There is no “and” in Cause-and-Effect.  Cause and Effect are one and the same uninterrupted flow of reality.  Mind breaks up the flow of this reality into Cause and Effect b/c of its information-processing limitations, essentially, dropping out of the flow of “What Is” to deal with reality (by categorizing it, by breaking it up into moments and ideas).  So, when you choose a Cause, you choose an Effect.  That’s Karma: karma is not fate, karma is self-determinism.  Karma, as a form of voluntary self-determinism bridges the classic dichotomy of free will and determinism.  In my interpretation, karma (as a psychological term) is a free act of self-determination.

Food for thought:

“Symbolism must be eliminated.  Once we end symbolism, we are also participating in the demise of cultism and superstition. [...] Humans were in a special state of mind when they created symbols. That special state of mind is what I call a neurological misadventure, a diseased state.” (Edgar Ridley, The Golden Apple: Changing the Structure of Civilization).

Curious thoughts…

Mind is a leg.  Sometimes it takes a walk into a symbolic nowhere.

Am I being symbolic?

Guilty as charged.

Sometimes people in therapy want to dig really deep.  They wrestle with such existential questions as “Will I die when I die?”  I let them wrestle first and keep my mouth shut.  Then I socractically prod with such questions as “What is life?  What is death?  What is this thing you call “I”?

But here’s where my own mind is on this matter:

Will I die when I die?

- Yes and no.  It depends.  Depends on how I define “I.”

Here’s what’s clear to me:

1. Consciousness is material, matter is conscious.

2. Conscious matter does not disappear, it only changes form.

I call this bit of intellectualizing nonsense “the Law of Conservation of Consciousness.”

In truth, I don’t know.

Keep wrestling.

In closing, here’s a thought from Thich Nhat Hanh to help you sweep the tatami of your mind from the trash of dichotomous words:

Liberation from birth and death is not an abstract or long-term project.  Birth and death are only concepts.  To be free from these concepts is to be free from birth and death.  It is attainable.

Thoughtful man image available from Shutterstock.

To liberate yourself, meditate.

To meditate, liberate yourself.

Woman meditating image available from Shutterstock.

Life in the Universe is a norm. Technology, however, is an exception. Our planet, as a sample of species, shows that most of the species are adapted well enough to their environment to not require any extensive technology. For example, dolphins, as cultural and psychological as they may be, require no tools. Our own use of tools has emerged out of a deficit of adaptation. Tool-use emerged as an extension of a body that found itself too incomplete to exist/operate “as is.”

So, my point is this: most of life evolves non-technologically. Life itself is a tool of adaptation. Each organism (organon) is a good enough tool as is. Technology emerges as a desperate attempt to bridge a deficit of organism-based adaptation. Homo Habilis (and the mess of the civilization that came with tool-use) has roots in failure of body-based adaptation. Tool-using mind is a band-aid on the body of evolution.

Put differently, evolution of technology is a mistake of biological evolution.  So, enjoy the technology, Google-Glass-wearing Homo Habilis, but don’t let it go to your head too much.

Dolphin photo available from Shutterstock

Each life, subjectively, is an eternity no matter how objectively short it is.

No consciousness ever experiences its own non-existence.

Thus, all consciousness, subjectively, is immortal even if it is objectively nothing but a flash in the pan.

Mindstream Non-News

pic:  Richard Giles via Compfight

In meditation research the news keeps getting better and better:

“Previous studies have reported changes to the brain while people practise [meditation, yoga and prayer] activities, but a new study shows for the first time that gene activity changes too. [...] “It’s not New Age nonsense,” says Herbert Benson of the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He and his colleagues analysed the gene profiles of 26 volunteers – none of whom regularly meditate – before teaching them a relaxation routine lasting 10 to 20 minutes. It included reciting words, breathing exercises and attempts to exclude everyday thought.”

An 8-week course of meditation of this kind resulted in a change of gene profile:

“The boosted genes had three main beneficial effects: improving the efficiency of mitochondria, the powerhouse of cells; boosting insulin production, which improves control of blood sugar; and preventing the depletion of telomeres, caps on chromosomes that help to keep DNA stable and so prevent cells wearing out and ageing.”

Plus there was a decrease in the activity of “a master gene called NF-kappaB, which triggers chronic inflammation leading to diseases including high blood pressure, heart disease, inflammatory bowel disease and some cancers.”

Furthermore: “by taking blood immediately after before and after performing the technique on a single day, researchers also showed that the gene changes happened within minutes.”

So, I ask you, why not sit down for a few minutes to settle down your  mind?   The news doesn’t get any better than this!  With news like this, this whole business of meditation is now really a matter of mental hygiene.  Indeed, what if we – as a culture, as a civilization, – framed the matter of meditation as a matter of hygiene?  Chances are you brush your teeth every day.  Why not scrub your mind of “everyday thoughts” every day too?!

-

Ref: Meditation Boosts Genes That Promote Good Health, Andy Coghlan, New Scientist, May 2, 2013

Related: Non-Inflammatory Mind

Man meditating photo available from Shutterstock

Silence has a nice ring to it.

Listen.

Human (as a body) is a Trojan horse full of neural legionnaires, a vehicle administered by billions of competing and cooperating neural charioteers.  Each “one” of us is a neural “we.”

Context: Neural Tribe

Related: Brain Isn’t an Organ But an Organization (Somov, 2012)