Tag: neuroscience

  • Modern Science Connects to Mysticism

    Modern Science Connects to Mysticism

    Unveiling Ancient Truths Through Quantum Physics and Neuroscience

    Perusing today’s news, we see that modern science continues to probe the same landscapes mystics have explored throughout time. As breakthroughs in neuroscience and quantum physics unfold, we are witnessing the unveiling of truths that mystics have described for millennia—truths about the nature of consciousness, the fluidity of time, and the interconnectedness of all things. From the effects of psilocybin on the brain to the latest revelations about the structure of space-time, science is beginning to uncover what ancient wisdom traditions have long known: that the fabric of reality is far more mysterious and profound than we have ever imagined.

    Each of these discoveries reflects not only the insights of mysticism but also aligns deeply with the Diamond Approach®’s love of truth, its emphasis on curiosity, open-ended inquiry, and the enlightenment drive—the fundamental urge within human beings to know. It is in our very nature to seek, inquire, and understand the reality of who and what we are.

    psilocybin mysticism

    The Mystical Experience of Oneness

    Research into psilocybin reveals that this substance dissolves the ego, opening individuals to a direct experience of interconnectedness. Mystics across traditions have long spoken of ego dissolution as the path to unity with all that is. Whether it’s the Sufi concept of fana (annihilation in the Divine) or Buddhism’s anatta (no-self), these experiences are encounters with the essential truth that all separateness is an illusion.

    A recent article highlights that “psilocybin appears to reduce the activity of the brain’s default mode network (DMN), typically active when a person is engaged in self-referential thoughts.” This mirrors the experience of many mystics who describe a dissolving of the ego in their search for union with the Divine. From the Diamond Approach perspective, this is where the love of truth reveals itself.

    Psilocybin’s ability to take us beyond the ego can be seen as an invitation to perceive reality without the distortions of personal identity. The inquiry into “Who am I when the self dissolves?” is open-ended, and the answer is always deeper than anticipated. This hunger drives mystics and modern psychonauts alike to know the truth beneath the surface appearances of separation.

    mystical timelessness

    Mystical Experience of Timelessness

    Recent studies on the hippocampus and psilocybin’s effects on memory show that our perception of time is more flexible and fluid than we once thought. Mystics have always understood this, describing their experiences of timelessness, of dwelling in the eternal now.

    In the Christian mystic tradition, Meister Eckhart spoke of transcendent moments where time ceased to exist, which aligns with modern findings about the malleability of our memory and time perception. Researchers have found that “the hippocampus is responsible for time-stamping memories. ” When this system is disrupted, time seems to become fluid, a condition psilocybin also induces.

    This fluidity parallels mystical experiences where the linear nature of time collapses, giving way to an eternal present. For the Diamond Approach, such experiences speak to the essential curiosity of the soul. The more we explore, the more we begin to see that time itself is not what we think it is.

    Curiosity drives us to ask: What is time? What is memory? What happens when the soul touches an eternal dimension? Through open-ended inquiry, we learn that time is less of a line and more of a living, dynamic presence with which our mind and consciousness interact.

    Mystical, Fragile Reality

    Mystical, Fragile Reality

    John Wheeler’s proposal that reality is participatory and shaped by observation closely mirrors mystical understandings of reality as dynamic and ever-changing. Mystics from the Buddhist tradition describe the world as maya, an illusion shaped by the mind’s interaction with it. Wheeler’s suggestion of a tear in the fabric of reality touches upon the same open-ended inquiry that drives the Diamond Approach—this fascination with knowing the nature of reality.

    Wheeler argued, “We are no longer satisfied with a picture of reality that holds the stage independently of the observer.” This resonates with mystical perspectives that view reality as interactive, co-created through consciousness. For the Diamond Approach, reality is not static but always open to further discovery. We are not only participants in it but also seekers of what lies behind appearances.

    “What is real?” leads us into deeper truths, often beyond what the mind can conceive. This unending search aligns with the mystical sense that reality is fragile, dynamic, and co-created by consciousness itself.

    enlightenment drive

    Mystical Interconnectedness and the Enlightenment Drive

    The holographic universe theory, suggesting that each part of the universe reflects the whole, is a striking echo of mystical teachings. Hindu and Buddhist mystics have long spoken of this interconnectedness, often through metaphors like Indra’s Net, where each jewel reflects every other.

    In Kabbalah, the universe is also seen as a holographic emanation from the Divine, with every part containing the whole. “Mathematicians discovered long-forgotten principles that could help decode the universe’s holographic nature,” a recent article reveals. This discovery suggests that what mystics have known for centuries may be proven mathematically that every part of the universe contains the whole.

    The Diamond Approach frames this as the soul’s enlightenment drive, the innate desire to know the truth and to understand how everything is connected. This drive is part of what propels us toward unity with reality. Each experience we have, each part of ourselves we explore, reflects something more profound about the universe. The inquiry “How am I connected to everything else?” is not just philosophical—it is experiential, drawing us to realize that every fragment of existence holds its entire truth.

    Non-Local Reality nonlocality

    Non-Local Reality

    Quantum geometry’s revelation that there are structures beyond space and time aligns with the mystical traditions that have long described realms outside ordinary space and time. Tibetan Buddhism’s bardo and Sufism’s alam al-mithal are two such examples.

    This discovery affirms mystical experiences of higher realms, where space and time dissolve. For the Diamond Approach, this discovery speaks to the open-ended nature of inquiry. Mystics have often described non-local realms where consciousness travels beyond the constraints of the physical world.

    The question “What is beyond space and time?” has always driven human beings to search for deeper understanding. The curiosity to go beyond the limits of our physical senses, to touch something transcendent, is an essential part of the soul’s journey toward truth. This drive to explore the non-local, the non-physical, is a part of our nature that seeks to comprehend the full scope of reality.

    Portals to the Divine

    Portals to the Divine

    The discovery of a 1-in-10 billion quantum event that challenges the foundations of what we understand about reality mirrors the mystical experiences of anomalies—moments where the fabric of ordinary reality unravels, allowing glimpses into the divine. Mystics like Rumi have described these moments as portals into higher truths.

    The boundaries between known and unknown, seen and unseen, dissolve in these moments. The article describes this as “a rare and strange quantum event, which could challenge the foundations of modern physics.” This reflects mystical moments of transcendence, where the usual rules of reality no longer apply, and deeper truths are revealed.

    For the Diamond Approach, these quantum anomalies reflect the soul’s fascination with the unknown – the dance between not-knowing and revelation. The question, “What happens when reality doesn’t behave as expected?” can lead to profound revelations. These moments of anomaly—both in science and spiritual experience—show us that there is always more to discover and that reality is far stranger and more wondrous than we can imagine.

    universal mind

    Universal Mind

    Whether the universe is conscious mirrors one of mysticism’s most profound teachings: that the universe and consciousness are not separate. From Advaita Vedanta’s assertion that the universe is an expression of Brahman, to Sufism’s Wahdat al-Wujud (the unity of existence), the idea that consciousness underlies all reality has been a cornerstone of mystical traditions.

    A recent article ponders, “Is the universe itself conscious?” as physicists and neuroscientists explore the possibility that consciousness is a fundamental feature of the cosmos.

    For the Diamond Approach, the love of truth and the soul’s enlightenment drive propels us toward this understanding. Human beings want to know. It is in our nature to seek the truth, to inquire into the nature of the universe and our consciousness. The inquiry “Is the universe conscious?” isn’t just a scientific or philosophical question; it reflects a deep human yearning to know the nature of existence itself.

    Bridging Science and Mysticism

    Bridging Science and Mysticism

    As modern science continues to explore the mysteries of reality, consciousness, and time, it touches on the same truths that mystics have sought throughout the ages. This convergence of science and mysticism speaks to something fundamental about the human experience—our drive to know. Whether through scientific discovery or mystical inquiry, we are propelled by a deep love of truth, an innate curiosity, and a relentless desire to understand reality as it truly is.

    The Diamond Approach reminds us that this search is open-ended and that reality is always deeper than expected. As science uncovers more about the nature of the universe, it echoes the mystics’ wisdom: we are not separate from the universe; we are participants in its unfolding. Our journey toward understanding reality is intellectual and experiential, driven by the soul’s yearning for truth. As we discover, the answers we seek lie in the outer cosmos and within the depths of our consciousness.

  • Mind Tripping in the Mental Maze

    Mind Tripping in the Mental Maze

    Adventures in neuroscience mental coding – mindfulness

    In my last post, I gave a very brief introduction to our mind’s use of object relations as a way of storing and processing information. The mind is very useful, but as they say – the mind is a good servant, but a lousy master. The mind is perfect for what it does – record, recall, compare and extrapolate data, but there are a few flies in our mental ointment:

    1. Buddha's BrainThe brain body/mind starts receiving and recording impressions long before we take our first breath. For months after that first breath, our nervous system, physical body and psyche are still an undifferentiated system.
    2. We are born into this world as extremely sensitive and impressionable beings., which results in very powerful imprinting on the body/mind/soul. From about 5 years of age on, our sensitivity wanes and new impressions carry less and less of emotional/body charge which lessens the creation of deep, lasting impressions (except in the case of trauma).
    3. As an organism, we are hardwired for survival. The brain’s evolution is skewed to give instantaneous attention to negative perceptions to support our fight or flight response. This helps to establish veils of perception that are skewed more toward the “negative” than the positive and sets in motion inertia of constant mental activity – chatter, chatter, chatter.
    4. Our parents and holding environment bombard us with a constant stream of thoughts, sensations and emotions that had little connection to or alignment with our sublime spiritual nature – we are objectified long before we are born and are seen as just another thing, albeit a living entity thing.

    So, we wind up with a voice in our head that chatters all the time, which might not be so bad if we were constantly chanting the sacred. But, even this would suffer from our early conditioning because by the time we start seeking the real, we are an entity identity operating system with bloated, outdated, suboptimal, looping code that makes Windows look lean, mean and full of dazzling light.

    A few excerpts from Buddha’s Brain by Rick Hanson:

    • buddha mind brain neuroscienceThe bias of the brain tilts implicit memories in a negative direction, even when most of your experiences are actually positive.
    • The brain is designed to change through experiences, especially negative ones; we learn from our experiences, particularly those that happened during childhood, and it is natural for that learning to stick with us.
    • A toddler has about three times as many synapses as an adult; on the way to adulthood, adolescents can lose up to 10,000 synapses per second in the prefrontal cortex.
    • Emotional arousal facilitates learning by increasing neural excitation and consolidating synaptic change.
    • Given the negativity bias of the brain, it takes an active effort to internalize positive experiences and heal negative ones.
    • Because of all the ways your brain changes its structure, your experience matters beyond its momentary, subjective impact. It makes enduring changes in the physical tissues of your brain which affect your well-being, functioning, and relationships. Based on science, this is a fundamental reason for being kind to yourself, cultivating wholesome experiences, and taking them in.
    • Focus on your emotions and body sensations, since these are the essence of implicit memory. Let the experience fill your body and be as intense as possible.
    • …most of the shaping of your mind remains forever unconscious. This is called implicit memory, and it includes your expectations, models of relationships, emotional tendencies, and general outlook. Implicit memory establishes the interior landscape of your mind— what it feels like to be you— based on the slowly accumulating residues of lived experience.
    • Only we humans worry about the future, regret the past, and blame ourselves for the present. We get frustrated when we can’t have what we want, and disappointed when what we like ends. We suffer that we suffer. We get upset about being in pain, angry about dying, sad about waking up sad yet another day. This kind of suffering— which encompasses most of our unhappiness and dissatisfaction— is constructed by the brain. It is made up.
    The discoveries being made in neuroscience are bringing new insights into ancient spiritual practices and psychodynamics. This knowledge can be supportive and assist us in deepening our spiritual practice and movement toward realization and enlightenment. Understanding the mechanics of how the brain filters and assimilates perception  into our subjective reality of self and the world affords us with more opportunity for precise and powerful practice that is more being and less doing.

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  • The New Spiritual Path for the Age

    The New Spiritual Path for the Age

    Neuroscience Will be the Basis for the Next Spiritual Path

    neuroscience-spirituality religionMy interest in the interface between neuroscience and consciousness continues – as does my reading of The Ego Tunnel. My meditations are taking an interesting turn as well under the influence of this interest.

    My 27-year interest in the Diamond Approach is fueled, in part, by seeing it as a “teaching appropriate for our times.” The Diamond Approach incorporates modern psychological knowledge and understanding into a new spiritual teaching paradigm.

    As I observe the influence of my recent readings on my meditations, thought processes, matrix of attention and index of curiosity, I have little doubt that within my lifetime, I will see a new spiritual path emerge that draws heavily on the insights and knowledge afforded us by those pioneering the field of neuroscience.

    The beginnings of this can already be seen in books like Mindsight, where Dr. Dan Siegel is applying understandings of awareness, attention, and mindfulness to his psychological work with clients. Of course, spiritual teachers have understood much of this for millennia. However, spiritual knowledge and insight evolve as consciousness evolves.

    Over the entire course of time, spiritual paths have arisen to meet the present-day needs of people’s consciousness and capacity for understanding. Deeper understanding of neuron firing, neural resonance, and brain synchronicity will lead to specific techniques and technologies to influence an individual’s state of consciousness or even deliberately induce a transcendent state of consciousness.

    Neuroscience is taking a look from a unique lens at the fundamental spiritual question – Who am I?

    I don’t think any amount or degree of technology will remove or reduce some of the basic barriers and hurdles to enlightenment, namely the challenge of embodiment and integration of the nondual as well as the clarification of the personality & ego structure into a transparent vehicle for consciousness. As I learned early in life – spiritual experiences are a dime a dozen, but real change is as rare as a selfless politician.

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  • The Neuroscience of Enlightenment

    Is Neuroscience Unlocking the Doors to the Kingdom?

    neuroscience enlightenmentIs this a great time to be alive or what? Who is thinking this question? How is this sense of self generated? Are the thoughts of this self simply habits triggered by cues? How does the brain and all of those synaptic processes create an external and internal reality?

    Ah, questions! Are there really any answers? Have you read these four books?

    Each of these books use information and insight from neuroscience and what we are learning about the brain, cognition and perception to open our eyes to who/what/when we/reality really is – or they at least give us a very interesting lens to look at enlightenment & awareness through.

    Reading these books and the accumulated affect of them on my consciousness reminds me of “A Short History of Nearly Everything” by Bill Bryson.

    Here’s a quote from The Ego Tunnel:

    Presence is a necessary condition for the conscious experience. If the brain could solve the One-World Problem but not the Now Problem, a world could not appear to you. In a deep sense, appearance is simply presence, and the subjective sense of temporal immediacy is the definition of an internal space of time.

    Is it possible to transcend this subjective Now-ness, to escape the tunnel of presence?

    Is that great, or what?

    The debate over whether we are just a bunch of chemical & electrical reactions in the brain vs. are we something more subtle and eternal outside of space and time continues. For me, these books have just made things more exciting and mysterious – and that book on habit is actually a great owner’s manual on how to make those changes you always wished you could.

    The Evolution of Consciousness & Enlightenment

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  • Stroke of Genius

    This is a video that is worth every minute of your time and more. It is a must see for those who have an interest in the Eckhart Tolle – Oprah online presentations and all others interested in spiritual development. What is not addressed in this video is how one’s being can synthesize these two selfs into a real integrated, functioning person.

    Brain researcher Jill Bolte Taylor studied her own stroke as it happened.

     

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    Here’s the link if the video does not load

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