MIND/BODY

MIND/BODY

• Internal & external
• Unseen & seen
• Subjective & objective

SHAMANISM

MIND/BODY

DESCARTES

SUBSTANCE DUALISM

• If I can clearly and distinctly perceive something, then God makes something that exists that corresponds to my clear and distinct perception, otherwise God would be a deceiver.
• If I can clearly and distinctly perceive X and Y as complete things whose principal attributes exclude each other, then God can make X and Y exist apart from each other

SUBSTANCE DUALISM

• If X and Y can exist apart from each other (whether or not they really do) then they are really distinct
• I can clearly and distinctly perceive mind as a complete thing to which extension does not pertain
• I can clearly and distinctly perceive body as a complete thing to which thought does not pertain

SUBSTANCE DUALISM

• Therefore, God could bring it about that mind and body exist apart from each other.
• Therefore, mind and body are really distinct.

Dualist Problem- how does the mind affect matter
Geoffrey Madell: “interactionist dualism looks to be by far the only plausible framework in which the facts of our experience can be fitted” (because, we might say, interactionism at least acknowledges the undeniable realities of both I and it domains). Nonetheless, “the nature of the causal connection between the mental and the physical . . . is utterly mysterious”

THOMAS HOBBES

Physical or materialist
everything in the world, including our thoughts and the states of our minds, can in principle be explained in terms of one thing and one thing only: matter in motion.

Materialist Problem- how can consciousness can be realized in the brain
Galen Strawson: “As an acting materialist, I . . . assume that experiential phenomena are realized in the brain. . . . [But] when we consider the brain as current physics and neurophysiology presents it to us, we are obliged to admit that we do not know how experience . . . is or even could be realized in the brain.”

KEN WILBER

Ken Wilber - Flatland
"We are then faced with two apparently absolute but contradictory truths: the truth of immediate experience, which tells me unmistakably that consciousness exists, and the truth of science, which tells me unmistakably that the world consists only of arrangements of fundamental units (quarks, atoms, strings, etc.) that possess no consciousness whatsoever, and no amount of rearranging those mindless units will result in mind."

4 PROBLEMS

• The body can mean the entire upper right quadrant
• The body can mean the internal experience, feelings, and emotions- or entire upper left quadrant

4 PROBLEMS

• many scientific researchers simply identify “mind” with “brain,” and they prefer to speak only of brain states, neurotransmitters, cognitive science, and so on. I will use the term “brain” to cover that meaning, which refers to the upper levels of the upper-right quadrant
• The mind can also mean the rational will that can be in conflict with feelings or desires or upper levels of the upper left quadrant.

UPPER QUADRANTS

Trans-rational solution: Subject and object are both distinct realities and aspects of the same thing: a true unity-in-diversity. But that unity-in-diversity cannot be stated in rational terms in a way that makes sense to anybody who has not also had a transrational experience.

MIND/BODY

• Research has shown that the mind can influence the body and the body can influence the mind as well.
• This phenomenon can be felt and studied

WE ALREADY KNOW...

• Internal experience of physical touch- a kiss, a hug, a slap
• How good it can feel to laugh or to scream
• The effect of taking a deep breath
• The way you feel after exercise or meditation

DR MOTOYAMA

RESEARCH

• I am meditators vs normal meditators vs control group
• Beginning with non sensory observation
• ESP tests
• Chakra opening tests
• One point concentration
• Meridian tests

SUBTLE ENERGY

SHAMANISM

ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCES

NON-LOCAL MIND

SOMATIC PSYCHOTHERAPY

RON KURTZ

BASIC PRINCIPLES

• Based on holism, unity, and a participatory universe.
• People are self-organizing, self creating, self-maintaining systems
• Inclusive both/and logic (trans-rational)
• Mindfulness as a principle and state of consciousness - witnessing the mind and body reactions to events.
• Mind/body holism- two wholes that influence each other

MIND/BODY INTERACTION

• The mind shapes the body- childhood memories shape behavior, body structure, and all levels of physiology from cellular metabolism to the immune system.
• The body shapes the mind- inheritance of talents and dispositions, to the moods that are part of having particular diseases.
• These interactions are often circular- influenced by the operations of feedback loops.

THE MIND/BODY INTERFACE

• Belief/experience
• Image/emotion
• Where a meaning or belief exists in the body. Or what a bodily experience is trying to communicate about a mental state.

PSYCHONEUROIMMUNOLOGY

CONCLUSIONS

• The mind/body problem can only be solved using trans rational both/and logic
• Although it is not possible to detect the connection we can detect the effects
• Understanding the connection can have positive effects on both the body and the mind

QUESTIONS?