Procrastination

I have been working over the past months on a blog dealing with the mechanisms of psychedelics in healing, contemplating how these medicines affect conscious and unconscious information.  

Perhaps Direct Effects of increasing awe, appreciation of mystery, feeling of connection to others and everything, losing the fear of death.  

Perhaps Indirect Effects of bringing unconscious information to the conscious mind.  

Perhaps creating more times of positive emotional affect and less negative emotional affect.  

Perhaps leading to more positive behaviors and less negative behaviors.  

I have 6 sheets of yellow paper with notes with lists, boxes, connecting lines and arrows...  

That is how I brainstorm…  

You will have to wait, some blogs are complicated, and I am not ready to put it all together…  

This morning, I was wondering why…  

I have been waylaid by a few good books I’ve been reading, a few amateur radio projects with antennas and radios to optimize and program…  

We had our tween grandchild out for about 10 days…  

The weather is getting nicer and there is cycling to be done…  

I can’t use our dog as an excuse, he is about 2.5 years old, and needs significant attention only about twice a day, sleeping more…  

I wonder if the state of the world is getting in the way of my finishing this piece…  

Reading this morning about the pending Wisconsin Supreme Court election, may make the difference between abortion being available in WI or not, as well as the stranglehold of the legislature on decreasing voting rights…  

Mirroring the overall state of the US…  

Such unconscionable acts against the freedoms of US citizens…  

Of course, the other side is just as adamant that the Democrats are trying to infringe on their rights, such as the right to own certain types of guns…  

Neither side feels safe…  

Neither side feels that they are heard…    

by the Other…  

Of course, there is no Other…  

We are all one mess of Green Slime covering the Earth…  

But that is difficult to discern…   wading around in this muck of being…  

Just as I was writing this blog this Monday morning, my sister texted that she will be giving her talk to the school on the Jewish Holocaust…  

My mother, when she was alive, gave a talk in the schools for many years about her personal experience of the Holocaust.  

My sister carries on giving a talk as a child of Holocaust survivors…

She mentioned it is emotionally wringing…  

I answered:  “I think the current state of the US and the world in general is emotionally wringing…”  

(This messaging is occurring in real time as I am writing!  Must be that mystery of sister-brother connection…)

My Sister:  “It would be interesting if you and Karen did your stories as parallel experiences. You cover three bases and can expand into what the Americans did to the Japanese already here”  

(My Wife, Karen, her mom is from Japan.  Karen, at times, professes she carries the burdens of her Japanese heritage…)

I answered:  “I just write my blog on occasion these days.  I no longer feel pushed to teach and educate in person in front of people…”  

My Sister:  “Different times of life for different things. I feel I have to keep people open to the experiences of others and to the plight of refugees in our country and around the world. The refugee crisis will only get worse and people seem to be more insular and uncaring”

Me:  “Absolutely.  That is why you are saint to put yourself out there and try to make this a better world…   I agree we are in a downhill slide toward authoritarianism and uncaring behaviors, funny I was just in the middle of a blog entry on this, I added some of this messaging conversation!”  

How interesting that I started writing this morning on parallel path with my sister contemplating a talk she is about to give…  

Both contemplating this current unfolding world…  

Now there is Awe and Mystery for you!  

Namaste

Voluntary Human Extinction

Fascinating!

There was an article in the NY Times recently about the founder of this movement.  

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/23/climate/voluntary-human-extinction.html

This is the website:

https://www.vhemt.org

I had not heard of this movement before…  

All you have to do is choose not to have children (or limit the number?)…  

Interesting to me as I have 2 sons, one son is married, and they have no interest in having children.   

My other son has a long-term girlfriend, living together for some time, might as well be married, who, to my currently knowledge, are “on the fence” about having children.  

I won’t list what I think is going on through their minds, I assume they have at least some of the same reasons that are foremost concerns for many of their currently fertile generations: 

1 – Kids are expensive, estimated lifetime costs of $250-500,000, including childcare costs and scarcity, various costly lessons kids take part in, possibly sending them to college, and all the more worrisome, within a climate of repeated episodes of economic uncertainty.  

2 – Both partners may have fulfilling career paths, and neither wishes to curtail a career with primary childcare responsibilities.  

3 – Worries that climate change, and resultant dangers of fire and flood, may create a world that would be unsafe for their children.  

4 – Having a child is just not an interesting endeavor.  To bring up children well, takes a lot of time, along with both physical and emotional energy.  

https://www.businessinsider.com/why-millennials-birth-fertility-rate-declining-fewer-babies-2022-1#others-just-arent-interested-in-having-kids-a-sentiment-thats-become-a-lot-more-socially-acceptable-in-recent-years-5

I’ll add here another that I have witnessed in others:

5 – Family history of abuse or neglect, or history of medical or psychiatric problems, worries that they might perpetuate these behaviors or pass on risky genetics.  

More here:  

https://defendernetwork.com/lead-story/intelligent-reasons-millennials-arent-kids/

To be a little more revealing, I had these 2 sons with my first wife.  My current wife has 2 daughters.  My wife’s 2 daughters each have a child, so, how nice for me, I get to be a grandfather to them.  

Also, for the past 2 years my wife and I now have a surrogate “child” together, also known as a dog…  

My wife takes lead responsibility for the pup, by mutual agreement.  

Dogs also are expensive and take a lot of time and energy to bring up correctly.  

Like right now, when he is whining for attention.   

I asked my wife for a list of what she thought were reasons currently fertile adults do not wish to have children, perhaps not that different from above:  

1 – Fear of the unknown, lack of hope for the future, the world is unsafe, effects of climate change, social violence.

2 – Some level of narcissism, or perhaps self-centeredness.    

3 – History of parental abuse or neglect, with fear of not knowing how to create a loving family.  

4 – Family history of medical or psychiatric conditions.  

My wife always knew she wanted to be a mother…  

I grew up feeling I was supposed to have kids…  

Perhaps I listened to my parents…  

Both my parents were survivors of the Jewish Holocaust, I heard them say that surviving and having children were their revenge on the Nazi’s attempt at annihilating the Jews.  

As I have written previously:  

“I like to think of myself as a meliorist, one who believes that the world becomes better with time and humans can aid in its benefit.” 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2020/04/conversations-with-dog-chapter-10.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meliorism

I feel that we are an embodiment of Source, we are the hands and eyes of Source…

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2015/12/what-is-consciousness.html

Maybe I am being a little more snarky here:  

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2015/05/our-vision.html

I believe that when we have children, we embody more of Source.  

My wife added, “we also get to witness more Source!”

You can argue with me, that is not necessarily a good thing… 

I respect that.  

That is the argument of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement.  

I can only reiterate that I believe deeply in the potential for the best parts of human existence.  

I believe we have the potential for ever increasing kindness and compassion, and that the continuance of human existence will be more beautiful over time…    

Namaste  

A Reinterpretation of “The 5 Aggregates”

Perhaps can be seen as a blasphemous effort, if you are a strict Buddhist.   

But then again, I am a self-designated Heretic…  

Reading this quarter’s Tricycle, Winter 2022, page 47, on Annatta. 

There is a Hindu concept of Atman, “the essential part of the self” that “is immaterial and indestructible.”  Buddhism, rejects this concept, “and posits instead a foundational concept of anatman” (in Pali annatta) or non-self.   That “The functions associated with a self, such as thoughts and emotions, “exist” in the sense that they happen, but it is a projection of our language and imagination to say further that a solid entity, a spiritual essence, an unchanging substance or a transcendent energy therefore “exists” as something beyond these occurences.”  

No augment there, I’m a big fan of that concept that there is no clear existence of a “small s self,” i.e., my interpretation is there is only a “Big S Self,” as in “All-That-Is” and “All-That-Is-Not.”  

So, what are the 5 Aggregates?  

According to this article, and I have not read widely in the Buddhist literature about these Aggregates, relying on this article alone… 

1-Bodies unfold, as a transient material configuration, within a changing material environment.  

2-Feelings, of pleasure and pain, arise and fall away, due to circumstances (whatever they mean by “circumstances”).  

3-Mind, perceptually interprets the information flowing in on the senses, to create stories. 

4-Emotional responses take place at every moment, resulting in volitional actions.  

5-Awareness of this unfolds in a stream of conscious moments.  

I agree in general, however, seems a bit too complicated and redundant.  

As I am a fan of parsing concepts down to three’s, let see what I came up with…

I won’t change number 1, much, I like that in general, will just change the wording:   

1-Bodies Change.  They are a constantly changing material configuration, within a changing material environment.  

We will refrain for defining what is this “material.”   We can talk about scientific observations that support the existence of concepts such as “molecules, atoms, and subatomic particles,” but we and everything may actually just be a holograph:

https://www.vox.com/2015/6/29/8847863/holographic-principle-universe-theory-physics

https://www.quantamagazine.org/symmetries-reveal-clues-about-the-holographic-universe-20220112/

2-Mind Interprets.   Sensations arise in the body, from internal and external stimuli, which are then interpreted in the mind as feelings and emotions.  The mind then makes up stories, and the body performs actions based on these stories.  

Many studies support this concept.  The simplest example is the clinical use of propranolol, a beta blocker, to relieve anxiety, such as before public speaking.  Propranolol only blocks the increases in heart rate and peripheral shaking which occurs when people are fearful, by stopping the body reactivity, the mind feels it is less anxious.   

3-Awareness Occurs.  

There is only Pure Awareness.   

Everything else, are just made-up concepts, such as “The Witness,” or that we think we have a “self” that has awareness of felt sensations in the body and awareness of emotions and feelings in the mind.  These are just the flow of Pure Consciousness, “All-That-Is” and “All-That-Is-Not,” as is interpreted by this animal brain-body.  

So let us summarize:  

1-Bodies Change.  

2-Mind Interprets.   

3-Awareness Occurs.  

Now isn’t that simpler….

Time to meditate further 

        washing away all concepts 

                                basking in 

Pure Awareness…  

Namaste  

The Three Levels of Psychedelic Experience

Those who have read my past Bloggins’ know I love threes…  

Masters and Houston, in their book “The Varieties of Psychedelic Experience” (p.110) outline these 3 levels. 

Level 1 – Is the “Sensory Realm” where images appear, often geometric and colorful, there may be sensory distortions of time and of any of the senses, including synesthesia’s.  These also fall into so called dissociative experiences, at least as measured by the CADSS. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2022/05/proposal-labeling-psychedelic-medicine.html

Level 2 – Is the “Recollective – Analytical Stage” where unconscious information may arise up into conscious information.  They write that this stage can also be a place where people can also get into “mind loops.”  And, more positively, can sometimes see their life as a myth or legend.  This is the stage where I believe psychedelics act as “Integratives” (see link above).  

Level 3 – Is the “Integral Level” where people may have a feeling of “Oneness with the Universe,” where they may have a feeling of “Total Understanding.”  They also write that this level may be more likely with preparation such as meditation or yoga practices.  This is what then Mystical Experience Questionnaire attempts to identify.  

They also write (p 141) that perhaps the “Recollective – Analytical Stage” is where “Instant Psychotherapy” may occur, where long standing neuroses seem to resolve spontaneously.  

What is interesting is that in meditation all three of these levels may occur.  The flashes of color may not be a vivid or a geometric, but they do occur.  The “Recollective – Analytical Stage” is a very important part of how meditation can be helpful.  And the “Integral Level” is often what people try to achieve in meditation, and, interestingly, "trying to achieve" this feeling of oneness, just chases it away.  

These 3 levels seem to be most associated with the classical psychedelics, mescaline, psilocybin, LSD, DMT.  Each of these psychedelics can have perhaps a different flavor of experience in general, and can also vary for each individual, and can vary for each session.  Always keeping in mind proper Set and Setting.  

Ketamine is interesting in that it tends to be less colorful, and there may be a feeling of descending into the so called “K Hole.”  

MDMA, is not a psychedelic, often labeled and empathogen, often prominently allowing unconscious information to arise, perhaps more “Recollective – Analytical Stage,” less experiences of Levels 1 and 3.  

So, what are the purposes of these levels?  

Level 3, the so-called Mystical Experience, seems to be highly correlated with “good outcomes.”  Particularly, lessening of depression and anxiety.  

Level 2, where unconscious information may arise up into conscious information, seems to be central to the healing process as well.  

But, what is the importance of Level 1?  Is it simply a stage that shows us that the mind is unwiring, and/or rewiring?  

Is it just telling us that “We are not in Kansas anymore?”  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMhrpapLTZM

We really do need to further explore these levels, there are a lot of PhD theses that need to get written!  

I am hoping that we can get psychedelic therapy legalized, sooner rather than later, there is such need for these therapies.  

These are not for everyone, but there is much suffering that could be relieved…  

Namaste

Human Domestication

On weekend mornings we usually take our dog, Zev, an almost 2-year-old standard poodle, to the dog park.  Gets him running around, good socialization, and tired for most of the rest of the day.  

It is an interesting place to watch, both dogs and people.  

Dogs are so tuned to each other’s body language…  

Sometimes there is growling, usually in play, occasionally a vocal warning to keep away…  

There is sometimes whining, particularly to encourage a human to throw a ball…    

People watching is fascinating as well.  

Some people love and try to pet all the dogs, some small children too.  

Some people have small dogs, and some, seem to be fearful of the larger dogs.  

Zev has to greet every dog and every human, but he is not one to jump up on adults or children.  

But he is pretty tall, and does weigh almost 70 pounds. 

He does not have fancy poodle cut, he gets a “sport cut,” some mistake him for a doodle…  

I recently was reading an article about a guy in Russia who was domesticating foxes, they seem cute, however, apparently, their urine really stinks, and they can be very difficult.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesticated_silver_fox

http://crittercamp.weebly.com/pet-foxes--the-truth.html

Apparently, foxes may be becoming semi-domesticated naturally as well: 

https://www.science.org/content/article/urban-foxes-may-be-self-domesticating-our-midst

Watching our domesticated dog and his canine companions, I wondered about us humans…  

What a different life we lead from our early ancestors.  

Hunters and gatherers… perhaps that has morphed into shopping…  

Some do still hunt, and not only for sport, for food as well… 

Many garden, some farm, sometimes for subsistence…  

And there was early art and music, perhaps, grown more complex over the ages..  

So, have we humans been domesticated? 

There seems to be social and genetic evidence to this possibility…    

https://www.science.org/content/article/early-humans-domesticated-themselves-new-genetic-evidence-suggests:  

“When humans started to tame dogs, cats, sheep, and cattle, they may have continued a tradition that started with a completely different animal: us. A new study—citing genetic evidence from a disorder that in some ways mirrors elements of domestication—suggests modern humans domesticated themselves after they split from their extinct relatives, Neanderthals and Denisovans, approximately 600,000 years ago.

Domestication encompasses a whole suite of genetic changes that arise as a species is bred to be friendlier and less aggressive. In dogs and domesticated foxes, for example, many changes are physical: smaller teeth and skulls, floppy ears, and shorter, curlier tails. Those physical changes have all been linked to the fact that domesticated animals have fewer of a certain type of stem cell, called neural crest stem cells.

Modern humans are also less aggressive and more cooperative than many of our ancestors. And we, too, exhibit a significant physical change: Though our brains are big, our skulls are smaller, and our brow ridges are less pronounced. So, did we domesticate ourselves?

As for why humans might have become domesticated in the first place, hypotheses abound. Wrangham favors the idea that as early people formed cooperative societies, evolutionary pressures favored mates whose features were less "alpha," or aggressive. "There was active selection, for the very first time, against the bullies and the genes that favored their aggression," he adds.”   

A more in-depth analysis here:

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00134/full

“In summary, we regard the social, gene-cultural evolution of humans as more similar to the social evolution of other highly social mammals that display enhanced cognitive and affective plasticity and sophisticated social structures, than to the evolution of socially impoverished domesticates. These similarities however, pale in comparison to the unique features of human social evolution, which has been guided by cumulative cultural changes that led to increased cognitive and affective plasticity, allowing feats of saintly cooperation and sadistic cruelty that go far beyond those of any other animal.”  

Speaks to the evolution of multiple intelligences…  

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/just-stranger-in-strange-land-part-1.html

Perhaps some of our failures are related to living in groups that might be too large.  

Perhaps, so large that people get lost, do not feel seen, valued, loved…  

As for me, I am most interested in how we could evolve further… 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/just-stranger-in-strange-land-part-2.html

Perhaps some methods here:  

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/04/enlightenment-part-5-final-secret.html

and here:

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2015/06/so-you-want-to-become-integralist.html

Seems that we, as a species, still have a long way to go…  

Namaste  

 

The Balkanization of America?

 I have spent time in thought…  

After this Roe v Wade debacle…

The potential for the slow dismantling of our constitution…  

It does feel like These United States, are less and less acting as United…  

I blame all sides…  

Therefore, I must be at fault as well…  

I read a few articles, some of these linked below, some will piss off both liberals and conservatives…  

I think that is a good thing…  

We all should be thinking more deeply,

More widely, 

With more compassion…  

https://www.nationalwriterssyndicate.com/balkanization-of-america-accelerating-faster-than-expected/

https://medium.com/politically-speaking/the-balkanization-of-america-1b794e9c309a

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/03/stop_the_balkanization_of_america.html

https://www.fpri.org/article/2018/11/rhetoric-violence-and-civil-war-the-balkanization-of-america/

https://www.thedailybeast.com/he-saw-americas-crackup-coming-in-2011he-says-its-worse-now?ref=scroll

As these maps show, these is no easy separation of areas that so differ in political leanings into separate states, much less into some sort of connected states…  

Map of the 2016 Election Results by County

 This is interesting as well:  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megaregions_of_the_United_States

Mostly liberal smaller heavily populated areas are surrounded by largely conservative larger rural areas…  

Maybe this is a good thing…  

There is no easy way to Balkanize into individual separate states or regions…  

Perhaps, we might have to work together…  

However,  

I am reading that people are steadily moving into politically like-minded areas…  

Maybe Balkanization will arrive with a slow migration…  

We shall see what will unfold…  

Namaste

I Drank Too Much Wine Last Night

Well, not so much that I had a headache this morning…  

3 small glasses is a lot for my never very alcohol tolerant genetics…

Stress drinking…  

WTF…

How did We, as in “we the United States of America,” get to a point of de-evolution towards the 1950s?  

What is clear is that the Republicans have been doing an excellent job of political maneuvering, working together, while the Democrats have been squabbling amongst themselves, overall losing at almost every turn…  

Now We, as in “we liberal-type thinkers,” will be paying the price…  

Between legal changes toward voter suppression, packing the Supreme Court, and The Electoral College, minority rule is likely to prevail, likely for the rest of my lifetime, if not my kids’ and grandkids’ lifetimes…  

Of course, me and my wife, and my kids, financially at least, will be pretty much OK…  

It is the poor who will suffer the most…  

Roe v Wade decreased abortions, made abortions safer, and allowed people the choice to decrease untenable financial burden, when another child was not in the plans…  

Not to mention the, in my opinion, the clear moral choice of letting women control their own bodies… 

According to Clarence Thomas, contraception should be the next to go…  

WTF!!!!

So, how do I reconcile, my oft repeated statement that, “Whatever happens, is exactly what needs to occur…”  

I guess I can only come up with what I’ve written before:

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2022/02/economic-inequality.html

Figure out an economically feasible plan to “Provide everyone with basic living conditions, eliminate homelessness, dire poverty, fear for personal and family safety, opportunity for education and economic advancement.”  

The Democrats have to capture the minds and hearts of the everyday person, not just the most downtrodden…  

Then the Democrats can get the votes to overcome this radically conservative agenda at the heart of the Republican agenda...  

I am usually an optimist…  

These days I do not feel so optimistic…  

Namaste