The Nature of Consciousness : The Structure of Reality: Theory of Everything Equation Revealed : Scientific Verification and Proof of Logic God Is

Book Description

This book describes how understanding the structure of reality leads to the Theory of Everything Equation. The equation unifies the forces of nature and enables the merging of relativity with quantum theory. The book explains the big bang theory and everything else.

Customer Reviews:

The Real Deal.......2006-09-25

Although Mr. Wheatley is a little verbose in sections, his documentation of Zen Buddhistic Principles found throughout the disciplines of Mathematics, Physics, Theology, etc. forms a nice reference guide for anyone tuned into that wavelength. In particular, his explanation of how Godel's Theorem and Cantor's "Confusion" shed great light on the difference between GOD's Logic and Man's Logic should be a revelation to any undergraduate level math students who encounter these ideas for the first time. Curiously, Mr. Wheatley makes many misstatements about both Zen Buddhism Principles and the Bible, however. For example, by accepting the false biblical teaching of Original Sin, he misses the point that eating the proverbial apple gave Adam and Eve the ability to make Moral Discernments in fulfillment of GOD'S PERFECT PLAN. As proof, read Genesis 1 which states that Man and Woman were made in GOD's Image. Genesis 4 shows that Adam and Eve weren't the first humans on Earth at all, there were plenty of others by then. The allegorical meaning of the story of Eden, then, isn't that Adam and Eve were the first humans on Earth, but they were the first humans with the ability to make Moral Discernments (in GOD's Image). In fact, Moral Discernment is God's Unique Gift to Man, which is the basis of consciousness, not some Math Formula. But because the wages of the resulting, unavoidable sin are Death, many people foolishly try to return to Eden by: (1) living a sinless Life (2) by removing choice altogether by passing and enforcing strict Laws (3) by attempting to do away with Moral Discernment and the resulting consequences for our actions altogether by trying to remove Shame from Shameful actions. GOD is not some ethereal Man-In-Space, but is simply the Totality of all Real Things, The Set of All Real Sets. GOD's Love manifests itself from the amazing sub-atomic relationships that underly this magic Life all the way to the grandest of Macroscopic Scales, the Interconnected Totality itself. The Zen Buddhism connection can be found by simply superimposing the 0 symbol and the symbol for infinity (8 on its side) in Mr. Wheatley's supposedly "new" formulation that 1 = 0 x infinity. Superimposing them gives you the yin-yang symbol. A potential disadvantage of artificially separating the infinity from the zero, however, is that Mr. Wheatley is able to equate the entire expression to be equal to 1. This potentially might obscure the fact that the deepest meaning of the yin-yang symbol is that it is both 2 and 1 AT THE SAME TIME. His overall equation does preserve that important meaning by utilizing a single element on one side of the equation and two elements on the other side of his final TOE equation. This may be hard to see for some at first, however, which could potentially obscure the richest meaning of this beautiful symbol/equation. A much more GODLY TOE, in my opinion, comes from Euler, who discovered that e ^ (i * pi) - 1 = 0. When someone can explain that relationship, then they can say they know GOD.

A life changing experience??.......2005-06-13

This book is an easy read and does succeed in being somewhat thought-provoking. However, I am a little surprised at the awesome, "life changing" experience it apparently was for many of the readers. Wheatley's conclusions were interesting but nothing really new. All of his material should have passed through the mind of any thinking person without the aid of this book.
The reason I gave this book three stars is because he uses unneccessarily wordy ways of describing simple things. Also, the author and many other reviewers insist that Wheatley makes only one assumption. Wrong-his whole theory is one big assumption.
Overall though it was a very interesting and worthy book.

Should be Required Reading for everyone.......2004-06-26

This book will change your life. You will never think the same way you did before reading it.
I have a degree in chemistry and I think this book should be read by everyone in the sciences. Without a doubt, the best book I've ever read. Why and what are two of our best friends

A Very Important Book.......2004-01-26

I must preface my review by stating that I have never been so excited and moved by a book that I have wanted to contact the author. That is what I found myself doing upon reading this book. This book is just what its title says. The author does not "miss a beat" describing in great detail using practically every aspect of scientific knowledge from atomic structure through logic to quantum theory---we are even given a valuable explanation of Love. This text may be challenging to read for those unfamiliar with scientific terminology. And it can also be difficult for those with a science background, such as myself. However, for me it is well worth the work necessary to strive to understand the unfamiliar terminology. (I am continually learning from this book. I am presently on my third reread).

One of the author's main messages is "not" to believe anything without first verifying it with reality, as we know it. He calls it the "Personal Explanation Principle". He indicates that religions are just such belief systems that we as people "fall" victims of; because we do not verify the beliefs with the facts, as we know them, of reality. He gives a very detailed explanation of how the New Testament can be explored using his methodology.

The author methodically and meticulously walks us through his thought processes, which took 30 years to assimilate, of delineating the structure of reality and the nature of consciousness. Included in the "walk" are many of reality's phenomena made revelatory. An example of that, for me, would be the dual nature of light. It's particle/wave duality, which is explained as "functions". Also, when the author took me on the mental journey of "Setness" an exhilaration of the magnificence of life swelled up in me.

To me this is a very important book that should be read by all that are seekers of truth. It is for all those wanting to gain an understanding of the purpose for their existence, wanting to know where life is headed towards, and wanting to know who God is.

This book will enlighten and develop one's mind substantially. You will discover that this is our objective.

And yes, I contacted the author and he responded openly.

Illuminating!!!.......2002-12-30

This is a really great book. It combines philosophy and science in order to tackle a multitude of existential problems. The author's style of writing is fresh and alive, I recommend ths book to anyone interested in expanding the fronteirs of their understanding. Books I also liked are a Universe in an Nutshell by Steven Hawkings and Descent into Illusions by Paul Omeziri.

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Thinking as an internalized movement!
Readable and wide-ranging, but all from just one theoretical perspective
Amazing Neuroscience synthesis!
read it.
Very worthwhile

I of the Vortex: From Neurons to Self
Rodolfo R. Llinas
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0262122332

Amazon.com

What is it about neuroscience that graces its practitioners with humility? Rodolfo Llinas of the NYU School of Medicine continues this tradition of quietly tackling the deepest issues in I of the Vortex. This exposition on the evolution and development of consciousness is accessible and intriguing enough to interest readers more philosophically than scientifically oriented. Grounded in research, the book posits our awareness as an artifact of the cortico-thalamic binding of perceptions and movements in synchrony; Llinas uses this theory as a launching pad for more far-reaching considerations of selfhood all the more relevant for their correlation with the facts.

Charmingly illustrated with artistic and scientific images cleverly supporting the arguments, the book is a quick if challenging read, and it explains all the scientific basics for those approaching from the humanities. Synthesizing evolution, philosophy, and neuroscience is becoming an increasingly popular endeavor for introspective eggheads, and we should be grateful: the question of consciousness affects us all and touches on every other field, from theology to particle physics. I of the Vortex is a welcome contribution to the theory of mind and essential reading for the introspective. --Rob Lightner

Book Description

In I of the Vortex, Rodolfo Llinas, a founding father of modern brain science, presents an original view of the evolution and nature of mind. According to Llinas, the "mindness state" evolved to allow predictive interactions between mobile creatures and their environment. He illustrates the early evolution of mind through a primitive animal called the "sea squirt." The mobile larval form has a brainlike ganglion that receives sensory information about the surrounding environment. As an adult, the sea squirt attaches itself to a stationary object and then digests most of its own brain. This suggests that the nervous system evolved to allow active movement in animals. To move through the environment safely, a creature must anticipate the outcome of each movement on the basis of incoming sensory data. Thus the capacity to predict is most likely the ultimate brain function. One could even say that Self is the centralization of prediction.

At the heart of Llinas's theory is the concept of oscillation. Many neurons possess electrical activity, manifested as oscillating variations in the minute voltages across the cell membrane. On the crests of these oscillations occur larger electrical events that are the basis for neuron-to-neuron communication. Like cicadas chirping in unison, a group of neurons oscillating in phase can resonate with a distant group of neurons. This simultaneity of neuronal activity is the neurobiological root of cognition. Although the internal state that we call the mind is guided by the senses, it is also generated by the oscillations within the brain. Thus, in a certain sense, one could say that reality is not all "out there," but is a kind of virtual reality.

Customer Reviews:

Thinking as an internalized movement!.......2007-06-24

Jorge Borges wrote, "I am not sure that I exist, actually. I am all the writers that I have read, all the people that I have met, all the women that I have loved; all the cities that I have visited, all my ancestors... Perhaps I would have liked to be my father, who wrote but has the decency of not publishing".
In the book "I of the vortex" Rodolfo Llinas gives another perspective on who am "I" and where "I" comes from, looking into the deep and dark recesses of the brain as a neuroscientist and physician, leaving God out from the game, unlike his maestro John Eccles, a dedicated theist, who wrote that "there is a Divine Providence operating over and above the materialistic happenings of biological evolution".
The ultimate thesis Llinas nominates is: "thinking is an internalized movement". He makes his point very clearly, based on his extensive knowledge and experience both as a scientist and writer. Perhaps thinking is an internalized movement? Perhaps not! The book "I of the vortex" is the ultimate read for those who ask Questions. An excellent book.

Readable and wide-ranging, but all from just one theoretical perspective.......2006-10-23

What is the "self" in neural terms? Few would be bold enough to claim an answer to that question. Yet in "I of the Vortex: From Neurons to Self," Rodolfo Llinas sketches a very compelling picture of how the self, consciousness, and intelligence may arise in the brain.

Essentially, Llinas's argument goes as follows. First, brains are really only found in animals that move (so, obviously, plants do not have brains). In fact, at least one animal - the sea squirt - actually devours its own brain once it no longer needs to move. Although simple movements might be caused by oscillatory pattern generators in the spinal cord, the brain is necessary for more complex, sensory-guided movement. Why should this be so?

The answer Llinas provides is prediction, or in other words, a sensorimotor internal model of the world based on "dt lookahead" functions, interfacing the motor and sensory systems. Synchronized oscillations from the cerebellum (Llinas's area of expertise) carry out the motor-side of this computation, giving rise to the characteristic 8-12 Hz periodicity of the neural signals that command voluntary movements. At a higher frequency (40 Hz), other neuronal oscillations throughout the thalamocortical system serve to bind sensory representations together. And the subjective, cognitive correlate of the intersection of these oscillations is no less than the self: "this temporally coherent event that binds, in the time domain, the fractured components of external and internal reality into a single construct is what we call the 'self.'"

But wait, doesn't that mean that all animals have a sense of "self"- even the lowly sea squirt (at least before it eats its brain)? It would seem so. But that's not the end of Llinas's more controversial claims. Llinas also suggests that neural networks explain "very little concerning the actual functioning of the nervous system itself," advocating instead the idea that most of our cognitive abilities are genetically prewired at birth. Along these lines, Llinas endorses Chomsky's idea that genes may to a large extent determine language, and furthermore that language exists in many species besides homo sapiens.

It is here that "I of the Vortex" starts to seem more like a manifesto than a careful scientific analysis. For example, after introducing the basics of neurophysiology and comparative neurology in the first half of the book, Llinas skips the cognitive level of analysis almost altogether and starts extrapolating directly to issues of consciousness, awareness, and selfhood. This bias against direct investigations of cognition (something arguably very important for understanding consciousness) is nowhere more apparent than when he refers to cognitive neuroscience as "neophrenology." But without this important middle-level of analysis, Llinas is mostly shooting from the hip in the second half of the book - and aiming for concepts that are simply too far removed from Llinas's expertise in cellular neurophysiology.

On the whole, Llinas has done an admirable job of outlining one particular view of how neuronal dynamics may give rise to consciousness in an embodied cognition framework. In this sense, "I of the Vortex" makes an excellent companion to other high-level introductions to cognitive neuroscience.

Amazing Neuroscience synthesis!.......2005-08-14

The book presents an amazing Neuroscience synthesis that covers all the aspects: from ions to synergistic systems. It gives a thought-provoking explanation of the origin of the brain through evolution. It also explains the concepts of 'qualias' and 'fixed action patterns' in such an integrative manner and concludes that everything was perfectly made to synergistically create our predictive brains.

read it........2004-09-07

If you are going to read one book about neuroscience, consciousness, or the meaning of life, this should be it. Dr. Llinas has made some unusually innovative and profound assertions about how the self ("soul") might be generated from the mechanical workings of the brain. While the answer to the hard problem of consciousness remains elusive, I can honestly say after having read many books on the subject, that this is as close as it gets.

Very worthwhile.......2002-05-20

The author presents quite a plausible theory of mind, based on his work as a neuroscientist. I suspect Llinas is very much on the right track to illuminating the physical basis of consciousness.

Building chapter-by-chapter simultaneously on the apparent evolutionary development from the simplest neuronal system to the centralized brain, and on the results of brain scans and other experiments, Llinas brings us calmly and reasonably to the resultant human mind of today.

For Llinas, consciousness is the synchronized 40Hz firing of regions of the cortex over time. That is, consciousness is not just a given pattern of firing in 3-space, but is a 4-space relation. That additional dimension of time multiplies enormously the potential number of brain patterns that could occur in an individual. But it also makes the topic that much harder to study.

The writing feels like it has been written by someone who knows alot: there are many points where conceptual connections are not made entirely explicit (because it probably seemed so self-evident to Llinas) and the reader must fill in those gaps. Also, some of his non-neurologic language is quite technical: the description of the "self" as a calculated eigenvector, or the "vortex" which is essentially an attractor (as known in mathematics), that can make Llinas sound like a cold, hard-nosed scientist.

However, Llinas is refreshingly 'human'. For him, it is quite reasonable to assume (as a common consequence of evolution and similarity of brain structure) that many other species have forms of consciousness. Indeed, he devotes an entire chapter to qualia, and contends that qualia exist as essential brain feature, not only for humans but for cats and dogs and most other animals with brains of the same evolutionary genre (and that even in the case of invertebrate (octopus) brains he argues that the burden of proof is on those who would deny qualia).

Book Description

Since the publication of The Biology of Belief, Dr. Bruce Lipton has received widespread acclaim as one of the most accessible and knowledgeable voices of "new biology." The science is called epigenetics—a revolutionary field that shows us how the energy of consciousness is as important in shaping life on earth as DNA and chemistry. In this original author adaptation, Dr. Lipton brings his clarity, insight, and humor to unveiling a profound change in how we perceive the way life works, including: • How environment—including our thoughts and emotion—controls the character of every cell • Quantum physics and life: the key to understanding the bigger picture of how mind over matter works • Cooperation and evolution—moving beyond the "selfish gene" theory to see that a natural trend toward harmony literally shapes the biosphere • Why the oft-dismissed placebo effect is really the most powerful healing tool we have, and much more As scientists have mapped the human genome, it has become clear that there are important aspects of life that defy our traditional models of evolution. The "missing link," according to Dr. Lipton, is consciousness. With The Biology of Belief, listeners join this groundbreaking researcher to learn how this new science radically alters both how we understand life on earth— and how we choose to live.

Customer Reviews:

Biology meets Spirituality.......2007-10-01

DOCTOR PETER TEIMAN DAVIS here,
A book of the highest existential order.
DOCTOR PETER TEIMAN DAVIS
Sweden

Not as groundbreaking as it suggests.......2007-09-19

I certainly applaud the author, especially one from such a science-oriented background, for writing this book. He attempts to "prove" the power of the mind with scientific studies, etc. On some levels he succeeds; there are certainly some surprising and interesting studies he cites.
However, the book is entirely too filled with tedious, dry scientific discussion that, in my opinion, really didn't need to be there. He could've greatly shorted that part of the book. Also, I can't help but raise and eyebrow at parts of the book where the author says things like "I discovered the secret of life." His "secret" is something that, if you've been involved at all in "alternative medicine" for any amount of time, you'd already know. Also, I think that comment was entirely inaccurate. I didn't come out of this feeling there was any ground-breaking, belief-shattering discovery. Compelling, yes, powerful, yes, but come on, don't go overboard.
In the end, he provides very little that you can actually do to change your biology, other than "think positive thoughts" and similar things. Again, something energetic healers have known for decades, if not centuries. Almost as an afterthought, he has a section at the end, about two pages, where he mentions an exciting new science based on energetic psychology, that can greatly change peoples long-standing beliefs, and reprogram their subconcious, leading to true change. THAT is what I was lead to believe THIS book was about. So, overall, I would skip this book and get another book that actually expands on this idea.

Great book.......2007-09-06

I learned a lot from this book. Its a wonderful book with a wealth of information. I would definitly use that knowledge to use.

The Biology of Belief.......2007-09-04

Life changing. It needs to be read and re-read since it challenges current paradigms with well-backed, scientific data.

Contemporary Scientific Wisdom.......2007-09-03

"The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciouness, Matter & Miracles" by Bruce Lipton is an easy to read book filled with insights into the personal, biological transformation that results when practicing intentional living, higher vibration consciousness, and co-creation with the universe.

I highly recommend The Biology of Belief which is replete with the most recent contemporary scientific wisdom.

Another favorite recent find of mine that is a 'must read'...is a novel about a consciousness based healing journey, spirituality, metaphysics, abundance and life transformation...

Nexus: A Neo Novel

Living in the Borderland:The Evolution of Consciousness and the Challenge of Healing Trauma

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"Living in the Borderland" a winner!
Living in the Borderland. Jerome S. Bernstein
Livng in the Borderland. Jerome S. Bernstein
Seminal Work
Beyond therapy

Living in the Borderland:The Evolution of Consciousness and the Challenge of Healing Trauma
Jerome Bernstein
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1583917578

Book Description

Living in the Borderland addresses the evolution of Western consciousness and describes the emergence of the 'Borderland,' a spectrum of reality that is beyond the rational yet is palpable to an increasing number of individuals. Building on Jungian theory, Jerome Bernstein argues that a greater openness to transrational reality experienced by Borderland personalities allows new possibilities for understanding and healing confounding clinical and developmental enigmas.
In three sections, this book charts the evolution of Western consciousness, examines the psychological and clinical implications and looks at how the new Borderland consciousness bridges the mind-body divide. It challenges the standard clinical model, which views normality as an absence of pathology and equates normality with the rational, and abnormality with the transrational. Jerome Bernstein describes how psychotherapy itself often contributes to the alienation of many Borderland personalities by misdiagnosing the difference between the pathological and the sacred and uses case studies to illustrate the potential such misdiagnoses have for causing serious psychic and emotional damage to the patient.
This challenge to the orthodoxies and complacencies of Western medicine's concept of pathology will interest Jungian Analysts, Psychoanalysts, Psychotherapists and Psychiatrists.

Customer Reviews:

"Living in the Borderland" a winner!.......2007-06-20

There are lots of reviews listed here which endeavor to summarize Mr. Bernstein's book. I found his thesis thoughtful and revolutionary, and comforting..since I've considered myself a borderlander for years. His treatment de-pathologizes us space cadets who have been shocked into retreating from the harsh cultural milleau of American society into an unworldly misty place. Spending time in Nature is often our only calming option.

At the same time, living in a borderland brings with it...it seems to me...a peculiar paralysis in dealing with economic and other social realities we can't avoid. It can be a form of escape from lovelessness and confusion which stifles the ego. Egolessness is not the answer, in my own opinion for healthy individuation and living a life of purpose.

I would complement Bernstein's book with Richard Lind's "The Seeking Self" and Greg Mogenson's book, "A Most Accursed Religion" to help reframe our view of ourselves and the Universe/God. Individuation requires that we be able to take responsibility for ourselves and maturing. Is it really a God we are experiencing in breaking the gateways between ego and the Unconscious, or is it the destruction of consciousness and ego?

Great read though. Don't miss it!

Living in the Borderland. Jerome S. Bernstein.......2006-01-21

This is an important work, both in a psychological and cultural sense. Bernstein is writing about "Borderland" personalities and environmental illness but these two issues also relate to a sea change going on below the surface of the Western psyche. Bernstein is one of a very small number of people who is trying to track this sea change -- pointing us to its possibilities and its potential dangers. Living in the Borderland is a big picture book that dares to ask the really important cultural questions of our day.

Livng in the Borderland. Jerome S. Bernstein.......2006-01-11

In his book Living in the Borderland, Jungian Analyst Jerome Bernstein provides a fascinating account of the development of the Western ego from an historical interpretation of the Bible down to our present post-Cold War environment. The author posits that this development has moved the Western psyche away from its roots in Nature into an ever more abstracted intellectual consciousness. As the human species approaches the very real potential for self-annihilation through nuclear assault and ultimate environmental degradation, an evolutionary shift in psychic consciousness has begun, a shift that appears in a growing number of individuals. In a Darwinian sense, it is an evolutionary manifestation of species survival. This shift is evidenced as the psyche's reconnection with Nature, to Nature in all its forms, animate and inanimate, that over the millennia the collective Western ego has neglected as it has developed increasingly toward abstraction of thought and the illusion of control. Through the years of his therapeutic practice Bernstein has seen many patients who are exhibiting this psychic shift. He calls these people Borderlanders, they live in a borderland between rational intellect and an emerging transrational consciousness.

For some Borderlanders, this awareness of the transrational as a dominant and controlling force in the psyche can be traumatic, not infrequently causing the individual to worry that he or she may be "crazy." Traditional psychological approaches to therapy often exacerbate this fear in that most therapists are unaware of the "normalcy" of this evolutionary shift in consciousness. They therefore tend to consider their Borderland patients as suffering from a psychic pathology. And herein is a major emphasis of this book: to alert psychological and medical practitioners as well as the patients themselves, that certain patients' experiences, while evidencing symptoms of psychic trauma, may not be pathological. The situation is often complicated, however, when a patient may evidence psychological illness that is genuinely symptomatic of traumatic experience, yet is unrelated to a patient's borderland consciousness. In this case it is the formidable task of the therapist to differentiate the pathological from the new evolutionary consciousness that is beginning to manifest.

The book is extremely well researched and thoroughly documented with personal testimonials, bibliographic references, and case studies, and contains an exhaustive bibliography. It is essential reading for all psychotherapists and medical practitioners and their patients, and is especially relevant to those suffering from or treating environmental illness. Individuals interested in Jungian psychology and early childhood educators who may be encountering this psychic phenomenon among children will find the guidance of this book invaluable.

Reviewed by Mari Graña, writer. Santa Fe, NM

Seminal Work.......2006-01-09

In this seminal work, Jerome Bernstein presents a highly literate account of the development of the Western ego and chronicles for the first time the stories of those individuals who are experiencing an evolutionary shift of consciousness that manifests itself in many ways, but particularly in receptivity to what he calls transrational reality and sensitivity to all things animate and, to the Western mind, inanimate. He establishes a link between this emerging consciousness and sensitivity to environmental toxins, capturing in graceful and compassionate language both the desperation of those who suffer from environmental illness and the frustration of those who valiantly seek ways to treat them. He differentiates strongly between those who live in the borderland and those who suffer from borderline personality disorder, suggesting therapeutic approaches based on clinical experience. He argues passionately for a new paradigm for the healing of trauma through a reconnecting of the Western medical model with a body-mind-spirit approach, most notably that of the Navajo medical model.

As someone who spent seven months in treatment for pesticide poisoning at an environmental clinic, I was blown away by the accuracy with which Mr. Bernstein portrayed the plight and the suffering of those who experience environmental illness as well as the approaches to treatment. As one who has experienced healing through a combination of allopathic and spiritual approaches, including antigen therapy, psychotherapy, energy medicine and Navajo ceremonials, I can testify to the power of the combined modalities. As a writer with one foot in the creative universe, I applaud the authenticity with which Mr. Bernstein describes the borderland.

A definite must read for clinicians, researchers, patients, and anyone interested in Jungian thought, transrational experience, and environmental illness.

Beyond therapy.......2006-01-09

This insightful work de-pathologizes and validates the highly sensitive person, exploring the social and ecological value of uber-intuitives and offering clinicians exciting new approaches to working with such individuals. A well-constructed and accessible read.

The Evolving Self: A Psychology for the Third Millennium

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The Everyman's Guide: Concrete Ways to a More Complex Self
Align with the Divine Inteligence
Clear and Positive Message
Great Book - Amazon misspelled author's name!!
A new landmark for the third millenium

The Evolving Self: A Psychology for the Third Millennium
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Manufacturer: Harpercollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0060166770

Book Description

The author of the bestselling Flow (more than 125,000 copies sold) offers an intelligent, inspiring guide to life in the future.

Customer Reviews:

The Everyman's Guide: Concrete Ways to a More Complex Self.......2005-11-20

The book is a loving, enthusiastic attempt to replace religious faith (a cultural meme) with faith in evolution, and it is not without its dazzling existential insights, wherever one chooses to place one's faith. Readers interested in defining happiness will find much to digest. The author's sensibilities, however, are a dinosaur-a heavy irony in a book devoted to evolutionary psychology. (Three-martini lunches? Aren't those extinct?) An example of the rhetoric I object to follows: "But now it is possible for a drunk officer in some missile silo to press the wrong button, and then natural selection might give the prize to the cockroach." A cliché, an exteme one. I wouldn't make fun of the author if I didn't think his metaphorical errors weren't related to logical fallacies in the book.

The largest irony, I find, is that in a book that purports to glorify complexity, the author is ruthlessly reductive; for example, he leaves little room for the possibility of evolution coexisting with a Creator, which would arguably be a more complex vision. I think the author's vision of "flow" could be more complex in this book, as well; I think flow varies in type and degree in the way that individual temperament and intelligence types vary, and I would argue that entropy might be a necessary companion to flow. For example, I derive peak flow experiences from processing complex ideas, but generally an interim gestation period exists in which I experience a share of entropy, boredom, conflict, irritation, all of which serve to heighten the joy I experience when deriving the payoff. Then again, I am a particularly complex and abstract personality, and my mind is boggled when I read that some folks experience flow when driving the car or gardening. But more power to them. (Meyers-Briggs type indication could be a helpful tool here.)

This brings me to my main point and my perception of the author's blind spot. But first I should explain why I read the book. I have become interested in concepts of evolutionary intelligence since becoming mother to a highly-gifted child of complex and unusual temperament. I thought that any book discussing evolutionary psychology would have to consider the existence of gifted people, especially those who are genetically hard-wired as global thinkers, empaths, abstract thinkers with innate high degrees of moral sensitivity, born transcenders. But gifted people don't seem to exist in Csikszentmihalyi's world. He is more interested in the folks out there of average intelligence and common, concrete temperament who can perhaps be encouraged to mimic traits inherent to the abstract idealist by "reading the more complex magazine, having the more complex conversation, voting for the candidate with the more complex platform, learning the more complex skills on one's job, choosing the more complex leisure activity," etc. Such a reader he must have in mind when he includes Q&A sections after each chapter and encourages a grassroots movement to form "cells of the future," both of which made me laugh out loud because of their prosaic and pragmatic nature.

Well, I'm only going to irritate people by writing about giftedness, since our egalitarian society wants to mow down those tall poppies, but I'll persist, in case there's one other person out there who gets what I'm saying. The author writes, "The reason complexity appears to be such a central principle of evolution is that when two organisms compete for energy, the one with the more complex physiology or behavioral repertoire tends to have the advantage." If gifted people are arguably more complex, do they have the evolutionary advantage? I'm not so sure. Society favors average kids, and parents of average kids are likely to have more kids. Complex kids suffer from lack of societal fit, and gifted kids and adults are prone to existential depression due to lack of fit. Most gifted kids experience abuse and humiliation in public school settings and may even be medicated because of "aberrant" behavior due to boredom. Some of these kids may have the advantage as adults, especially if they find success in technological fields; others may drop out of society. More interestingly, one could consider the effects of early humiliation on a successful genius like Edward Teller, who might arguably have unleashed negative and entropic energy as a subconscious response. In any event, if I were an evolutionary psychologist, I think I'd choose to invest my limited energy in studying the more complex gifted population, who might evidence the hand of evolution at a genetic level.

This is a book in which the gifted are glaringly absent, and I'm probably the only one who will care. Nonetheless, the book was engaging. But for my money, I prefer Harold Bloom on the expansion of consciousness through the study of literature. Sometimes the social sciences seem ponderous when compared to literature, in which lightening-fast apprehension can be manifest without cumbersome data generation. If you're interested in the evolution of human consciousness, I think Bloom does best when he cites Shakespeare as the inventor of the human.

Align with the Divine Inteligence.......2003-12-17

Professor Mike is on to something with this book. When you follow your positive emotions, especially Flow, you are following the guidence of the Divine Intelligence that is unfolding the universe. This is a very thought provoking and inspiring book. As a life coach, I see the practical application of Mihaly's work every day. This may be the way to a happier, more harmonious and sustainable future for our planet. Thanks Mike for showing us how to follow our Flow to build a better self and a better world.

Clear and Positive Message.......2003-11-06

By discussiing the evolution of the mind, this book gives us a clear and positive message about the future direction of our species. This made gave me hope about our future even though there are many terrible things going on in the world. The author argues that we are evolving self-organizing systems and we can continue to evolve. The message is very similar to the book "The Ever-Transcending Spirit" by Toru Sato except that Sato's remarkable book explains this in more simple and straightforward language. I think we all need to learn from these types of thinkers in order to help us move toward positive change in our evolution.

Great Book - Amazon misspelled author's name!!.......2003-04-21

Mihalyi Czikszentmihalyi
This is the author's correct name, taken from the actual titles themselves. Amazon[.com] needs to correct their site, as the author's name is not spelled correctly anywhere, for any of his titles!

Otherwise, I thought the book was excellent, better than his book Flow in many ways. I used it as a resource for a college paper this week, and encourage others who liked The Moral Animal or The Selfish Gene to read it. Especially worthwhile for those who are nihilistic, pessimistic, and doubtful about humanity's survival or overal worthwhile characteristics.

Read this book!

A new landmark for the third millenium.......2000-06-05

Flow experiences, human peak experiences and high synergetic states are introduced in such an original and practical way in this book that, while readind it, one really experiences flow. Genes are the information units of life; they are associated with the genetic code, while "memes" are the equivalent information units when dealing with consciousness, with mind, with the noosphere, and they are coded in this master piece, from beginning to end, so that the "I" is challenged continually to evolve and to know how to obtain wisdom, "because wisdom is a cognitive skill, a special way of acting and a personal good, because the practice of wisdom leads to inner serenity and enjoyment". Complexity is certainly a fashionable catchword but again Mihaly makes it graspable and human, a practical tool, so to speak, because the final principle of evolution is an increase in both differentiation and integration ... Differentiation refers to the parts that differ in structure or function and integration refers to the whole in which the different parts communicate and enhance one another's goals. Flow, memes and complexity are presented in this work in such a unified framework that we can think that with it we have finally a truly complementary work for the "I", or some sort of evolutionary ontology, while with Ken Wilber work Sex, Ecology and Spirituality we have the corresponding philosophical counterpart, for the "we", and with Physics and the Principle of Synergy by Epsilon Pi, we have the corresponding scientifical counterpart, for the "It". But the important point to recall is that they all three are integral proposal; they really complement each other in this new stage of mankind in which the integration of the big three is a main concern. Synergy is a principle that when applied produces harmony and when not produces entropy, and when synergy is obtained, flow is experienced and a "field" is created, a field that can be used as a medium to detect a higher ordered state or an increased complexity, as "a good society is one that encourages the individuals to realize their potentials and permits complexity to evolve".

Amazon.com

In Figments of Reality, mathematician Ian Stewart and biologist Jack Cohen's thesis (or schtick) is that human minds are produced by complicity between human brains and culture. In their earlier book The Collapse of Chaos, Stewart and Cohen used the power of Humpty Dumpty to redefine complicity to mean properties that emerge from the mutual interaction of complex systems. "Our minds, our societies, our cultures, and our global multiculture, are all evolving within a reality that we mould in images of our own creation. We are a figment of reality--but reality is increasingly a figment of us."

Reality is not the only figment in the book. Stewart and Cohen use a group of eight "weird alien beings from the planet Zarathustra, resembling fluffy yellow ostriches but with much stranger habits" as a sounding board, as comedy relief, and as a philosophical-experimental playpen. To quote:

"Ringmaster: What is this?
Liar-to-children [=teacher]: A continuing educational narrative of some kind, Ringmaster. Based upon a revered/reviled (delete whichever is inapplicable) ancient text. [Watches the screen and interprets the tale that unfolds--a long and dramatic story of an exploding universe, elements born in stars, complex carbon-based molecular machines, a doubly-helical genetic molecule, the origins of life, evolution, sense organs, brains, minds, and intelligence.]
R: What a fascinating narrative.
LtC: And such a convincing story.
Destroyer-of-facts [=scientist]: Such vigor and power! Such unified scientific insight!
R: Not a word out of place, no loose ends--amazing!
ALL: [In unison] Must be wrong, then."

Read it and think, read it and giggle, read it and come back for more. At long last, a worthy successor to Gödel, Escher, Bach, updated, twisted, and put through a Monty Python filter.

Book Description

Peppered with wit and controversial topics, this is a refreshing new look at the co-evolution of mind and culture. Bestselling authors Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen (The Collapse of Chaos, 1994) eloquently argue that our minds evolved within an inextricable link with culture and language. They go beyond conventional views of the function and purpose of the mind to look at the ways that the mind is the response of an evolving brain that is constantly adjusting to a complex environment. Along the way they develop new and intriguing insights into the nature of evolution, science, and humanity that will challenge conventional views on consciousness. The esteemed authors tantalize the reader with these bold new outlooks while putting a revolutionary spin on such classic philosophical problems as the nature of free will and the essence of humanity. This clearly written and enjoyable book will inspire any educated reader to critically evaluate the existing notions of the nature of the human mind.

Customer Reviews:

Evolution of mind and human culture.......2004-04-15

While there is relatively little about the brain itself in this book, the authors do consider the importance of symmetries in neural processing. Thus, a discussion of the recognition of male and female faces takes advantage of an eigenvector (or eigenface) that embodies the difference between an average him and her. (Enthusiasts of the quantum mind approach to consciousness studies should note that such ideas are the coin of modern nonlinear science, and not at all dependent upon the extrapolation of quantum theory to the macroscopic world: a point that was clearly made by Niels Bohr back in 1933.)
Unfortunatly, there is no mention of recent research by Hermann Haken and his colleagues in connection with this work, although this sort of eigenvector analysis is closely related to ideas presented in his book Principles of Brain
Functioning (1996).

A short chapter on free will is interesting but ultimately somewhat disappointing because the authors seem to be sitting on both sides of the philosophical fence. Recognizing that the assumption of free will is necessary for the orderly functioning of any culture and scornful of the inflated claims of genetic determinists, they note that theoretical reasons can be imagined for anything that occurs. To me, at least, this is as true as it is unconvincing. It is always possible to cobble together some sort of explanation of whatever transpires after the fact. Does this imply that the future is determined by the present? What might such an assertion mean? This chapter ends with the statement: ``Therefore free will is not just an illusion: it is a figment rendered real by the evolutionary complicity of mind and culture'' (p.241). Maybe I am dense, but this doesn't mean much to me. Perhaps the authors would have been wiser to omit this chapter, admitting that they do not know what free will is.
Two final chapters deal with some of the details of our many interactions with the surrounding culture, noting that a very large amount of knowledge is presently available to us all through libraries, schools, theater, television, and more recently the World Wide Web. The first of these chapters, entitled Extelligence, considers in some detail the ever increasing pool of information in which we are embedded in by our technological culture. The authors consider their notion of extelligence to be somewhat different from (say) Karl Popper's World 3, because it involves complicit interactions with individuals in a culture. This is, in my view, such an extremely important aspect of the overall subject of consciousness studies, that it deserves a book of its own. Perhaps the authors will team up with an informed and imaginative ethnologist in the not too distant future and work on such a project. The last chapter - entitled ``Simplex, Complex, Multiplex'' - describes the relationships between the organization of biological cells and human social systems. From this perspective, the village is analogous to a bacterium, whereas a town is compared to an eukaryote, and a city to a multi-celled organism. The chapter title alludes to increasingly sophisticated ways that individuals have of perceiving the intricacy of their social environments in a human culture.

Alwyn Scott
http://personal.riverusers.com/~rover/

Life, consciousness, mind, and reality explained.......2003-09-10

How does life arise from inanimate matter? How does consciousness arise from life? Is consciousness of the universe an illusion? Or is mind itself an illusion?

The British authors of this book are a mathematician and biologist pair who boldly tackle these classic questions in philosophy with some original approaches. Maintaining that life, consciousness, and culture cannot understood by reducing them to the material elements from which they arise, the authors deftly develop a set of interesting concepts. Some of these are not especially original, but they are presented in an unusual light particularly as the authors ably illustrate them with very accessible descriptions of complex biochemical pathways of living matter.

A key concept is that of emergence - well established in philosophy and roughly equated to the popular idea of the whole being more than the sum of its parts. The authors couple this concept with one of their own - complicity, or the interaction of different things which lead them to become entirely new things. A third, among several others, is that of extelligence which arises from the interaction of the intellegences of individuals and is rooted in human culture. Using these and other concepts, the book, which is at the nexus of science and philosophy, seeks to explain how life, consciousness, culture, and reality arise and the relationship between them.

Be prepared to wade through these pages slowly to enjoy the masterful exposition of this book. Or, if you find this tedious, enjoy the elegant prose which uses the lens of science and philosophy to describe events which we might normally frame in different language. In the four-page prologue, a graphic sequence of events unfolds which chart the creation of the universe to the emergence of the symbolic literary creatures which constitute the human species: QUOTE Fifteen thousand million years ago the universe was no bigger than the dot at the end of this sentence......today, the two descendants of those tiny creatures are busy delineating their own limited version of the entire story in strange, angular geometric symbols impressed in contrasting pigment upon sheets of impressed white vegetable matter. UNQUOTE

Having long forgotten more than half the courses I took in college, this book allowed me to relive and reinforce the pleasures of two wonderful philosophy seminars - on theories of mind and philosophy of science. Expect, if you get through the book cover to cover, to see the world a little differently from when you start at the prologue.

Gets one thinking along new channels........2003-03-05

Okay, okay, I admit it; I should never argue with Steven Haines about a book. I had first discovered the title Figments of Reality while reading another author. When I finally got the book, though, I discovered that I really couldn't get into it, but Steven Haines' review was so enthusiastic that it suggested that the book might be worth the extra effort, so I tried again. I'm glad I did; it's a wonderful book. It is however, very dense with information, and like D. C. Dennett's books, requires a lot of active participation in the learning process.

Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen are a biologist and a mathematician team who have worked together to write a book on evolution; and not just biological evolution either. They discuss the origin of life, intelligence, consciousness, concepts of reality, social order, cities, and global civilization all within a 299 page volume.

Each chapter is opened with a charming quote, usually drawn from the lore of the behavioral sciences, that illustrates in capsule the content of the chapter. My favorites were the woman scientist and her chimpanzee subject, the viper with its "dead snake" pose, and the parrot whose protest over going through a boring word list made his intelligence far more apparent than reciting the list ever could.

Addressed in these chapters were some pretty heavy duty concepts. It's not that I hadn't come across them before in my reading, but that the authors' approach was novel, at least to me. Their treatment of the statistics of evolution and especially their analysis of the "Mitochondrial Eve" hypothesis were particularly enlightening. Until they likened it to the opening and ending moves of a chess game, with it's myriads of potential moves between beginning and end, I had not given much thought to how misleading are the cladal diagrams of evolutionary trees. They point out that the reductionist view, that looks for a core and a root to everything, is misleading because it neglects the total picture of what is going on in the environment and the emergent aspects of the interactive parts.

In the instance of the mitochondrial studies, they point out that a breeding population would probably have been at least 100,000 individuals, and the theory of 1 Eve and 99999 Adams, doesn't make much sense. As they note, it's much more likely that there were 50,000 of each gender, some of whom carried a particular stretch of DNA. Pointing out that there is a difference between the descent of a molecular sequence and the descent of a species they write, "Possibly there did exist a Mitochondrial Eve, but she is not the Mother of Us All: she represents a particular molecular sequence for mitochondrial DNA, embodied in a population of women possessing the molecule, from whom all modern mitochondrial DNA molecules descend (p. 88)."

More intriguing still was their discussion of complicity, which is a synergy among constituent parts that gives rise to unexpected results, sort of the old saw "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." They feel that this type of unpredictable interaction among complex variables is what has given rise to human consciousness and even to the group think that occurs in crowd behavior. As they write, "One of the universal features of complicity is the emergence of new patterns, new rules, new structures, new processes that were not present, even in rudimentary form, in the separate components (p. 245)." They note that a complicity between language and intelligence might have worked synergistically, in a lock step fashion, enhancing both characteristics and in combination with what they term "extelligence," the variously stored knowledge of generations of humans, may possibly have lead to consciousness and civilization.

In their comparison of cellular evolution and village/town evolution, they again appeal to a complicity among parts, in this case individuals-or more correctly among professions-that created towns from villages. As unspecialized bacteria specialized and commingled to form nucleated cells, the members of villages began to specialize and create a larger more resilient town and as that grew, cities.

The most unique concept they presented-at least not one I'd heard before-was the possible explanation for the god phenomenon. They suggest that someone, Abraham for instance, might have been impressed by the extelligence of the environment, that "something outside himself" that knew more than he did. As they write, "It is a very small step from `There is Something out there' to `There is a Being out there (P. 264).'"

Steven was right again. This is a wonderful book. It definitely gets one thinking along new channels.

bad, bad, hilariously bad.......2002-08-24

the author must enjoy frequent lapses in his reality. the ideas are incoherent and striving towards mundane tautology. this is not a book for a curious mind. i couldn't believe someone actually wrote something so awful.

A crusade for complexity from complicity.......2001-10-29

Scientists advocating a thesis, whether their own or others, tend to adopt a crusader's approach. Cohen and Stewart here campaign for a new view of the evolution of human thinking. Their technique rests on the idea of recursive development of human cognitive capacity; building from simple foundations through increasing complexity. Their most innovative technique is a comparison of human outlook on nature, the cosmos and humanity with a fictitious alien culture based on eight. The Zarathustrians, who need eight members to be an "individual", can be equally rigid in their thinking, but the framework is wholly different from ours. The technique provides a compelling means of looking at our evolutionary record from a different viewpoint and allows the posing of questions we should all be asking ourselves about who we are. The technique adds entertainment to a highly original and readable book.

Arguing that humans are "in nature but not of it" the authors separate us from the rest of the animal kingdom. What makes us different is our mental complexity. We can control our thoughts, make choices, impact the surrounding environment instead of merely responding to it. How did we come to be that way? The record of evolution shows that life's origins were clearly very simple. Perhaps, as they relate, a beginning as simple as some molecules "hitching a ride" on crystals as a step in learning the process of replication. From such origins, life progressed through building complexity in gradual steps, with some branches able to increase in complexity leading to such as you and i. The mechanism works in "phase space" by combining simple forms in a process they call "complicity." Complicity is Nature using existing "scaffolding" to build successful features. In short, evolution.

The flip side of this captivating book is their crusade against "reductionism." This straw man is a frequent target for those unable or unwilling to see human beings as an integral part of the animal kingdom, hence, a product of the evolutionary process. You will not find the target of their attack until you peruse the bibliography, but it becomes clear that their aim is Richard Dawkins. His "selfish gene" concept and his proposal on cultural aspects, a major element in their argument, are assaulted or ignored. How did the human mind evolve its distinct characteristics if not through genetic processes? The authors make great show of cultural continuity as an expression of human mental capacity. Yet, they fail to identify the roots of that persistence. The root was postulated by Richard Dawkins as the "meme," the mind's equivalent of genetic transmission of characteristics. Given Dawkins' concept preceded Figments by over a decade, their omission of the term is an astonishing oversight.

The great irony here is Cohen and Stewart's reliance on Daniel C. Dennett as a source for much of their thinking. One can envision that jolly, St Nicholas-like countenance hardening as he read their deviant interpretation of Dennett's thinking. Figments was published shortly after Dennett's Darwin's Dangerous Idea, which effectively refutes much of Cohen and Stewart's thesis. Dennett uses "cranes," a more active instrument, instead of "scaffolding" to describe evolution's methods. Likewise, he nods favourably toward memes as the mechanism of cultural transmission, which Cohen and Stewart ignore completely. They rely on the mechanism Dennett considers a perversion of Darwinian thought, the "skyhook" to bring humans to an elevated role in the animal kingdom. Cohen and Stewart are to be commended for their innovative approach and unconstrained imaginations. Still, this highly readable and provocative book must be balanced with Dennett's more realistic analysis. Buy them both, you'll gain much insight into who you are.

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The Book I have been waiting for all my life!

The latest spiritual fad?

Disappointed

Awakening to Oneness

Simply Superb !!!!!

Awakening into Oneness: The Power of Blessing in the Evolution of Consciousness
Arjuna Ardagh
Manufacturer: Sounds True
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Deeksha: The Fire from Heaven

The Translucent Revolution: How People Just Like You are Waking Up and Changing the World

Choices and Illusions: How Did I Get Where I Am, and How Do I Get Where I Want to Be?

Om Deeksha!

Let Yourself Go: The Freedom & Power of Life Beyond Belief (Sound True Audio Learning Course)

ASIN: 1591795737

Book Description

A fascinating discovery in southern India has caught the attention of spiritual teachers from every tradition, leaders from around the world, and millions more. It is the phenomenon called the Oneness Blessing (also known as "deeksha" in the East), a powerful transfer of energy believed to elicit the realization of unitive consciousness. Awakening into Oneness: The Power of Blessing in the Evolution of Consciousness tells the remarkable story of this radical new gateway to personal and global transformation.

Arjuna Ardagh shares dozens of firsthand accounts of the Oneness Blessing's life-changing effects on individuals from all over the world, from the mystical children who first experienced it nearly two decades ago to its continuing exploration at the Oneness University under the guidance of esteemed teachers Sri Bhagavan and his wife, Sri Amma. "The Blessing is something few will be able to ignore in the years ahead," Ardagh writes. "It has proven to be the fastest- growing spiritual development in living memory." Join him in this exciting investigation of: * The most common effects of the Oneness Blessing, from reduced mental chatter and heightened awareness to effortless peace and the cessation of unwanted habits

* The five major criticisms aimed at the Oneness movement

* Why anything, when fully experienced, can be recognized as pure joy and bliss

* How the Oneness Blessing heals personal and professional relationships

* Enlightenment as a specific threshold of neurological functioning

What is it about the Oneness Blessing that has ignited the hearts of so many? You'll find the answer here, in Awakening into Oneness.

Customer Reviews:

The Book I have been waiting for all my life!.......2007-10-03

When I read this book, it was if it had been written for me personally. It has taken my life to a new dimension, and I am getting as much information about the movement as possilbe. In a few days time I am going to the Oneness University in Scotland, on a five day Deeksha (Oneness Blessing) Intensive course. I have very high expectations of the course, and if I get on well, I shall go to India as soon as possible to do the 21 day course, to enable me to give the Oneness Blessing myself. I feel quite differently about this movement, than anything I have taken part in before, and I have done a lot of reading and courses involved with spirituality. This movement it entirely centred on raising human consciousness, so that a 'tipping point' can be reached, to help all humanity and our world to start tipping in the 'right' direction in 2012. Thank you Arjuna Ardagh for writing such a clear explanation of this important movement and the work they are doing. If you are interested in helping the world at this critical time, I cannot recommend this book more highly.

The latest spiritual fad?.......2007-09-25

According to this book the OneConsciousness-blessing or Deeksha can save the planet and turn it into a paradise. Avoid a catastrophe in 2012 and bring us all up to a higher level of consciousness. Which of course sounds absolutely wonderful, just what is needed!

But when I look at the author a certain scepticism starts to creep in. For in the 70s and 80s the sama Arjuna was an enthusiastic and ardent follower (sannyasin) of Osho, and - after the alleged 'scandal' in Oregon - in the early 90s he was an enthusiastic and ardent follower of Papaji (H. W. L. Poonja) and his Satsang-movement, even travelling the Satsang-circuit himself.

As for the book itself a large portion is dedicated to some rather dubious 'scientific' argument for the effectiveness of Deeksha, much in the same way as in older books on Transcendental Meditation. There are also some interviews with the originators of the movement, the Indian couple with the somehow un-inventive names Sri Bhagavan and Sri Amma, where Sri Bhagavan states that it has been his aim since childhood to save the world.

The movement seems in perfect harmony with the generel tenedency amnong 'new agers' insofar at it works with corporations and politicians. And here I find the red lamp blinking even more alarming, when Ardagh mentions the widespread use of Deeksha in Mexico, even up to presidential level, because has it changed anything, eased up the social oppression, made better living conditions for the native indian population in the country?

Connected with Deeksha is also the Moola Mantra, known from Deva Premal's latest album, and also recorded by several other artists. And I have to say so far listening to it have not changed my life.

I'm in no position to judge the genuiness of this new 'fad', in fact it would be wonderful if it's claims were true, and I don't know if Sri Bhagavan and Sri Amma can save the world. But one thing I'm 99.99 % sure of is, that in a year or two Arjuna Ardagh has found himself a new fad!

Disappointed.......2007-09-19

Although I am a long-time student of spiritual/esoteric studies and usually appreciate new approaches to ageless wisdom, I was disappointed in this read. It was largely, if not entirely, an endorsement of another spiritual enlightenment technique being packaged and marketed for mass production under a new label. Being attracted to the concept of "oneness" and wanting to explore the author's take on it, I didn't quite expect to be taken down the path of least resistance to another "avatar" who had stumbled onto a truth (which others have also discovered) that could then be marketed. Although well written, this was not the intelligent exploration of the "oneness" concept that I had expected. So I can't recommend it unless one wants specifically to know about the Oneness movement that is being generated by another "avatar" from the east who is branding a simple concept and capitalizing on it.

Awakening to Oneness.......2007-09-14

A must read for everyone and then go get some blessings as they are available in the US now in some locations. Don't take my word for it just read it and see for yourself. All my friends want it now.

Simply Superb !!!!!.......2007-09-14

I feel thrilled to have the opportunity to review a book which has attempted to explain in simple terms the epic work of Oneness University.
I have myself been awed and speechless after being a participant at more than one retreat and I really think that the work done is much more than what one can just term as "commendable".
Reading the book has been a lovely experience in itself since I think that there really is a lot in there , a welcoming invitation to experience the Oneness Blessing oneself. An avid reader myself, my breath came to a standstill until I reached the end of the book.
I give the book five stars !!!!!

Stillness: Biodynamic Cranial Practice and the Evolution of Consciousness

Average customer rating:

Let's have a bit of fresh air please
Disappointed
Well described
a book of breathing

Stillness: Biodynamic Cranial Practice and the Evolution of Consciousness
Charles Ridley
Manufacturer: North Atlantic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1556435924
Release Date: 2006-12-19

Book Description

Charles Ridley is known for having refined a version of biodynamic craniosacral work that is nonmedical and nonmechanical. In Stillness, he clarifies the three fundamental types of this work — biomechanical, functional, and biodynamic. He explains the requirements and pitfalls of each model, and how to discern the differences and similarities between them. He guides the practitioner experientially to explore what he is describing, and offers exercises drawn from his own practice to help therapists access directly the whole felt-body sense that connects each individual with the Breath of Life.

Customer Reviews:

Let's have a bit of fresh air please.......2007-06-28

definitly an intelligent and non efferent point of view. It is the very first time that i can really read something different (F.Sills and friends are so numerous...).
Anyway, thanks for your intelligence Mr Ridley...thanks a lot because Osteopathy is not about techniques but principles, experiences and philosophy... Love from France

Disappointed.......2007-06-15

I am a Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist with a full-time practice. I have taken Craniosacral courses from the Upledger Institute, and have taken the Biodynamic Foundation training with Michael Shea, and have taken several advanced Biodynamic Craniosacral classes with Michael Shea and Franklyn Sills who are very well grounded in the Biodynamic work. I am disappointed in Charles Ridley's portrayal of the Biodynamic Craniosacral community by his apparent limited experience in his studies of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy. To apply his opinions from his experience with one Biodynamic teacher to the rest of the Biodynamic community seems irresponsible.

Well described.......2007-05-09

Charles was able to describe the states one experiences with Biodynamic CranioSacral Therapy better than anyone else I have read so far. Anyone who has practiced "regular" CranioSacral therapy for awhile will be able to relate to his descriptions and I believe understand the basis of Biodynamic CranioSacral work, even before they take their first course. This is a must for those who practice both CranioSacral therapy and meditation, as they will understand the connection between both.

a book of breathing.......2007-02-14

Like speaking of the tao, one breaks stillness to speak of stillness . Consciousness can only be realized, not known. Spirit and matter are so different in nature, yet have the same origin. Charles reflects on that fulcrum through which source is made manifest. This is a book that breathes the 'Breath of Life'. Thank you Charles for bringing this to our awareness.

Self and Society: Studies in the Evolution of Consciousness (Societas S.)

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Self and Society: Studies in the Evolution of Consciousness (Societas S.)
William I Thompson
Manufacturer: Imprint Academic
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0907845827

Book Description

The studies in this volume concern cultural history. They grew out of the author's work over the last two decades with colleagues in the Lindisfarne Association, and especially his eighteen-year collaboration with the chaos mathematician Ralph Abraham.

The Psychology of Art and the Evolution of the Conscious Brain (Bradford Books)

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The Psychology of Art and the Evolution of the Conscious Brain (Bradford Books)
Robert L. Solso
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0262693321

Book Description

How did the human brain evolve so that consciousness of art could develop? In The Psychology of Art and the Evolution of the Conscious Brain, Robert Solso describes how a consciousness that evolved for other purposes perceives and creates art.

Drawing on his earlier book Cognition and the Visual Arts and ten years of new findings in cognitive research (as well as new ideas in anthropology and art history), Solso shows that consciousness developed gradually, with distinct components that evolved over time. One of these components is an adaptive consciousness that includes the ability to imagine objects that are not present--an ability that allows us to create (and perceive) visual art.

Solso describes the neurological, perceptual, and cognitive sequence that occurs when we view art, and the often inexpressible effect that a work of art has on us. He shows that there are two aspects to viewing art: nativistic perception--the synchronicity of eye and brain that transforms electromagnetic energy into neuro-chemical codes--which is "hard-wired" into the sensory-cognitive system; and directed perception, which incorporates personal history and knowledge--the entire set of our expectations and past experiences. Both forms of perception are part of the appreciation of art, and both are products of the evolution of the conscious brain over hundreds of thousands of years.

Solso also investigates the related issues of neurological and artistic perception of the human face, the effects of visual illusions, and the use of perspective. The many works of art used as examples are drawn from a wide range of artistic traditions, from ancient Egypt to Africa and India and the European Renaissance.

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