roller coaster ride

The roller coaster ride to peace of mind – centering attention
An illustrated article from 2000 that is still relevant. Click HERE

"Joy, sorrow and emotional flatness are created by your attitude towards things. ‘Things’ appear in your mind either as inputs from your sense organs (eyes and ear etc) or as ‘imaginations’ from memory or in dreams. First the thing, then the reaction to the thing: and you choose how to react. But you have developed a lifetime of bad mental habits; can these be broken?"

Serendipity dip

As of today there are 168 posts in this ‘Changing Minds’ blog which began on the 24^th January 2013 and which has had 3840 page views in total which means about 480 per month or about 16 per day.

The previous “Existential Soft Rock” blog began on 17 nov 2002 and ran until 6 may 2013. It holds 507 posts. It has had 30,057 page views which means about 238 per month or 8 page views per day.

That gives a total of 675 posts over the last ten years. But, being blogs, there is no index. 

The easiest way to overcome this problem is to use the built in blogger search engine. For example a search for ‘mindbrain’ returns 7 posts between July and September 2013. A search for ‘cosmic’ returns 21 posts since 2008.

To help make the posts more reader friendly I have prepared several compilations. They are available by free download from http://www.scribd.com/george_clark_25/ Topics include:  

  

• With agency in mind - on the road to easy peace (May 2011 - 34 pages
• Witnessing the attention centre - switching on the light (June 2011 - 37 pages)
• Muse flows in the zone - below the tip of the iceberg (June 2011 - 47 pages)
• Towards uncommon sense -a spiritual journey (March 2013 – 15 pages)

Note that annotated outlines of the first three compilations have their own pages. They can be reached using the tabs at the top of this ‘Changing Minds’ blog.

BUT there is nothing wrong with opening the chronological list down the right side of the blog and choosing a post at random. Feel free to dip in and let serendipity decide.

A Brave Face of Mindfulness

These days, when I take the lead in conversations, the topic often moves to meditation; and especially to mindfulness; and especially to its neurological correlates and to their roots in evolutionary psychology.

The vocabulary can be daunting but the underlying concepts are straightforward and easy for most people to accept.

Each of the following bullet points is easy to grasp but together they lead to a potentially empowering  conclusion .

• Your mind and your brain are two ways of thinking about the same thing – your mindbrain.
• Your mindbrain is modular – different parts of it have different jobs to do.
• The mindbrain modules evolved to ensure the survival of our ancestors (going back at least to  fish)
• The basic structure of your mindbrain is genetically hardwired (your nature) but the details are added by your environment (your nurture). Eg you are hardwired to learn a language but the actual language you learn depends on where you grow up.
• The mindbrain’s first job is to receive the information sent from your various sense organs  (ie eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin and various other internal sense organs that tell of body posture, muscle tone and progress with the various life processes (eg feeding, breathing, urinating etc).)
• The mindbrain’s second job is to match incoming information with similar information held in memory (hardwired or learned) and therefore decide how best to react or respond.
• Note that you can react very quickly without thinking (by using your intuition or instincts); or you can respond more slowly and after much thought (by using your intelligence).
• When the mindbrain reacts or responds to a wide range of stimuli we say that it is conscious. An analogy. Imagine consciousness to be an iceberg. We are consciously aware of only the tiny tip that sticks above the surface. Most of what happens in the mindbrain is not known to the self conscious part -  it is thought of as the unconscious.
• Another analogy. Imagine a table in the middle of your head. It is your attention centre. The unconscious throws thoughts and feelings on the table. They capture your full attention but they do not last long before being replaced by the next package from the unconscious.
• If you stop to think it seems as if the mind has a mind of its own and that you are not in control.
• Another analogy. Imagine yourself to be a non-judgmental witness who watches the thoughts and feelings entering and leaving the attention centre. This creates two versions of ‘I’ – a supposed unconscious I who generates the thoughts and feelings and, a supposed conscious I who is the witness that calmly notices.
• To cut a long story short we can say that liberation or enlightenment follows the growth and development of the witness.
• The ephemeral nature of all thoughts and feelings is realised and this includes the notion of the calm witness. The effortless renunciation of world views follows automatically.
• We are conditioned by nature, nurture and chance to be this way rather than that. But nothing is set in stone. By taking thought we can be re-conditoned. It is never too late to change your mindbrain
• It is possible for you to change your self but it helps to have a teacher and a community of like-minded souls.

I have chatted with several people recently. Good people. Energetic and systematic. Shakers and movers. They make things happen. They have long to-do-lists.

But most of them are so busy that they have no time to stand and stare – and neither are they inclined to have any – they get bored very easily. They have no appetite for just sitting, for simple being rather than for phrenetic doing. They do not have the patience for stillness.

My first impression of such people is normally of amazement and admiration. Where do they find the energy, how do they stay motivated? What is the basis of the self discipline needed to keep all their projects in line? They are truly the Good and Great and my Elders and Betters (although they are not often my elders these days!)

My second impression of such people is often of compassion and concern. This follows periods of deep chat and sharing from the heart. They often admit to having serious problems with relationships amongst family (parents, partners, progeny), friends (male and female, long standing and new) and in the workplace (power politics and issues of competence and trust).

In many cases the busy-ness enables non-egoic distraction from the gruesome ‘stuff’ in which they are immersed. They become workaholics and are adept at putting on a brave face.

I know because I have been there and done it several times in several countries. I worked busy, medium-term contracts then took time out to reflect on what had been going on – both professionally and personally. In my forty working years eight were on retreat.

During all that time my mindfulness practice ebbed and flowed. I am presently three years into retirement from paid work and the mindfulness practice remains hit or miss; but it is now far enough advanced that the hindrance that is doubt rarely commandeers the attention centre. Mindfulness is thus the sermon that bears preaching and the gift I recommend to ameliorate the ‘stuff’ behind the brave faces.

"It takes a lot of practice to unlearn umpteen millennia of human conditioning. This is where [Zen meditation] is helpful. You sit there very quietly, and very still and allow yourself to be exactly as you are. Then, each time you get up and reenter the world you do so a little bit quieter and with a little bit more stability."
~ Brad Warner

Existential tourists

I have a ‘thing’ about tourism. It came to a head in Zanzibar. I was there helping to make a plain language version of their Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.

One weekend I went with my colleagues to visit the luxury hotels on the east coast. They were havens for obese, sun burned, loud mouthed, mainly American, holiday makers who were seeking value for money.

Most of the hotels were surrounded by high walls and fences which ensured the separation of the humble stalls of the local tourist industry entrepreneurs.

Many highly talented artists and craftspeople made a living selling souvenir toot to fat folk who enthusiastically bargain down the prices.

Much the same might be said of the North East Open Studios (NEOS) project in Scotland except that the creative types tend to hide away in rural places with low visitor footfall. What price art? Particularly when you try to make a living from it!

Call me a mean spirited scrooge but I have no time for toot and souvenirs. I have lived and worked in many cultures for several years at a time and many lessons have been learned. Chief amongst these are (a) that there are no easy answers or ready made solutions, and (b) that the inner journey is of infinitely more value than any number of outer ones.

Be still and know that there is a future in existential tourism?

Sloth and the devil’s work

Henepola Gunaratana

Sometimes there is need to relax. To go off duty. To chill out. To stand and stare. To be. To discard or at least to lay aside the to-do-list. There is then the possibility of falling asleep (most modern people are sleep-deprived). But you might be kept awake by zealous workaholic thought habits reminding you that the Devil finds work for idle hands to do.

Sloth and torpor have been recognized as one of the five hindrances (klesas) to mindfulness meditation. The other four are restlessness and anxiety, craving, aversion, and doubt. The different klesas get to me at different times.

Recently I have been got at by sloth and torpor. In Buddhist terms this refers to intellectual habits rather than to physical sleepiness. It is particularly difficult to work with because you have to be awake and aware of the fact of being got at by sloth and torpor (or sleep).

home made plum jam

This topic entered the attention centre and stayed long enough to become a topic. I note that much recent time has been spent on trivial things - eg making jam - rather than putting in the hours on the cushion - or the 20 minutes on the green chair.

Much time has also been spent writing stories for the blog. This is mostly a no-self non-action. The unconscious does it. Concentration is steady. It is an example of “no-self, no-problem”. But when it is over there is a return to the default state of mild restlessness and anxiety. There are then urges towards ‘doing’; to distraction – eg coffee and biscuits – despite knowing that I could also reach the peaceful state of no-self by just-sitting. Aha – aversion to pleasure! I don’t deserve it. More restlessness and anxiety. An urge to pick up the to-do-list – back to the devil’s work.

Open the book at random and find a quote:

“ It (Buddhism) is an ever-ongoing investigation of reality, a microscopic examination of the very process of perception. Its intention is to pick apart the screen of lies and delusions through which we normally view the world, and thus to reveal the face of ultimate reality … meditation is an ancient and elegant technique for doing just that.” (p 2)

Reference:

Henepola Gunaratana (1991) Mindfulness in Plain English

trusting the unconscious

We are not conscious of much. And most of that is self-consciousness (I) which is linked to other-consciousness (not I). This is because man is a social animal who seeks to survive in an often dangerous physical environment. Socially there is consciousness of I, Us and Them. Environmentally there is consciousness of plants and other animals, the landscape and the weather. (See Chart 1)

click for a larger view

But (see Chart 2) most of our mindbrain activity is unconscious and deals with the physiology which we inherited from our vertebrate and invertebrate ancestors. There are the three levels of the brain (hind, middle and fore) dealing with the life processes of nutrition, respiration, excretion etc. There is an enormous amount going on that we are not aware of.

But, on top of that, the unconscious also generates huge amounts of psychological activity small parts of which are mirrored in self consciousness - mainly after the fact.

The structure, function and purpose of self-consciousness remain a mystery. Subjectively we all feel as if ‘I am’. But am I? As a new born baby I was not capable of much but nature, nurture and serendipity ensured that ‘I’ grew up as part of a‘We’ that was  able to deal with the practical side of staying alive (stone axes) and reproducing (chat up lines).

AND, most people, and some much more than others, get concerned about the big picture. They see cause and effect patterns in what happens and they impute agency. There is curiosity which gives rise to myths and magic in the early days and to science and not-science (various flavours) in more recent times.

click for larger view

There are poets and novelists who are driven by their ‘muse’. When they are writing it is as if they were taking dictation. Their ‘I’ is not in charge. It is as if they were getting something for nothing. But nothing comes from nothing (other than the big bang!). But there is an easy explanation – it is the unconscious what done it!

Self consciousness has evolved so it is reasonable to assume that it is good for something. It may be good for more than just the ordinary thinking that we assume operates in other sentient beings. It seems reasonable to suppose that it is intimately linked to the expansion of the pre-frontal cortex which is linked to the development of language and thus to the ability to communicate about abstract and hypothetical things. It is also likely to be closely implicated in the exponential growth of ‘cultures’ in the last 4000 years.

Both self consciousness and the unconscious were around during my enculturation. Nature, nurture and serendipity taught them as classmates with a common curriculum. SO – it is unreasonable to assume that they are opposing forces. In fact I begin to suspect that there is no such thing as my ‘self’. Note that during the 20th century Freud reckoned that there was only the self which came in three forms (Id Ego Libido). And there was also Skinner the behaviourist who had no time for the unconscious – there were only reflexes.

My late teenage enculturation was as a rational, materialist, empiricist scientist (biological variety). My concerns and doubts about this were captured in a song that I wrote in the early 70s:

“He rationalised his thoughts
About everything he sought
And so he annihilated pleasure.”
(Clark, 197?)

I have no regrets about the way things worked out. But now I am more than 60 years down the never ending highway.

“I move along the never ending highway
Sometimes walking, sometimes rushing,
sometimes running from the crowd
And I see my body walking
and I see my poor mind hoping
And I see the road that never has an end.
(Clark, 1973)

This post was generated by the unconscious muse. ‘I’ did not choose the topic and nor did ‘I’ plan the scope, sequence and pace in advance. The story appeared while I waited for the parcel post to arrive. The postman has now been and gone and I note that the ending is being written.

Thought turns to an old theme of doing v being. I used to practice all do and no be – no time to stand and stare. But I am learning to trust the being. Without rational prodding the unconscious delivers stories on a regular basis – sometimes with charts. Cool.

notification by email

There is a new box at the top of the right column of this blog.

If you submit your email then you will get a once a day email if there is new content on the blog.

If there is no new content you will not get an email.

Towards a bigger us

Ken Wilber has set the challenging vision of ‘No boundary’. We all have boundaries but, by taking thought, we can reset them in a way that allows us to have a wider and deeper sense of belonging.

Click on the picture for a larger view

For many people ‘I’ is what is inside my skin; I am my body. But inside the body is the mindbrain with its self-conscious (persona) and its unconscious (shadow) bits. When these are in balance there can be a robust ego.

When the ego comes to feel at home in the body there is the feeling of being an organism which is intimately part of a cultural and physical environment. The boundary is set well beyond the skin and this leads to an appreciation that the immediate environment is part of our planetary environment which is part of the solar system and thus the cosmos. Then there is nowhere to draw a boundary line – there is unity consciousness – we are stardust.

The default boundary, at least in modern cultures, is limited to ego – to the individuated I, me and mine. This can quite easily expand to include the ‘we’ and ‘us’ of our in-group. But it tends to be harder to embrace the out-group – ‘them’. And it is even harder to identify with the Oneness which is unity consciousness – with the state of ‘no boundary’. But change is possible.

I --- US --- THEM --- IT

A widespread feeling is that man is a social animal and that most people are hard wired to draw a boundary around ‘us’. This might have been functional in the old days of hunting and gathering but it is arguably ill fitted to survival on the modern, globalised planet.

When the boundary is drawn close in there is a tendency towards narrow mindedness (parochialism) and towards a fear of incomers and foreigners (xenophobia).

When parochiality is rife people are concerned only with narrow local concerns; they pay little attention to the more general or wider issues. They are narrow in outlook or scope. They can be biased, dogmatic, fanatical, hidebound, illiberal, insular, intolerant, jaundiced, limited, literal, narrow, narrow-minded, one-sided, opinionated, and provincial. The media overflows with stories of people whose actions are guided by such narrow views.

When xenophobia is rife there is an intense fear or dislike of foreign things and of the customs and culture of foreign people. Chauvinism and bigotry are commonplace.

Chauvinism involves an excessive or prejudiced loyalty to a particular gender, group, or cause. It is marked by unreasoning, overenthusiastic, or aggressive patriotism.

Bigotry is the state of mind of someone who, as a result of their prejudices, treats other people with fear, distrust, hatred, contempt, or intolerance. And this may be on the basis of a person's ethnicity, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic status, or other characteristics. Bigotry, prejudice and zealous fanaticism are rooted in a stubborn and complete intolerance of any creed, belief, or opinion that differs from one's own.

But parochialism and xenophobia are not ‘real’. They are conditioned habits of mind. As such they can be re-conditioned. If an individual or group can muster the will then there will be a way. And the way will involve mindfulness meditation.

Mindfulness does not make the small-minded thoughts and feelings disappear but it prevents them from totally taking over consciousness. And it creates some free mental space where you can water the seeds of contentment, kindness and peace and, therefore, expand your limits and grow towards a bigger and unbounded us.

References:

Ken Wilber’s spectrum of consciousness – with diagrams:
http://dodclark.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/ken-wilbers-spectrum-of-consciousness.html

Rick Hanson’s Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom:
http://www.wisebrain.org/

monbiot rewilding

Herding whose cows?

While cruising online this morning I noticed that Lesley Riddoch has a blog. She is a prominent Scottish media person that I have run into once or twice over the years. We have several mutual friends. Her family comes from around here. She writes well and I reckon her to be a force for the good of the new Scotland and humanity.

But, on reading her blog, I noted being disappointed that it was about the technicalities of issues she is championing. It was not about her ‘self’. I appreciate that this is my problem and not hers. But it raises questions about the nature and purpose of my own blog.

My posts are of two main types. Sometimes I herd the cows of other people and sometimes I herd my own cows.

I herd other people’s cows by providing one-page summaries of their main ideas. I do this for people and topics that hold my attention. When in Lesotho I produced over 600 one-pagers related to the management of education. There have been many others since. My main areas of interest at the moment include mindfulness, neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, and the way that their concept maps can be overlaid.

There is a back story to these areas of interest. It is rooted in my nature, nurture and various serendipitous events. It includes a range of aims and objectives:

• Make the world a better place
• Find purpose and meaning
• Find better ways to be human
• Develop the ‘spiritual’ aspect of STEEPLES
• Develop ‘spiritual intuition’ (mysticism) as well as reasoned deduction (science)
• Be objective  and ‘slow’ about my ‘fast’ subjectivity
• Rise above the parochiality of encultured worldviews (see the big picture eg Big History)
• Engage in multi-stakeholder and multi-disciplinary processes with consilience  
• Let it begin with me.

I herd my own cows by noting and problematising the deep existential conundrums surrounding the notions of ‘I’, ‘us’ and ‘them’. This includes the notion of transcending the parochiality of encultured worldviews. Not only the early, natal, sub-cultural ones (upper working class, NE Scotland, mid 20th century) but also the later education and work related ones (scientist, teacher, international education advisor, plain language editor, and sometimes recluse).

Since the 1970s I have had two rallying calls – “the only constant thing is change” and “the only certainty is doubt”. But these were objective notions of the head rather than subjective notions of the heart. In practice there was resistance to change complete with no-go areas and taboos.

For example, for many years, I believed in the power of formal education to change the world; and to think otherwise was taboo. But the contrary evidence built up causing uncertainty and cognitive dissonance. There was stress, manifesting as anxiety and sometimes panic. But it drove me to change my mind about formal education – it set me free from old habits of thought and behaviour.

My working life was in five countries. It was a case of love them and leave them. I was to some extent seduced by the norms of other cultures and this reinforced my attempts to disentangle from the net that was my natal culture.

But, how true are these words, “Give me the child till he is five and I will give you the man.” Today we know that there is neuroplasticity and that it is never too late to change your mind. But there is the problem of figuring the new direction.

For more than ten years I have had a more or less regular daily practice of mindfulness linked to weekly meetings with my Sangha. Through just sitting there has been subjective experience of that to which objective understanding points. The non-egoic peace that is outside time and space. But it is inscrutable, ineffable, and unspeakable. Language did not evolve to deal with this pattern of cognition which sidesteps the category system of conscious/ unconscious.

It is possible to take the position of a witness to what appears in your attention centre. This creates a large mental space that cannot be completely commandeered by thoughts and feelings welling up from the unconscious. The witness is the cool dude who is free from belief and who can easily forsake viewpoints. The eastern traditions are hot on this point:

"Since all virtuous thoughts and actions motivated by clinging to a concrete reality or to a self-cherishing attitude are like poisonous food, give them up. Learn not to cling, but to know the phantom-like nature of experience." (Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye)

SO – the nature and purpose of this blog is the herding of cognitive cows. Some are from cutting edge thinkers some are my own. Most of my own involve rejigging my reality with its taboos to the novel patterns of others.

The title of the blog is “changing minds” and it notes that “This blog might end up containing thoughts about the thinking and feeling processes and especially about the dis-ease that comes with thinking outside of the box.” Quite so!

References:

Lesley Riddoch
http://www.lesleyriddoch.co.uk/

Lesotho one-pagers
http://www.toonloon.bizland.com/nutshell/

STEEPLES
https://sites.google.com/site/steeplessrds/

Big History
https://course.bighistoryproject.com/bhplive

Let it begin with me
http://www.srds.co.uk/begin/

Think for a change

This morning I feel unsettled. Attention is unfocused and the unconscious is bombarding it with inconsequential chit chat.

But ‘I’ notice myself realizing that ‘I’ prefer giving attention to tough questions that deal with existential issues such as the origins of the drive for purpose and meaning.

And there are other tough questions. Would such meta-thoughts be adaptive? Would they have ensured survival within and between groups during our long evolution as hunters and gatherers in the African savannah? And, if so, how?

Aha – my attention has found focus! The mindbrain has settled back into its non-egoic intellectual mode. Time will be set aside to capture and edit the tough stuff that oozes out of the unconscious.

I appreciate, for example, that there is an enormous amount of data entering through my sense organs. The individual bits have to be filtered as positive, neutral or negative. Then reactions or responses to the positive and negative items have to be planned, implemented, monitored and evaluated (PIME). This will be an ongoing and multilayered process that involves matching new inputs against past experiences which are stored in memory either as hard wired patterns or as learned ones.

In the brain this activity is apparent as electrical signals zipping along axons and causing the release of chemical neurotransmitters in increased or decreased amounts. The mindbrain is made of modules that exchange these electrical and chemical signals. (Note: my Zoology degree dissertation was on “The influence of the ganglion on spontaneous behaviour in Ciona Intestinalis.” This involved electrodes and brains!)

The ancient and well established modules in the human hindbrain and midbrain handle the basic physiological stuff while the newer modules in the forebrain deal with the more social and philosophical stuff. The electrical and chemical activity can be scanned and mapped by neuroscientists. The structure and function of the various modules is now becoming clearer - and most of it never enters consciousness.

There is now widespread agreement in scientific circles that the mind and the brain are two sides of the same thing. The mind/matter ‘problem’ has therefore evaporated - in theory at least. There is still a lot of work to be done figuring the details! So, for the moment, I will go back to dealing with the mind side of the mindbrain.

What is the purpose and meaning of life? Different cultures, subcultures and individuals have different answers. A more interesting question, from my point of view, is why the question is asked in the first place?

You’ll find plenty question masters
making quagmires of their brain
The man said “There is no answer.”
They said, “You are insane.” (Clark)

Individual people are conceived, live for a while and then die. The same can be said for social groups, ecosystems and planets.

All living things are aware of, and react to, changes in their environments. But most living things are not aware of being aware. They are trapped in an eternal present where they respond more or less automatically to changes in their external environments. Earthworms don’t philosophise.

But philosophers philosophize. And all philosophers are human. But not all humans are philosophers.

So groups of hunter gatherers would have included a few members who served as philosophers whose evolutionary function was to generate intellectual innovations. Most of these new ideas would have been unaccepted during peaceful times when rocking the boat was discouraged. But some would be adaptive during times of rapid change. There would be natural selection and survival of the fittest.  Note that the fittest is the one that is the most copied in the next generation. Think Memetics.

I have been using the word philosopher as a short cut. The idea is that in any effective human group some members, perhaps most or all members, will be extra-ordinary. There will be division of labour and some individuals will be temperamentally more suited to some of the tasks than others. Getting the mix right would be key to the effectiveness of the group.

So how many types of people are there? Gardner reckons that there are nine intelligences or frames of mind. Belbin reckons that there are nine team types. The Kiersey Temperament Sorter recognises sixteen personality types. More generally there are usually priests, politicians and policemen; academics, journalists and scientists; artists, poets, and novelists; fishermen, farmers and factory workers; to name but a few.

The point is that different people will have different ideas about ultimate purpose and meaning. Most will accept the traditional myths and rarely think about the tough questions while others will obsess about them. This is good. Variety is the key to long term survival of groups and their members.

But there is need for balance in the breadth, depth and speed of change. It appears that most people dislike change; the individual and group mindbrain has a tendency to settle in well established neural pathways. (Parochial and xenophobic ruts?). But the only constant thing is change. So it is good that there is also neural plasticity so that change remains possible. It is never too late to change your mind.

SO – the tough questions are asked to encourage extra-ordinary people to think for a change.

References:

George Clark
http://www.toonloon.bizland.com/highway/track-06.htm

Howard Gardner
http://www.srds.co.uk/begin/frames.htm

Meredith Belbin
http://www.srds.co.uk/cedtraining/handouts/hand40.htm

The Kiersey Temperament Sorter
http://www.keirsey.com/

Who Says?

Whatever the topic or situation, different stakeholders will have different claims, concerns and issues; and these will change on a regular basis.  “The truth” is often contentious and debatable. It is a social construction built of increasingly democratic methods involving a growing range of stakeholders. So “Who says?” what it is?

In 1966 Berger and Luckmann wrote about “The Social Construction of Reality – a treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge”. The book blurb notes that “the authors are concerned to present an analysis of knowledge in everyday life in the context of a theory of society as a dialectical process between objective and subjective reality. Their development of a theory of institutions, legitimations and socialisations has implications beyond the discipline of sociology, and their ‘humanistic’ approach has considerable relevance for other social scientists, historians, philosophers and anthropologists.” Who says? A multidisciplinary team of experts.

In 1989 Guba and Lincoln were dealing with the evaluation of education and reckoned that the time was ripe for what they called fourth generation evaluation. The first three generations had been measurement, description and judgement and the processes were narrowly focused, technical and managed by ‘experts’. Who says? – the number-crunching education experts.

Fourth Generation evaluation is driven by the claims, concerns, and issues of stakeholding audiences, and it uses the constructionist paradigm. This involves identifying and engaging with the full array of stakeholders who are at risk in the projected evaluation and taking systematic account of the many, and often contending, social constructions. Who says? – the stakeholders.

In 1998 E O Wilson wrote about “Consilience – the unity of knowledge”. His concern is with the systematic integration of higher level thought. Consilience refers to the principle that evidence from independent, unrelated sources can "converge" to strong conclusions. This means that when multiple sources of evidence are in agreement, the conclusion can be very strong even when none of the individual sources of evidence are very strong on their own. Most established scientific knowledge is supported by a convergence of evidence: if not, the evidence is comparatively weak, and there will not likely be a strong scientific consensus. Who says? - A multidisciplinary team of experts.

In 2002 Minu Hemmati wrote a book whose title says it all – “Multi-Stakeholder Processes for governance and sustainability – beyond deadlock and conflict.” The underlying thinking is that IF the intended beneficiaries from a decision are included through meaningful participation in the decision making process in all its stages THEN there will be a high rate of implementation of the decision. Who says? – the stakeholders.

In 2013 David Christian began web-publishing his Big History Course material. It is thoroughly multi-disciplinary and consilient. Amongst other things it asks and answers the question, “How do we decide what to believe?” When you hear someone make a claim, you’re likely to have one of three responses: there are some claims you trust, others you ignore, and a third group that you may decide to investigate. If you decide to investigate there are four ‘claim testers’ that you can use – intuition, logic, authority, and evidence. Who says? – Me and my team?

The above examples point to the gradual democratization of knowledge. It got dangerously fragmented with narrow focused ‘experts’ shut up in their specialised academic silos and shut off from each other and from the common people. There are now two brands of consilience involving teams of multi-disciplinary experts with or without representatives of the common people. Who says? - Multidisciplinary teams +/- we the people.

My intuition and logic nudge me towards liking the concept of omniscient consilience. And I draw support from cutting edge authorities in various fields of study – especially from neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, and mindfulness meditation but also from positive psychology, flourishing, happiness and flow. Who says? – various experts as interpreted by me.

I am short of evidence in support of the new understandings other than through my subjective experiences. They are to some extent idiosyncratic given my exotic life style but they present a case study of a type of uncommon sense that comes with travel and exposure to other cultures. Who says? – Me.

My new stories involve idiosyncratic analysis and synthesis; noting and resolving cognitive dissonances, and rearranging metacognitive categories. This involves norm cracking, paradigm shifting and the creation of metaphors and analogies that lead to new ways of understanding.

I write about the thoughts and feelings that pass through my attention centre and post the little stories to a blog. Why might someone read the stories? Hopefully for a mix of entertainment and education. Some of the stories are summaries of what the cutting edge people are saying; some of the stories are based on ideas that are new to me.

My stories are not peer reviewed. Their worth depends on their being believable, compelling, convincing, credible, and plausible. This calls for developing a writing style which gives the impression of my being reliable and trustworthy.

The stories are freely available on a blog. There is thus the possibility of attracting a few followers who give links to others and that it goes viral. Presently the blog has about 20 visits a day and most of those are from analog friends in various parts of the world. There is the possibility of their giving testimonials.

But my ambitions for the blog are modest. If it is cream it will rise as a result of being mentioned in the social networks. I am retired from the rat race. Most of the work is done by the unconscious. I relax and let it flow.  The joy comes from writing. If the outcome is that the world becomes a better place – if only in the heads of a few like minded souls - then it is cool. Who says? – my unconscious

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Berger P and Luckmann T (1966) “The Social Construction of Reality – a treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Construction_of_Reality

Guba EG and Lincoln YS (1989) Fourth Generation Evaluation
http://www.toonloon.bizland.com/nutshell/4th.htm

Wilson EO (1998) “Consilience – the unity of knowledge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consilience_%28book%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consilience 

Minu Hemmati (2002) “Multi-Stakeholder Processes for governance and sustainability – beyond deadlock and conflict
http://www.earthsummit2002.org/msp/book.html

David Christian (2003) BigHistory
https://course.bighistoryproject.com/bhplive

Stardust and the Cynical Sceptic

Over the weekend I was chatting with friends from childhood who, like me, had been teachers and then education administrators before retirement. When we were employed, our to-do-lists had many work-related items that were urgent and important - we had little time to stand and stare. After retirement there was freedom to do as we pleased and we had chosen different things as being urgent and important; we had developed different viewpoints and patterns of busy-ness. My preferred option was for large doses of the contemplative, “stand and stare”.

While we were chatting I noticed a personal tendency to simplify and polarise thought patterns into me/them; right/wrong; black/white. But, having noticed the tendency, there was a marked reduction in its power to commandeer the attention centre. I was thus more able to appreciate other points of view and to agree to disagree. We all were.

We could all state reasons for doing as we did. Upon reflection I personally noticed a mild whiff of cynicism directed at the various viewpoints, including my own; but, this was balanced on the positive side, by the virulent perfume of scepticism.

During the chat we wondered about the agencies that had conditioned our patterns of thinking, feeling and doing and that had therefore made us what we have and will become.  We all agreed that nature, nurture and serendipity shaped both the unconscious and conscious modules of our mindbrains.

“Give me the child till he is five and I will give you the man.” Early childhood experiences can have a strong and lasting effect – especially those rooted in family, friends, the community and the media. Recent neurological research, however, notes that neuroplasticity is much greater than was once thought. This means that changes in the mindbrain, even radical ones, are always possible, “It is never too late to change your mindbrain.”

“From cradle to grave.”  “From womb to tomb.” Being educators we were aware of various models of the human development stages. Nature, nurture and serendipity play their parts in driving things in this direction rather than that. “The only constant thing is change.

The ‘nature’ factors go back to our human, primate, mammalian, and reptilian ancestors and even to biochemical interactions in the primeval soup and more basic chemical reactions involved in the evolution of the solar system, galaxy and universe with its stars and planets.

And it resulted in the weekend meeting of a small group of childhood friends at least one of whom, with a measure of cynical scepticism, noticed that we are stardust.

Cynicism is a state of mind characterized by a general distrust of other people’s apparent motives or ambitions. It includes a lack of faith in what the human race or individuals cling to. This includes desires, hopes, opinions, or personal tastes that are felt to be unrealistic or inappropriate and therefore deserving of ridicule or rebuke.

Scepticism is a method of obtaining knowledge through systematic doubt and continual testing. It requires all information to be well supported by evidence. Scientific scepticism is the practice of questioning whether claims are supported by empirical research and have reproducibility. It is part of a methodological norm pursuing "the extension of certified knowledge".

Fight or relax

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) controls bodily functions such as heart rate, digestion, respiratory rate, salivation, perspiration, pupil dilation, urination, and sexual arousal. Most ANS functions are unconscious but a few allow a degree of conscious control. Everyday examples include breathing, swallowing, and sexual arousal.

The ANS is made up of two counter-balancing systems – the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems. As a reaction to external or internal stimuli they release chemicals into the system. The sympathetic nervous system prepares the body for ‘fight or flight’ and it has the effect of standing on the gas pedal of a car. The parasympathetic nervous system serves to calm the body so that it can ‘rest and digest’ and this has the effect of standing on the brakes of a car.

“The best-odds prescription for a long good life is a baseline of mainly parasympathetic nervous system arousal with mild sympathetic nervous system activation for vitality, combined with occasional sympathetic nervous system spikes for major opportunities or threats.”

The task is to have a system that is balanced relative to the external environment.  What was appropriate in ancient times may not be appropriate today. Too much parasympathetic in the days of hunting and gathering and you would be lion lunch. The continual exposure to stressors in modern civilisation means that there is a constant high level of sympathetic and thus dis-ease and burn out.

Note: if you are feeling stressed and anxious take three long, slow, deep breathes. The conscious alternation of in-breath and out-breath triggers the unconscious ANS and brings the mindbrain and body back to balance.


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Ref: Rick Hanson (2009) Buddha’s Brain – the practical neuroscience of happiness, love and wisdom.

Time and tide

Bus shelter at Queen's Gate

This morning I noted that I am no longer setting aside time to be mindful. I have reverted to older and more intellectual patterns of being and doing.

The following mis-quote came to mind:

“By their actions shall you know them.” (based on Matthew 7:16).

This prompted a rewrite:

“If you would know what a person values then observe on what they spend their time.”

BUT - this does not apply to wage slaves or to other forms of slave labour.

Most ‘civilised’ people have their daily routines planned for them by higher authorities. The process begins with feeding by the clock and leads on to formal schooling which exposes children to twelve years of the 40 minute bell.

There is a bus stop outside my bedroom window. In term time the school kids gather there to catch the school bus at 8:32. Fifty years ago I used to regularly catch that same bus. Are school kids happy to “spend their time” in that way. Do they have options?

After school, ‘civilised’ people get a job where their productivity is monitored and they have their cards stamped by a time clock. A regular 9 to 5. The busy-ness business. “No time to stand and stare.”

When I was an actual school teacher I was domineered by the bell and there was very little time for slacking. When I was an office wally (education advisor) I had to turn up and leave at the appointed times but otherwise I was free to structure my own days which involved multiple meetings. When I was a freelance editor the work came in droughts and floods where the time to stand and stare existed but was a movable feast.

Now that I am retired I could set aside more time to be mindful. Will ‘I’? What would be the roots of the intention?

Some more quotes:

"Some people see things that are and ask, Why? Some people dream of things that never were and ask, Why not? Some people have to go to work and don't have time for all that." (George Carlin)

"I value the friend who for me finds time on his calendar, but I cherish the friend who for me does not consult his calendar." (Robert Brault)

"Time has been transformed, and we have changed; it has advanced and set us in motion; it has unveiled its face, inspiring us with bewilderment and exhilaration." (Khalil Gibran) (?)

Mothering anger

Anger is a state of mind. But it does not stand alone. Some-one has to be angry about some-thing. I or they can be angry about iniquities or inequities that are minor and interpersonal or major and cultural.

The word ‘anger’ sits on a continuum of feelings that include:


::: irritation, indignation, resentment, displeasure, anger, vexation, rage, fury :::

Anger has moral and ethical links. It is provoked when cultural shoulds and oughts are violated and when there is corruption and cruelty, injustice and wrong doing, and many other iniquities and inequities.

People are maddened and incensed, exasperated and belligerent and generally overcome with wrath and ire; and this has bodily implications in terms of choler, bile and spleen. Not a pleasant experience, not a pretty sight!

Neuroscientists have noted which modules in the brain light up when someone is angry. There are links to the adrenalin based ‘fight or flight’ response system.

From the perspective of evolutionary psychology we can suppose that the anger package has survived and prospered by helping to stabilise the moral cement that held hunting and gathering groups together.

Man is a social animal and is genetically programmed to fit into a cultural system - but the details will be acquired through learning. Anger will be provoked when the habits and rules are challenged or broken and it will pull the offending individuals back into line.

When I was a child I was prone to temper tantrums. I was often overcome by what in the dialect we called ‘stoonies’.  These days I put this down to having received mixed messages about the shoulds and oughts in the local culture in the 1950s. I had my first existential crisis and bout of cognitive dissonance really early!

Since I was thirteen I have been away from the village for various periods ranging from a few weeks to several years. I have lived and worked in seven countries with different sets of shoulds and oughts. It might therefore be supposed that I am now cool, cosmopolitan, and relaxed about operating in cultures other than my own. I like to think that of myself most of the time.

The ‘cool dude’ image works well for the petty details – I am happy to eat with cutlery, chopsticks or my fingers. But it does not work so well for what I take to be the ancient, evolved, cultural universals. For example the six moral foundations as set out by Haidt:

1) Care/harm

2) Fairness/cheating

3) Liberty/oppression

4) Loyalty/betrayal

5) Authority/subversion

6) Sanctity/degradation



The Dalai Lama recognises two types of anger. The key difference is in what motivates action. Anger which is rooted in the self and a hatred of others is negative and destructive. Anger which is rooted in compassion related to the unfortunate condition of others can be positive and useful. Indeed anger which motivates action against social injustice will remain until the goal is achieved. There can be such a thing as a justifiably angry Marxist!

Thich Nhat Hahn reckons that the most basic condition for happiness is freedom from the mental formations of anger, despair, jealousy and delusion – these are poisons which prevent happiness from forming. They are also called knots because they tie us up and restrict our freedom.

Mindfulness is the cure but it does not fight anger or despair. Mindfulness recognizes that something is there in the present moment. Then you embrace it and get relief. The mother (mindfulness) is there to take care of the baby (anger) and the situation is under control.

And who is this mother? The mother is the living Buddha. The capacity of being mindful, the capacity of being understanding, loving and caring is the Buddha in us. Every time we generate mindfulness, it makes the Buddha in us a reality

Every time you give your internal formations a bath of mindfulness, the blocks of pain in you become lighter and less dangerous. So give your anger, your despair, your sorrow a bath of mindfulness every day—that is your practice.

SO – there are ‘things’ that might be called ‘energetic anger packages’ which at their best might be adaptive in ensuring that individuals and cultures toe the line. Sometimes the packages get coopted to the service of individual, selfish egos and this is normally destructive. In either case mindfulness mothering can convert emotional and intuitive reactions into thoughtful and reasoned responses.

General rule, “Please engage brain before opening mouth”.


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References:

http://dictionary.com

Jonathan Haidt on Moral Foundations
http://naesaebad.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/haidt-on-morality.html

The Dalai Lama on anger:
http://www.tricycle.com/blog/justifiably-angry-marxist-interview-dalai-lama

Thich Nhat Hahn on anger
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1756 

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My accredited knowledge

While at University between 1967 and 1971 I studied Psychology and Chemistry for one year each,  Botany for two years and Zoology for four years. I was aged 18 to 22. In academic year 1971/72 I trained as a science/biology teacher. I was impressionable and impressed.

I had amassed a huge fund of accredited knowledge and was well motivated to pass it on to the youth such that they might make the world a better place by championing the ‘green’ agenda. In the end I taught science/biology for eleven years in four countries.

Along the way I acquired a couple of Master degrees – in Agricultural Extension (and rural development) and in Education (with a focus on curriculum development and teacher training). I also taught myself the equivalent of an MBA by reading the course work of a friend who was studying it through the UK’s Open University. My accredited knowledge shifted to educational leadership, management and administration (LMA).

Then, fifteen years ago, I came to see what Bourdieu and Passeron meant when they reckoned that formal education systems can reproduce but not transform society. So I gave up on educational LMA and became a plain language expert helping to improve the communicative effectiveness of civil society organisations. My accredited knowledge base for this drew from many long hours of curriculum development, lesson planning, and materials production.

Plain language kept me busy for several years but it became apparent that clear, rational communication was not enough. If there is to be change for the better then there has to be a massive change of heart and values.

It became apparent that mindfulness meditation can lead to a change of heart and values in both its ancient eastern forms and in its modern western ways. But objective knowing about it is not the same as experiencing it. This presented me with a learning challenge to which I responded by addressing the dharma (text, audio and video); attending several weekend retreats based on a range of traditions; sitting regularly with my local sangha that follows the teachings of Thich Nhat Hahn; and learning to be at-one with the peace that comes when you drop off body and mind and just sit.

And then something wondrous happened. I noticed that a consilience is forming about the mindbrain.

Evolutionary biology and psychology are outlining the ancestral roots of the many modules of the mindbrain. And neuroscientists with their new technologies are mapping them. AND, when the minds of experienced meditators are mapped, the correspondence with 3000 year old meditative understandings is breathtaking.

There are neural pathways and there is neuroplasticity. By thinking different you can change your mindbrain. You can then change the mindbrain of your culture.

I have no officially accredited knowledge regarding modern mindfulness and the ancestral mindbrain. But the new ideas motivate me to revisit and update my early specialities of science and biology. I can now view them through the expansive lens of Big History.

Humanity is not at the centre of the universe. To escape simple-minded parochiality we must look to the diversity and sumptuousness of life beyond humanity; and in particular to the evolutionary structure and function of what passes for a mindbrain in other living things.

In the 18th century two kingdoms of living things were recognised – plants and animals. In the early 21st century there is no overall consensus. Different experts reckon that there are 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8 Kingdoms. These include fungi, protista, bacteria, and viruses.

Green plants include the flowering plants, conifers and other gymnosperms, ferns, clubmosses, hornworts, liverworts and mosses, as well as, depending on definition, the green algae.

There is no overall consensus about how to classify the animals. I still use the system that was favoured when I was a Zoology student. There were those without a backbone – the invertebrates - and those with a backbone – the vertebrates

The invertebrates included Protozoa (single celled organisms); Porifera (sponges); Cnidaria (jellyfish); Platyhelminthes (flat worms); Nemathelminthes (thread worms); Annelida (round worms); Arthropoda (insects, spiders, crustaceans; Mollusca (slugs, snails, octopus, squids); and Echinodermata (starfish, sea urchins, sea cucumbers).

The vertebrates included Agnatha (jawless fishes); Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fishes); Osteichthyes (bony fishes); Amphibia (amphibians); Reptilia (reptiles); Aves (birds); and Mammalia (mammals)

There is a vast cornucopia of living things that have been, and are, occupying the surface of planet earth. And all of them have variations on the mindbrain theme.

Most mindbrains, including the human ones, are busy maintaining a myriad of hard wired sensation/reaction groups related to the basic life processes which include nutrition, respiration, excretion, transport and circulation, support and locomotion, irritability, reproduction, and growth and development.

We can now see human beings in perspective. We have a lot in common with other vertebrates. But we have specialised on the life process called ‘irritability’. 

The sensation/response system has been dramatically reworked such that we not only think and feel but we can have thoughts and feelings about such things. We are not only conscious, we are self conscious - and ‘civilised’ and with ‘culture’: and we are understandably proud of this achievement.

BUT – the fancy thinking and feeling are very new in evolutionary terms and they occupy only a tiny percentage of the mindbrain. The potential for being intelligent, wise and compassionate exists but not yet in enough human brains. Many of our feelings and values are still from the stone age. But mindfulness offers a pathway into enlightened metacognition and towards justice and peace in the new information age.

Aha – I am well beyond the limits of my official, accredited knowledge and expertise. I have entered the realm of subjective, idiosyncratic, armchair rant. Let credit go where it’s due?