nurturing nature

Five years ago I mapped nine possible ways of considering the nature/ nurture debate. 

At the time I reckoned that the fundamental natural state was for peace and cooperation. 

These days I reckon that there is one set of rules for the in-group and another for the out-groups. And that these evolved by group selection 

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busy-ness

Busy-ness is the state of having a long and ever growing list of things to do.

The list is so long that “you have no time to stand and stare”.

 But this is perhaps a good thing as “the devil finds work for idle hands to do”.

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what makes Jack a mere toy

We all need to take time off work, to take time to rest, to travel, and perhaps to write a book, or to contemplate the infinite.

Within the mainstream western liberal traditions there is the idea that “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” and that “all play and no work makes Jack a mere toy.”

William Davies the vagabond poet wondered, “What is this life if, full of care, there is no time to stand and stare.

BUT - Within the mainstream religious traditions there is the opposing thought that “the devil finds work for idle hands to do”. If you do not have useful work to do, you will be tempted to do frivolous or harmful things to be rid of your boredom.

“Knowing that the devil finds work for idle hands to do, Elizabeth always made sure that her children had plenty of chores to keep them occupied.” http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com

But then one of the ten, Christian commandments recognizes the need to take breaks. Exodus chapter 20 verses 8-11 are as follows:

• Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy 
• Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
• But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates:
• For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

   
The basic idea of a period of rest (Sabbath) turns up in many cultures and there are many variations on it. For example a sacred Sabbath is recognized in a range of cultural traditions including Judaeo-Christian, Babylonian, Buddhist, Native American (Cherokee), Islam, and Wicca. And, it can last for three minutes, a day, week, month, year, or life time.

The need for a secular Sabbath is recognized in Chinese and Soviet systems and also in parts of the USA. For example, in 1961 the Supreme Court of the United States held that contemporary Maryland Sunday rest laws were intended to promote the secular values of "health, safety, recreation, and general well-being" through a common day of rest. That this day coincided with the majority Christian Sabbath neither reduces its effectiveness for secular purposes nor prevents adherents of other religions from observing their own holy days. (Ref Wikipedia). Also most nation states recognise annual rest days (holidays = holy days)

A modern concept of sabbatical, is of a break in the career of an individual. Such a period is often taken to fulfill a goal such as writing a book or travelling for research. Some employers offer paid or unpaid ‘sabbatical leave’ as an employee benefit.

For many years I have been in the habit of taking regular short or long term leave of my ordinary monkey mind. The short version involves taking a deep breath when anxiety looms so as to come back to the present moment. The medium term version involves just sitting and dropping off body and mind in Zen mindfulness style. The longer version is to take a year or more out to investigate key topics. At first this involved Master degrees at university but latterly it has been a case of teacher teach yourself.

When wandering around the Sunday supermarkets and DIY superstores the concept of the sacred and spiritual Sabbath often comes to mind. Obese, capitalist consumers with groaning trolleys. What hope is there of renunciation catching on?

What chance of dull Jack becoming more than a mere toy?

Compilations reminder

There is the Scottish saying that mony a mickle maks a muckle. So it is with one-pagers and compilations. 

One-pagers can make sense on their own but they can also be compiled in different ways to make larger senses. 

For links to some examples click here and here

Going Against the Stream

Stephen Bachelor

"The Buddha described the dharma as 'going against the stream.' 

As long as one swims with the current of a river, one remains unaware of it. But if one chooses to turn against it, suddenly it is revealed as a powerful, discomforting force. 

The 'stream' refers to the accumulated habits of conditioning. 

The practice of dharma means to turn around midstream, to observe mindfully and intelligently the forces of conditioning instead of impulsively reacting to their promptings."

- Stephen Batchelor, "Dharma in the War Zone"

being sceptical

Michael Shermer

 Why People Believe Invisible Agents Control the World

ownership matters

Tranquility, equanimity, and peace of mind. Are these possible for exploitative landowners and industrialists? Or is the illusion of the divine right of kings and popes rejigged to fit the realities of the modern age?

Hierarchy. Meritocracy. Superiors with subordinates and slaves. And the power is often ‘elegant’ in that the oppressed conspire in their oppression. There is no alternative; no Plan B. The poor (both deserving and undeserving) will be with us always.

Last week I visited the Strathnaver Community Museum http://www.strathnavermuseum.org.uk/. It bears witness to the cruel replacement of politically sheepish people by actual sheep in the 18th century.

Lesley Riddoch

This week I am reading Lesley Riddoch’s 2013 book “Blossom – what Scotland needs to flourish.” She sees a need for local communities to overcome their feeling that nothing can be done. Her feisty battle cry is in essence one of ‘genuine and meaningful power to the people’.

“For all the talk about being Jock Tamson’s bairns, Scotland is a surprisingly elitist society where a relatively small number of people own land, run businesses, possess wealth, stand for election and run government. The result is a deep-seated belief that ordinary Scots cannot own and run things, don’t want to own and run things and indeed that it hardly matter who does … It matters” (p12)

couch slouch

A couch slouch with lack lustre limbs

be aware

Expanding horizons

This morning low slung sunlight peeped in the south windows of my cottage. I noticed and noticed the noticing. There was a subtle and short-lived waft of joy. This was rooted in gratitude for having been programmed in such a way that I notice and celebrate those things.

And then there was a thump in the lobby as the mail arrived. It was Lesley Riddoch’s 2013 book “Blossom – what Scotland needs to flourish”. So far I have read only the introduction but it is predictably feisty. She notes the contemporary profusion of parochial xenophobia and the need to surmount it. She also sees the need for the various categories of Scottish people to expand their horizons.

I worked as a curriculum development advisor to the Ministry of Education in Belize in 1988-92. The Social Studies working group was inspired by the thought of helping students to develop expanding horizons. The more progressive teachers felt that this would help students to recognise and counter the imperialism of American media productions which were becoming widespread. The alien TV culture had begun to devour local traditions. I have not been back and cannot therefore say whether that tide was stopped.

I have been concerned with expanding horizons leading to better ways to be human since the 1960s and in the past few years I have blogged about the concept many times. The following set of annotated links covers the main ideas which include the Ken Wilber vision of ‘No Boundaries’

>>>>>

Better ways to be human: “By comparison all things shine. I had little to complain about from a childhood in small, coastal towns in the NE of Scotland in the 1950-60s. From upper working class roots I made it to University where I studied Biology. By the late 1960s I had committed to zero population growth and to finding better ways to be human. I then gravitated towards 'education' and lived and worked for many years in various parts of the tropics. Forty years later I am back in the NE of Scotland as a freelance consultant/ landlord/ recluse and I am still trying to figure better ways to be human.

http://dodclark.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/better-ways-to-be-human.html 

>>>>>

Insane mystics?: “Are the mystics and sages insane? Because they all tell variations on the same story, don't they? The story of awakening one morning and discovering you are one with the All, in a timeless and eternal and infinite fashion. Yes, maybe they are crazy, these divine fools. Maybe they are mumbling idiots in the face of the Abyss. Maybe they need a nice, understanding therapist. Yes, I'm sure that would help. But then, I wonder.” [Ken Wilber]

http://dodclark.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/are-mystics-and-sages-insane-because.html

>>>>>

Unexamined: “For a meditator the goal is to focus attention on the breathing and to have it stay there. If mental proliferation kicks in then this is noticed and attention is gently returned to the breath. Again and again. The path is made by walking. Be still and know. Then you are in a better position to examine your life and make it worth living?”

http://dodclark.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/unexamined.html

>>>>>

Spectrum of consciousness: Ken Wilber (1979, 2001) No Boundary, eastern and western approaches to personal growth. (2 diagrams)

http://dodclark.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/ken-wilbers-spectrum-of-consciousness.html

>>>>>

renunciation is in our plastic genes: “In western capitalist countries the individuated and selfish Me is the reified centre of attention. But this is unlikely to lead to evolutionary success because humans are social animals who need family and friends to survive.”

http://naesaebad.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/renunciation-is-in-our-plastic-genes.html

>>>>>

I wish us well as a new nation.

Let the sunshine in!

stone age brain

Ref: Rick Hanson

If mindfulness is the answer then what is the question?

Questions

How can we reduce greed, exploitation and zealoutry?

• How can we reduce the rate of consumption in the rich countries (greed)?
• How can we reduce the exploitation of workers and the physical environment?
• How can we reduce religious and cultural zealoutry?

Answers

By changing our minds through mindfulness (It is never too late!)

By making time to sit quietly

• On a regular basis
• When feeling agitated
• Before making decisions (responding mindfully rather than reacting mindlessly)
• While on your own or in company with others

By letting go of narrow world views and parochial points of view (renunciation).

By mindfully embracing mind expanding thought patterns associated with

• Big History - forward from the big bang – the big picture
• consilience between neurology and evolutionary psychology
• altered states of consciousness, neural plasticity and no boundaries

Mindfulness and the mindbrain

The word ‘mindfulness’ is less exotic and more user friendly than the word ‘meditation’.

But, to understand mindfulness, we need to be clear about (a) what we mean by ‘mind’ and how it is linked to the ‘brain’ and (b) how the two mirror each other in the ‘mindbrain’.

Your mind is a dynamic process that reasons, thinks, feels, wills, perceives, and judges. It also stores memories. From a psychological point of view the mind is the totality of conscious and unconscious mental processes and activities.

Your brain is the organ of thought and feeling and it also regulates bodily activities. It is the control centre of the nervous system. It consists of a soft, convoluted mass of gray and white matter and serves to control and coordinate your mental and physical actions. Different parts of the brain (modules) have different jobs to do.

SO – your brain is an organ, a physical thing, a structure with many subcomponents and modules. Your mind is a process, an abstract thing, a set of functions - again with many subcomponents. But you cannot have one without the other. Every mind function has a corresponding brain structure. And every brain structure has a corresponding mind function. Note – ‘you’ are unconscious of the vast majority of what goes on in your head.

In recent years a variety of brain scanning techniques have been developed. These show that particular parts of the brain light up when you are engaged in particular mental activities. This throws new light on the ancient ‘mind over matter’ problem!

Scanning shows that the brains of expert meditators light up differently from the brains of non meditators. This demonstrates that by taking thought it is possible to change the structure (physical, electrical, and chemical) of your brain. There is neural plasticity that allows for reconfiguring connections and forming new habits. There is the idea that ‘what fires together wires together’. It is never too late to change your mind.

It is not yet common to think or talk about the links between the brain and it’s minds or the mind and its brain based roots. But there are the beginnings of a need for the unifying concept of mindbrain – if only as an aid to mindfulness. (See the various works of Rick Hanson on the neuroscience of the Buddha’s brain).

The essence of mindfulness is to be still (physically and mentally) such that you can be a calm witness to the thoughts and feelings that attract and pass through attention. In time, with practice, this leads to an appreciation of the mess created by the monkey mind intuitively reacting to stimuli from the outside world. But the monkey can be tamed and the illusory nature of the ‘self’ becomes apparent. And then  – ‘No self, no problem’.

Were it not such an ugly word we could have the concept of mindbrainfulness.

Stand on two feet

I wear a pedometer and keep a record of the number of steps I take each day. In the last month the daily number of steps has ranged from 308 to 7397 with an average of 1715.

Expert opinion reckons that, for good health, I should take 10,000 steps per day! There is a shortfall. I should walk more.

Today I feel inclined to acknowledge bipedalism.

I am human and I stand and walk on my back pair of limbs (legs and feet). This leaves the front pair of limbs (arms and hands) free to carry things. What kind of things? Tools. It would have begun with hunters and gatherers.

When hunting you need tools for

• killing and butchering (you need sharpness)
• carrying the meat back to base camp (poles and string)
• carving and cooking (knives and fire)

When gathering you need tools for

• pulling down high branches
• digging for roots (sharp sticks)
• containing and carrying the harvest (baskets with handles)

These days we hunt for bargains in supermarket aisles. Then we gather them in baskets or in trolleys for easy movement through the check out and the car park and into the boot of our car

OR – more recently, we can do an online shopping and the man in the van delivers the goods straight into our kitchen.

In olden times there was no option but to use our legs and feet - and fitness followed. In modern times there is the option of being a hugely unhealthy couch slouch with lack lustre limbs. I should walk more.

A Better Place

 

Recent chats inspired me to pull together some thoughts on how I might help to make the world a better place. The short answer is to ‘promote mindfulness’. A slightly longer answer is presented in what follows with lots of footnotes to help with digging deeper. 

[Note I cannot get the footnotes to jump in this blog. A doc version of the article is available HERE]

Facilitation of the process might revolve around my acronym of STEEPLES – Social, Technological, Environmental, Economic, Political, Legal, Ethical and Spiritual. I have a website[1] that expands on a way of thinking which could be seen as systematic, holistic, interdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder[2]. The new word for that way of working is consilience[3]. My main focus these days is with the ethical and spiritual dimensions as these generate the values that ultimately govern people’s decisions and behaviour

During these last few years I have been trying to better understand my ‘spiritual’ journey[4]. The word ‘spiritual’ has so many meanings that I do not like to use it. I prefer to focus on the means of changing what people value and what they consider to be their purpose for being on the planet. I have a blog dedicated to the idea of Changing Minds[5].  Note that Howard Gardner’s otherwise excellent book on ‘Changing Minds[6]’ does not address the notion of mindfulness.

This issue could easily become an academic and intellectual debate. People hold on to their familiar certainties and habits. There is need of a paradigm shift[7]. What we need is a system that allows people’s egos to “go to pieces without falling apart”[8] ie to accept the self and its associated world view as an ongoing process rather than as an abiding reality.

And there is such a system – they call it “mindfulness”. As a means of cleansing the doors of perception[9] it has been around in the east for almost 3000 years. S.N. Goenka[10] who died recently at the age of 90 did much to introduce the practice to people from all walks of life.

Mindfulness is now being culturally transformed in the west as variations on the theme of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR[11]). The technique was developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn[12] in the 1970s and it is now used in schools, prisons, the army and as a potent component of therapeutic systems in mainstream medicine.

As a technique it is very simple. Kabat-Zinn reckons that “Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and non judgmentally.” Dogen Zenji, a 13^th century monk, reckoned that all that is needed is to ‘just sit’ and ‘drop off body and mind’.

But there are at least two other emergent lines of thought. Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs pointed to the notion of Self-Actualization and Self-Transcendence[13]. This led to the notion of a positive psychology that focuses on the supernormal rather than the subnormal. This led to the ideas of flow (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi), flourishing (Martin Seligman) and the art and craft of happiness[14].

Another potent line of thought links the work of neuroscientists[15] with that of evolutionary psychologists[16]. The human mindbrain is modular. Different modules evolved at different times in the long history of life on planet earth. And in humans the hard wiring of the nervous system is relatively less than in other animals. We react and respond as a result of our genetic nature being influencd by our cultural nurture[17]. But still there is ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ thinking[18].

By taking time to notice how and why we think, feel and talk we inevitably develop compassion for ourselves and for others within our ingroup and even for those in the outgroup[19]. There is the challenge of working towards a bigger us. Ken Wilber[20] has set the demanding 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.

SO – by gathering together old and new ideas about mindfulness, and by making them freely available in a user friendly package, I can help to make the word a better place.

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[1] https://sites.google.com/site/steeplessrds/

[2] Minu Hammati (2002) Multi-Stakeholder Processes - Beyond Deadlock and Conflict - http://www.wageningenportals.nl/sites/default/files/resource/multi_stakeholder_processes_for_governance_and_sustainability_hemmati_2002.pdf

[3] Edward O Wilson (1998) Consilience – The Unity Of Knowledge

[4] http://dodclark.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-spiritual-journey.html

[5] http://naesaebad.blogspot.com/

[6] Howard Gardner (2004) Changing Minds – the art and science of changing our own and other people’s minds

[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradigm_shift

[8] Mark Epstein (1998) Going to pieces without falling apart – a Buddhist perspective on wholeness

[9] Aldous Huxley(1954) The Doors of Perception

[10] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jay-michaelson/sn-goenka-dead_b_4016374.html

[11] http://www.bangor.ac.uk/mindfulness/about.php.en?menu=21&catid=8458&subid=0

[12] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Kabat-Zinn

[13] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs

[14] Jonathan Haidt (2006) The happiness hypothesis – putting ancient wisdom and philosophy to the test of modern science. AND Richard Layard (2011) Happiness - lessons from a new science

[15] Richard Davidson is the most notable neurologist observing the brains of meditators

[16] Eg  John Tooby and Leda Cosmides

[17] Nature/nurture debate options -

[18] Daniel Kahneman (2011) Thinking fast and slow

[19] Rick Hanson (2009) Buddha’s Brain – the practical neuroscience of happiness, love and wisdom

[20] http://naesaebad.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/towards-bigger-us.html