A quantum experiment suggests there’s no such thing as objective reality (Emerging Technology)27/3/2019 Physicists have long suspected that quantum mechanics allows two observers to experience different, conflicting realities. Now they’ve performed the first experiment that proves it.
Back in 1961, the Nobel Prize–winning physicist Eugene Wigner outlined a thought experiment that demonstrated one of the lesser-known paradoxes of quantum mechanics. The experiment shows how the strange nature of the universe allows two observers—say, Wigner and Wigner’s friend—to experience different realities. more...
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Doctors had given Anita Moorjani just hours to live when she arrived at the hospital in a coma on the morning of February 2nd, 2006. Unable to move as a result of the cancer that had ravaged her body for almost four years, Anita entered another dimension, where she experienced great clarity and understanding of her life and purpose here on earth. She was given a choice of whether to return to life or not, and chose to return to life when she realized that "heaven" is a state and not a place.
This subsequently resulted in a remarkable and complete recovery of her health. Anita's riveting talk will inspire you to transform your life by living more authentically, discovering your greatest passions, transcending your deepest fears, and living from a place of pure joy. Her true story will radically alter your current beliefs about yourself, your purpose on earth, your health, your relationships, and your life! more... Over the past nearly 60 years, I have engaged with many leaders of governments, companies, and other organizations, and I have observed how our societies have developed and changed. I am happy to share some of my observations in case others may benefit from what I have learned.
Leaders, whatever field they work in, have a strong impact on people’s lives and on how the world develops. We should remember that we are visitors on this planet. We are here for 90 or 100 years at the most. During this time, we should work to leave the world a better place. more... The Dalai Lama takes us step by step through the famed logic of Madhyamika, the Middle Way that defeats all extreme views of reality.
To generate the type of love and compassion that motivates you to seek buddhahood, not for yourself but for the sake of others, first you must confront suffering by identifying its types. This is the first noble truth. From the time we are born to the time we die we suffer mental and physical pain, the suffering of change, and pervasive suffering of uncontrolled conditioning. The second and third noble truths lead us to understand the causes of suffering and whether or not those causes can be removed. The fundamental cause of suffering is ignorance—the mistaken apprehension that living beings and objects inherently exist. more... BY MATTHIEU RICARD| SEPTEMBER 17, 2018
Matthieu Ricard answers everyone’s first question. Take an honest look at yourself. Where are you in your life? What have your priorities been up till now and what do you intend to do with the time you have left? We are a mixture of light and shadow, of good qualities and defects. Are we really the best we can be? Must we remain as we are now? If not, what can we do to improve ourselves? These are questions worth asking, particularly if we have come to the conclusion that change is both desirable and possible. more... 19/11/2018 - The science behind the health benefits of a daily gratitude practice (Dave Asprey)19/11/2018 By Dave Asprey November 15, 2018
As the holidays approach, it’s time to think about “being grateful.” Gratitude may be a built-in part of many traditions—from Thanksgiving to Christmas and Hanukkah—but it’s actually more wired-in than woo-woo. What you put in your body determines what you get out of it. That’s true for food and exercise, and it’s also true for your thoughts. During this celebratory, gluttonous time of year where we’re hyper aware of what we should (and shouldn’t) be eating and drinking, we should also consider what we’re thinking, too. There is real science behind the power and benefits of practicing gratitude. more... Donald Hoffman of the University of California Irvine explains how quantum mechanics, including the free-particle wave-function, can be derived from a mathematically precise model of consciousness on his theory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG_VbuHucUg Psychedelics aren’t a shortcut for Buddhist practice, because practice involves every moment of life—especially the boring ones.
By Brad Warner SEP 07, 2018 People get mad when I say it’s not right for drugs to be promoted as Buddhism. But that’s OK with me. Sometimes you have to make people mad. When a recent spate of articles espousing drug use as dharma practice appeared in popular Buddhist magazines, like this one, they required a strong rebuke from someone with the proper credentials to say, “No, it isn’t.” I knew no one else was going to step up. So I did. I was mean and ornery. I frothed at the mouth. I called people bad names. I said they were charlatans. It was ugly. But I felt like it had to be done. more... For some Buddhists, experiences of selflessness induced by hallucinogens are tools for practice. But others see distraction and even danger.
By Gabriel Lefferts JUL 27, 2018 Nearly ten years ago, in the middle of a monthlong meditation retreat, Spring Washam had a sobering experience.Far from entering one of the blissful states of concentration that often mark the jhanas, the progressive stages of meditative absorption outlined in Theravada Buddhism, she entered a state of trauma. An experienced Buddhist practitioner and teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Washam insists that the Buddhist teachings were not at fault. It was the form of the practice—being silent, being still, being alone—that unraveled unconscious levels of pain to an unbearable degree. “What I realized there,” she recalled, “was that the form of sitting in silence wasn’t alleviating the symptoms; it was making it worse.” more... BY JILL SUTTIE | SEPTEMBER 5, 2018
New research corrects some common misconceptions about cultivating moment-to-moment awareness. Mindfulness meditation can help us lead happier, healthier lives . . . at least according to science. Yet many of us still balk at the idea of practicing it ourselves. Perhaps we fear that meditation is too new agey, or it might slow us down or lead to complacency. Some might fear mindfulness could come at the expense of productivity, a moral compass, or even the vitality that gives us our edge. more... By Bernardo Kastrup, Henry P. Stapp, Menas C. Kafatos on May 29, 2018
The question is no longer whether quantum theory is correct, but what it means For almost a century, physicists have wondered whether the most counterintuitive predictions of quantum mechanics (QM) could actually be true. Only in recent years has the technology necessary for answering this question become accessible, enabling a string of experimental results—including startling ones reported in 2007 and 2010, and culminating now with a remarkable test reported in May—that show that key predictions of QM are indeed correct. Taken together, these experiments indicate that the everyday world we perceive does not exist until observed, which in turn suggests—as we shall argue in this essay—a primary role for mind in nature. It is thus high time the scientific community at large—not only those involved in foundations of QM—faced up to the counterintuitive implications of QM’s most controversial predictions. more... By Kristen Duke, Adrian Ward, Ayelet Gneezy, and Maarten Bos MARCH 20, 2018
“Put your phone away” has become a commonplace phrase that is just as often dismissed. Despite wanting to be in the moment, we often do everything within our power to the contrary. We take out our phones to take pictures in the middle of festive family meals, and send text messages or update our social media profiles in the middle of a date or while watching a movie. At the same time, we are often interrupted passively by notifications of emails or phone calls. Clearly, interacting with our smartphones affects our experiences. But can our smartphones affect us even when we aren’t interacting with them—when they are simply nearby? more... Peter Doran (Lecturer in Law, Queen's University Belfast) February 24, 2018 12.12am AEDT
Mindfulness is big business, worth in excess of US$1.0 billion in the US alone and linked – somewhat paradoxically – to an expanding range of must have products. These include downloadable apps (1300 at the last count), books to read or colour in, and online courses. Mindfulness practice and training is now part of a global wellness industry worth trillions of dollars. Mindfulness has its origins in Buddhist meditation teachings and encourages the quiet observation of habituated thought patterns and emotions. The aim is to interrupt what can be an unhealthy tendency to over-identify with and stress out about these transient contents of the mind. By doing so, those who practice mindfulness can come to dwell in what is often described as a more “spacious” and liberating awareness. They are freed from seemingly automatic tendencies (such as anxiety about status, appearances, future prospects, our productivity) that are exploited by advertisers and other institutions in order to shape our behaviour. In its original Buddhist settings, mindfulness is inseparable from the ethical life. more... BY MATTHIEU RICARD| FEBRUARY 20, 2018
Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard provides a glimpse into the life of Patrul Rinpoche, a wandering yogi who became one of the most illustrious masters of Tibetan Buddhism. From the Spring 2018 issue of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly. Patrul Rinpoche, Orgyen Jigme Chökyi Wangpo (1808–1887), a wandering practitioner in the ancient tradition of vagabond renunciants, became one of the most revered spiritual teachers in Tibetan history, widely renowned as a scholar and author while at the same time living a life of utmost simplicity. A strong advocate of the joys of solitude, he always stressed the futility of worldly pursuits and ambitions. The memory of his life’s example is still very much alive today, offering an ever-fresh source of inspiration for practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism. more... The ultimate goal of Buddhist practice isn’t about achieving mental health.
By C. W. Huntington, Jr., SPRING 2018 Some 30 years ago Jack Engler published an influential study based on his experience as both a Buddhist meditation teacher and a clinical psychologist. He had discovered over the years that many people who come to Buddhism are looking for the kind of help they ought properly to seek in psychotherapy. “With the ‘triumph of the therapeutic’ in Western culture,” he wrote, there is a tendency in mindfulness meditation to “analyze mental content instead of simply observing it.” In more recent years this conflation between Buddhist practice and psychotherapy has only deepened. Books tracing associations between the two traditions have proliferated, and the use of mindfulness meditation in a therapeutic setting has become commonplace. Indeed, pristine, unassailable mental health is often assumed to be the ultimate goal of all study and practice of the dharma. more... UVA psychiatrist Jim Tucker investigates children’s claims of past lives
by SEAN LYONS When Ryan Hammons was 4 years old, he began directing imaginary movies. Shouts of “Action!” often echoed from his room. But the play became a concern for Ryan’s parents when he began waking up in the middle of the night screaming and clutching his chest, saying he dreamed his heart exploded when he was in Hollywood. His mother, Cyndi, asked his doctor about the episodes. Night terrors, the doctor said. He’ll outgrow them. Then one night, as Cyndi tucked Ryan into bed, Ryan suddenly took hold of Cyndi’s hand. “Mama,” he said. “I think I used to be someone else.” more... Richard J. Davidson Tuesday, 09 January, 2018
Richard J. Davidson says research into how mental training like meditation affects our health throws light on what constitutes a healthy mind. Well-being – as understood by its qualities of awareness, connection, insight and purpose – is a skill that can be learned Here I was, in a trip to Hong Kong late last year, sitting on a panel with a close friend and renowned Buddhist monk, famed actor Jet Li, one of Hong Kong’s top mental health professionals, and a forward-thinking business CEO. From diverse walks of life, we were honed in on one question: what do ancient wisdom and modern science teach us about how to nurture healthier minds, and how can we harness this to lead our best lives at home and at work? more... Johann Hari Sun 7 Jan ‘18
In the 1970s, a truth was accidentally discovered about depression – one that was quickly swept aside, because its implications were too inconvenient, and too explosive. American psychiatrists had produced a book that would lay out, in detail, all the symptoms of different mental illnesses, so they could be identified and treated in the same way across the United States. It was called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. In the latest edition, they laid out nine symptoms that a patient has to show to be diagnosed with depression – like, for example, decreased interest in pleasure or persistent low mood. For a doctor to conclude you were depressed, you had to show five of these symptoms over several weeks. more... By Ken McLeod
Buddhist teachings do not advise asking others to absolve us from our misdeeds. Instead, they outline a path to purification that will change our relationship to reactive patterns. Let me say, right at the start, that I am not going to be diplomatic. The extent to which the notion of forgiveness has insinuated itself into contemporary Buddhist thinking disturbs me deeply. Although many may disagree with me, I feel that current interpretations of forgiveness in the Buddhist community undermine the teachings of karma, encourage the cult of victimhood, weaken human relationships, and obfuscate the practice of purification. more... By The Dalai Lama Dec. 1, 2017
A crack in a floating ice shelf in Antarctica reached its breaking point and calved a huge iceberg, setting it afloat in the seas. It’s a fitting image for a world that feels under pressure and on the verge of, well, everything — ready to break off and set itself free. The global political temperature is on the rise, the future of truth is under debate and the specter of nuclear conflict hovers. We asked His Holiness the Dalai Lama for his thoughts on how to cope. We are facing a time of great uncertainty and upheaval in many corners of our planet. When it comes to making the world a better place, concern for others is tantamount. more... |