Autotheism

Orbitofrontal Cortex and Emotional Value

2011-09-10T10:13:00.000-07:00

As a armchair historian and anthropologist, I enjoy reading about new discoveries in our evolution. This article in Discover Magazine is a very interesting read. But what popped out to me was the following quote:

The orbitofrontal cortex is a crucial node in our emotional network, where neurons assign value to things and can tamp down or ramp up our automatic responses of fear and delight.

So the connections made by these neurons make up the current value system of you or I which modifies or regulates our automatic responses into something more stable... Disassociation probably occurs here, as values start to change starkly when faced with danger of some sort.

Now imagine those neuron connections being subject to the neuroplasticity of the brain.. and how they change... I practice daily exercising these values... it can be difficult, but when one does, one begins to understand the underpinning of their emotional state.

As an addition... the Christian practice of forgiveness seems to be one of the methods in which to effect this part of the brain... resulting in less automatic reactions.

Generating our own meaning in life

2011-09-10T09:51:00.001-07:00

This is excellent!

Belief and the Brains "God Spot"

2010-04-28T16:20:00.000-07:00

Gotta check this one out... I'll be back later to comment.

Sometimes I miss you so much

2010-01-15T09:01:00.001-08:00

A beautiful song by a friend of mine, which even to this day speaks to me.

Self Knowledge leads to Self Mastery

2009-12-09T10:34:00.000-08:00

It is our attunement with this vast infinite intelligence which permits inspirations as impressions to come to us, to be interpreted by the brain consciousness as brilliant and revealing ideas. The more we devote ourselves to this base of the pyramid of consciousness--in other words, meditate upon and analyze self--the...... greater it becomes to us. - A Rosicrucian Manuscript

Is Autotheism another term for God Complex?

2009-11-05T12:09:00.000-08:00

Personally I think the structural model is a great place to begin when assessing oneself or others.

Many times when one has a God Complex, one is identifying ego with the super-ego.

There is a lot to be said for integrating the two ("I and the Father are one"). But that's a lot different from the ego identifying with the super-ego.

In the situation where the ego identifies with the super-ego, it is merely jumping out of the way of the guilt being thrown at the ego by the super-ego through identification with it... yet the guilt still exists and is projected outward toward the world. In this situation, the sensation of God is still separate from the ego because in fact the two are not yet integrated within the individual.

However, during the process of integration, ("I and the Father are one"), the guilt disappears altogether. The sensation of God is not one "out there", it's one "in here". This is what is being referred to as "The kingdom of heaven is inside of you". Here is the kicker though... because the only way to achieve this integration is through the process of forgiveness for oneself, for others, for circumstance etc. So even though the integrated psyche now sits on the throne of God, it's not one that generates a sense of having authority over others because the psyche now has total authority over itself.

Many people stumble on the road to Autotheism and end up with complexes, because of something they just can't (or won't) let go of. In the end, one truly has to be "born again", "washed in the blood" or whatever phrase you like to apply which means they have stopped serving "Mammon" (or the external world) and instead "dwell within the kingdom".

Ironically, those with the most guilt based religious training as a child are the ones most apt to derive a complex, because they just can't let go of the sensation that there is someone outside of themselves that has authority over them, so integration never occurs.

God by John Lennon

2009-11-02T14:50:00.000-08:00

This is probably my most favorite song of Johns next to Imagine.

The Afterlife by YACHT

2009-10-30T10:45:00.000-07:00

This is an incredibly interesting Band, and this particular song is probably not the best representation of their entire range, but it carries a very interesting message, and it WILL grow on you. The rest of the album is similarly fresh and intoxicating all at the same time.

Here is a quote from a review I read.

“YACHT is about group consciousness. YACHT is about the individual man or woman. If you believe these assertions to be contradictory, consider the Triangle: it is both a collection of points and a shape.” Along with many other of YACHT’s platitudes, so reads this line from YACHT’s mission statement. Some were interesting, while others were banal, but there was one in particular that caught my eye. “YACHT believes in an Afterlife. YACHT does not believe in ‘Heaven,’ or ‘Hell’,” and throughout this album, it shows.

Placebos Are Getting More Effective. Drugmakers Are Desperate to Know Why.

2009-10-30T08:27:00.000-07:00

Here is a great article from Wired which details how fundamental belief is to the pharmacological process.

The upshot is fewer new medicines available to ailing patients and more financial woes for the beleaguered pharmaceutical industry. Last November, a new type of gene therapy for Parkinson's disease, championed by the Michael J. Fox Foundation, was abruptly withdrawn from Phase II trials after unexpectedly tanking against placebo. A stem-cell startup called Osiris Therapeutics got a drubbing on Wall Street in March, when it suspended trials of its pill for Crohn's disease, an intestinal ailment, citing an "unusually high" response to placebo. Two days later, Eli Lilly broke off testing of a much-touted new drug for schizophrenia when volunteers showed double the expected level of placebo response.

It's not only trials of new drugs that are crossing the futility boundary. Some products that have been on the market for decades, like Prozac, are faltering in more recent follow-up tests. In many cases, these are the compounds that, in the late '90s, made Big Pharma more profitable than Big Oil. But if these same drugs were vetted now, the FDA might not approve some of them. Two comprehensive analyses of antidepressant trials have uncovered a dramatic increase in placebo response since the 1980s. One estimated that the so-called effect size (a measure of statistical significance) in placebo groups had nearly doubled over that time.

It's not that the old meds are getting weaker, drug developers say. It's as if the placebo effect is somehow getting stronger.

Our Many Selves

2009-10-24T17:28:00.000-07:00

This is one of those books which bring about change in the life of the reader. I've copied the review from Amazon.

In this no longer published book, the author develops the ideas that she encountered in her early interest in the great philosopher Gurdjieff through the writings of Ouspensky and their disciple, Jungian analyst Maurice Nicoll. This background, plus the theological training which enabled her to be on the staff of The Church of The Savior in Washington, D.C. in 1971 when this timeless book was written, give the richness of an open mind and an open heart to her valuable insights into the human struggle to become whole. Her dedication of the book to her twin Dick, `whose divided self keeps me close to suffering' brings a personal urgency to her study. The premise that we all consist of many selves is illustrated by her own life as well as numerous references to authors, poets, psychiatrists, religious and politicians. Intended to be a working book, one is given exercises and time frames and encouraged to share with a partner or a group to be optimally effective. I return to the exercises, and the book again and again, as my many selves evolve and merge. O'Connor quoting Thomas Kelly, `There is a divine Abyss within us all, a holy Infinite Center, a Heart, a Life who speaks in us and through us to the world...we have not counted this Holy Thing within us to be the most precious thing in the world. We have not surrendered all else, to attend to it alone...'Viktor E. Frankel, quoted from his book, The Doctor and the Soul. `I asked both my fellow prisoners whether the question was really what we expected from life. Was it not, rather, what life was expecting from us?' I believe that if we love the Lord our God (divine Abyss, holy Infinite Center, unnamable Name) with all our heart, soul, and strength (single-minded surrender), we'll discover what life expects from us and we'll be enabled to love our neighbor as ourselves. No small thing, as Elizabeth O'Connor has so aptly demonstrated in this fine study of human nature.

Holy are You!

2009-10-23T23:23:00.001-07:00

Glorious Dawn

2009-10-23T13:38:00.000-07:00

Here is an excellent mashup of Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking...

Libre Novus : Carl Jungs Red Book

2009-10-21T16:36:00.000-07:00

Carl Jung is one of my most favorite personalities. His family has recently released "The Red Book" or "Libre Novus".

This is an amazing piece of work as it is a chronicle of his interactions with his inner world. Never is anything of his external life mentioned, children, wife, career, anything. He has illustrated it in vivid colors as well. He began this process in his late 30's and it became the wellspring for many of his other writings. I've recently purchased my copy from Amazon for $95... which is almost 50% discount.

Here is a nice preview / promotional video by the group which made this happen.

What's it all about?

2009-10-21T12:34:00.000-07:00

Autotheism does not belong to any specific religion, nor does it belong in the realm of agnosticism or atheism, though it does encompass all of the above. At the most mundane level it is the belief that we are responsible for our own reality. The belief that the way we think and interpret the world has a profound effect on what our reality becomes.

At the most mystical level, it is the development of the understanding that we are our own God and always have been. That we are the creators of our own Universe. That the still small voice which speaks to us in the darkness comes from within, and is not only God but Us at the same time.

Autotheism is not Solipsism. The difference is primarily in so much that although Autotheism recognizes that that we project our own unconscious onto everyone and everything around us, and our relationship with it is for the most part a relationship with a part of ourselves, Autotheism asserts there are in actuality other minds behind these projections which do have their own independent existence. However, it's commonly difficult for any of us to see past our own projections.

Autotheism encourages each person to reflect on what their relationships represent within themselves and their narrative. This is the epitome of the phrase "Know Thyself!"

Autotheism recognizes belief as the foundational element of any subjective reality. In so much as belief is acceptance, the very acceptance of one conviction over another modifies our own worldview and interpretation of it's events. This in turn effects our emotions, attitude, actions and our deliberate inaction... and ultimately our realities.

Belief, or acceptance, is the paint we use to color the inner world of our subjective reality. What we accept as true about ourselves, our self-image, is a major portion of that paint. This along with what we accept as true about the world become the raw materials of how we build our internal narrative, and our internal narrative becomes the model from which all actions are made.

Key to Autotheism is the assumption that we are more than our individual selves. Even our individual selves are composed of many other elements. We also share a commonality with all other humans, and ultimately all lifeforms. Individually we can see evidence of this by going to a family meal and noticing the striking similarities of not just physical appearance but also psychological dispositions.

Considering this for a while can lead one to a sense of selflessness. This is not a selflessness that is self-deprecating, but neither is it one that places one self over another... it can also be described as a sense of equality with those around you. Equally free to be whomever they feel driven to be.

Viewing oneself in this way, as a simple combination of traits can lead one to realize that there is indeed more to them than this. Though many of us tend to identify "who we are" by those traits, realizing that others have different combination of those same traits leads us to look deeper inside ourselves for an unique sense of identity or Id-Entity.

It's emergent!

2009-10-21T12:22:00.000-07:00

I found this on YouTube the other day and felt, that although not perfect in spelling, it had the right message...

In the Beginning

2009-10-21T11:46:00.000-07:00

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...

...And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light...

...Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule...