Science of the SpiritS


Fire

Earth and Fire: Anasazi style pottery done in the backcountry

Anasazi pottery
"Earth and Fire" is a documentary poem about artist and primitive potter Kelly Magleby. Kelly went into the backcountry of Southern Utah with a knife and a buckskin for 10 days to try to learn about Anasazi pottery by doing it the way the Anasazi did it. Funded by Primitive Found (.org), music by Jason Shaw @ audionautix.com, check out Kelly's art at anasazipottery.net

Comment: Read more about the Anasazi people: Ruins Hint at the Benefits of Volcanic Catastrophe


Gem

Your environment is the hidden hand that shapes your behavior

motivation, environment, wise decisions
It can be tempting to blame failure on a lack of willpower or a scarcity of talent, and to attribute success to hard work, effort, and grit.

To be sure, those things matter. What is interesting, however, is that if you examine how human behavior has been shaped over time, you discover that motivation (and even talent) is often overvalued. In many cases, the environment matters more.

Let me share an example that surprised me when I first learned of it.

The Shape of Human Behavior

In his award-winning book, Guns, Germs, and Steel, scientist Jared Diamond points out an obvious fact: different continents have different shapes. At first glance, this seems rather unimportant, but it turns out to have a profound impact on human behavior.

For example, the general shape of the Americas is north-south. That is, the land mass of North and South America tends to be tall and thin in shape rather than wide and fat. The same is true for Africa. The primary axis runs from north to south.

Meanwhile, the land mass that makes up Europe, Asia, and the Middle East is the opposite. This massive stretch of land tends to be more east-west in shape. Interestingly, the shape of each region has played a significant role in driving human behavior throughout the centuries.

2 + 2 = 4

How shame can mask as depression

shame/depression
How can it be that a seemingly depressed person, one who shows clinical symptoms, doesn't respond to antidepressants or psychotherapy? Perhaps because the root of his anguish is something else.

Several years ago a patient named Brian was referred to me. He had suffered for years from an intractable depression for which he had been hospitalized. He had been through cognitive behavioral therapy, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, supportive therapy and dialectical behavioral therapy. He had tried several medication "cocktails," each with a litany of side effects that made them virtually intolerable. They had been ineffective anyway. The next step was electroshock therapy, which Brian did not want.

Comment:


Boat

Fear: A multi-dimensional creature that requires a multi-dimensional response

fear
This is what the self-help books might be missing

Fear. It shows up in nearly every coaching conversation I have. Sometimes it's bold and in-your-face and can't be denied, and sometimes it's sneaky and disguised as anger or laziness and has to be coaxed out into the light.

Fear fills a lot of pages in self-help books. Everyone's trying to master it. Some tell you to befriend it, others tell you ignore it, and still others tell you to stare it in the face. Do an image search of fear quotes and you'll find endless memes about how you can conquer, befriend, embrace, or ignore fear. Or, if you'd rather, you can dance with it, kick it to the curb, or pray it out of existence.
The problem with much of what is written about fear in self-help books is that it is oversimplified. Diminish fear into only one dimension and it's easier to give you a meme-worthy quote about it.

Hearts

What is the root cause of addiction, and how do you heal it?



How Emotional Pain causes Addiction


Addiction has become so widespread, it's nearly an epidemic in our modern world. Around 240 million people around the world are dependent on alcohol, more than a billion people smoke, and about 15 million people use injection drugs, such as heroin.

From sex addiction, technology, food, shopping, drugs and alcohol, to work addiction, nearly every person has their personal habit. And for each addiction, there is a human in pain, trying to escape from the torment inside of them.

Dr Gabor Mate says the root cause of addiction is pain, and the attempt to escape pain actually creates more pain. But we can heal addiction. Watch to learn how.

Comment: See also:


People

Why people use the status quo as a moral compass

goldfish black swan
© hidesy / Shutterstock.comPeople often mistake normality as a criterion for morality, scientists say.
The Binewskis are no ordinary family. Arty has flippers instead of limbs; Iphy and Elly are Siamese twins; Chick has telekinetic powers. These traveling circus performers see their differences as talents, but others consider them freaks with "no values or morals." However, appearances can be misleading: The true villain of the Binewski tale is arguably Miss Lick, a physically "normal" woman with nefarious intentions.

Much like the fictional characters of Katherine Dunn's "Geek Love," everyday people often mistake normality as a criterion for morality. Yet, freaks and norms alike may find themselves anywhere along the good/bad continuum. Still, people use what's typical as a benchmark for what's good, and are often averse to behavior that goes against the norm. Why?

In a series of studies, psychologist Andrei Cimpian and I investigated why people use the status quo as a moral codebook - a way to decipher right from wrong and good from bad. Our inspiration for the project was philosopher David Hume, who pointed out that people tend to allow the status quo ("what is") to guide their moral judgments ("what ought to be"). Just because a behavior or practice exists, that doesn't mean it's good - but that's exactly how people often reason. Slavery and child labor, for example, were and still are popular in some parts of the world, but their existence doesn't make them right or OK. We wanted to understand the psychology behind the reasoning that prevalence is grounds for moral goodness.

Comment: Further reading:


Light Saber

Emotions like fear & anxiety can trap you - clinical psychologist says facing them helps

fear and anxiety
Fear and anxiety are emotions that can trap you, but facing them can help, explains a clinical psychologist.

Phobias and anxieties, such as social anxiety, are best dealt with by facing them.

It is not easy, but if done step-by-step most people can learn to deal with anxieties and fears — even overcome them.

Comment: Additional helpful information when facing fear and anxiety:


Bulb

Suck at meditation? You may just be doing it right

meditation
© Jim WilemanTo really empty your mind, you’d have to be sedated or dead and neither of those states is particularly conducive to spiritual growth.’
I suck at meditating. I'm one of those perennially distracted people who knows they need to meditate, has meditated in the past with some success and who knows they should meditate more, but who finds it so much easier to do things like dishes, laundry and exercising than to schedule time to do nothing.

When I read this Forbes article touting mindfulness meditation as the "next big business opportunity", my initial impulse is to grind my teeth in frustration. Co-opting a centuries-old spiritual practice as the engine of your hip new startup strikes me as kind of like trying to repurpose an astrolabe as a controller for your Xbox, but whatever, Silicon Valley kids. You do you.

Comment: Is Meditation really worth it? Totally!


Cloud Grey

Why do we feel lonely in an over-connected world?

loneliness
The world has never been so connected as it is now. Communication and internet technologies have made it possible to stay in touch with anyone no matter where they live. Today, it's probably impossible to find a person who doesn't use social networks and instant messaging apps, which have become an integral part of our life. Many people can't even imagine their daily routine without online communication and feel incomplete if they don't chat with their friends and don't see their updates in the Facebook feed at least once a day. We are basically never alone and yet, we are lonelier than ever.

This is not just a claim - studies show that the number of people who feel lonely is constantly increasing. For example, a survey by the Mental Health Foundation found that one out of ten people in the UK often feels lonely while 48% of the respondents believe that modern people are getting more and more lonely.

Comment: The pain of modern life: Loneliness and isolation
Indeed can the emptiness of loneliness be satiated by anything external to oneself? "If we have experienced and found one escape to be of no value, are not all other escapes therefore of no value?" Krishnamurti logically argued.

Silence and the space to look within are rare jewels in our World, particularly in western societies. The current socio-economic model is a noisy, poisonous system based on negative values. It has polluted the planet and is making us unhappy and ill in a variety of ways.

It is a system that ardently promotes material success and the indulgence of personal desires, all of which encourages dependence on methods of 'escape' of one kind or another - drugs prescribed, (legal and illegal), alcohol, sex, entertainments in all shapes and sizes - including organized religion, to fill the chasm of loneliness, and keep the mind in a constant state of agitation and discontent.

But as Krishnamurti rightly states, such transient distractions will never sufficiently drown out our innate need for union with oneself, with the Self; a realization brought about by self-awareness; by negation - ceasing to identify with the fancies of the mind, and as the 19th century Indian sage Sri Ramana Maharshi taught, by constantly challenging one's thoughts and feelings with the deconstructive enquiry 'who am I'. These Men of Wisdom assure us that, with sustained commitment and effort, a relationship can be established with the Self, which reveals separation and isolation to be an illusion, and establishes a deep, non-dependent sense of unity - with others and the world in which 'we live and breathe and have our being'. Purpose, contact with others and activity are essential to battle loneliness, but if one becomes dependent on these externals and does not, at the same time, seek to overcome the underlying cause, then it seems clear little will have been achieved and the 'modern giant' will rise up again.



Cell Phone

'I think I can:' How talking to yourself brings self-improvement

man walking up stairs
© ra2studio/Shutterstock.com
If you want to get better at doing something, simply telling yourself "I can do better next time" may help, according to a new study.

Researchers found that people who practiced such so-called "self-talk" ─ for example, those who told themselves, "I can beat my best score," or "I can react quicker this time" ─ improved their performance in an online game more than those who did not.

The new results show that preparing yourself mentally before a challenging task, such as giving a speech or going to a job interview, by telling yourself "I will do my best" may be an effective way to help improve performance, said study author Andrew Lane, a professor of sport psychology at the University of Wolverhampton in the U.K.

Comment: Further reading: