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July 31, 2005 Professor Vilayanur Ramachandran Ph.D, M.D. speculates that persons who are having mystical experiences are experiencing temporal lobe seizures. Dr. Michael Persinger has invented and used a helmet that generates weak magnetic fields and projects these fields through the temporal lobes. This helmet produced sensations that an onimous numinous presence was there. When the machine was on, 80% sensed something. So what more can we say? Winds blow and windmills turn unless their gears are too rusty or are otherwise prevented from turning. A bit of oil can help make the windmill work. Perhaps temporal lobe seizures and Dr. Persinger's helmet just loosen up one's gears so that the affected person presents more turning or flapping movements than before, as in the whirling dervish of a sufi dancer, the spinning of Buddhist prayer wheels, the flapping of prayer flags, and the flapping of gums as in talking. Speaking of talking, allow me to say that scientists remain far outside the subject like henkeepers remain outside the small wire cage containing the laying hen. When scientists themselves experience the mystical sense and integrate that sense with the rest of their cognitive apparatus, then we'll witness more empathy in them. But today's traditional scientists still keep the experimental subject distant in the same way that traditional portrait painters keep a distance away from the subject who poses. This separation of object from subject (and objective truth separate from subjective truth) suits representational art-the kind of art Leonardo da Vinci perfected and cameras perfected even better. Now science uses digital equipment to perfect representational art and express the ancient and traditional master-subject-student-slave (MSSS) paradigm. Scientists set up a controlled experiment that forces the subject-slave to respond at their beck and call. The scientists is the master-controller over nature and uses the MSSS paradigm to "discover truth." The basic truth, however, is this dominant attitude of the scientist who labors to banish the subjective-empathetic sense that truly feels for the subject. This lack of empathy is reflected in medical doctors who take a hundred experimental subjects suffering from a deadly disease and give half of them a placebo and the other half the alleged cure. A doctor suffused with empathy would give every suffering person the cure! Killing lab rats, monkeys, cats and other helpless slave-subjects further demonstrates the MSSS paradigm as learned by dehumanized science students and taught by dehumanized teacher-researchers. The traditional artist who stands off at a distance looks at the subject and sees every detail and paints it in as "realism." The artist-empath looks at a subject and draws or paints the connection. Anti-empathetic Renaissance art and science are still popular disciplines today. Empathy is still neglected and even denied in art schools and in science schools. Empathy isn't encouraged even in grade school children. In fact grade school children are taught to compete in class activities, on tests, and in athletic sports. The "good" children win many points and earn high grades. The slow or "bad" child is taunted, ridiculed, scolded and sometimes even physically attacked. Since empathy is so discouraged, few if any well-educated persons feel empathy as much as is possible for humans to feel empathy. The faculty for empathy isn't scientific or artistic like Leonardo was or a camera is. Empathy is sometimes felt by lovers, but lovers quarrels interfere with empathy. Empathy builds trust and trust builds empathy. The empathetic henkeeper needs no coop to keep his hens close by. The empathetic adult shows us the union of yoga. The good shepherd feels for his sheep and even risks his life to keep even a lost sheep out of harm's way. ------------ About the author: John L. Waters is an amateur psychologist and independent researcher on self-healing, integration, and problem-solving. John has created art, music and songs, prose and poetry, and helped people solve a difficult problem. For more information, read: John's letters of recommendation: http://members.tripod.com/johnlwaters/recommendations about John's self-healing and integration: http://members.tripod.com/johnlwaters/index.html about John's independent research: http://www.humboldt.edu/~jlw47/index.html about John's seeking an agent or a publisher: http://www.writers.net/writers/39295 Email: blueguntwo@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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