Summer Research Institute 2010 is to advance the training of a new generation of developmental scientists, cognitive/affective neuroscientists, applied/clinical researchers, and contemplative scholar/practitioners interested in exploring the potential influences of contemplative practices in educational contexts on mind, behavior, brain function, learning and health of children and youth and those who care for them.

Applications are now being accepted  for the 2010 Mind & Life Summer Research Institute to be held at the Garrison Institute (www.garrisoninstitute.org) in New York from June 14 (mid-aft. ) to the morning of June 20, 2010. The application period will close on Sunday, February 21, 2010.

For a more detailed overview of the MLSRI, including information explaining applicant category, please go to: http://mindandlife.org/sri10.ml.summer.institute.html.

To apply now, please go to: https://app.applyyourself.com/?id=mindlife.  This is an online only application process -- no paper applications, either mailed or faxed, will be accepted.
Attendance at the program is based upon a competitive online application process in which you will submit a CV/NIH Biosketch (max 2 pages), a short essay (max 400 words) regarding your interest in attending and two letters of recommendation. For detailed instructions about the application process or to apply, please go to: https://app.applyyourself.com/?id=mindlife.

The Context of all Contexts: the universal principle of organization

The most significant revolutionary effect of the physics of relativity and quantum theory has been to generate a new view of the physical universe as a single, indivisible, generate whole, in which phenomena and events are necessarily inter-determining. 

          It is a single system governed by a unitary dynamic principle, augmented by the results of findings in biology and ecology. Any such whole is not an undifferentiated unity, a blank; its integrity depends on the interconnection of parts internally related one to another, in accordance with an organizing principle. In the dimension of time, this principle is dynamic, generating a graded scale of subordinate wholes in which it is specified. The dynamic dialectically related forms are specific exemplifications of the universal dynamic principle governing the whole. Thus a design in the sense of pattern or structure, is obviously such a whole. Its parts and elements are interrelated systematically according to some principle of order and arrangement. The whole which contemporary physics as revealed, therefore, necessarily involves the generation of its own observation by intelligent beings, in whose minds it brings itself to consciousness.

          The whole or design is not ultimately fragmentary; in principle it must be complete. Deployed in scale of forms, it must ultimately culminate in a completed totality. Nor can its self-manifestation be only partial. In principle, and in fact, there must be a culmination of the scale that is both final phases and all-encompassing — an absolute, actual whole, totally self-contained and self-sufficient, and completely realised. It must sublate in itself the entire process of its self-specification, so that end and process overlap. It would be a mistake to imagine that this culmination can, or needs to, appear in time, for it must encompass all time in itself while nevertheless enduring throughout time. It does so in the same way as human consciousness transcends the present and includes at once both the present and the past while it continues to endure and participate in the flux. The culminating phase of the scale does this likewise, for it is the fulfilment of the organizing principle universal to every phase and every existent. It is immanent throughout all process, for every process is a manifestation of its self-differentiation, contributing at its specific level and in its peculiar degree to the final consummation.

          Finally, there are three characteristics of the universal principle of organization that need to be emphasised:

- It is in principle absolutely complete;
- Its completeness involves total explication in absolute self-consciousness;
- The final phase, like all others, must transcend and at the same include and comprehend all its predecessors; that is, the final phase must be, and yet transcend, the sum-total of all the parts (Harris: op.cit.).

          It must be such as no conception or existence can exceed it. This is the perfect being, totally complete, totally self-sufficient and self-sustaining — than that which a greater is inconceivable. As totally explicit in transparent self-consciousness, this consummation of the cosmic scale is an omniscient mind — the Alpha and Omega of all being. Because the universal principle is immanent in every part, it is what generates and determines the nature of every entity, and its activity is nothing more nor less than its own self-differentiation in and as the spatio-temporal world. But its ultimate realization is a transcendent comprehension and self-conscious realization of the whole. It is thus all-creative and all-powerful, as well as all-knowing and absolutely self-complete. All this is necessarily entailed by the very concept of design. If God — Purusa -— is conceived as the absolute universal principle of order manifesting itself — Prakrti — in and as the universe, and transcending all finite phases, the argument from design, as a proof of his existence, can be justified in this, its modern rendering, without requiring any inference from a contrived plan to a Supreme Architect (unless these phrases are used metaphorically). His knowing and conceiving are immediately and simultaneously his self-manifestation in and as the whole world — his creative power, his self-revelation. This conclusion has the rare advantage that it is not a resort to God as a cloak to cover our ignorance, but it is the logical consequence of the very nature of our knowledge and of the structure of the universe as discovered by empirical science — the latter however is not the eternal truth, or at least not all of it. Whatever the alternate theories which replace one another, it is still a unitary system, this universe with its dialectical series of ascending forms. Moreover, science is but one facet of a wider and more complex noosphere. It is inseparable from society and all that entails, and social sciences with philosophical systems in conjunction with science need to pursue the deeper implications of the organizing principle, alluded to above.

Based on "Holistic Science and Consciousness", written by S. C. Malik for the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.

Herbs and Other Dietary Supplements courses - Free Alternative Medicine video courses

Herbs and Other Dietary Supplements courses - Free Alternative Medicine video courses

Course Title: Herbs and Other Dietary Supplements
Credits: 1 hour of CME; 1.2 nursing contact hours (CEU)
Cost: Free

Lecturer: Paul M. Coates, Ph.D., Director of the Office of Dietary Supplements, National Institutes of Health

Learning Objectives:

- Define dietary supplements
- Review current research on the efficacy and safety of dietary supplements
- Utilize reputable resources to obtain up-to-date information on dietary supplements
- Discuss the roles and research activities of the Office of Dietary Supplements at the National Institutes of Health

Visit http://videolectures.nccam.nih.gov/ for this free Alternative Medicine video courses offered by the the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Free Alternative Medicine video courses

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Free Alternative Medicine video courses

Course Title: Overview of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)
Credits: 1 hour of CME; 1.2 nursing contact hours (CEU)
Cost: Free

Lecturer: Stephen E. Straus, M.D., Former Director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health

Learning Objectives:
- Define CAM
- Discuss each of the 5 CAM domains
- Recognize the unique challenges associated with CAM research and the importance of well-designed studies
- Identify the role of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) in exploring CAM practices

Visit http://videolectures.nccam.nih.gov/ for this free Alternative Medicine video courses offered by the the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Wholeness and inclusiviness

When we say that anything is a whole, we imply there is much more than a loose collection, we imply a unity of coherent parts. Every whole is made up of differences that are combined within it to constitute one totality. A purely blank unity is virtually impossible to conceive. Even the simplest of wholes, therefore is a unity of differences which in some discernible way intermesh, interlock and interrelate systematically. In brief, there is essentially an ordering principle universally determining the interrelations of the elements so that it determines likewise their intrinsic natures, for each must be adapted and adjusted to its neighbours, although they must inevitably differ from one another to avoid complete coincidence.

Of course, within the whole the elements contrast with each other, and therefore inevitably lead to internal conflict and provisional disunity. Naturally, finite elements tends to shun one another, emphasizing their respective exclusiveness in order to maintain their self-identities. Consequently, this conflict leads to relative chaos and contingency. This is soon overcome, and unity re-established, only when identity in and through differences is acknowledged. Nevertheless, each identity is defined by the mutual relations and differences, and they are inseparable from one another owing to their mutual implications. This overlap despite difference is what effects their integration into a single whole.

Thus, overlap together with integration of opposites in a wider whole involves self-enfoldment, because the wider whole includes the more fragmentary parts, each implying the other in its own self-maintenance. For example, in a growing embryo, the mutual implication of successive stages is more apparent, as is its explicit realization in subsequent phases of development, and the self-enfoldment of the earlier forms and processes to create emerging complexifications is unmistakable. Segmentation of primitive cells continues at the stage of specialization and functional differentiation, which again is repeated and internalised in each limb and organ. What ensues is a continuous succession of provisional realisations of the organising principle — in this case the mature organism for the embryo — in a series of wholes increasing in complexity and integration. In other words, elements are double-edged, in at once excluding each other in mutual opposition, and also being complementary to each other in mutual determination and dependence for their several identities. In each, the other is implicit, representing the wholeness principle in a comprehensive way. Such a system is ‘open’ and cannot thus be present in any one instant or at any one point. It is not a static but dynamic principle — forbidding both isolation and repetition in abstract manner. The finite element drives itself to transcend its own limits in order to persist in its own being.

Thus the dynamic organising principle of wholeness, inorganic or organic, is operative and directive throughout the hierarchy of forms and phases, impelling its partial elements and rudimentary phases towards completion and fulfilment. In this way it leads to the emergence in intelligent behaviour and interpretative understanding, which is the activity of awareness. It is this self-awareness which is reflected in thinking processes, and the ability to comprehend the whole as a cognitive state of coherent experiencing. In short, both ontology and teleology — dialectics and holism — are necessarily inseparable concepts.

Traditionally teleology referred to some final end. Today, however, because of the ordering principle of an organised whole, teleological explanation is one in which the parts are seen in terms of the whole and not vice versa. It is opposite of reductionism, requiring conscious intention and deliberate choice towards and completion and fulfilment towards a whole. Thus purposive action, described as action by design, is revealed as the endeavour to complete a whole and to bring it to fulfilment. Processes below the level of human purpose, however, may well be teleological without involving any consciousness, but are determined nevertheless by the ordering principle of wholeness, towards intelligent self-awareness. The Universe is designed with the goal of generating intelligent observers, leading logically beyond to some supra-personality. This now is exemplified and seen in the relationships between the parts, between energy and matter, between the inorganic and the organic, between body and mind (Harris:op.cit.).

The unity of the universe and the exact nature of the organising principle that governs its order and structure are clearly not indifferent to the emergence and the existence of life and mind. Of all this, nothing is brought home to us than our ability to discover it. It is not because we are here that the world comes to be so disposed, but rather the opposite. In other words, it is because the world is thus ordered, because the terrestrial environment is so precisely suited to the emergence of life and the development of a biosphere, that human beings have evolved and we are able to investigate the conditions of our own being. Our observation and reflection are not the efficient causes of what they reveal to us although, perhaps, they may well be its final cause.

The unity of the physical world seems, as it were, to focus itself on the implication of this intrinsic order from the very start. The point to note is the concurrence and convergence of conditions for intelligent life within a coherent system. Of course, its explanation may be attributed to a divine creator, or to natural explanation for these interrelationships even though so far no precise values of the fundamental constants has been worked out. What it does show is that there is an interdependence of fact — things — and processes that forbids any attempts to explain matters purely by analysis and reduction to detail (necessary though it maybe). We must look at the whole for an understanding of the parts. For example, one may see the unbroken continuity between the inorganic and the organic, in a way opposites yet complementary. The influence of universal is transmitted uninterrupted, through forms of growing complication and self-enfoldment, along a scale of increasing degrees of adequacy in its exemplification, which guarantees that life is the fruition of what is already potentially present in the physical. Its emergence is simply the continuation of an already-evident tendency to build more integral, more versatile, and more self-maintaining wholes.

If the life-world is all inclusive, and normally the world, as perceived by common sense, is regarded as ‘external’ to the mind, it is because at that level ‘the mind’ is imagined as a function of the brain and is objectified along with the body. The subsequent attempt to explain consciousness that is seen as a result of the transmission from external objects of physical impulses through the senses to the brain, therefore naturally proves incoherent. Consequently, it has brought in the history of philosophy only epistemological disaster. What has been overlooked is the self-transcendent character of consciousness, aware at once of the presented object and of its own relation to it. Thus, as it distinguishes subject from object, it also grasps their relation within the whole, which together they constitute. The mind, become self-conscious, is capable of developing the implications of such holism in philosophical reflection.

The world disclosed in observation and interpreted in science and philosophy reveals itself as dialectical scale of forms, primarily in experience, ranging from sentience through perception and reflection to comprehension. This is why we cannot get outside the consciousness that arises from primitive sentience. But why is it that the life-world is an all-inclusive whole? It is because the physical world, not speaking only of science, is indeed an all-inclusive whole —- finite but unbounded — outside of which there is nothing. The experienced world is that same whole become aware of itself. What ‘corresponds’ to it, therefore, are simply the prior phases of its own development. These go back beyond sentience for the very reason that sentience has revealed itself as the form of the body, the reflection and registration of organismic activity, integral to the biosphere and rooted in a physio-chemical environment. The object of the mind is, therefore, its own self in becoming, and the subject is no less than the world come consciousness of itself. Subject and object are identical, and fact corresponds to theory just so far as the theory is what the fact itself has become in bringing itself to consciousness. This conclusion reveals itself in reflection upon science and experience in general at the philosophical stage.

Throughout the course of the above argument one has traced wholes in hierarchical progression, and each succeeding whole has brought with it a new form — in the scale of forms — carrying a supervening quality not displayed at previous levels. The complex wholes that appear at every level display the emergent quality and the new capacities of life, impossible at any of the prior stages. Life is the form assumed by the integrated metabolic processes.

Now, when these develop and combine as physiological processes, integrated by vascular and neural functioning at a new threshold of intensity, a further form emerges, namely, sentience. Atoms and molecules are energy systems, and it is the form of the energetic complex that displays the peculiar properties. The proposition now being advanced is that this integration of physiological processes at a high degree of complexity and intensity assumes a new form, the experience of feeling. And this new form is sentience or feeling. Perhaps it could as well be called a distinct ‘state’ of the system, as gaseous, liquid, and solid are distinct states of chemical substances.

This doctrine has the advantage of disposing once and for all the problems attendant upon body-mind dualism. There is indeed only one reality but that it displays itself in a series of forms with different degrees of unity and wholeness. At each successive level, the entity or entities concerned display different qualities and capacities, although they presuppose and involve all the prior forms and degrees of actualization. When we reach the level of mind, these qualities are sensory, as at every prior level they are not. In this way one may say that there is a duality of degree in intensity of integration between the exclusively physiological, and a corresponding duality of qualitative form, but there is no dualism of substantive existence. The reference is to the continuity of the dynamic principle and its energia, its organizing activity, operating at successive levels — becoming aware of itself and its own spontaneous activity at every stage structured as a scale of forms — the physical spatio-temporal field, the biotic morphogenetic field, and now the psychical field (Stiskin:1972).

Based on "Holistic Science and Consciousness", written by S. C. Malik for the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.

Holistic Science, the road so far: turbolences and the wholeness of the universe

Oness of the universe and chaos

The basic oneness of the universe is now clear, thanks to science. After giving rise to many unified field theories (symmetry, gauge symmetry, and supersymmtery, gravity and supergravity, strings and superstrings etc.), suggesting that the constituents of matter are interconnected, interrelated and interdependent.

The basic phenomenon may be understood not in terms of any isolated entities, but only as integrated parts of the whole. For example, space-time and energy are seen to be inseparable aspects of a single reality, as are energy and matter, wave and particle. Without going into each theory, and not being competent to do so, one may yet say that the physical universe is proving to be a seamless texture of inseparable events and entities, organised in accordance with a universal principle that specifies itself in innumerable forms. These may then be deduced from it, once it has been discovered. Moreover, coherence, elegance, and symmetry, the criteria of beauty and truth sought by the mathematician and the theoretical physicist, seem now to be within the reach even of the experimentalist (Gandhi:1990).

New mathematical revelations have demonstrated in quite unexpected fashion that chaos is simply a superficial mask of the most intricate and entrancing forms of order and pattern, and that its occurrence in nature can be described mathematically. These revelations have been made in the course of new developments in the study of complex systems. In other words, the most important contribution of chaos, in seeking the whole, the overall structure, is to end the reductionist programme in science and make it holistic science. Physical sciences refer to certain well-known unifying theories in terms of processes that are mathematically describable by linear equations. But other, testimony to wholeness comes from the investigation of complex dynamic systems (or turbulence), which require for their description non-linear equations. This has given rise to a new department of science embracing mathematics, physics, and numerous fields — what has become known as the science of Chaos (Gleick:1987, Prigogine: 1980,1984).

The world picture implied in the theories outlined above is one of a single unbroken whole, governed by a principle of organisation universal to a self-generating system. It specifies itself in a scale, a series of forces and entities, ranging from the simplest to the most complex and opening the way to further development on a higher level of organic wholeness. Thus at the microlevel, there is a continuous scale of ‘complexification’ from space-time to those forms transitional between the inorganic and the organic. It is a dialectic scale of opposing, yet overlapping, specific forms, which differentially exemplify a single universal principle of order in continuously increasing degrees of complexity and integral wholeness. But this is only half the picture, which is paralleled by the other half — the macrocosm of the expanding universe, of stars and galaxies which apparently stands in contrast to the microcosmic level. But the two scales are complementary to each other, inseparable and indispensably linked to each other forming one systematically integrated totality. In its absence, there would be no planets like the earth, no life, no biosphere, and no observers. In short, the microscopic sequence from hydrogen atoms to macromolecules depends intimately upon the macrocosmic sequence of stellar evolution — ranging in scale from planets, stars, galaxies, galactic clusters, continuous right up to the final hypersphere. Space-time continuum itself is created by the pervasive activity of energy and its complimentary matter waves.

Obviously, this physical base is intrinsic and has indispensable characteristics to the existence and support of living beings, intelligent creatures capable of observation and reflection; thinkers able to ask questions about themselves and their environment, and so on. We are aware that we do exist here and now, and are apprised of this fact by our awareness. There is no astonishment to hear this necessary interconnectedness; it is not that because we exist and observe the universe that it exists, but because it is so that we observe it and we can exist (Bohm:1980). What is of significance, not philosophically or otherwise, that physicists are discovering principles determining the structure of the universe to be so finely tuned, and the relations between its parts so minutely adjusted to one another that the emergence of intelligent life is incompatible with any other possible arrangement of things and events. Were we to find that the universe could not have been other than it is, and that its being so inseparably bound up with the emergence and evolution of life forms, that would be of the most profound importance.

Oness of the observers and the observed

The recent enunciation by physicists of the Anthropic Cosmological Principle marks a new revolution in the scientific outlook (Harris:1991). The principle states that intelligent life, its existence and observation of its surrounding universe, is essentially involved in what it discovers. This principle has immense philosophical implications, says Harris, as he traces it continuously through physics, biology and psychology. In short, intelligent life is necessarily involved from the very beginning of physical reality and that the entire process of natural evolution comes to consciousness of itself in the human mind. This is what Lester Smith (1975) also stated in his book — as part of the theosophical society’s theme.

The wholeness of the universe is indicated by the intricate and intimate interdependence of physical and biological facts ( e.g., the integral unity of the biosphere), which is widely acknowledged today. New evidence of holism also has been disclosed by the study of turbulence and the development of fractal geometry. A contemporary concept of the universe therefore requires a logico-metaphysical theory of wholes. Harris has also thrown light on the argument for God from the fact of the design, which indicates philosophical implications also of current scientific work.

What is important in current scientific thinking is that there is an intelligent observer watching the universe — the scientist. The reason simply is that so far scientists had considered themselves outside the painting; that their observations impinged on the physical world without interfering with it — that it was an automation that ran according to its own intrinsic laws, without relation to observers. This is the inheritance passed down from the Copernican revolution at the time of the Renaissance and its consolidation in the Newtonian system of celestial and terrestrial mechanics. Ancient or traditional thinkers considered the universe to contain human beings, and the cosmos to be a living organism with an all-pervasive soul — the human souls being individual participants. 

It is well to remember that one cannot by any conceivable means transcend one’s own perceptual and intellectual capacities. This suggests a subjectivism for which there is no remedy, and we cannot know true knowledge even of the physical world. But this leads to an epistemological disaster, and solipsism is all too imminent. Solipsism is however contradictory, for it asserts the existence of a self alone. But this has meaning only through a distinction from an other. In splendid isolation, therefore, no self can exist — not even God who would be neither infinite nor omnipotent without his creation of the universe.

If Quantum theory and Relativity undermined the classical dichotomy, it was because they involved the observer inextricably with what was observed. There is no absolute frame of reference, and the observer was a fundamental factor, affecting every measurement whether of space or of time. But observers are human beings, and human beings are animals organisms, evolved from other species under influence of environmental pressures. This is to say that the conditions of human evolution are contained in the physical world, the nature of which is known to us only through human observation itself. Science now talks of the wholeness of the universe, in which human and all other life is included, dependent on the fundamental physical constants of nature. This interrelatedness has resulted in the pronouncement of the Anthropic Principle in which the unity of the universe is a basic feature — this wholeness (Harris: Ibid).

From modern to contemporary thinking: holistic science

Modern thinking removed the earth and man from the centre of the universe which was now a machine, no doubt created by God but free of any divine nature, that worked independently of the human mind. Mind and body, Descartes decided, belonged to two separate substances, which had nothing in common except their creator, God. In these circumstances it would indeed have been surprising if human being found the physical world to be such as to provide the conditions necessary for the existence within it of minds. Of intelligent observers — their existence and consciousness — were thus an impenetrable mystery unable to explain their own awareness. These were the metaphysical presuppositions of science in the seventeenth and succeeding centuries. Of course, in the mid-nineteenth century, Darwin’s theory of evolution changed all this, since human beings were now considered to have evolved from non-human beings or non-living matter. A bridge between matter and mind began to be conceived albeit still in terms of chance variation and natural selection.

But it was only in the twentieth century that a revolution in physics has changed all this. The universe is no longer conceived as a machine. Life can now be more easily understood as a development continuous with the non-living. The world so observed provides the conditions for the emergence of intelligent beings. Were there no Intelligence in the universe, there would be neither observers nor scientists to pronounce their theories nor any who might question their validity. In short, we exist because the universe is the way we observe it to be, and we could not observe it otherwise. What we observe is conditioned not only by the fact of our existence, but also by the nature and capacities of our perceptive and intellectual faculties. Thus, observations reveal our own nature, more about the authors than about the subject-matter. This is selective effect, even in scientific matters that needs to be kept in mind, i.e., the limitations of the apparatus — human or otherwise.

Based on "Holistic Science and Consciousness", written by S. C. Malik for the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.
 

Jon Kabat-Zinn: Jon Kabat Zinn mindfulness meditation video

Jon Kabat-Zinn: Jon Kabat Zinn mindfulness meditation video

Jon Kabat-Zinn is founding director of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. His teachings about mindfulness meditation are famous as a technique to cope with stress, anxiety, pain and illness.

According to Wikipedia, Jon Kabat Zinn's work has been largely dedicated to bringing mindfulness into the mainstream of medicine and society. Kabat-Zinn is the author or co-author of scientific papers on mindfulness and its clinical applications. He has written two bestselling books: Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness (Delta, 1991), and Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life (Hyperion, 1994). He co-authored with Myla Kabat-Zinn Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting, (Hyperion, 1997). Other books include Coming to Our Senses (Hyperion, 2005) and his most recent book The Mindful Way Through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness, co-authored with J. Mark G. Williams, John D. Teasdale and Zindel V. Segal (Guilford, 2007).

Kabat-Zinn is the founder and former Executive Director of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He is also the founder (1979) and former director of its renowned Stress Reduction Clinic and Professor of Medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Kabat-Zinn received his Ph.D. in molecular biology in 1971 from MIT where he studied under Salvador Luria, Nobel Laureate in medicine. Kabat-Zinn has made significant contributions to modern health care with his research which focused on mind/body interactions for healing, and on various clinical applications of mindfulness meditation training for people with chronic pain and/or stress-related disorders. Kabat-Zinn began teaching the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) at the Stress Reduction Clinic in 1979. MBSR is an eight week course which combines meditation and Hatha yoga to help patients cope with stress, pain, and illness by using moment-to-moment awareness. Such mindfulness helps participants use their inner resources to achieve good health and well being. Kabat-Zinn and colleagues have studied the effects of practising moment-to-moment awareness on the brain, and how it processes emotions, particularly under stress, and on the immune system.

In 1993, Jon Kabat-Zinn’s work in the Stress Reduction Clinic was featured in Bill Moyers' PBS Special, Healing and the Mind and in the book by Moyers of the same title. Kabat-Zinn and his colleagues published a research paper demonstrating in a small clinical trial, a four-fold effect of the mind on the rate of skin clearing in patients with psoriasis undergoing ultraviolet light therapy[2]. A more recent paper[3] shows positive changes in brain activity, emotional processing under stress, and immune function in people taking an MBSR course in a corporate work setting in a randomized clinical trial.

Reflection and Self-Transcendence of Consciousness

Awareness of self is reflective consciousness, in which the subject becomes its own object. Reflection leads to deliberation and criticism, it is essential to all morals and politics, thought and action. It is what gives rise to questioning and wonder, and so is equally essential to all science and philosophy, and because it is the root of the awareness of the distinction between the finite and the infinite. This self-reflection is the outcome of the bringing to self-consciousness of the organizing principle of the whole through the process of its own self-specification. Consequently, its self-awareness is the awareness of that process, is its knowledge of its own concrescent nature and the way in which must specify its universality; in other words, its the knowledge of the world of nature.

In the scale of forms that constitutes the self-differentiation of the cosmic order there are two critical transitions. The first is from the physico-chemical to the metabolic, marking the emergence of life. The second is from the sentient and perceptive to the fully self-conscious and reflective. Neither of these is abrupt or unheralded. Life is foreshadowed by crystalline and organic molecular structures; reflection is preceded by immediate perception. But the crucial awakening is that of reflective deliberation, because here for the first time the universal principle of organizations, as such, begins to become explicitly aware of itself as reason.

The universal principle is dynamically self-specifying. It manifests itself first in a physical universe, then in an organic totality, and subsequently in a known world or noosphere (de Chardin: 1959). Only then is its concrete potential fully actualized, because only then does its systematic structure become explicit. It becomes aware of itself as conscious subject, reflective upon itself, upon its own experience of itself and of the world. This is what is self-transcendence awareness, that comprehends its own finite limits and its own infinite scope and potential. The miracle of consciousness is self-transcendence. It is primarily the apprehension of relations, and no relation can be grasped within the limits of any one of the terms. It must, as it were, project itself beyond itself and alienate itself from itself. Moreover, to be conscious of an object is to cognize it in a context both spatial and temporal. But to be aware of a temporal context is at once to remember and to anticipate. For instance, all consciousness of time involves such transcendence — as does space — because the succession of events can be apprehended as a succession only if the series is grasped as a whole, which means that the apprehending subject can never be confined to any one event, past, present, or future. It must be transcendent above, or beyond, all of them.

Without getting into a long and detailed debate about the self, I, self-consciousness and so on; and, while awareness happens in our nervous systems, it is not just happening there. While happenings do involve our bodies, this is like organic wholes, and the awareness of the ‘happenings’ is the form taken by that wholeness at a high degree of integration. It is the form of feeling, which becomes consciousness when it is organized by attention and judgment, identifying, distinguishing, and relating objects. This involves the ego, which is the whole come to consciousness of itself as ‘I’. As such, it can and does distinguish itself from its objects, including its body, in which the neural happenings occur, in order to be aware of them as physiological. Indeed, I am not a separate or separable entity from my body. I am identical with it, or rather I am its identity as a functioning whole — the self-cognizant form of the principle of unity and organization immanent in it. As the self-awareness of the universal principle of wholeness in the body, the ‘I’ has become transcendent over the objects of its consciousness. As objects they are its other, yet it remains identical with them, the content of its sentient experience.

From "Holistic Science and Consciousness", written by S. C. Malik for the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.

Holistic science: the importance of holism in science

Holistic science: can science and holism walk together? Yes, and that is an advisable way to take. The reason is simply explained: science gives us several advantages, as holism does. It should be a natural choice to take both, for the same reason why we do not ask ourselves if it is better to walk with one leg or the other, we naturally know we need both.

Science brings us many advantages: for one, without scientific progress you would not be reading this blog now, because there would be none. At the same time, science doesn't create a path to happiness: holism allows us to analyze and substain our path to happiness. So, science can help us in live longer; holism, in living better.

As expressed on sources like Wikipedia, holism in science is an approach to research that emphasizes the study of complex systems. This practice is in contrast to a purely analytic tradition (also called reductionism) which purports to understand systems by dividing them into their smallest possible or discernible elements and understanding their elemental properties alone. While the post-Aristotelic approach allowed science to differentiate itself from philosopical debate and become fact-based, some lost touch with the truth that human nature is the measure of everything, and this should be kept in mind.

Holism in science is an approach to research that emphasizes the study of complex systems. Two central aspects are:

- the way of doing science, sometimes called "whole to parts," which focuses on observation of the specimen within its ecosystem first before breaking down to study any part of the specimen

- the idea that the scientist is not a passive observer of an external universe; that there is no 'objective truth,' but that the individual is in a reciprocal, participatory relationship with nature, and that the observer's contribution to the process is valuable.

The holistic premise is that there is a possible qualitative difference between an entire system and its parts: that a system is more than simple sum of its part, and modularisation may fail. As applied to science, holists may generally assert that this difference can warrant the kind of rigorous scrutiny typical of scientific inquiry. The distinction of approach then lies not so much in the subjects chosen for study, but in the methods and assumptions used to study them. For example, in the field of quantum physics, David Bohm pointed out that there is no scientific evidence to support the dominant view that the universe consists of a huge, finite number of minute particles, and offered in its stead a view of undivided wholeness.

Academic institutions which offer holistic science programs include Schumacher College in the UK, which offers an MSc degree program in Holistic Science. Several universities have set up centers dedicated to one or more scientific fields where holistic approaches are common. These include the University of Michigan's Center for the Study of Complex Systems, Princeton University's Global Consciousness Project, Rice University's Cognitive Sciences Program, the London Metropolitan University's Centre for Postsecular Studies, and the Hang Seng Centre for Cognitive Studies in Sheffield.

There are also several non-university academic institutions and societies that are dedicated to holistic science or open to holistic ideas. For example, Santa Fe Institute, the Scientific and Medical Network (in Europe), the Pari Center for New Learning (in Italy), and the System Dynamics Society in Albany, New York. There is also the Institute of Noetic Sciences in Petaluma, California. Brazil has its Willis Harman House in São Paulo.

Applications of holism in science

Cognitive science: the study of mind and intelligence has some examples for holistic approaches. These include Unified Theory of Cognition[improper synthesis?] (Allen Newell, e.g. Soar, ACT-R as models) and many others, many of which rely on the concept of emergence, i.e. the interplay of many entities make up a functioning whole. Another example is psychological nativism, the study of the innate structure of the mind. Cognitive science need not concern only human cognition. Biologist Marc Bekoff has done holistic, interdisciplinary scientific research in animal cognition and has published a book about it.

Quantum physics: in the standard Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics there is a holism of the measurement situation, in which there is a holism of apparatus and object. There is an "uncontrollable disturbance" of the measured object by the act of measurement according to Niels Bohr. It is impossible to separate the effect of the measuring apparatus from the object measured. The observer-measurement relation is an active area of research today, for example in Quantum decoherence, Quantum Zeno effect and Measurement problem.

Engineering: the holistic approach can be considered "natural" because one of main engineering tasks is to design innovative systems. Therefore, conceptual design begins from a general idea which is successively specialized top-down.

Biology: holistic science sometimes asks different questions than a strictly analytic science—as is exemplified by Goethe in the following passage: "We conceive of the individual animal as a small world, existing for its own sake, by its own means. Every creature is its own reason to be. All its parts have a direct effect on one another, a relationship to one another, thereby constantly renewing the circle of life; thus we are justified in considering every animal physiologically perfect. Viewed from within, no part of the animal is a useless or arbitrary product of the formative impulse (as so often thought). Externally, some parts may seem useless because the inner coherence of the animal nature has given them this form without regard to outer circumstance. Thus…[not] the question, What are they for? but rather, Where do they come from?" (Goethe, Scientific Studies, Suhrkamp ed., vol 12, p. 121; trans. Douglas Miller).

Also, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's 1810 book Zur Farbenlehre (Theory of Colors) not only parted radically with the dominant Newtonian optical theories of his time, but also with the entire Enlightenment methodology of reductive science. Although the theory was not received well by scientists, Goethe — considered one of the most important intellectual figures in modern Europe — thought of his color theory as his greatest accomplishment. Holistic theorists and scientists such as Rupert Sheldrake still refer to the Goethe's color-theory as an inspiring example of holistic science. The introduction to the book lays out Goethe's unique philosophy of science.

Ecology: studying the ecology at levels ranging from populations, communities, and ecosystems up to the biosphere as a whole.

Climate change studies: in the wider context of Earth science (and Earth system science in particular) can be considered holistic science, as the climate (and the Earth itself) constitutes a complex system to which the scientific method cannot be applied using current technology. The first scientist to seriously propose this was James Lovelock.

Clark Little surf wallpaper, Clark Little waves photography - Inspiring Wallpapers

Surfer Clark Little has quickly gained fame for his inspiring, breath-taking pictures. Californian-born, he moved to the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii when he was two years old. In the 80’s and 90’s, Clark Little made his name as a pioneer of surfing at the Waimea Bay shorebreak, and taking photographic memories of waves.


Clark Little Waves - Photo collage


More daily wallpapers and inspirational quotes here, including pictures by Clark Little