REDISCOVERING THE MIND: - PSYCHOLOGY TODAY, AUGUST 1980:
"The study of life at all levels, from social to molecular behavior, has in modern times relied on reductionism as the chief explanatory concept. This approach to knowledge tries to comprehend one level of : scientific phenomena in terms of concepts at a lower and presumably more fundamental level...Reductionism at the psychological level is exemplified by the viewpoint in Carl Sagan's best selling book THE DRAGONS OF EDEN. He writes: 'My fundamental premise about the brain is that its workings-what we sometimes call 'mind' - are a consequence of its anatomy and physiology and nothing more.' As a further demonstration of this trend of thought, we note that Sagan's glossary does not contain the words mind, consciousness, perception, awareness or thought, but rather deals with entries such as synapse, lobotomy, proteins and electrodes."
I have always had difficulty with Sagan and his contemporary Isaac Asimov, who appear 'avant-garde' and forward thinking due to the subjects they write about. However, their lack of open inclusive dialogue and positing of 'status quo' linear thinking is troublesome to me. This know-it-all gradualistic growth of conventional thought leads to self-serving models in a society seeking to prove itself the dominant force rather than grow and accept the merit that comes from CREATIVE abundant possibilities. These possibilities are the thing of which growth and true learning avail us of massive potential breakthroughs or 'quantum leaps'. Why engage in theorizing about things in 'black and white' ways? Who does that empower?
There are no absolute answers and only the 'Fool thinks he is a wise man'. I ask you to consider where we might be if not for the 'atom-mysticists' or 'hermeneuts' as the nuclear science and quantum physicists have been derisively called. Have you heard about the official of the US Patent Office in the 1890's who said they should 'close their offices'? He said this because it was their considered and wise opinion 'that everything was already discovered'! My schooling was a verdant playground for such narrow and prejudicial points of view, and I see little change in the schooling my nephews endure today. This article is a MUST for anyone who wishes to see what future science can hold for us. I wish we could have begun the interdisciplinary approach it recommends and the necessary moral development long before this. I think such morality and ecumenicism is still our biggest hurdle as a species. I will illustrate this more as we proceed, but for now let me quote Bill Joy of Sun Microsystems again, before continuing with the article from 1980.
Bill Joy says: "I don't know where these people hide their fear. As an architect of complex systems I enter this arena as a generalist. But should this diminish my concerns? I am aware of how much has been written about, talked about, and lectured about so authoritatively. But does this mean it has reached people? Does this mean we can discount the dangers before us?
Knowing is not a rationale for not acting. Can we doubt that knowledge has become a weapon we wield against ourselves?"
Professor Morowitz continues from the 1980 article: "Werner Heisenberg, one of the founders of the new physics, became deeply involved in the issues of philosophy and humanism. In PHILOSOPHICAL PROBLEMS OF QUANTUM PHYSICS, he wrote of physicists having to renounce thoughts of an objective time-scale common to all observers, and of events in time and space that are independent of our ability to observe them. Heisenberg stressed that the laws of nature no longer dealt with elementary particles, but with our knowledge of these particles-that is, with the 'contents of our minds'. Erwin Schrödinger, the man who formulated the fundamental equation of quantum mechanics, wrote an extraordinary little book in 1958 called MIND AND MATTER. In this series of essays, he moved from the results of the new physics to a rather mystical view of the universe that he identified with the 'perennial philosophy' of Aldous Huxley. Schrödinger was the first of the quantum theoreticians to express sympathy with the UPANISHADS and Eastern philosophical thought. A growing body of literature now embodies this perspective, including two popular works. THE TAO OF PHYSICS by Fritjof Capra, and the DANCING WU-LI MASTERS by Gary Zukav... However, the only simple and consistent description physicists were able to assign to a measurement, involved an observer's becoming aware of the result. Thus the physical event and the content of the human mind were inseparable. This linkage forced many researchers to seriously consider consciousness as an integral part of the structure of physics. Such interpretations moved scientists toward the 'idealist' as contrasted with the 'realist' conception of philosophy.
The views of a large number of contemporary physical scientists are summed up in the essay 'Remarks on the Mind-Body Question' written by Nobel laureate Eugene Wigner. Wigner begins by pointing out that most physical scientists have returned to the recognition that thought-meaning the mind-is primary. He goes on to state: 'It was not possible to formulate the laws of quantum mechanics in a fully consistent way without reference to the consciousness.' And he concludes by noting how remarkable it is that the scientific study of the world led to the 'content of consciousness as an ultimate reality.’
The founders of modern atomic theory did not start out to impose a 'mentalist' picture on the world. Rather, they began with the opposite point of view and were forced to the present day position in order to explain experimental results.
The results of this chain of reasoning will probably lend more aid and comfort to Eastern mystics than to neurophysiologists and molecular biologists; {He is Harold J. Morowitz, Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University.} nevertheless, the closed loop follows from a straight-forward combination of the~ explanatory processes of recognized experts in the three separate sciences. Since individuals seldom work with more than one of these paradigms, the general problem has received little attention... We now understand the troublesome features in a forceful commitment to uncritical reductionism as a solution to the problem of mind. We have discussed the weaknesses of that position. In addition to being weak, it is a dangerous view, since the way we respond to our fellow human beings is dependent on the way we conceptualize them in our theoretical formulations. If we envision our fellows solely as animals or machines we drain our interactions of humanistic richness. If we seek our behavioral norms in the study of animal societies, we ignore those uniquely human features that so much enrich our lives. Radical reductionism offers little in the area of moral imperatives. Further, it presents the wrong glossary of terms for a humanistic pursuit."
I used this article at York's M.B.A. program in 1982, when my professor introduced Asimov's 'grandmother theories'. I was already quite conversant with mystical viewpoints and what some call 'The Human Potential Movement' and I felt the one-sided programming he was feeding the students, who were all younger than me, was almost criminal. I did handouts for the next class and he wasn't there. His boss was taking his place and he agreed with me, and let me re-visit the previous week’s material and debunk it. The Professor gave me a B grade when I had A class and test marks, he was not invited back to another term. I did not have to vote against him in the Masters Programme position that the students had elected me to.
I understand that Professor Morowitz does not describe how the chemical processes of the mind generate consciousness, and that soul is a hard thing to quantify. In many years of research I find Jung to be the best instructor in what is ultimately an experience of constant learning. It is said that the soul operates individually and collectively in a similar way to the attraction of the photonic materials reported on briefly, or the thalami operation that we shall cover from another author’s viewpoint before the end of this chapter. The attunement within the human body by adepts like the Yogis enable them to stop heartbeat and regenerate their bodies in ways that amaze the Western researchers who have tried to debunk these 'Svengalis' for many years. It is there that Jung drew much of inspiration, as well as from the TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD that he later wrote a foreword to.
Bill Joy says the following from his article in Wired Magazine from March 2000: "A recent article by Stuart Kauffman in NATURE titled "Self-Replication: Even Peptides Do It" discusses the discovery that a 32-amino-acid peptide can 'autocatalyse its own synthesis.' We don't know how widespread this ability is, but Kauffman notes that it may hint at 'a route to self-reproducing molecular systems on a basis far wider than Watson-Crick base-pairing.'
In truth, we have had in hand for years clear warnings of the dangers inherent in widespread knowledge of Genetic, Nanotechnology and Robotic technologies - of the possibility of knowledge alone enabling mass destruction. But these warnings haven't been widely publicized; the public discussions have been clearly inadequate. There is no profit in publicizing the dangers."
I had a partner in 1985-7 who used to tell me about bio-RAM and artificial intelligence at Carnegie-Mellon University. Mr. Joy is sounding a similar warning, and making a very important point about our leadership and lack of debate about the important decisions we must face.

"It is not suggested here that children are in a permanent state of enlightenment in the same way as those such as J. Krishnamurti {Heralded by Mme. Blavatsky as the Messiah, and taught to become a TRUE 'wonder child' by great women and teachers like Annie Besant.} or Buddha discovered, for this is a particular state far beyond all other states. But it is suggested that the state of innocence in childhood samples a comparable connection with reality, which if retained through into adulthood, can bring astonishing beauty and joy. Many children feel this light filled {The reference to LIGHT is not likely to be just analogous or a simple metaphor, as we explore in the Photonic cosmic teleportation already touched on. Near death experience is replete with the constant reference to the 'white light' relating to a Jesus or higher state and dimension.} and natural form of existence everyday and not only think nothing of it (!) but would not begin to consider writing reams of descriptive matter on it. The greatest tragedy of this profound situation is that adults are adults are unable to understand the innocence of childhood in its full form 'at all' - simply because the natural state does not exist to be understood - it is NOT {Emphasis added} a matter of the intellect... if permitted to flourish through adult appreciation of it, very often out of simple misunderstanding...We pass on our fears to our children - step by step, as we move through their lives beside them - and in so doing we manage also to wipe clean their joy, their freedom and their innocence."
Yes, courage is important in avoiding the dangers associated with the spiritual world, and the unnecessary creation of concepts like HELL, that the Pope admits exists only in the mind (which is VERY powerful), can preempt the beauty of this whole matter oriented dimension of energy we live in. We are as the 'New Agers' say, 'spiritual beings having a brief physical experience.' The long legs of the masterful marketing program of 'salvation' and 'eternal damnation' are evident throughout recent history. I am going to include a poem I wrote about the spirit world that recounts my experience with a definite exorcism. I hope someday that anthropologists like Dr. Janice Boddy of the U of T succeed in their worthwhile quest to get Trance and Possession phenomena out of the grasps of the psychiatric nosology.
POSSESSIONS AND AN EXORCISM:

Possessions spiritual, some say, you're insane!
My first was due to a lady, I had met
I think we were connected by our brain
We all have waves of energy, OURS was similarly set
Sartre said 'Love is absent space'
So many times, I saw her face

Whoever I loved, I felt with me
Knew their thoughts so true, and FREE!
Open minds, 'connecting auras' astral travels
In these ways our SPIRIT thus unravels.
There is also danger, in evil hands
Sometimes I have felt, their demands
A father dead, possessed his abused daughter
Her life was being led to slaughter,
Her husband took her everywhere
McGill, Mayo neurologists
Psychiatrists,.. psychologists
She then 'on death bed' he had a scare
I told him what I thought was 'up'
They held hands in séance style
Her 'black sheep' sister was thrown to wall

The monsignor, psychiatrist and doctors all
Were most surprised as she sat up
Next week Tom brought her to me, with a smile
His psychiatrist had no better explanation
The monsignor sadly said exorcisms require their precision
But we with LOVE and psychic points charts help, no euphemism
Enabled without ritual, the freedom FOR these two souls
That was truly, Tom and my only GOAL!

Scientific American in September 1999 again says: "At the 1998 Science and Spiritual Quest conference in Berkeley, funded by the Templeton Foundation, more than 20 scientists, including a Nobel laureate, testified that science either led them to God or was not an obstacle to faith. The conference encouraged scientists to engage in public discussion of God, including (but not predominantly) Leuba's God who answers prayers.
Some pointed out that both science and faith make big presumptions, whereas others suggested that the cosmos contains hints of a mind. Astronomer Jocelyn Bell Burnell, a devout Quaker best known for her discovery of pulsars, finds a place for both science and religion in her life. 'I don't think God created the world in any physical sense,' she told the gathering of 350 people. 'But that's not to say there isn't a God.' For her, God just IS--a private, interior experience tells her so. She said that some people want to put God in that little nanosecond gap after the big bang, but her faith did not need God in any gap."
Most people do not understand the nature of the kind of 'devout' practice of the Quakers. I am including the following quotations for reasons more than that. Their spiritism is very much 'in line' with Jesus and the Sandemanians of Michael Faraday who railed against the priesthoods and presbyteries of ecclesiasts who get in the way of GOD! I'd love to see churches pay TAXES, especially those who maintain the 'War On Women'. The 'churchianity' of today that makes millions of dollars for people like Oral Roberts or L. Ron Hubbard, is WAY out of control and must be brought into some unity of ecumenical purpose. Thomas Jefferson wrote powerfully of TRUTH and the church in his famous Virginia Bill wherein he says:
"Almighty God hath created the mind free... To compel a man to furnish contributions of money {Or let them use the services for free.} for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical… Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions of physics or geometry.
The opinions of men are not the object of civil government, nor under its jurisdiction...truth is great and will prevail if left to herself... She is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict unless by human interposition, disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate."
Are our schools considering any of the viewpoints I am presenting to you for your independent evaluation? There are many Christian mystics other than the Gnostics who I am happy to regard' as brothers including the Agape and true followers of St. Francis. The minister Roger, who I wrote about earlier just came to apologize for his behavior, and I wonder if he will tell his flock that he did this; so they might stop their 'back-biting'? I even regard the Quakers as my 'brothers' despite their number having once included 'Tricky Dicky' Nixon.
A Popular Dictionary of Spiritualism, by Blunsdon, in 1961 says on page 87: "Friends, Society of (Quakers) Non-formalist religious society founded about 1666 by George Fox of Leicester, England. The name Quakers or 'Shakers' was originally a derisive epithet {Just like Roger used against me, in saying I was into a 'conspiracy'.} bestowed because of slight trembling' movements noticed before a Friend became inspired to speak. Similar trembling is sometimes seen when a trance medium goes under control."
Control here refers to the spirit who takes 'control' of the body of the 'speaker', from the next dimension. I do not wish to associate the fact that some Pentecostals experience these things, with the Quakers or myself. A further insight into the 'spiritualism or mysticism' of the Quakers comes from an interestingly titled book Psychiatry & Mysticism, on page 187:
"Quakers were a small group among the Christians who were forlorn and despairing of church theology, church, and methodical exercises but given to expect only Enthusiastick Consolations' (Baxter 1649), and to believe that no outward symbol but one's own deepest nature gives spiritual promptings and directions. The Quakers developed into a fine art a simple religious belief system in which non-directive meditation occupied a central place (Jones, 1914). ' … Like many other forms of meditation, the Quaker form brings special motoric, cognitive, affective ecstatic, ethical and utopical components into a complex interplay with each other."
Do you believe in 'Ascended Masters' like Jesus, who come to earth from another realm of energy that have an interest in keeping us 'on course to fulfill our purpose'? This mystical construct is a part of almost every religion and I believe these dimensions are being proven by quantum physics and all other 'open' science that is making our world less hidden (translated as occult by some). In his Psychological Commentary on The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Dr. Carl Jung points out that although Freud's "is the first attempt made by the West to, as if from below, from the animal sphere of instinct, the psychic territory that corresponds in Tantric Lamaism, to the Sidpa Bardol, or state of reincarnating, a very justifiable fear of metaphysics prevented Freud from penetrating into the sphere of the 'occult'. In this Freud was typically non-Oriental, and fettered by his own self- imposed limitations... 'It is therefore not possible', Dr. Jung states 'for Freudian theory to reach anything except an essentially negative valuation of the unconscious'."
In a probably vain attempt to briefly summarize where we are in the exploration this book is engaged in, let me say. The 'soul-grabbing' churchians built on the group soul 'working partner' experience of old pagan customs in order to have more power in this realm and in the next dimensions as well. Their attempted exclusivity of interpretation and domain or dominion over our soul might lead to us being their servants through the advent of seductive life-supporting technology that will DENY the existence of soul. This may be done through downloading our supposed consciousness that includes NO soulful element or by 'teleporting' a quantum effect doppelganger!