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Application – Epilepsy – Seat of the Soul Research Project

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(Posted on June 7, 2013 by David McMillin)

Again we would insist ... that this organization may give much to the world on one particular disturbance that has baffled the wise and the foolish. This study on that called epilepsy - for THREE YEARS! and you will be undefeatable! (254-82)

Edgar Cayce volunteered this amazing suggestion during a trance session on January 12, 1935. It came at the end of reading 254-81, after he said "We are through for the present" and after Mrs. Cayce had started to give him the waking suggestion.

One can only begin to wonder what might have been accomplished had the organization (A.R.E.) followed this bit of psychic advice. As far as we know there was no effort to do a special study on epilepsy. Certainly there is a fair amount of information in the various individual cases that accumulated over the years. But it would be nice if we had a collection of dedicated readings on epilepsy, much in the manner in which the Glad Helpers requested series of readings on the Revelation and endocrine glands.

At a personal level, I have been involved in some activity in this direction. In 1991 I invited a group of friends and associates to form a study group on epilepsy. We met once each week in a member's home and discussed case and after case, with related data from the medical literature. Eventually, we moved on to cover related topics such as the endocrine readings in the 281 series. This went of for about seven years. We used to joke with each other: "Are we undefeatable yet?"

With the study group making progress in the epilepsy cases studies, I invited several individuals to join together as a research organization. This included some of the core from the weekly study group and Eric Mein, a local physician interested in the Cayce readings. This effort resulted in the activation of Meridian Institute culminating in numerous research projects including epilepsy. You can read the Epilepsy Research Report that documents the various aspects of our inquiries if you like.

Although Meridian Institute is no longer actively engaged in research, the A.R.E. has continued with one of our projects - looking for the "cold spot" that the readings associated with all cases of "true" epilepsy. The last I heard is that they have completed data collection and are in the process of data analysis and writing up their findings for publication.

The Cold Spot

From EVERY condition that is of true epileptic nature there will be found a cold spot or area between the lacteal duct and the caecum. (567-4)

In contrast to mainstream medicine that focuses almost entirely on the brain as the dysfunctional organ in epilepsy, the Cayce readings emphasize problems in the peripheral systems (especially the autonomic nervous system, digestive tract, and lymphatic system) which in turn produce reflexes resulting in brain seizures. Specifically, Cayce insisted that most cases of epilepsy were caused by "adhesions" in the lacteal ducts that line the intestinal tract along the right side of the abdomen. Lacteal ducts are part of the lymphatic system that absorb nutrients from the small intestine as digested food passes through the gastrointestinal tract. An adhesion is "a holding together by new tissue [i.e., scar tissue], produced by inflammation or injury, of two structures which are normally separate." (Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary)

The lacteal duct adhesions were said to be the cause of the abdominal "cold spot." Presumably, circulation through the blood and lymph in that region becomes restricted, resulting in a relative cooling compared to left side of the abdomen. Merdian Institute research sough to document the cold spot using a variety of modalities, some of which utilize state-of-the-art (infrared) thermography. The readings simply insisted that a warm hand placed on the abdomen could make the assessment. More on this later, in terms of application.

Cayce cited various causes of abdominal lacteal duct adhesions in, including: Injury or trauma directly to the abdomen, fever, spinal injuries (with reflexes to the abdomen), and pregnancy and birth complications. The treatment rationale that underlies Cayce's therapeutic approach flows naturally from his premise that most cases of epilepsy were caused by adhesions in the lacteal ducts of the abdomen. Treatment is directed at breaking up adhesions in the lacteal ducts located along the right side of the abdomen with hot castor oil packs. Cayce frequently recommended various other therapies in the treatment of epilepsy, including spinal adjustments, diet, hydrotherapy, medicines, and mental/spiritual healing.

With regard to the "seat of the soul", the Leydig and pineal glands (and entire "pineal system") were often mentioned in the epilepsy readings. It seems the "solar plexus brain" is a key component to the body-soul connection when it comes to the cause and treatment of epilepsy.

The Solar Plexus Brain

... vibration ... is distributed to the body from that center of the body in solar plexus brain ... those centers about the umbilicus, which are the electronic and atomic vibratory radiations of a human body. (1800-15)

The abdomen has its own brain. Byron Robinson, M.D. wrote a lengthy treatise (over 600 pages on it) and modern medicine has labeled it the "gut brain". About a third of your nervous system is in your intestinal tract. It's called the enteric nervous system. We investigated and wrote about these mainstream aspects of the abdominal brain as part of the Meridian Institute research project on epilepsy and migraine (another neurological disorder that that the readings traced to the abdomen).

With regard to the "seat of the soul," the umbilical plexus in the region near the navel may be part of the "pineal system." This is probably what the readings meant by the phrase: "the electronic and atomic vibratory radiations of a human body." If you have looked into Cayce's energy medicine (and particularly the wet cell battery with vibratory solutions), you will recognize the lacteal duct plexus associated with epilepsy as the same general location for the large nickel plate that is said to carry medicinal vibrations into the body. The readings insisted that the vibratory solutions are assimilated through the lacteal (umbilical) plexus.

This is a remnant of the embryonic development when nutrients were delivered from the mother via the umbilical cord. The readings insist that more than mere material support is provided through this conduit. There is also mental and spiritual transference that probably correspond to the "electronic and atomic vibratory raditions" cited above. After birth, it's still there running in the background, as it were. It's simply a matter of tapping into it therapeutically with a wet cell.

Or, in the case of epilepsy, where the tissue has become pathological, there needs to be therapy to remove the adhesions or strictures about the lacteal ducts. Otherwise, the nervous system becomes short-circuited and the disruption is transferred to the cerebral brain producing seizures.

The Pineal Governor

... the pineal - which runs all the way through the system and is the GOVERNING body to the coordinating of the mental and physical. (567-1, epilepsy)

... the pineal - the governing point of the brain impulses. (5498-1)

Let's consider a case study to illustrate this complex process. When [1001] received his first reading on May 7, 1930 he was twenty-two years old. The background report for this reading states:

His mother was present for the first reading, saying her son was afflicted with epilepsy, the petit mal type. She had been the rounds with him. He was having frequent hard convulsions and had been for some time; he was now living on Luminal, Phenobarbital, etc. [GD's note: The impression I had was that he had been thusly afflicted since early teens.]

During the next 5 months twelve readings were given to diagnose, prescribe, and adjust the treatment plan for this young man, before the Cayce Hospital was closed in 1931. According to his mother, the man was helped but not cured. Apparently, he was not very invested in the treatment regimen. As Gladys Davis noted in the report of the final reading for this person, "The boy himself never seemed to grasp the spiritual significance of his affliction. At times he would go away for days at a time, on drinking sprees and riotous night life excursions. His mother would finally locate him in some hotel, foot the bills, and bring him home."

A fascinating case and worth close examination for sure. For now, let's focus on the pathophysiology to get a sense of how it related to the pineal system.

At times, the readings would use mechanical analogies to explain the anatomy and physiology of the body. In this case, in order to explain what happens with the man lost consciousness, Cayce used a mechanical model to illustrate how the pineal governs or regulates the brain and organs of the system - in other words, the pineal as governor.

The changes or alterations are very individual, especially when meeting the conditions as exist from such a disorder as an improper pulsation through the nerve system, or in that state where there may be termed that the governor's belt of the nervous system slips off. (1001-8)

(Q) From what part of the body do the attacks originate? and why does body lose consciousness during attack?
(A) From the solar plexus to that of the lyden [Leydigian] gland, or through the pineal. The lyden [Leydig] is IN the pineal, see?
(Q) Why does body lose consciousness?
(A) That's just what we have been giving! It is the imaginative forces and the cerebro-spinal forces, or the nerve supply through the cerebro-spinal system cuts off - through the lyden [Leydig?] forces - which is sealed gland, see? they lie within those of the pineal themselves, see? When these become of such an activity, through conditions as excite in the system - as thrown out from those of the genitive forces, acting through those of the solar plexus, and the attempt to coordinate - they push in so much it pushes out consciousness. (1001-9)

Thus the pineal system, as the primary regulator of consciousness functions like a belt and pulley with the pineal as governor. When the impulse gets moving too fast the belt is thrown off the pulley producing unconsciousness.

To extend this mechanical symbolism a bit further, the readings compared the reproductive system to a motor:

(Q) What other glands in the body, if any, besides the Leydigian, pineal, and glands of reproduction, are directly connected with psychic development?
(A) These three are the ducts, or glands. In some developments these have reached a stage where they do not function as ducts or glands, but are rather dormant; yet much passes through same, especially for the various stages of a psychical sojourn or development. These, as we find - the genitive organism is as the motor, and the Leydig as a sealed or open door, dependent upon the development or the use same has been put to by the entity in its mental, its spiritual, activity. The mental may have been misused, or used aright. The spiritual activity goes on just the same. It is as the electron that is Life itself; but raised in power and then misdirected may bring death itself, or - as in the activities of the glands as seen, or ducts - that used aright may bring serenity, hope, peace, faith, understanding, and the attributes of its source, as the experience of the entity; or, misdirected, may bring those doubts, fears, apprehensions, contentions, disorders, disruptions, in every portion of the body. Hence these may literally be termed, that the pineal and the Leydig are the SEAT of the soul of an entity. (294-142)

Although this reading excerpt is focused on psychic development and explains Edgar Cayce's [294] psychic process, it can shed some light on the altered states associated with epilepsy. Whereas Cayce's unconscious trance state was controlled and regulated for a constructive purpose, the process could be "misdirected" bringing illness or even death, as noted above.

Note the mechanical analogy used in this reading: "the genitive organism is as a motor." The reproductive system provides the energy with the Leydig gland as the switch to turn it on or off (like a closed or open door). So we have a complete mechanical system: A switch to turn it on or off; a motor to provide the power; a belt and governor to direct and regulate the energy in a given direction (upward into the brain) for a definite purpose (to alter consciousness). But if the system becomes "misdirected" and the belt slips off, we have an epileptic disorder.

By the way, the type of epilepsy indicated in the case of Mr. 1001 was "petit mal" which usually involves some type of altered consciousness. Most petit mal seizures last only a few seconds and most commonly involve staring episodes or "absence spells." During the seizure, the person may stop walking and start again a few moments later or stop talking in mid-sentence and start again after a few seconds. The person usually does not fall during the seizure. Immediately after the seizure, the person is usually wide awake, thinking clearly, and unaware of the seizure. Strictly in terms of physiology and altered consciousness, this is not really so different than a trance reading by Edgar Cayce. Cayce at times did exhibit seizure-like activity during his trances. The purpose (ideal) was probably the main difference that allowed him to do his trance work, instead of lapsing into a pathological condition.

The psychic dimension of application of the "seat of the soul" is discussed elsewhere on this site. So you can look further into this aspect if you like. There does seem to be an overlap between epilepsy and Cayce's psychic process. Similarly, Cayce's process has some overlap with mania, so you can explore that connection as well, if you like. It is fascinating to me how all this links together. It gives me confidence that we are looking at a coherent, interconnected system (the pineal system) involved in the regulation of consciousness in various situations and conditions.

Application

In terms of application, one would naturally wish to understand the pathophysiology of "true" (idiopathic) epilepsy so as to be able to offer effective treatment options for those desiring alternatives to mainstream treatment. A simple place to begin might be to try to document (and make practical) assessment of the abdominal "cold spot." Placing a warm hand over the right and left areas of the abdomen during a seizure (as recommended in the readings) would be a simple, inexpensive, relatively noninvasive procedure. Yes, it would be a subjective comparison and the data of little use scientifically, but if a parent did this and became convinced that the Cayce approach deserved consideration, it could open the door to application of the entire treatment plan for an individual soul struggling in this incarnation. Case reports do count.

Another possibility that I have imagined would be a clinician (such as an osteopathic neurologist - yes there are such things in the USA) who would tend to see many patients with epilepsy. It might fall within the scope of practice to do a physical examination including palpating the abdomen, etc.

There is another simple treatment option mentioned in several readings that could be practical. Putting a piece of ice as the base of the brain at the beginning of a seizure to prevent or decrease the effects of the seizure can be helpful. I have actually recommended this to a parent who used it very successfully (and gratefully) for her child. This technique is also documented in the traditional osteopathic literature.

Keep in mind that the nervous system incoordination ("short-circuiting) moves from the abdomen to the base of the brain and thence into the cerebral brain proper. The ice might interrupt the progress of the incoordination.

I would really like to understand and document the anatomy and physiology of the "lacteal duct plexus" and/or "umbilical plexus." This is important for understanding the Cayce approach to epilepsy, but also could be extremely helpul in using the wet cell battery with vibratory solutions and understanding the process of embyronic and fetal development in the womb. Again, this is all interrelated - its the same "pineal system."

Epilepsy - This video segment comes froma a lecture I gave at the A.R.E.

The Abdominal Brain - This video segment discusses the concept of the abdominal brain as put forth by Bryron Robinson, M.D. and others.

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(Posted on June 7, 2013 by David McMillin) Again we would insist ... that this organization may give much to the world on one particular disturbance that has baffled the wise and the foolish. This study on that called epilepsy - for THREE YEARS! and you will be undefeatable!

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Mindfulness training and neural integration: differentiation of distinct streams of awareness and the cultivation of well-being

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In recent years, the ancient practice of being aware of one's sensory experience in the present moment-of 'being mindful'-has taken a prominent place in discussions among clinicians, educators and the general public (Epstein, 1999; Kabat-Zinn, 2003; Bishop et al., 2004; Germer et al., 2005). Found in most cultures throughout history and now resurfacing in modern times, in both the East and in the West, the practice of living in the present has been offered as a way to cultivate well-being in our minds, our bodies, and even in our relationships with each other (Kornfield, 2008). Science has taken note of these suggestions and a number of investigators have focused their objective lens on this form of subjective, inner focus of the mind on present experience. Evidence from these studies supports the notion that being mindful, being aware of the present moment without grasping on to judgments, does indeed improve immune function, enhance a sense of equanimity and clarity and may even increase empathy and relational satisfaction (Davidson et al., 2003, and see Siegel, 2007, for a summary of these research studies).

Why would the way we focus our attention matter for the quality of our lives? How does the process of developing an awareness of the present moment that is filled with COAL-curiosity, openness, acceptance and love toward our ongoing experience-improve the functioning of our bodies, our minds and our relationships? One important clue to answering these questions comes from the exciting findings of Farb et al. in this month's issue of SCAN.

The authors of 'Attending to the present: Mindfulness meditation reveals distinct neural modes of self-reference' have provided an intriguing insight illuminating the nature of mindful awareness and of our experience of self. In their study the researchers compare the brain imaging findings of two groups, one trained in mindfulness meditation and the others awaiting such training-the novices. Mindfulness meditation as taught through the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction approach (Kabat-Zinn, 1990) is a specific form of mental training that involves a series of exercises that enable the student to focus awareness on present experiences and return the attentional focus to the target of attention repeatedly as the mind becomes distracted by other objects of attention, such as discursive thoughts or preoccupations with memory or plans for the future. Subjects with MBSR training and those awaiting such an experience were then compared in a task designed to elucidate the impact of such training on the practice of momentary attentional focus. The task administered attempted to tease apart the neural correlates of a fundamental aspect of mindfulness: How we differentiate between two distinct streams of awareness. Let us first examine why the capacity to distinguish components of mental functioning might be such a useful ability and then explore the researcher's fascinating findings.

A present view of neuroscience suggests that when energy and information flow in the various circuits of the brain, we generate the neural correlates of mental experience. We can propose that one possibility for a mechanism by which mindful awareness may lead to enhanced well-being is in the way this state of attentional focus alters our relationship-our internal stance-toward our own mental processes. When individuals refine the ways in which they see the fabric of the mind itself it becomes possible to intentionally alter the flow of mental experience. In this way, seeing the mind with more depth and clarity of focus would allow the mind-the regulation of the flow of energy and information-to be transformed. For example, if we can disengage old habits of neural firing from creating their automatic and engrained emotional reactions, such as depression or anxiety, we can reduce mental suffering and enhance the growth in our internal world toward mental health. This shift in the focus of attention-the way we use the mind to channel the flow of energy and information through the various circuits of the brain-changes the pattern of activity in the brain. With repetition, such mindful practice can create intentional states of brain activation that may ultimately become traits of the individual. In neuroplasticity terms this is how new patterns of repeated neural circuit activation strengthen the synaptic connections associated with those states that then lead to synaptic strengthening and synaptic growth. This is the mechanism by which practice harnesses neural plasticity to alter synaptic connections in a way that transforms a temporary state into a more long-lasting trait of the individual. The developmental trajectory from effortful state to effortless trait can be seen as a fundamental component of how mindfulness can alter engrained patterns of psychopathology. This may be the comon mechanism underlying the burgeoning of studies that suggest that mindfulness-based approaches are effective in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (Baxter et al., 1992) and anxiety (Hayes, 2004) and in the prevention of relapse in depression (Segal et al., 2002; Mayberg, 2005; Segal et al., 2007) and drug addiction (Marlatt et al., 1985; Parks et al., 2001).

But why would seeing the mind more clearly, of sensing the previously coupled aspects of mental flow as in fact separable elements, actually help? Learning the 'mindsight' skill of seeing the mind in oneself and in others enables the individual to discern different streams of awareness. With such a new ability, the capacity to intentionally alter the direction of information flow-to use the skilled focus of attention to change the mind-enables us to amplify the activity of certain pathways and inhibit others. Without this refined inner view of the mind itself, such discrimination among specific patterns of neural firing is not possible. With the acquisition of a stabilized and refined focus on the mind itself, previously undifferentiated pathways of firing become detectable and then accessible to modification. It is in this way that we can use the focus of the mind to change the function and ultimately the structure of the brain.

When we achieve new skills of self-observation through mindful practice, it becomes possible to disengage automatically coupled pathways. With this new skill, the mind may create an important ability to free itself from the enslavements of prior learning. Before mindfulness training, an individual may be unaware that there are distinct energy and information paths within awareness. Instead, the mind is experienced as an amalgam of busy thoughts and feelings and automatic reactivity and habitual responses. The notions that one can 'change one's mind' or to even not identify with these mental activities as the totality of who one is are ideas often not even in one's worldview prior to immersion in mindfulness training. With such training, the ability to distinguish different streams of information flow becomes possible. Noticing the differences between sense and story, between primary experience-dependent 'bottom-up' input and the secondary 'top-down' chatter of prior learning becomes a fundamental tool of the mindfulness approach. Once this distinction, this noticing of the contents of the mind, is readily accessible through intentional practice, the capacity to alter habitual patterns is created and the possibility becomes available for relief from self-preoccupied rumination, self-defeating thought-patterns, negative autobiographical narratives and maladaptive patterns of emotional reactivity. Discerning the mind, seeing the mind with a more refined inner eye, allows the individual to not become lost in these top-down mental processes that often enslave awareness in preoccupations derived from the past and worried about the future. This is how we are kept from 'living in the present'. The first step in mindfulness training is to learn to become aware of the difference between bottom-up sensory experience and the top-down chatter of our narrative minds.

Farb and colleagues beautifully advance our understanding of this crucial first step in mindfulness training. Their approach to these fascinating and important issues is to create a paradigm that asks the two groups of subjects to engage in one of two mental approaches to presented stimuli. The stimuli are adjectives reflecting the subject's self-traits. In one condition, the task is to focus on the self-referential meaning of the presented word. This is a condition that evokes a sense of the extended self across time, our narrative sense of self that engages mental time travel linking past, present and future (Tulving, 1993). Meaning is a core aspect of this narrative process and the meaning-condition is designed to evoke activity in the story-telling circuits of our human neural architecture. The second condition is to become aware of the experience of the present moment. The instructions of this condition are not just about one's sensing of the external world through the five senses or even just being aware of the bodily sensations present at that moment. Instead, this experiential condition invites the subject to be aware of whatever arises as it arises-perceptions, thoughts and feelings. This is our 'momentary self-awareness'. The notion is to create a condition that evokes a non-narrative focus of the mind on here-and-now mental processes.

The results reveal that in all subjects during the meaning-condition, the medial prefrontal regions (mPFC) were activated, consistent with numerous prior studies suggesting that our 'narrative circuitry' includes these midline structures, just behind the forehead. For the second condition, to just focus on the experience and not the meaning of the presented words, those untrained in mindfulness-the novices-showed mPFC activation along with some increased activity in a posterior right-lateralized area. The coupling of these two regions suggests that without training, we are often unable to remove ourselves from the narrative chatter of our busy minds and distinguish ongoing story narration and mental time travel from immediate experience of the present moment. This narrative neural activity suggests that without mindfulness training people may naturally continue to be unable to 'just live in the present' and instead are filled with ruminations and self-referential judgments.

In contrast, the mindfulness meditation trained individuals during the momentary experience condition revealed a diminishment in mPFC activation along with enhanced right lateralized posterior findings. This result suggested that (i) The mPFC could possibly be more inhibited with mindfulness training and thus release primary bottom-up experience from narrative top-down enslavement; (ii) The capacity to differentiate these two distinct streams of narrative knowing from awareness of the present moment was now available and (iii) The possibility that with this condition there may have been a 'quieter' mind, naturally devoid of mPFC mediated chatter. In this way, a stabilized focus of the mind for those trained in mindfulness may have become a generalized trait, not a time-dependent intentionally created state of the person requiring active inhibition.

This study's findings establish an important basic step in the illumination of the possible mechanisms by which mindfulness training may help cultivate well-being. With mindfulness practice, the intentional creation of a state of mindful awareness enables the individual to differentiate previously inseparable streams in the flow of information of the mind. The authors' note that such ability may help in 'objectifying' the mind, a process in which individuals are able to dis-identify from mental activities as being the totality of who they are. This differentiation enables the discrimination between present-focused experience on sensation, images, feelings and thoughts-SIFTing the mind-from the narrative chatter of previously created categories and concerns. This distinction enables one to disengage from the top-down influences of prior learning and create new avenues by which the mind's energy and information can be regulated.

Farb et al.' s study provides an intriguing window into the nature of our multidimensional flow of awareness. We can suggest that the mind may have more than just these two delineated streams of present-focus and narrative discourse. Self-observation may be another flow of awareness that may entail embedding a map of the self as experiencing present sensation: We sense the self sensing the present moment. This aspect of a witnessing-but not narrating-self broadens the focus of awareness to include a sense of the 'I' that experiences simultaneously with the 'me' that is the historian of lived experience. Such an observational stream of awareness may activate unique but overlapping midline prefrontal regions. In this way, we may actually utilize an observational stream of awareness that harnesses medial as well as dorsolateral prefrontal circuitry within mindful awareness. Though the present study emphasizes the importance of separating midline prefrontal from more right-lateralized posterior activity in this experimental paradigm, mindful awareness as a whole-beyond just this experimental paradigm's conditions-likely involves many aspects of prefrontal activity. The correlates of the outcome measures for mindfulness training that likely utilize those functions mediated in part by midline prefrontal regions include the regulation of emotion (Tucker et al., 1995; Bush et al. 2000; Davidson et al., 2000; Phan et al. 2002; Critchely et al., 2003), executive attention (Carter et al., 1999; Gehring and Fensik, 2001; Schoenbaum and Setlow, 2001; Gottfried et al. 2003; Chambers et al., 2006) and the aspects of insight and empathy that map the mind of self and others in reflections (Turken and Swick, 1999; Decety and Chaminade, 2003; Carr et al., 2003; Decety and Jackson, 2004; Beitman and Nair, 2005; Beer et al., 2006; Heisel and Beatty, 2006) and moral reasoning (Anderson et al., 1999; Bechara et al., 2000; Moll et al., 2002; Greene et al. 2004).

Mindful awareness entails more than sensing present experience as it generates an awareness of awareness and attention to intention. These fundamental aspects of mindfulness can be seen as forms of meta-cognition that are known to involve activity in the middle prefrontal regions, including the medial prefrontal and anterior cingulate areas. Studies of mindful awareness reveal anterior cingulate activation consistent with this executive monitoring during mindfulness of the breath (Cahn and Polick, 2006). Of note also are the preliminary findings of superior temporal activation as well, consistent with neural mapping of states of intention that may involve circuitry related to the mirror neurons and insula (Carr et al., 2003) The possible activity and strengthening of circuits of the middle prefrontal regions during mindfulness practice, Brodman's area 9 and 10, is supported by the findings that aspects of this region are thicker in those with decades of mindfulness meditation practice (Lazar et al., 2005). As the authors point out, Lazar and colleagues' study also revealed right-lateralized increased thickness in more posterior regions associated with intero- and exteroception: the insula, somatosensory cortex and parietal regions. Here we see the supportive data suggesting that mindfulness practice is not just about being aware of sensory experience in the moment but also involves executive and metacognitive prefrontal functions as well.

Ruth Baer and colleagues (Baer et al., 2006) have noted four facets of mindfulness in the general population, and the distinction of a fifth independent facet in those trained in mindfulness meditation. These facets include being non-judgmental, non-reactive, acting with awareness of present sensory experience, labeling and describing with words the internal world, and self-observation. We can see that these facets, especially the latter two, involve more than the immersion of oneself in sensation devoid of executive prefrontal functions alone. The essential capacities to monitor one's own intentional states and the focus of awareness onto itself are central features of mindful practice. These prefrontal abilities, combined with the additional frontal use of linguistic centers to describe internal experience as one observes ongoing states, are fundamental to mindful awareness. In these ways, mindfulness is clearly an integrated state of mental processing that involves a wide range of attentional, emotion regulating, conceptual and observational processes that are harnessed in a flexible and adaptive manner. The ability to bring back a wandering attention over and over again, as the authors note in William James' comments, is the education 'par excellence'. Such an educated mind involves the executive functions of an integrating prefrontal cortex that monitors the self as lived, has a map of the mind itself and alters attentional flow as needed.

The present research findings help us see the essential distinction of primary sensing of ongoing mental events from a narrative meaning-making stream of awareness. In addition we have suggested that we may have an observational stream that maps the self as experiencing yet does not link such observations of the present to memories of the past or plans for the future. In this way, the linguistic output derived from such an observational stream would be a description, not a narrative explanation. This observational self is consistent with the memory studies in which we can recall autobiographical details from a witness or from a participant perspective, the latter having more richness of emotional and sensory detail (Schacter, 1996). The 'witnessing self' may reveal a core stream of observation independent from both narrative and primary sensing. Yet another stream of awareness may exist beyond sensing the moment, observing ourselves and the constructed categories and concepts of our explanatory narrative selves. This stream is described by mindfulness practitioners as a non-conceptual awareness, a kind of 'knowing' before and beyond constructions, observations and even sensations. It may be that differentiating these four, and perhaps even more, streams of awareness from each other can then permit an individual to link them together in new ways as a mechanism for becoming free from top-down prisons of prior learning and habit.

The ability to differentiate previously coupled and automatic elements of the mind enables these components of information flow to be linked in new combinations. The overall process of linkage of now differentiated elements is the formal definition of the term, integration. Farb et al.' s study illuminates an important step in how the mind can come to be trained to discern dissociable streams of awareness into differentiated components of mental experience. When we link differentiated parts we create an integrated state. Integration can be seen as an essential process in the movement toward mental well-being (Siegel, 2001). By examining the mathematical field of complexity theory, it is possible to propose that the creation of such an integrated state enables a system to move toward 'maximizing complexity' which has the described features of being flexible, adaptive, coherent, energized and stable. This integrated flow may be at the heart of how mindful awareness creates well-being. The present study powerfully illustrates one step in which mindfulness training may enhance neural differentiation by decoupling two previously intertwined streams of awareness. Mindful awareness may also be seen as a way to alter our relationship with the self, with our own mind, so that we can create new states of information flow in the course of daily life. Discerning different components of the mind, and developing the capacity to actively engage some activities and disengage others, is an essential aspect of mindfulness that this study powerfully reveals. Future investigations can build on this important present work by further delineating the mechanisms of this ancient and effective means of developing well-being in our lives.

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Mindfulness training and neural integration: differentiation of distinct streams of awareness and the cultivation of well-being

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In recent years, the ancient practice of being aware of one's sensory experience in the present moment-of 'being mindful'-has taken a prominent place in discussions among clinicians, educators and the general public (Epstein, 1999; Kabat-Zinn, 2003; Bishop et al., 2004; Germer et al., 2005).

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Tevet: A Month of Contradictions - Contemporary Kabbalists

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The ( Sefer Yetzirah tells that the holy four-letter Name of G‑d is composed of 4 letters - YHVH - which divide into two pairs: YH and VH. The former enlivens the upper worlds in the universe, and the mental faculties in the self. The latter enlivens the lower realms and the body. Eitz Chaim )

There are twelve primary permutations of YHVH, the holy four-letter Name of G‑d, each one enlivening one of the months. 1The entire month is governed by that permutation. Y/ and V/ vuv are relatively the male/ chesed-kindness/giving aspect. Both H/ are the female/ din- judgment/receiving aspect.

Tevet is tenth from Nisan and its permutation is HYHV. The din letters of each pair are first, implying a format of judgment. Furthermore, the permutation comes out of the last letters of the words of its verse, also denoting a din tendency, as opposed to other permutations that come out of the first letters, implying a tendency. 2

Jacob and Esau divided domain over the time/space/soul continuum between them.

This is in line with the Zohar's teaching that Jacob and Esau divided domain over the time/space/soul continuum between them. The first three winter months of Tishrei, Cheshvan, and Kislev are Jacob's. Tevet that follows is as if under Esau's jurisdiction, whose primary aspect is ( din. The only auspicious day in the month is the tenth of Tevet, a day of five difficult occurrences; for generations it has been set as a fast day. Shulchan Aruch I: sec. 401)

As opposed to other sets of permutations featuring the theme of H preceding, the specific quality of Tevetimplies some semblance of proper order, as the YH and VH pairs remain in order, that is YH first. And so we see that Rosh Chodesh Tevetis actually a day of Chanukah - one of the greatest holidays! A great secret lies in this.

B. Eight in Time and Place

Tradition teaches that the head of Esau 3 is in the Machpela Cave , the 'doubled' cave in Hebron where the patriarchs are buried, in some ways the holiest place in the world. The Zohar teaches that it is connected to the upper Gan Eden [paradise]. (Zohar Chayei Sarah) It draws from the upper - the eighth and there are eight buried there. Eight is the step beyond the seven directions of space and the seven days of time. So it represents the upper, transcending levels. (Maharal)

Chanukah also has eight days. It is to time what the Machpela Cave is to place - a cable to the sublime, celestial aspect of reality. This is seen in the expression of the main Chanukah miracle: The oil that was fit to burn for one day burned for eight days, i.e. a wonder of light. It burned for eight days because it was generated by the eighth level, from where comes light.

This is all in line with the happenings of that time. For the Greeks were not seeking to destroy the Jewish people physically, they aimed at the soul. They therefore made decrees against fulfilling the Torah and sought to draw the people into secular philosophy and outlook. The light burning miraculously represents the triumph of "Torah/light" over Hellenism and secularism.

Before this world was created, there was the world of (Zohar III ( Tohu [chaos]. G‑d intentionally poured too much light into the vessels of this world and they shattered; the lights ascended above. Immediately a repair process started. The vessels were fixed and the lights toned down, allowing them to endure. Idra Raba) The new refurbished world is called the world of Tikun [rectification]. Eitz Chaim Shaar HaSh) Even though the world of Tikun endures, the lights of Tohu are actually much greater.

G‑d created primordial spiritual archetype root worlds because they were meant to play out in the time/space/soul continuum. The patriarchs are the major grand soul-center sources through which everything is channeled. ( Tikun and Tohu express in them through Jacob and Esau respectively. Torah Ohr, Toldot) Even though Jacob is righteous and Esau was wicked, the potential of Esau is greater. 4 For this reason he was born first.

Isaac wanted to give the blessings to Esau...

Isaac wanted to give the blessings to Esau, even though he most certainly also recognized the wicked nature of Esau's behavior. But he also saw many levels deeper. The core of Esau is imbedded with levels of super holiness. Isaac wanted to give him the blessings in order to energize that holiness and help it to surface and take hold.

The problem with the world of Tohu is that it has a few screws loose - its lights are not connected to its vessels. Therefore, Esau asked complicated questions such as if there is an obligation to take tithes from salt. On the other hand, he was reported as going out to kill and steal. The simple understanding of this is that he was a trickster. The real understanding of the issue is that he was composed of a double dynamic - very good and very bad. This is the secret of the head of Esau being in the m'orat hamachpaileh. The head - his potential - really does belong there. And so Rosh Chodesh, the head of the month, is in Chanukah, the time counterpart of Machpela Cave.

The destruction of the Temple is an expression in space of the shattering of the vessels. It is no wonder that part of the process of the destruction happened in Tevet. This gives the month its din-oriented flavor.

Yet its pairs of the Divine name are in order. This demonstrates the concept of "the lights of Tohu in the vessels of Tikun". (Lubavitcher Rebbe, 27 Nisan, 5751) The tumultuous mega-energies of Tevetare a bucking bronco that can be tamed and harnessed for great undertakings.

The special service for a person to work on during this month is to search for one's greatest potential and seek to actualize it. The choicest lights of the self must be concretized and drawn into the vessels of balanced expression. will do this for the universe. The more anyone does this in himself, the more he hastens ( Mashiach's coming, whereupon the tenth of Tevetwill be transformed into one of the greatest festivals. Ta'anit)

Water and Salt

" Offer salt with all of your sacrifices."

MLCh/' melach'/salt equals 78 - three times YHVH/26.

This is the secret of Esau asking about tithing salt. A covenant is a pact between two parties that connects them in a way that is above anything that they may do to each other. The relationship is untouchable and eternal. ( Likutei Torah Baal HaTanya ) Sacrifices are called korbanot which literally means to come close. A sin distances one from G‑d and the offering is designed to reconnect him. It is able to do this because in truth the relationship between G‑d and the soul is inviolable. By means of its root, salt has a natural ability to awaken this innate bond. It must therefore be offered with all of the sacrifices. This lofty root also affords it the ability to sweeten bitterness.

Salt completes all foods.

Salt comes from water; it takes shape, yet retains the boundless quality of water. It therefore especially links with the concept of /covenant and has the power to awaken it. This is also the reason why salt is the unique spice that gives shape to the taste of food, as well as the idea behind MLCh/( melach sharing the same letters as LChM/ lechem - bread. Bread is the staple of life that includes all foods. Likutei Halachot, Orach Chaim, Betziyat HaPat) Salt completes all foods.

" And Elokim divided between the waters that are above the firmament and between the waters that are below the firmament". The Rabbis teach that the waters that ended up beneath cried, "We (also) want to be before the King!" G‑d heard their plea and decreed that every offering be accompanied by salt, thus it ascend Above with sea salt - the waters' representative. Above - all is one, all is good. Drawing from such a place, the difficulties of this world are sweetened.

This quality expresses especially in water, which is tasteless, colorless, and formless - hinting to boundless levels. " The world will be filled with knowledge like water covers the sea." (Is. 11:9)

"One who vows (to abstain) from sustenance is allowed to eat water and salt." ( Nedarim ) We see again that they are connected. Furthermore, this teaching drives home the above idea that salt itself is not food per se - yet it gives food structure. 5

Everything in the world has its own unit of ten . ( Eitz Chaim) The mitzvah of separating and giving a tenth to charity targets - the tenth sefira, which includes them all. (Zohar) Giving to charity is like giving to G‑d. 6 It is as if giving the whole thing to G‑d - and so the entire food is sanctified. This means that the sparks of holiness in the food are elevated and manifest. Eating such food energizes the soul.

We already have seen that the intrinsic state of salt is that it as if never left the pristine celestial state of being as if above. The sparks in it do not require rectification. Therefore it can be eaten without reciting a blessing ( Orach Chaim Berachot) and tithes need not be separated from it.

Nonetheless, Esau asked about tithes of salt. It was indeed a great question that only he, coming from the place of his lofty root, could ask. Malchut is the feminine/receiving aspect of the lower seven sefirot. The upper three have a similar, corresponding aspect on their level; it is bina. Therefore, both bina and malchut are represented by H/ hei - the former by the first H in the Tetragrammaton, the latter by the second. Esau wanted to give the tithe on the level of bina, the upper realm - where even salt itself can be elevated to a higher place Above. The choice lights of Tohu, Esau's root, allow place for such a lofty Tikun.

...the head of Esau did merit to find its way into the m'orat hamachpailah...

Isaac wanted to give him the blessings in order to draw the lights of Tohu into the vessels of Tikun. Through Esau, the whole world could be elevated to operate on this plateau. It was premature - the world was not yet ready for such a level. The blessings were given to Jacob/ Tikun - things are to function on a toned down rate in order not to blow the circuits.Nonetheless, the head of Esau did merit to find its way into the m'orat hamachpailah: There will yet come a time when the world will ascend to this super-state.

Now for the punch line: Esau's salt/tithe/ tenth query is the root of the tenth 7 of Tevet. Temporarily, the negative part of Esau has some expression and caused problems on this day, which we still mourn. When the vessels are completely repaired, the negative energy will be dispelled and the custom deluxe good of Esau will express in this day becoming an extra powerful holiday.

From all this we see even more deeply how special an opportunity Tevetis to work on aspiring to super levels.

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The ( Sefer Yetzirah tells that the holy four-letter Name of G‑d is composed of 4 letters - YHVH - which divide into two pairs: YH and VH. The former enlivens the upper worlds in the universe, and the mental faculties in the self. The latter enlivens the lower realms and the body.

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The Chakra House of Healing - Ayse Hogan

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Shamans have been around for tens of thousands of years and is the oldest spiritual practice, in fact, there is evidence it may even be 80,000 years. They utilize techniques and rituals that have helped humans survive back then and still today. It is not a religion even though it is practised by many religions.

Shamans heal the injured and the sick, perform ceremonies, sing, chant and dance bridging the gap between the living and the dead and are able to communicate with spirit. We can get help from the world of spirit to get the information that we need now.

What are the elements of Self? They are mind, body, emotion and energy (soul spirit). To express our soul is perfectly natural but we always seem to get in our own way. Expressing our soul brings positive changes in our lives. Shamans accept the soul as eternal, since energy cannot be created or destroyed, neither can the soul therefore it seems realistic to assume that soul has purpose. We have a responsibility to express what we have the potential to become as we are part of something so much bigger.

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Shamans have been around for tens of thousands of years and is the oldest spiritual practice, in fact, there is evidence it may even be 80,000 years. They utilize techniques and rituals that have helped humans survive back then and still today. It is not a religion even though it is practised by many religions.

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Dr. Stephen Porges: What is the Polyvagal Theory

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Feeling Music: Exploring the physical impact of sound | Red Bull Music Academy Daily

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Feeling Music: Exploring the physical impact of sound

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Emma Robertson talks to artists exploring the physical impact of sound

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Milk Hill, Nr Stanton St. Bernard, Wiltshire | 08.08.2008 | Wheat
In my last two blogs I had been looking at two crop circles that appeared on the same date, the 8th of August 2015. But there was a formation that appeared back in 2008 on the 8th of August making the date the 8th day of the 8th Month 2008 - or 8-8-8. So I thought it might be an opportune moment to dive back into the archives and take a look at a formation that was yet another to appear on this date, but to have the added iteration of eight as the year that it appeared. An Alliteration of Time and Form?
I wish I could find a word that would accurately describe the nature of the formation that appeared below Milk Hill between Alton Barnes and Stanton St Bernard, in Wiltshire on the 8th of August 2008 (8-8-8). The formation appeared as a huge figure eight in the landscape, made almost entirely from circles of varying dimensions. So it was a crop circle in the pattern of a figure eight which appeared on the 08.08.2008. If one were talking of prose, one might call it an alliteration, but what is the word for an alliteration of forms? I'm not sure there is one.

One might call it a synchronicity of dates and design, but even this doesn't quite fit. Synchronicities (according to Jung) occur when there is an arational connection between something in the inner and outer worlds which has meaning for the person experiencing it. Here the connection was between time and form, and the event was was public, not personal; it was an event in which this strange constellation affected all those who saw it. Perhaps we need to invent a word for occurrences such as these? One might say there is a series of echoes, resonances, self-similarity; iterations of time, space and form.

One might also say that the design itself was time made manifest, or time concretised. Yet even this does not accurately describe the event, as while the formation itself seemed to concretise a specific date or moment, the figure eight of the formation has another (paradoxical) meaning - it is also the symbol of infinity.

Revisiting this formation has bought me face-to-face with just how easy to is to glibly smile at such an event, like it was nothing - "Oh thats a great play on date and form" (which it is) - but when we stop to really think about it we lack a vocabulary to be able to describe such an event even remotely accurately.
Eight and Infinity
That the entire design is a figure eight is obvious and that it is also an infinity symbol is also obvious. But there are some really nice subtitles to this formation that makes it worth taking the time to notice.

When we write (or draw) the figure eight the first thing we note is that the top loop is smaller than the bottom one, '8' - even on my computer keyboard I can clearly see that the top is smaller than the bottom. In the crop circle, both circles are of an equal diameter, but if we look at the pretty feather or tear shapes that sit nestled between each of the small circles we can see that on one circle they are on the outside and on the other circle they sit on the inside. This makes one side bigger than the other in real terms, and therefore our figure eight is smaller in the top than on the bottom! You can see this very clearly in Steve's great shot of the formation (fig1).
Möbius Loop
Another subtlety of this design is in the arrangement of the smaller ever-decreasing (or ever increasing circles), Looking at the design on its side you can see how these work in opposition to one another, so that the larger circles appear on at the top of circle on one side then on the bottom of the circle on the other side (fig 2). This clever and well thought-out arrangement gives the impression of depth, or three-dimensionality, to the entire design - it looks like the loops of a ribbon when tied in a bow.

This three-dimensionality links this formation to yet another shape and that is the Möbius Loop. The Möbius Loop is connected to the concept of eternity as it is an unbroken plane or surface, upon which one could travel eternally. You can make your own Möbius Loop with a simple strip of paper and either some glue or a piece of sticky tape. By twisting the strip once and the securing the two ends, one can create a simple eternal loop, with two twists, you can create a figure eight which has one single, eternal plane - see mine in fig 3. With three twists you create the international symbol for recycling!

Now, it's important at this stage to state that Infinity and Eternity are not the same things, and if we are going to understand something about this formation then we have to understand what these two concepts are and why they are different.
Infinity, Eternity and Forever
Infinity and Eternity are easily misunderstood and are often confused, and used interchangeably with other concepts such as Forever.

Infinity itself can be broken down into two main concepts. As a 'general concept' it means ' something which is impossible measure '. So if we are taking about a number, or a measurement, or a distance we would use infinity to describe something which is so big, or so small, or so far that it is impossible to measure or quantify. In this sense infinity is not a whole, we cannot see the end of an infinity, no matter how large we envision it, or how far we envision it, or how small that infinity might get.

However, in advanced applied mathematics it has been shown that an infinity can be a whole in its own right and not only that, but there can be many infinities and infinities of different sizes! This is an area of mind boggling complexity that I am neither qualified to talk about or really, truly understand, but I do know that some of the reason for this has to do with the way in which the mathematical concept of infinity encompasses and allows for extra or other dimensions. This is particularly interesting as there are twenty-two feathers (or tears) in each side of the formation. According to the geometer John Michell, twenty-two is the second number in the 'Master Number Sequence' and symbolises 'First access to information from other dimensions', which is infinitely fascinating!

While Infinity might be connected to many things such as size, quantity, distance or time, Eternity on the other hand, is specifically linked with he concept of time. While an infinity of time is an immeasurably long amount of time, or an immeasurable fraction of time, Eternity is 'timeless'. Eternity crucially includes the 'now', the timeless moment of the present.

In William Blake's famous poem Auguries of Innocence we read;
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour A New Vision of Time
Here we can understand Eternity as including the now 'Eternity in an hour' and we can sense its timeless nature. Eternity might be described as a simultaneity of time, or as a-temporal (beyond linear time).

Forever is different again. If Infinity is immeasurable time, and Eternity is timeless (beyond time, or a-temporal), then Forever is 'for all time'. Like the Möbius Loop, which is a closed whole, Forever is the 'entirety of time'.

Another symbol closely linked to these concepts is the Ouroboros, the serpent that eats its own tail. It's often said to represent Eternity, symbolic of the eternal, timeless, ageless wisdom which is always present. There is an element of the Ouroboros in this crop circle, both in its design and in the perennial wisdom it embodies.
The Number Eight
Infinity, Eternity and the 'Forever of the Möbius Loop' link this formation with the concept of Time. Add to this the synchronicity of the form (pattern) of the design and the date on which it appeared and there can be little doubt of the connection.
"According to the mathematician and geometer Michael Schneider, eight is the number of 'Periodic Renewal'. This is most easily demonstrated by its role in the musical scale. When the seven notes of the major scale are played alone they sound incomplete; it creates a strange anti-climax. It is not until the octave (from the latin octavus: eighth) is played that the scale becomes a whole and feels complete. The octave simultaneously takes us back to the beginning and also on to the next level - or octave. The number eight might therefore be said to represent that almost indefinable transformation from one level to the next, a transformation that moves us towards a new wholeness, in which we might be said to be different and yet still somehow remain the same. All experience changes us in some way, yet we still at our core remain the same; we are changed, but yet are still ourselves. This kind of experience is much talked about in psychological therapies, where patients are said to move towards wholeness, who are always changed by their experiences, but of course, at heart remain the same person. It is a fascinating subject for contemplation, an archetypal human process. In specific relation to the crop circles, eight may symbolise the transformative effect of coming face to face with "the other" and its effect upon the psyche. We are the same person we always were, but somehow the circles have that ineffable ability to subtly change us and move us towards a new level of wholeness."
The philosopher and writer Jean Gebser wrote in his book 'The Ever Present Origin' that the next stage of human consciousness would involve a new perception of time. According to Gebser we are living at the dysfunctional end of a world age and are transitioning to a new state of consciousness. We are moving from what he described as the Mental/Rational consciousness state, to one which he coined as 'Integral'.

What might an Integral perception of time look like? Certainly, all the concepts of time embodied by this formation might be involved. Gebser asked "What are the qualities of time?" and it is a very difficult question to answer. Gebser did talk about the a-temporal, non-linear nature of time - and this sounds very much like the concept of eternity. Time can also be described as an 'intensity of experience' - this is not as difficult to understand as one might imagine - If you've ever experienced how time elapsed slowly when one is anticipating something, or in the blink of an eye when one is dreading something - you are experiencing time as an intensity of experience. Time of course is also not constant; for anyone who has seen Christopher Nolan's excellent film Interstellar, the characters have to use time as a resource when travelling close to a blackhole, where one hour on a planet can equate to many years for those remaining on the spaceship. From all this it should be clear that our understanding and experience of time is incomplete, but I like the idea of 'an intensity of time'. Is that not what this crop circle is; ' a concretion of an intensity of time' ? It is the best description I have been able to come up with.
Time and the Soul
We cannot of course complete our meditation upon this formation without looking at the number eight. I wrote extensively about the number eight in a recent blog about the eight-fold star at Haselor last year...

There is of course a direct link between eight and time because of its connection to the musical scale. Music is all about time - intervals, rhythms, beats and tempos - have you ever noticed how music affects our perception of time? Does not time become timeless when listening to music, do we not enter another world completely, where time knows no bounds, where all that exists is the moment? It certainly is an fascinating line of thought.

There are other numbers and geometries going on in this formation; I note the quintuplet at the centre of the formation, which anchors the whole thing. Like so many quintuplets in the crop circles it 'squares the circle' and in doing so creates a meeting place between Heaven (circle) and Earth (square) - Sacred Space - right at the centre of this formation. The duality of the two sides of the formation and the way they work together so beautifully to create a balanced whole is also noteworthy. There is also a Phi proportion in the design (see fig 4.) which has a synchronous link to Infinity too, not just in the way that Phi is an irrational number and therefore its decimal places never reach a whole number solution (i.e. they just carry on into infinity), but in the fact that Phi played a role in understanding the 'many infinities' theory in advanced mathematics because there is a way of using the Fibonacci sequence of numbers to demonstrate infinity as a whole and discrete system. At this point in our meditation it is, I feel, apt to invoke the famous Allan Brown crop circle axiom that "Crop circles do your f*****g head in!" and tell myself that here would be a good place to breathe!

One final thing before I'm ready to let this formation go; it is my intense experience that the crop circles are every bit as much about consciousness as they are about geometry, number, proportion et al. This being the case I cannot finish this blog with out talking about time and the soul.

It seems to me that that we have many different perceptions of time, but that we so take for granted that we live in linear-time that we don't really think about the fact that there are times when we experience time as non-linear. In day-dreams, reveries, and when listening to music or engaged in art, time becomes timeless we don't perceive the passing of time at all, we exist in the eternal now or moment. When we sleep we have absolutely no concept or perception of time at all, and dreams that in reality last just a few minutes, can feel like hours when we are perceiving them!
Karen Alexander With my thanks to Kayleigh Douglas-Alexander Find out more:
In the three-dimensional physical world, time can be counted and measured, even though sometimes (like in the film Interstellar) it can behave in very peculiar ways in certain circumstances. But in the realm of consciousness, psyche, the spirit or the soul, time is eternal, our experience and perception is beyond time, outside of time (a-temporal). That consciousness exists in a realm unconnected to temporality suggests it is not subject to temporal laws that govern physical reality and it has always seemed to me that our non-corporeal selves go on existing in that timeless realm even through our physical selves may perish someday.

This formation puts before us some vital and interesting concepts: time, form, infinity, eternity, the transition from one level to the next, integration, wholeness, sacred space and synchronicity: it's a veritable university in a field.

How might we integrate these multivalent perceptions to reach a new integral understanding of time? It seems this is something which concerns our deepest selves, hence its manifestation in the fields...
Addendum and Ephemera The Infinity Symbol (or Lemniscate) in the Tarot.
Attend a Workshop: If you have been inspired by this blog, why don't you think about attending our annual summer conference in July this year. We run workshops on both geometry and consciousness and the conference is big on participation! We cater for both the beginner and those who are a little more experienced. You can find out more about our event here.

Get your own photo of the Milk Hill formation to frame or to study further. We have two really beautiful 10 x 15 inch prints available on our shop you can see the overhead image here and the landscape image here. Each are priced at just £20.00 plus postage and look fabulous framed on any wall.

Milk Hill Watercolour Painting: Anyone wanting a print, or the original of my Milk Hill painting, please contact us for more details.

The Infinity Symbol is also known as a 'Lemniscate' and appears in many esoteric images. It appears in the tarot; in the Tarot of Marseilles the hats of the Magician and Strength are Lemniscate shaped, later in the famous Rider Waite tarot the Lemniscate appears above the heads of the Magician and Strength. Here it represents two types of eternal wisdom, in the Magician card it represents thread of eternal esoteric knowledge passed down the generations, and in the Strength card it represents the eternal inner intuitive knowledge of the soul.

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To Infinity & Beyond! - Temporary Temples

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Milk Hill, Nr Stanton St. Bernard, Wiltshire | 08.08.2008 | Wheat In my last two blogs I had been looking at two crop circles that appeared on the same date, the 8th of August 2015. But there was a formation that appeared back in 2008 on the 8th of August making the date the 8th ...

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Carl Jung's Fascinating 1957 Letter on UFOs | Open Culture

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Deities, conspiracies, politics, space aliens: you don't actually have to believe in these to find them interesting. Just focus your attention not on the things themselves, but in how other people regard them, what they say when they talk about them, and why they think about them the way they do. Psychotherapist and onetime Freud protégé Carl Gustav Jung treated UFOs this way when he wrote his book Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies, which examines "not the reality or unreality" of the titular phenomena, but their "psychic aspect," and "what it may signify that these phenomena, whether real or imagined, are seen in such numbers just at a time" - the Cold War - "when humankind is menaced as never before in history." As what Jung called a "modern myth," UFOs qualify as real indeed.

In 1957, with Flying Saucers to appear the following year, New Republic editor Gilbert A. Harrison wanted to get this Jungian perspective on UFOs in his magazine. At the top of this post, you can see (via The Awl) a scan of Jung's response to Harrison's query, the text of which follows:

the problem of the Ufos is, as you rightly say, a very fascinating one, but it is as puzzling as it is fascinating; since, in spite of all observations I know of, there is no certainty about their very nature. On the other side, there is an overwhelming material pointing to their legendary or mythological aspect. As a matter of fact the psychological aspect is so impressive, that one almost must regret that the Ufos seem to be real after all. I have followed up the literature as much as possible and it looks to me as if something were seen and even confirmed by radar, but nobody knows exactly what is seen. In consideration of the psychological aspect of the phenomenon I have written a booklet about it, which is soon to appear. It is also in the process of being translated into English. Unfortunately being occupied with other tasks I am unable to meet your proposition. Being rather old, I have to economize my energies.

Jung, as you can see, doubled his own interest in the subject by not only considering flying saucers a social phenomenon, but as a real physical phenomenon as well. Serious enthusiasts of both Jung and UFOs might consider bidding on the original letter, now up for auction. Estimated sale price: $2,000 to 3,000.
Related Content: Face to Face with Carl Jung: 'Man Cannot Stand a Meaningless Life' Carl Gustav Jung Explains His Groundbreaking Theories About Psychology in Rare Interview (1957) Carl Gustav Jung Ponders Death
Colin Marshall hosts and produces Notebook on Cities and Culture and writes essays on literature, film, cities, Asia, and aesthetics. He's at work on a book about Los Angeles, A Los Angeles Primer. Follow him on Twitter at @colinmarshall.

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Carl Jung's Fascinating 1957 Letter on UFOs

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Deities, conspiracies, politics, space aliens: you don't actually have to believe in these to find them interesting. Just focus your attention not on the things themselves, but in how other people regard them, what they say when they talk about them, and why they think about them the way they do.

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Last Updated on Sunday, 27 October 2013 20:37

Written by John Fraim

One of the subtle mega-trends in American culture in the second half of the twentieth century has been UFOs and alien symbolism. Whether the early events centering around Roswell, New Mexico and such groups as Project Blue Book are true or not, what is a fact is that interest in aliens came onto the "radar screen" of American culture around the late 40s.

One of the subtle mega-trends in American culture in the second half of the twentieth century has been UFOs and alien symbolism. Whether the early events centering around Roswell, New Mexico and such groups as Project Blue Book are true or not, what is a fact is that interest in aliens came onto the "radar screen" of American culture around the late 40s.

Carl Jung was one of the first to try and analyze these "blips" on the "radar screen" in a symbolic way. As early as 1946 he started collecting data on UFOs and reading every book on the subject. In a 1951 letter to an American friend he wrote, "I'm puzzled to death about these phenomena, because I haven't been able yet to make out with sufficient certainty whether the whole thing is a rumor with concomitant singular and mass hallucination, or a downright fact."

An event in 1958 led Jung to conclude that it was more desirable for people to believe UFOs exist than to believe they don't exist. One of his final works, Flying Saucers, was an attempt to answer why it was more desirable to believe in their existence.

Jung came to the conclusion that UFOs were examples of the phenomena of synchronicity where external events mirror internal psychic states. As usual, he saw the UFO situation in a broader perspective than most. For Jung the UFO images had much to do with the ending of an era in history and the beginning of a new one. In his introductory remarks to Flying Saucers he writes about the UFO events:

"As we know from ancient Egyptian history, they are manifestations of psychic changes which always appear at the end of one Platonic month and at the beginning of another. Apparently they are changes in the constellation of psychic dominants, of the archetypes, or 'gods' as they used to be called, which bring about, or accompany, long-lasting transformations of the collective psyche. The transformation started in the historical era and left its traces first in the passing of the aeon of Taurus into that of Aries, and then of Aries into Pisces, whose beginning coincides with the rise of Christianity. We are now nearing that great change which may be expected when the spring point enters Aquarius."

In a similar manner that the medieval alchemists projected their psyche into matter, Jung felt that modern man projected his inner state into the heavens. In this sense, the UFOs became modern symbols for the ancient gods which came to man's assistance in time of need.

The need perhaps was for wholeness again out of the increasing fragmentation of the modern world. In the early 50s and the beginning of the Cold War, when UFOs began to infiltrate popular culture, there was a great fragmentation in the world. Jung writes, "At a time when the world is divided by an iron curtain...we might expect all sorts of funny things, since when such a thing happens in an individual it means a complete dissociation, which is instantly compensated by symbols of wholeness and unity." It was very relevant to Jung that the shape of the flying saucers was round, the shape of the ancient Mandala, symbol of wholeness throughout history.

The UFO events of the 50s which Jung turned his focus on have certainly not gone away. In fact they seem to increasingly dominate contemporary American popular culture. In the almost half century along the way they have gone a long way towards creating and boosting the literary/film/television genre of science fiction, as well as creating a huge marketing empire and a division in culture between the believers (contactees) and non-believers.

In the process, UFOs and aliens have moved out of cults and into the mainstream of popular culture, their symbolism continually evolving. An important investigation into the current symbolism of aliens and UFOs is political scientist professor Jodi Dean's Aliens in America. Dean sees aliens as repositories for the fears and phobias of our segmented, cyberculture rather than merely another broad-based cult phenomena.

These fears center around the inability to distinguish truth from fiction and the fact that many contemporary political matters are simply undiscipherable. The conspiracy theory which fuels them offers a type of conflicting symbolic duality to that of consensus reality. As Dean notes, "The claim to truth and its challenges to our practices for establishing it are what enable the alien to function as an icon of postmodern anxieties." She notes that aliens are cultural icons in which the new conditions of democratic politics at the millennium can be seen.

But in the end, aliens are really modern Americans and our feelings of alienation. As Dean says, "We have too much data, but not enough to make any decisions because we are uncertain about the contexts and networks into which we might integrate this information. Enabled by technology we become aliens, connected outside the state." And, just as often, "we're abducted by the same technology." In this strange new world, Dean notes that our neighbors are aliens. "Assimilation has been discredited as an ideal, and multiculturalism hasn't become much more than a marketing strategy...Better to forget the neighbors, go inside, and enjoy cyber-citizenship on the World Wide Web." And alien abduction, notes Dean, "narrates the predominant experience of the familiarity of strangeness in the techno-global information age."

The symbolism of alien abduction is very different than the old one of colonization dominating much of the nineteenth century. "Unlike metaphors of colonization that presupposes borders to be penetrated and resources to be exploited," Dean notes, "abduction operates with an understanding of the world, of reality, as amorphous and permeable." Dean adds that colonization moreover brings with it the possibility of struggle, of emancipation and independence. Abduction, however, recognizes the futility of resistance even as it points to other possible freedoms. Colonization implies an on-going process with systematic limitations. Yet abduction involves the sense that things are happening behind our backs. A great paradox is perhaps at the end of this symbolism as Dean concludes her book with the following: "To fight colonization, we take control. We don't fight abduction; we simply try to recover our memories, all the while aware that they could be false, that in our very recovery we participate in an alien plan."

Copyright 1998 John Fraim.

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Details Last Updated on Sunday, 27 October 2013 20:37 Written by John Fraim One of the subtle mega-trends in American culture in the second half of the twentieth century has been UFOs and alien symbolism.

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Details

Last Updated on Sunday, 27 October 2013 20:37

Written by John Fraim

One of the subtle mega-trends in American culture in the second half of the twentieth century has been UFOs and alien symbolism. Whether the early events centering around Roswell, New Mexico and such groups as Project Blue Book are true or not, what is a fact is that interest in aliens came onto the "radar screen" of American culture around the late 40s.

One of the subtle mega-trends in American culture in the second half of the twentieth century has been UFOs and alien symbolism. Whether the early events centering around Roswell, New Mexico and such groups as Project Blue Book are true or not, what is a fact is that interest in aliens came onto the "radar screen" of American culture around the late 40s.

Carl Jung was one of the first to try and analyze these "blips" on the "radar screen" in a symbolic way. As early as 1946 he started collecting data on UFOs and reading every book on the subject. In a 1951 letter to an American friend he wrote, "I'm puzzled to death about these phenomena, because I haven't been able yet to make out with sufficient certainty whether the whole thing is a rumor with concomitant singular and mass hallucination, or a downright fact."

An event in 1958 led Jung to conclude that it was more desirable for people to believe UFOs exist than to believe they don't exist. One of his final works, Flying Saucers, was an attempt to answer why it was more desirable to believe in their existence.

Jung came to the conclusion that UFOs were examples of the phenomena of synchronicity where external events mirror internal psychic states. As usual, he saw the UFO situation in a broader perspective than most. For Jung the UFO images had much to do with the ending of an era in history and the beginning of a new one. In his introductory remarks to Flying Saucers he writes about the UFO events:

"As we know from ancient Egyptian history, they are manifestations of psychic changes which always appear at the end of one Platonic month and at the beginning of another. Apparently they are changes in the constellation of psychic dominants, of the archetypes, or 'gods' as they used to be called, which bring about, or accompany, long-lasting transformations of the collective psyche. The transformation started in the historical era and left its traces first in the passing of the aeon of Taurus into that of Aries, and then of Aries into Pisces, whose beginning coincides with the rise of Christianity. We are now nearing that great change which may be expected when the spring point enters Aquarius."

In a similar manner that the medieval alchemists projected their psyche into matter, Jung felt that modern man projected his inner state into the heavens. In this sense, the UFOs became modern symbols for the ancient gods which came to man's assistance in time of need.

The need perhaps was for wholeness again out of the increasing fragmentation of the modern world. In the early 50s and the beginning of the Cold War, when UFOs began to infiltrate popular culture, there was a great fragmentation in the world. Jung writes, "At a time when the world is divided by an iron curtain...we might expect all sorts of funny things, since when such a thing happens in an individual it means a complete dissociation, which is instantly compensated by symbols of wholeness and unity." It was very relevant to Jung that the shape of the flying saucers was round, the shape of the ancient Mandala, symbol of wholeness throughout history.

The UFO events of the 50s which Jung turned his focus on have certainly not gone away. In fact they seem to increasingly dominate contemporary American popular culture. In the almost half century along the way they have gone a long way towards creating and boosting the literary/film/television genre of science fiction, as well as creating a huge marketing empire and a division in culture between the believers (contactees) and non-believers.

In the process, UFOs and aliens have moved out of cults and into the mainstream of popular culture, their symbolism continually evolving. An important investigation into the current symbolism of aliens and UFOs is political scientist professor Jodi Dean's Aliens in America. Dean sees aliens as repositories for the fears and phobias of our segmented, cyberculture rather than merely another broad-based cult phenomena.

These fears center around the inability to distinguish truth from fiction and the fact that many contemporary political matters are simply undiscipherable. The conspiracy theory which fuels them offers a type of conflicting symbolic duality to that of consensus reality. As Dean notes, "The claim to truth and its challenges to our practices for establishing it are what enable the alien to function as an icon of postmodern anxieties." She notes that aliens are cultural icons in which the new conditions of democratic politics at the millennium can be seen.

But in the end, aliens are really modern Americans and our feelings of alienation. As Dean says, "We have too much data, but not enough to make any decisions because we are uncertain about the contexts and networks into which we might integrate this information. Enabled by technology we become aliens, connected outside the state." And, just as often, "we're abducted by the same technology." In this strange new world, Dean notes that our neighbors are aliens. "Assimilation has been discredited as an ideal, and multiculturalism hasn't become much more than a marketing strategy...Better to forget the neighbors, go inside, and enjoy cyber-citizenship on the World Wide Web." And alien abduction, notes Dean, "narrates the predominant experience of the familiarity of strangeness in the techno-global information age."

The symbolism of alien abduction is very different than the old one of colonization dominating much of the nineteenth century. "Unlike metaphors of colonization that presupposes borders to be penetrated and resources to be exploited," Dean notes, "abduction operates with an understanding of the world, of reality, as amorphous and permeable." Dean adds that colonization moreover brings with it the possibility of struggle, of emancipation and independence. Abduction, however, recognizes the futility of resistance even as it points to other possible freedoms. Colonization implies an on-going process with systematic limitations. Yet abduction involves the sense that things are happening behind our backs. A great paradox is perhaps at the end of this symbolism as Dean concludes her book with the following: "To fight colonization, we take control. We don't fight abduction; we simply try to recover our memories, all the while aware that they could be false, that in our very recovery we participate in an alien plan."

Copyright 1998 John Fraim.

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Details Last Updated on Sunday, 27 October 2013 20:37 Written by John Fraim One of the subtle mega-trends in American culture in the second half of the twentieth century has been UFOs and alien symbolism.

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Carl Jung: The Mystic Who Discovered Our Inner Tarot Deck by Bernie O'Connor

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Carl Jung: The Mystic Who Discovered Our Inner Tarot Deck by Bernie O'Connor

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Carl Gustav Jung was born in Switzerland in 1875 and died in 1961. He founded analytic psychology in response to the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud. This differs from the Freudian model in downgrading the importance of sexuality and childhood conflicts in the treatment of neuroses, concentrating more on a patient's current conflicts. Jung made the significant step of defining the unconscious of a person as comprised of both a personal unconscious (proceeding from the experiences of the individual) and a collective unconscious (issuing from the inherited structure of the brain, and common to humanity). This is important to esoteric study in that it goes some way towards explaining the power of archetypal, symbolic systems like the Tarot. Indeed, the concept of archetypes - potent universal symbols appearing in myths, fairytales and dreams - is a significant part of Jung's concept of the unconscious. In Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1962), Jung wrote:

"The collective unconscious is common to us all; it is the foundation of what the ancients called 'the sympathy of all things'."

Jung classified people as introverted and extroverted types, but more importantly from the point of view of the Tarot, further divided them according to four functions of the mind: thinking, feeling, sensation and intuition. In his final work, Man and His Symbols, Jung wrote:

"These four functional types correspond to the obvious means by which consciousness obtains its orientation to experience. Sensation (i.e. sense perception) tells us that something exists; thinking tells you what it is; feeling tells you whether it is agreeable or not; and intuition tells you whence it comes and where it is going."

Jung placed these functions in two pairs of opposing types (the rational functions, thinking and feeling, and the irrational ones, sensation and intuition), suggesting that someone who has a strong tendency to one half of a pair will generally have its opposite underdeveloped or even suppressed. The most conscious function in an individual is known as the principal function, and the most conscious from the remaining pair the auxiliary function. The opposite of the principal tends to be largely suppressed and unconscious, and the opposite of the auxiliary somewhat suppressed and unconscious. So three functions are usually conscious to some degree or other with the fourth (the opposite of the primary) largely subconscious. The weaker functions require development through application for a person to become whole. Jung put it like this: "For complete orientation all four functions should contribute equally."

Jung's four functions can help enrich our understanding of the Minor Arcana, and conversely the cards can assist in psychological exploration:

Jungian Function

Focus

Tarot Suit

Element

Intuition

Subjective, internal reality

Wands

Fire

Feeling

Emotion, empathy

Cups

Water

Thinking

Intellect, detachment

Swords

Air

Sensation

Objective, external reality

Pentacles

Earth

Three of the attributions look exactly right (and it should be noted that some prefer to swap the attributions of intuition and feeling), but does intuition really correspond to Wands and Fire? Intuition as creative, perceptive insight and initiator of action fits the bill very well. Jung himself wrote:

"Intuition is not mere perception, or vision, but an active, creative process that puts into the object just as much as it takes out."

The occultist Dr. Arthur Edward Waite expressed the following, distinctly Jungian, view of the Tarot: "The Tarot embodies symbolical presentations of universal ideas, behind which lie all the implicits of the human mind, and it is in this sense that they contain secret doctrine, which is the realization by the few of truths embedded in the consciousness of all."

Whether the Tarot cards have any mystical, predictive powers at all is discussed in Divination and the Tarot, but for those inclined to believe that there is something presaging in the fall of the cards, Jung's famous theory of synchronicity offers a possible explanation of how this might work. Synchronicity is the coincidence of events that appear to be meaningfully related but cannot be explained by accepted mechanisms of cause and effect. Skeptics view the very idea as a case of apophenia (a term coined by psychiatrist Klaus Conrad in 1958 to cover the invention of meaningful connections where there are none), and Sigmund Freud considered the source of superstition to be the false internal analogy between the true "inner accident" (font of the Freudian slip) and the random outer coincidence. In a letter of September 14, 1900 to Wilhelm Fliess he wrote:

"If we attribute significance to an external accidental happening, we project to the outside our knowledge that our inner accident is invariably intentional (unconsciously). This dark knowledge therefore is the source of our belief in the appropriateness of accidents, hence of superstition."

Yet if synchronicity were true, the random selection of cards detailing past, present and future events would be a good example.

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Carl Gustav Jung was born in Switzerland in 1875 and died in 1961. He founded analytic psychology in response to the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud. This differs from the Freudian model in downgrading the importance of sexuality and childhood conflicts in the treatment of neuroses, concentrating more on a patient's current conflicts.

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Carl Jung and Tarot – Mary K. Greer's Tarot Blog

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Although many tarot practitioners apply a Jungian psychological approach to their tarot work, there's been a question as to whether Jung himself knew anything about tarot. In fact he did, and he would have liked to explore it more deeply but for a lack of hours in the day. Here are some of his references to the cards, although his tarot knowledge, especially of its history, was sorely lacking. Update: I've added brief notes by Jung on the Major Arcana here, and on "clouds of cognition" at the end of this article.

On 16 September 1930, Jung wrote to a Mrs. Eckstein:

"Yes, I know of the Tarot. It is, as far as I know, the pack of cards originally used by the Spanish gypsies, the oldest cards historically known. They are still used for divinatory purposes."

[Jung was not always right: Current historical research does not support an original use of the cards by gypsies, nor were tarot cards the oldest known. The ordinary playing card deck (with many variations) preceded tarot by approximately 50 to 75 years. Tarot appeared first in Northern Italy roughly around 1440.]

On 1 March 1933, Carl Jung spoke about the Tarot during a seminar he was conducting on active imagination, demonstrating that he was a little more familiar with these images than we would have thought from just the preceding letter. This is a transcript of his actual spoken words:

"Another strange field of occult experience in which the hermaphrodite appears is the Tarot. That is a set of playing cards, such as were originally used by the gypsies. There are Spanish specimens, if I remember rightly, as old as the fifteenth century. These cards are really the origin of our pack of cards, in which the red and the black symbolize the opposites, and the division of four-clubs, spades, diamonds, and hearts-also belongs to the individuation symbolism. They are psychological images, symbols with which one plays, as the unconscious seems to play with its contents. They combine in certain ways, and the different combinations correspond to the playful development of events in the history of mankind. The original cards of the Tarot consist of the ordinary cards, the king, the queen, the knight, the ace, etc.,-only the figures are somewhat different-and besides, there are twenty-one cards upon which are symbols, or pictures of symbolical situations. For example, the symbol of the sun, or the symbol of the man hung up by the feet, or the tower struck by lightning, or the wheel of fortune, and so on. Those are sort of archetypal ideas, of a differentiated nature, which mingle with the ordinary constituents of the flow of the unconscious, and therefore it is applicable for an intuitive method that has the purpose of understanding the flow of life, possibly even predicting future events, at all events lending itself to the reading of the conditions of the present moment. It is in that way analogous to the "Now in the Tarot there is a hermaphroditic figure called the I Ching, the Chinese divination method that allows at least a reading of the present condition. You see, man always felt the need of finding an access through the unconscious to the meaning of an actual condition, because there is a sort of correspondence or a likeness between the prevailing condition and the condition of the collective unconscious.
diable [the Devil card]. That would be in alchemy the gold. In other words, such an attempt as the union of opposites appears to the Christian mentality as devilish, something evil which is not allowed, something belonging to black magic."

In The Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious (CW, Vol. 9:1, para 81), Jung wrote:

"If one wants to form a picture of the symbolic process, the series of pictures found in alchemy are good examples. . . . It also seems as if the set of pictures in the Tarot cards were distantly descended from the archetypes of transformation, a view that has been confirmed for me in a very enlightening lecture by professor [Rudolph] Bernoulli. The symbolic process is an experience in images and of images. Its development usually shows an enantiodromian* structure like the text of the I Ching, and so presents a rhythm of negative and positive, loss and gain, dark and light." [*a Greek term used by Jung to mean 'things turning over into their own opposite.']

Dierdre Bair recounts in Jung: A Biography (Little, Brown, 2003, p. 549) that in 1950 Jung assigned to each of the four members of his Psychology Club an 'intuitive, synchronistic method' to explore. Hanni Binder was to research the Tarot and teach him how to read the cards. They determined that Grimaud's Ancien Tarot de Marseille "was the only deck that possessed the properties and fulfilled the requirements of metaphor that he gleaned from within the alchemical texts." Hanni Binder's work amounted to very little as can be seen from her report preserved at the Jung Institute in New York. The group disbanded around 1954.

What was behind Jung's attempt to gather all this material? Marie-Louise von Franz recounts (1988) that toward the end of his life:

"Jung suggested investigating cases where it could be supposed that the archetypal layer of the unconscious is constellated*- following a serious accident, for instance, or in the midst of a conflict or divorce situation- by having people engage in a divinatory procedure: throwing the I Ching, laying the Tarot cards, consulting the Mexican divination calendar, having a transit horoscope or a geomantic reading done. If Jung's hypothesis is accurate, the results of all these procedures should converge. . . . [*a Jungian term meaning 'the coming together of elements in the unconscious so that they form a consciously recognizable pattern of relationships.' Christine Houde adds, "The constellated material is activated in the psyche of the individual where it attempts to erupt into the field of experience." ]

"[This investigation would consist of] studying an incident (accident) by the convergence . . . of a multitude of methods, with the help of which we could try to find out what the Self "thought" of this particular accident. . . . The generally rather vague formulations of divinatory techniques resemble these "clouds of cognition" that, according to Jung, constitute "absolute knowledge."

Von Franz further explains that Jung's "clouds of cognition" represents an awareness on the part of our conscious intelligence of a far vaster field of information, an "absolute knowledge," within the collective unconscious. These images, on the part of a "more or less conscious ego," lack precise focus and detail. Thus, the realization of meaning has to be "a living experience that touches the heart just as much as the mind." She continues:

"Archetypal dream images and the images of the great myths and religions still have about them a little of the "cloudy" nature of absolute knowledge in that they always seem to contain more than we can assimilate consciously, even by means of elaborate interpretations. They always retain an ineffable and mysterious quality that seems to reveal to us more than we can really know."*

On 9 February 1960, about a year before he died, Jung wrote Mr. A. D. Cornell about the disappointing end to his grand experiment:

"Under certain conditions it is possible to experiment with archetypes, as my 'astrological experiment' has shown. As a matter of fact we had begun such experiments at the C. G. Jung Institute in Zurich, using the historically known intuitive, i.e., synchronistic methods (astrology, geomancy, Tarot cards, and the I Ching). But we had too few co-workers and too little means, so we could not go on and had to stop."

The experiment proposed by Jung is discussed in the Journal of Parapsychology (March 1998): in an article titled: "The Rhine-Jung letters: distinguishing parapsychological from synchronistic events - J.B. Rhine; Carl Jung" by Victor Mansfield, Sally Rhine-Feather, James Hall. The authors conclude:

"Such an experiment fits our description of not being forced, controlling, or manipulating, but it presents its own difficulties. How, for example, can we convincingly show that the divinatory procedures in fact converge, that appropriate subjects were chosen when an archetype was actually constellated, that the data was taken without biasing the interpretation, and that other extraneous factors are not distorting the outcome? These problems are not insurmountable, but to do more than "preach to the converted," this experiment or any other must be done with sufficient rigor that the larger scientific community would be satisfied with all aspects of the data taking, analysis of the data, and so forth."

In 1984, Art Rosengarten (here shown with Tarot author, Eden Gray), as research for his doctoral dissertation, conducted an experiment very similar to the one described by Jung, in which he compared the tarot, TAT and dream interpretation. You can read about this experiment in his book, Tarot and Psychology: Spectrums of Possibility. I think Jung would have been pleased.

So what are we to make of all this?

Though not a direct focus of his energies, Carl Jung, nevertheless, recognized tarot as depicting archetypes of transformation like those he had found in myths, dreams and alchemy, and as having divinatory characteristics similar to the I-Ching and astrology. Most of all, Jung believed a person could use "an intuitive method" to understand-through tarot's reflecting the collective unconscious into a "cloud of cognition"-the meaning in a present, prevailing condition.

See Jung's own comments on the Major Arcana

ADDED: Here's another statement by Jung on "clouds of cognition," from the chapter, "On Life after Death," in Memories Dream, Reflections, p 308. He states that in the "space-timelessness" surrounding an archetype there exists a diffuse cloud of cognition that contains "primorial images with many aspects" or "a "diffuse omniscience" but no discrete contents (that is, subjectless). For cognition to happen these potentialities [my word] have to be brought into space-time coordinates. Reading this entire chapter is absolutely essential to getting at what Jung saw as the source material for divinations.

"As I see it the three-dimensional world in time and space is like a system of co-ordinates, what is here separated into ordinates and abscissae may appear "there," in space-timelessness, as a primordial image with many aspects, perhaps as a diffuse cloud of cognition surrounding an archetype. Yet a system of co-ordinates is necessary if any distinction of discrete contents is to be possible. Any such operation seems to us unthinkable in a state of diffuse omniscience, or, as the case may be, of subjectless consciousness, with no spatio-temporal demarcations. Cognition, like generation, presupposes an opposition, a here and there, an above and below, a before and after."

For a different take, here is a bit of an interview with Jung on alchemy and predicting the future: "We can predict the future when we know how the present moment has evolved out of the past."

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Although many tarot practitioners apply a Jungian psychological approach to their tarot work, there's been a question as to whether Jung himself knew anything about tarot. In fact he did, and he would have liked to explore it more deeply but for a lack of hours in the day.

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Carl Jung and Tarot – Mary K. Greer's Tarot Blog

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Although many tarot practitioners apply a Jungian psychological approach to their tarot work, there's been a question as to whether Jung himself knew anything about tarot. In fact he did, and he would have liked to explore it more deeply but for a lack of hours in the day. Here are some of his references to the cards, although his tarot knowledge, especially of its history, was sorely lacking. Update: I've added brief notes by Jung on the Major Arcana here, and on "clouds of cognition" at the end of this article.

On 16 September 1930, Jung wrote to a Mrs. Eckstein:

"Yes, I know of the Tarot. It is, as far as I know, the pack of cards originally used by the Spanish gypsies, the oldest cards historically known. They are still used for divinatory purposes."

[Jung was not always right: Current historical research does not support an original use of the cards by gypsies, nor were tarot cards the oldest known. The ordinary playing card deck (with many variations) preceded tarot by approximately 50 to 75 years. Tarot appeared first in Northern Italy roughly around 1440.]

On 1 March 1933, Carl Jung spoke about the Tarot during a seminar he was conducting on active imagination, demonstrating that he was a little more familiar with these images than we would have thought from just the preceding letter. This is a transcript of his actual spoken words:

"Another strange field of occult experience in which the hermaphrodite appears is the Tarot. That is a set of playing cards, such as were originally used by the gypsies. There are Spanish specimens, if I remember rightly, as old as the fifteenth century. These cards are really the origin of our pack of cards, in which the red and the black symbolize the opposites, and the division of four-clubs, spades, diamonds, and hearts-also belongs to the individuation symbolism. They are psychological images, symbols with which one plays, as the unconscious seems to play with its contents. They combine in certain ways, and the different combinations correspond to the playful development of events in the history of mankind. The original cards of the Tarot consist of the ordinary cards, the king, the queen, the knight, the ace, etc.,-only the figures are somewhat different-and besides, there are twenty-one cards upon which are symbols, or pictures of symbolical situations. For example, the symbol of the sun, or the symbol of the man hung up by the feet, or the tower struck by lightning, or the wheel of fortune, and so on. Those are sort of archetypal ideas, of a differentiated nature, which mingle with the ordinary constituents of the flow of the unconscious, and therefore it is applicable for an intuitive method that has the purpose of understanding the flow of life, possibly even predicting future events, at all events lending itself to the reading of the conditions of the present moment. It is in that way analogous to the "Now in the Tarot there is a hermaphroditic figure called the I Ching, the Chinese divination method that allows at least a reading of the present condition. You see, man always felt the need of finding an access through the unconscious to the meaning of an actual condition, because there is a sort of correspondence or a likeness between the prevailing condition and the condition of the collective unconscious.
diable [the Devil card]. That would be in alchemy the gold. In other words, such an attempt as the union of opposites appears to the Christian mentality as devilish, something evil which is not allowed, something belonging to black magic."

In The Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious (CW, Vol. 9:1, para 81), Jung wrote:

"If one wants to form a picture of the symbolic process, the series of pictures found in alchemy are good examples. . . . It also seems as if the set of pictures in the Tarot cards were distantly descended from the archetypes of transformation, a view that has been confirmed for me in a very enlightening lecture by professor [Rudolph] Bernoulli. The symbolic process is an experience in images and of images. Its development usually shows an enantiodromian* structure like the text of the I Ching, and so presents a rhythm of negative and positive, loss and gain, dark and light." [*a Greek term used by Jung to mean 'things turning over into their own opposite.']

Dierdre Bair recounts in Jung: A Biography (Little, Brown, 2003, p. 549) that in 1950 Jung assigned to each of the four members of his Psychology Club an 'intuitive, synchronistic method' to explore. Hanni Binder was to research the Tarot and teach him how to read the cards. They determined that Grimaud's Ancien Tarot de Marseille "was the only deck that possessed the properties and fulfilled the requirements of metaphor that he gleaned from within the alchemical texts." Hanni Binder's work amounted to very little as can be seen from her report preserved at the Jung Institute in New York. The group disbanded around 1954.

What was behind Jung's attempt to gather all this material? Marie-Louise von Franz recounts (1988) that toward the end of his life:

"Jung suggested investigating cases where it could be supposed that the archetypal layer of the unconscious is constellated*- following a serious accident, for instance, or in the midst of a conflict or divorce situation- by having people engage in a divinatory procedure: throwing the I Ching, laying the Tarot cards, consulting the Mexican divination calendar, having a transit horoscope or a geomantic reading done. If Jung's hypothesis is accurate, the results of all these procedures should converge. . . . [*a Jungian term meaning 'the coming together of elements in the unconscious so that they form a consciously recognizable pattern of relationships.' Christine Houde adds, "The constellated material is activated in the psyche of the individual where it attempts to erupt into the field of experience." ]

"[This investigation would consist of] studying an incident (accident) by the convergence . . . of a multitude of methods, with the help of which we could try to find out what the Self "thought" of this particular accident. . . . The generally rather vague formulations of divinatory techniques resemble these "clouds of cognition" that, according to Jung, constitute "absolute knowledge."

Von Franz further explains that Jung's "clouds of cognition" represents an awareness on the part of our conscious intelligence of a far vaster field of information, an "absolute knowledge," within the collective unconscious. These images, on the part of a "more or less conscious ego," lack precise focus and detail. Thus, the realization of meaning has to be "a living experience that touches the heart just as much as the mind." She continues:

"Archetypal dream images and the images of the great myths and religions still have about them a little of the "cloudy" nature of absolute knowledge in that they always seem to contain more than we can assimilate consciously, even by means of elaborate interpretations. They always retain an ineffable and mysterious quality that seems to reveal to us more than we can really know."*

On 9 February 1960, about a year before he died, Jung wrote Mr. A. D. Cornell about the disappointing end to his grand experiment:

"Under certain conditions it is possible to experiment with archetypes, as my 'astrological experiment' has shown. As a matter of fact we had begun such experiments at the C. G. Jung Institute in Zurich, using the historically known intuitive, i.e., synchronistic methods (astrology, geomancy, Tarot cards, and the I Ching). But we had too few co-workers and too little means, so we could not go on and had to stop."

The experiment proposed by Jung is discussed in the Journal of Parapsychology (March 1998): in an article titled: "The Rhine-Jung letters: distinguishing parapsychological from synchronistic events - J.B. Rhine; Carl Jung" by Victor Mansfield, Sally Rhine-Feather, James Hall. The authors conclude:

"Such an experiment fits our description of not being forced, controlling, or manipulating, but it presents its own difficulties. How, for example, can we convincingly show that the divinatory procedures in fact converge, that appropriate subjects were chosen when an archetype was actually constellated, that the data was taken without biasing the interpretation, and that other extraneous factors are not distorting the outcome? These problems are not insurmountable, but to do more than "preach to the converted," this experiment or any other must be done with sufficient rigor that the larger scientific community would be satisfied with all aspects of the data taking, analysis of the data, and so forth."

In 1984, Art Rosengarten (here shown with Tarot author, Eden Gray), as research for his doctoral dissertation, conducted an experiment very similar to the one described by Jung, in which he compared the tarot, TAT and dream interpretation. You can read about this experiment in his book, Tarot and Psychology: Spectrums of Possibility. I think Jung would have been pleased.

So what are we to make of all this?

Though not a direct focus of his energies, Carl Jung, nevertheless, recognized tarot as depicting archetypes of transformation like those he had found in myths, dreams and alchemy, and as having divinatory characteristics similar to the I-Ching and astrology. Most of all, Jung believed a person could use "an intuitive method" to understand-through tarot's reflecting the collective unconscious into a "cloud of cognition"-the meaning in a present, prevailing condition.

See Jung's own comments on the Major Arcana

ADDED: Here's another statement by Jung on "clouds of cognition," from the chapter, "On Life after Death," in Memories Dream, Reflections, p 308. He states that in the "space-timelessness" surrounding an archetype there exists a diffuse cloud of cognition that contains "primorial images with many aspects" or "a "diffuse omniscience" but no discrete contents (that is, subjectless). For cognition to happen these potentialities [my word] have to be brought into space-time coordinates. Reading this entire chapter is absolutely essential to getting at what Jung saw as the source material for divinations.

"As I see it the three-dimensional world in time and space is like a system of co-ordinates, what is here separated into ordinates and abscissae may appear "there," in space-timelessness, as a primordial image with many aspects, perhaps as a diffuse cloud of cognition surrounding an archetype. Yet a system of co-ordinates is necessary if any distinction of discrete contents is to be possible. Any such operation seems to us unthinkable in a state of diffuse omniscience, or, as the case may be, of subjectless consciousness, with no spatio-temporal demarcations. Cognition, like generation, presupposes an opposition, a here and there, an above and below, a before and after."

For a different take, here is a bit of an interview with Jung on alchemy and predicting the future: "We can predict the future when we know how the present moment has evolved out of the past."

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Although many tarot practitioners apply a Jungian psychological approach to their tarot work, there's been a question as to whether Jung himself knew anything about tarot. In fact he did, and he would have liked to explore it more deeply but for a lack of hours in the day.

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Carl Jung: Tarot Cards Provide Doorways to the Unconscious, and Maybe a Way to Predict the Future | Open Culture

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It is generally accepted that the standard deck of playing cards we use for everything from three-card monte to high-stakes Vegas poker evolved from the Tarot. "Like our modern cards," writes Sallie Nichols, "the Tarot deck has four suits with ten 'pip' or numbered cards in each.... In the Tarot deck, each suit has four 'court' cards: King, Queen, Jack, and Knight." The latter figure has "mysteriously disappeared from today's playing cards," though examples of Knight playing cards exist in the fossil record. The modern Jack is a survival of the Page cards in the Tarot. (See examples of Tarot court cards here from the 1910 Rider-Waite deck.) The similarities between the two types of decks are significant, yet no one but adepts seems to consider using their Gin Rummy cards to tell the future.

The eminent psychiatrist Carl Jung, however, might have done so.

As Mary K. Greer explains, in a 1933 lecture Jung went on at length about his views on the Tarot, noting the late Medieval cards are "really the origin of our pack of cards, in which the red and the black symbolize the opposites, and the division of the four-clubs, spades, diamonds, and hearts-also belongs to the individual symbolism.

They are psychological images, symbols with which one plays, as the unconscious seems to play with its contents." The cards, said Jung, "combine in certain ways, and the different combinations correspond to the playful development of mankind." This, too, is how Tarot works-with the added dimension of "symbols, or pictures of symbolical situations." The images-the hanged man, the tower, the sun-"are sort of archetypal ideas, of a differentiated nature."

Thus far, Jung hasn't said anything many orthodox Jungian psychologists would find disagreeable, but he goes even further and claims that, indeed, "we can predict the future, when we know how the present moment evolved from the past." He called for "an intuitive method that has the purpose of understanding the flow of life, possibly even predicting future events, at all events lending itself to the reading of the conditions of the present moment." He compared this process to the Chinese I Ching, and other such practices. As analyst Marie-Louise von Franz recounts in her book Psyche and Matter:

Jung suggested... having people engage in a divinatory procedure: throwing the I Ching, laying the Tarot cards, consulting the Mexican divination calendar, having a transit horoscope or a geometric reading done.

Content seemed to matter much less than form. Invoking the Swedenborgian doctrine of correspondences, Jung notes in his lecture, "man always felt the need of finding an access through the unconscious to the meaning of an actual condition, because there is a sort of correspondence or a likeness between the prevailing condition and the condition of the collective unconscious."

What he aimed at through the use of divination was to accelerate the process of " individuation," the move toward wholeness and integrity, by means of playful combinations of archetypes. As another mystical psychologist, Alejandro Jodorowsky, puts it, " the Tarot will teach you how to create a soul." Jung perceived the Tarot, notes the blog Faena Aleph, "as an alchemical game," which in his words, attempts "the union of opposites." Like the I Ching, it "presents a rhythm of negative and positive, loss and gain, dark and light."

Much later in 1960, a year before his death, Jung seemed less sanguine about Tarot and the occult, or at least downplayed their mystical, divinatory power for language more suited to the laboratory, right down to the usual complaints about staffing and funding. As he wrote in a letter about his attempts to use these methods:

Under certain conditions it is possible to experiment with archetypes, as my 'astrological experiment' has shown. As a matter of fact we had begun such experiments at the C. G. Jung Institute in Zurich, using the historically known intuitive, i.e., synchronistic methods (astrology, geomancy, Tarot cards, and the I Ching). But we had too few co-workers and too little means, so we could not go on and had to stop.

Later interpreters of Jung doubted that his experiments with divination as an analytical technique would pass peer review. "To do more than 'preach to the converted,'" wrote the authors of a 1998 article published in the Journal of Parapsychology, "this experiment or any other must be done with sufficient rigor that the larger scientific community would be satisfied with all aspects of the data taking, analysis of the data, and so forth." Or, one could simply use Jungian methods to read the Tarot, the scientific community be damned.

As in Jung's many other creative reappropriations of mythical, alchemical, and religious symbolism, his interpretation of the Tarot inspired those with mystical leanings to undertake their own Jungian investigations into parapsychology and the occult. Inspired by Jung's verbal descriptions of the Tarot's major arcana, artist and mystic Robert Wang has created a Jungian Tarot deck, and an accompanying trilogy of books, The Jungian Tarot and its Archetypal Imagery, Tarot Psychology, and Perfect Tarot Divination.

You can see images of each of Wang's cards here. His books purport to be exhaustive studies of Jung's Tarot theory and practice, written in consultation with Jung scholars in New York and Zurich. Sallie Nichols' Jung and Tarot: An Archetypal Journey is less voluminous and innovative-using the traditional, Pamela Coleman-Smith-illustrated, Rider-Waite deck rather than an updated original version. But for those willing to grant a relationship between systems of symbols and a collective unconscious, her book may provide some penetrating insights, if not a recipe for predicting the future.
Related Content: Alejandro Jodorowsky Explains How Tarot Cards Can Give You Creative Inspiration The Tarot Card Deck Designed by Salvador Dalí Twin Peaks Tarot Cards Now Available as 78-Card Deck Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Durham, NC. Follow him at @jdmagness

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Carl Jung: Tarot Cards Provide Doorways to the Unconscious, and Maybe a Way to Predict the Future

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It is generally accepted that the standard deck of playing cards we use for everything from three-card monte to high-stakes Vegas poker evolved from the Tarot. "Like our modern cards," writes Sallie Nichols, "the Tarot deck has four suits with ten 'pip' or numbered cards in each....

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Watch Virginia’s body language and her use of touch. She’s a master mystic. 

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Watch Virginia’s body language and her use of touch. She’s a master mystic. 

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Virginia Satir: Becoming More Fully Human (excerpt) -- Thinking Allowed DVD w/ Jeffrey Mishlove

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Virginia Satir: Communication and Congruence (excerpt) -- A Thinking Allowed DVD w/ Jeffrey Mishlove

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Raising Children Who Value Themselves, Virginia Satir

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It had to be GOD blessing Patti LaBelle with the holy spirit sending the crowd into a frenzy [Live]

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Virginia Satir: Becoming More Fully Human (excerpt) -- Thinking Allowed DVD w/ Jeffrey Mishlove

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A circle with the center everywhere – A Dialogue on Infinity

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Kabbalah 4: Seven Days of Genesis, a Free Online Course

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Study Kabbalah 4: Seven Days of Genesis, a Free Online Course about the secret meanings of the Bible

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Table] upon which the - the lechem hapanim were arranged. The sun, the moon, and the five planets closest to the earth. Arranged upon the Table were twelve loaves of showbread, corresponding to the twelve constellations used as astrological signs of the Zodiac.

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Kerosene Facts - 9 Things You Didn't Know About Kerosene

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Hi and welcome to our first installment of 'things you didn't know'! This month we'll be looking at some interesting kerosene facts.

Each month, we'll take a close look at one of our products or services and give you some facts and valuable information which we believe you won't already know. It's something we hope you'll find interesting, helpful and entertaining.

Before we begin, let us give you a brief introduction to kerosene. What is kerosene, what is kerosene used for and how is kerosene produced?

What is Kerosene?

Kerosene is a flammable liquid which is used in many industries and homes around the world as a fuel for light, heat and power. It is generally non-viscous and clear, however viscous substances such as wax and other thicker substances can be made from kerosene.

Kerosene is also known as paraffin or kero. It is an incredibly versatile fuel which can be used for lots of varying applications. Since the earliest records of distillation in the 9th-century, kerosene has managed to stay with the times, especially with the help of those who have discovered improved methods of distilling it and helped shape kero into such a robust and reliable fuel which we have at our disposal today.

What are the uses of kerosene?

Kerosene's uses vary dramatically from fuel for oil lamps to cleaning agents, jet fuel, heating oil or fuel for cooking. It can be used safely and efficiently to get great results in many areas. There are few oils which can be used in such a wide range of applications and its low cost makes kerosene a very popular oil among many people. Uses of kerosene are generally popular for heat and power, but as you can see, kerosene is capable of more than just those two functions. We'll cover more useful applications of kerosene in this post.

How is kerosene made?

The production of kerosene is a straightforward process nowadays. Kerosene is produced by separating the compounds which make up crude oil. This process is known as 'fractional distillation' and leaves a clear and thin oil which is roughly 0.81 g/cm³ ( gram per cubic centimetre) in density. The actual density of kerosene is 0.82 g/cm³ and 0.8 g/cm³ for paraffin. However, because the two oils are practically exact matches, it's best to find a happy medium and 0.81 g/cm³ is that figure.

So, why does the density of kerosene matter to us? The greater the fuel density, the greater the mass of fuel that can be stored in a given tank and the greater the mass of fuel that can be pumped from a given pump. This is important to many people who work in industries which rely on fuels like kerosene and the fine calculations needed to get the most out of weight and power.

We imagine only smart cookies to be reading a post like this and so you probably already know most of the kerosene facts above, but here are:

9 things you may not know about kerosene...

Why is it called kerosene?

The word Kerosene has been around many years and it's because the name is derived from Greek: κηρός (keros) which translates to wax. The waxy substance that was initially retrieved from the distillation process would have been enough to give its maker this name.

Who invented/discovered kerosene?

The discovery of kerosene was many moons ago and the first person to record the distillation process was a famous Persian scholar named Razi (Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi)

The name Kerosene was registered as a trademark by Abraham Gesner in 1854 before it evolved into a generic trademark called kerosene. What's the difference? Well, Gesner named his oil Kerosene with a capital K whereas the generalised version had no capital.

How much kerosene is used worldwide?

The total amount of kerosene consumption for all purposes throughout the world is roughly 1.2 million barrels per day. A barrel holds 45 gallons or 205 litres, equating to approximately 54,000,000 gallons and 246,000,000 litres respectively. That's a lot of kerosene! Our orders rarely exceed a 36,000-litre tanker. (which is still a lot of kerosene).

Over the course of a year, the world's total kerosene usage is approximately 19,710,000,000 gallons - just short of 20 billion gallons!

Is Kerosene The Number Two Fuel?

With so much kerosene used worldwide on a daily basis, it would be quite easy to fall into the trap of thinking that it is the number one fuel. However, there is a kerosene which is a more viscous paraffin oil which is used as a laxative! Waxatives anyone...?

You Said 'Eat It'... No, I Said 'Heat It'

Is kerosene toxic/dangerous to humans?

Only a complete fuel would eat or drink kerosene purposely! Ingestion of kerosene is harmful and can be fatal. Kero is sometimes recommended as an old folk remedy for killing head lice, but health agencies warn against this type of kerosene use due to the risk of burns and serious illness.

Because of kerosene's hatred towards all living things it has been found to be an effective pesticide. It is effective at killing a large number of insects, notably bed bugs and head lice. It can also be applied to stagnant waters in order to kill mosquito larvae. It smothers the insects' tracheae with a thin film of paraffin, which prevents the exchange of oxygen. It must really bug the mosquitos!

Is kerosene a good cleaning agent?

Another fact about kerosene which you may not know is that It can be used to clean bicycle and motorcycle chains of old lubricant oil before relubrication. It works really well and makes the job easy. It has great properties as a barrier fuel too and can be used to separate fuels so that they don't become contaminated when pumping through a hose.

Kerosene uses in the entertainment industry

Kerosene is often used in the entertainment industry for fire performances such as fire breathing, fire juggling and the art of fire dancing. It's one of the more dangerous uses for kerosene! Remember though, kerosene is toxic to humans, so here is some good advice on what fire breathing fuel is the least toxic.

Rocket Foals...

Kerosene is the real rocket fuel

Horses are powerful animals and horsepower is a great way of emphasising the power generated by engines. Rocket fuel kerosene (namely RP1 type kerosene fuel) is used in jet engines as a rocket fuel by mixing it with oxygen. The power created from this type of fuel mix is incredibly large. One example is the use of kerosene in the lift-off of Saturn V. The take-off for this particular rocket generated roughly 217 million horsepower. Imagine that in your car! A car that gets 30 miles to the gallon could drive around the world around 800 times with the amount of kerosene fuel the Saturn V used for the lunar landing mission.

Do people still use kerosene for light fuel?

Yes, they do. While it's obviously not as common as it used to be, there are still many people who use kerosene for lighting purposes. Even the Amish, who generally avoid the use of electricity, rely on kerosene for lighting at night.

Conclusion

As you can see from the facts above regarding various applications for kerosene, it's a remarkable fuel which has certainly stood the test of time. It can be used for cleaning, powering rockets and even entertaining people on the stage. What's more, it's super cheap!

We hope you have learnt some new facts about kerosene with our 'things you didn't know' post. We hope you'll join us next time for another instalment of TYDK!

Reliable Kerosene Supplier

If you're interested in buying kerosene oil and would like to purchase your fuel from a reliable kerosene supplier, please click here to go to our kerosene fuel page!

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Kerosene Facts - 9 Things You Didn't Know About Kerosene

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Hi and welcome to our first installment of 'things you didn't know'! This month we'll be looking at some interesting kerosene facts. Each month, we'll take a close look at one of our products or services and give you some facts and valuable information which we believe you won't already know.

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Gold Frankincense and Myrrh Allegory - Esoteric Meanings

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Gold Frankincense and Myrrh Allegory : In the story of the first Christmas, the Magi, or three wise men, are said to have offered the newborn Jesus gold, frankincense and myrrh. Gold is always a welcome gift, but the resins from the Boswellia and Commiphora trees don't have such an obvious purpose.

Gold is a precious metal and as such was a very valuable commodity. Its value could very well have financed Joseph and Mary's trip to Egypt. Gold is also a symbol of divinity and is mentioned throughout the Bible.

Frankincense is a symbol of holiness and righteousness. The gift of frankincense to the Christ child was symbolic of His willingness to become a sacrifice, wholly giving Himself up, analogous to a burnt offering.

Myrrh symbolizes bitterness, suffering, and affliction. The baby Jesus would grow to suffer greatly as a man and would pay the ultimate price when He gave His life on the cross for all who would believe in Him.

(ii) Gold Frankincense and Myrrh Allegory Mystical Analysis
Matthew 2: 11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
In ancient times, Frankincense and Myrrh were often considered to be more valuable than Gold; with Myrrh being the most valuable of the three.

Three is the number which Symbolizes CREATION. Here we find the number Three represented by the Three Wise Men, or Magi (Magicians), along with their Three Gifts of Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh.

The Three Wise Men represent Three Gunas (tamas, sattva, and rajas) . They are Symbolic of the creative processes, and energies, which permeate all realms of creation.

These are represented in the Tarot Card 3 of Disks or 'Works' in the Thoth Deck which will be covered my YouTube Tarot tutorial here.The 3 gunas are represented by the three wheels at the corners of the pyramid.
But, who were these Wise Men, or Magi and why did they specifically offer Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh as these were not random gifts?In order to discover the answers these questions we must first examine the mysticism and and esoteric meanings behind them.

The Three Wise Men or Magi (Magi is the plural of Magician) in ancient times were people who understood herbs, potions, elixirs, healing, divination, and astrology .They were the Initiates who received sacred teachings regarding spiritual truths, or the "magic", which lies behind all things.

Gold is Symbolic of the incorruptible, the non-tarnishable and the infinite of creation. Therefore Gold is the colour used to represent the "Son", or ATMAN the divine spiritual essence which burns within each one of us. It Symbolizes the eternal Source, the eternal Unity, from which everything in the material realm originates. It represents Tiphareth on the Tree of Life.

Frankincense is an aromatic resin which is obtained from an extremely hardy tree called Bosaellia Sacra which has the ability to grow in the most hostile, rugged and unforgiving environments. It has the ability to grow where there is no soil; it can even growout of solid rock. Therefore this tree is a symbol for resilience, strength, endurance. It is obtained by cutting or slashing the tree so that its sap can bleed out. The sap bleeds out in the form of "tears";and this may be the same "tears" referred to in religious lore as the "tears of the Madonna".

Its pleasant aroma, which was associated with the masculine energy of the heavens and of life, was mixed with other oils to anoint newborn babies. Frankincense was also used (and still is) during Initiation Ceremonies to anoint those worthy who were entering into the newer, higher, and more subtle phases of their spiritual life.

Frankincense is the fragrance used in the Symbolic anointing oil which was used to welcome the newborn Christ, and thereby all newborn infants, into the physical world. This is symbolic of THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST within the initiate when the Light of God is revealed through the vision of the 1000 petalled Lotus. This is the light revealed in the light & sound groups given in the listings on the website. It is the same initiation that is talked about on this website here.

Myrrh is a resin obtained from a thorny tree which grows in dry and arid desert regions. When the bark of this tree is cut open, its resin seeps out as a gum.

Myrrh was valued for its medicinal values and was used to disinfect and cleanse wounds. It also has the ability to mask odours and was therefore used in embalming rituals.

Myrrh Symbolizes a feminine and nurturing essence, or energy, which is linked with the earth.

The thorns of the Myrrh tree represent the "Crown of Thorns" placed upon the head of Jesus at the end of his life. Furthermore, because Myrrh was used in embalming Rituals, and is linked to the Earth, it Symbolizes the end of our physical life; the time when our spiritually vacated bodies are Ceremoniously prepared for entrance into their final resting place within the earth. This is the time when our physical bodies are no longer required as our spirit has already left it to return back to the Golden Unity from which it originally came. It could also represent the end of our earthly life symbolically, as we die to who we were once the light of god has been revealed for us to meditate upon.

Gold Frankincense & Myrrh Conclusion

Therefore, as Gold Symbolizes the One eternal Source of all creation, Frankincense and Myrrh, on the other hand, represent the dual result of all creation: life and death; beginning and end both:

(i) within a human lifetime (describing rebirth into spirit through initiation into the Light and Sound) and the death of our previous earthly perspective and also

(ii) more literally, the birth of a human form (Frankincense) and its death (Myrrh) and return to the earth with the spirit experiencing neither birth or death (Gold).

20

Gold Frankincense and Myrrh Allegory

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Gold Frankincense and Myrrh Allegory - Esoteric Meanings

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Gold Frankincense and Myrrh Allegory : In the story of the first Christmas, the Magi, or three wise men, are said to have offered the newborn Jesus gold, frankincense and myrrh. Gold is always a welcome gift, but the resins from the Boswellia and Commiphora trees don't have such an obvious purpose.

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Metaphysical meaning of Wise-men (mbd) | TruthUnity

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Metaphysical meaning of Wise-men (mbd) | TruthUnity

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Meta. The stored-up resources of the soul, which rise to the surface when its depths are stirred by a great spiritual revelation. They are the inner realms of consciousness that, like books of life, have kept the records of past lives and held them in reserve for the great day when the soul would receive the supreme ego, Jesus.

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In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." [ ] Then [Herod] sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage."
When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another path.
-Matthew 2:1-12

Wise Men from the East

The story of Jesus' birth in the gospel of Mathew includes the "wise men from the East" who came to visit the newly born "king of the Jews". Although the passage does not specify how many wise men came, they are often depicted as three because they bring three gifts: frankincense, myrrh, and gold.

These personages are often called the Three Kings or the Three Magi (priests) indicating their high and learned status in their countries of origin, and have become an important part of Christmas celebration and symbolism.

The Three Gifts

The gifts they bring are rare and sacred substances fit for the cosmic event of the birth of the savior. Both frankincense and myrrh are rare and holy resins that are burned as incense to cleanse and bless the atmosphere, and have many healing properties. Gold is a precious metal that does not rust or corrode and has traditionally been associated with the incorruptible nature of the divine spirit.

From East to West, and West to East

The magi are often depicted as having different types of clothing from each other to indicate the far lands they traveled from. These magi are representatives of the cultures of the "East" coming to the "West" (even though the part of the world where Jesus was born and died is now considered the Middle East). They made contact with Jesus Christ and returned to their homelands, foreshadowing the spread of Christianity to all parts of the world.

Esoteric understanding

Another level of understanding the three magi comes from excerpts from a lecture by esotericist Rudolph Steiner:
Who are the Magi? They represent the Initiates of the three preceding races or epochs of culture, the Initiates of mankind up to the time of the coming of Christ, the Bringer of the Love that is free of egoism - the resurrected Osiris. Thus the Three Kings or Magi are representatives of the Lemurians, the Atlanteans and the Aryans. They bring the three offerings.

The European (Melchior) brings gold, the symbol of wisdom, of intelligence which comes to expression paramountly in the Fifth Root Race.
The offering of the Initiate representing the Fourth Root Race (Balthasar) is frankincense, connected with what was intrinsically characteristic of the Atlanteans.
In the language of esotericism, myrrh is the symbol of dying, of death. What is the meaning of dying and of resurrection, as exemplified in the resurrected Osiris?

I refer you here to words of Goethe: "So long as thou hast it not, this dying and becoming, thou'rt but a dull guest on the dark earth." Jacob Boehme expresses the same thought in the words: "He who dies not ere he dies, perishes when he dies." Myrrh is the symbol of the dying of the lower life and the resurrection of the higher life. It is offered by the Initiate representing the Third Root Race (Lemurian).

By what are the Three Holy Kings guided, and whither are they led? They are guided by a Star to a grotto, a cave in Bethlehem. This is something that can be understood only by one who has knowledge of the so-called lower, or astral mysteries. To be led by a Star means nothing else than to see the soul itself as a Star. But when is the soul seen as a Star?
When a man can behold the soul as a radiant aura. But what kind of aura is so radiant that it can be a guide? There is the aura that glimmers with only a feeble light; such an aura cannot guide. There is a higher aura, that of the intelligence, which has, it is true, a flowing, up-surging light, but is not yet able to guide. But the bright aura, aglow with Budhi, is in very truth a Star, is a radiant guide.

In Christ, the Star of Budhi lights up - the Star which accompanies the evolution of mankind. The Light that shines before the Magi is the soul of Christ Himself. The Second Logos Himself shines before the Magi and over the cave in Bethlehem. The grotto or cave is the body wherein dwells the soul. The seer beholds the body from within. In astral vision, everything is reversed - for example, 365 instead of 563. The human body is seen as a cave, a hollow. In the body of Jesus shines the Christ Star, the soul of Christ.
This must be conceived as a reality, taking place in the astral world. It is an enactment of the Lesser Mysteries. There, in very truth, the Christ Soul shines as an auric Star, and it is by this Star that the Initiates of the three Root Races are led to Jesus in Bethlehem.
The Festival of the Three Kings is celebrated every year on the 6th of January, and its significance will steadily increase. Men will understand more and more what a Magi is, and what the great Magi, the Masters, are. And then understanding of Christianity will lead to understanding of spiritual science.

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In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage."

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Shadows in Eden: Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh

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This month is traditionally the time in which the [1]'wise men from the east' brought their gifts to the new-born [2]Jesus. Scripture is low on specifics about them: any details beyond the above brief phrase - that they were kings, that there were three of them and what their names were - are all details added by later hands, but not mentioned in scripture.

The assumption that these 'wise men' were a trio originated with the 2nd-3rd-century theologian Origen, who took his lead from the number of gifts mentioned. And it is here that the Gospel, so vague about these distinguished visitors up till now, suddenly becomes very specific. Each gift is carefully named in turn, as if there should be no mistake to the record. The gifts were gold, frankincense and myrrh. When scripture glosses over apparently otherwise-important circumstances, and then appears to become suddenly specific on [3]details, we can take it as a signal that something beyond the surface text is being conveyed: an extra layer of knowledge which more receptive minds would recognise and know how to access. Such specific details are, as it were, knowledge travelling in disguise.

I remember learning in Sunday School that these three gifts were 'very precious'. Well, I knew that gold was valuable, and I took it on trust that the other two things with the strange names must therefore also have great value as well. And although the scriptural term 'wise men' is brief, it still tells us something about these men: that they were not just 'wise' in the sense of 'being wise', but in the sense of being men of knowledge. That is: knowledge of those things that in the Ancient World seamlessly blended art and science - astronomy, astrology, alchemy and the healing arts. And they were from 'the east' - the traditional lands (Persia, India, and other trade route countries) where these subjects were studied and practiced. Later tradition strengthened this idea by referring to these men as 'magi', from which comes the term 'magic', not in the sense of mere stage illusion, but in its original sense of practicing these 'secret arts'.

So we have three specifically-named gifts bestowed by 'men of knowledge' - men who would have known very well the true nature of what they were giving. All three gifts were certainly valuable commodities in the currency of the time. Gold still is, and there has been recent speculation about the possible healing properties of the other two. Gold is still so prized that it is a marketable currency which never tarnishes - literally and figuratively. The other two are resins obtained from two different trees. But the 'gold' given as a gift by the magi could have been more precious even than the gold of jewellery and bullion...

Gold has long been associated with kings. It is the metal of royalty, and is found in every crown worthy of the name from the Ancient World onwards. We might infer that the magis' gift of this metal was a recognition of the infant's status as 'king of kings', and leave it at that. But supposing that this particular 'gold' was even more special? Supposing that this magis' gift was pure alchemical gold? This mysterious substance apparently does exist. Under specific conditions gold is transformed - transmuted - into a different 'monatomic' structure, when it becomes a fine white powder. This remarkable alchemical powder, which apparently could extend life, promote good health, and even alter time and states of visibility, was known to the Dynastic Egyptians, and was ingested by the Pharaoh (and only by the Pharaoh) to prolong life. Even in Renaissance times and later it was believed that possession of alchemical gold would prolong life - even confer bodily immortality. Was this the true gift of the magi - an alchemical gold that would confer immortality and even miraculous changes of state? Even symbolically, the idea of this most precious form of gold as a gift now gathers a real power.

Frankincense is a resin extruded by the Boswellia sacra tree. It has associations with the hormone melatonin manufactured by the pineal gland in the brain - a gland long associated with the 'third eye' of consciousness-expanding experiences and enlightenment. For this reason frankincense has been associated with the priesthood, with the ceremonies of an inner sanctum, whether that place is the inner shrine of a temple or within the individual initiate. Knowing this about the frankincense resin allows us to see this second gift of the magi in a very different light from the mere 'precious' gift of my Sunday School days. Frankincense was 'precious' for a good reason - and that reason lay beyond its material value of the time.

is also a resin, this time from the thorny Commifora myrrha tree. This particular resin has soporific properties, and for this reason is associated with a [4]death-like state - even with death itself. It has been found among the wrappings of Egyptian mummies, and its use in the mummification process is indicative of its associations with an apparent death - apparent, because the state was believed to be only the appearance of death. For how could death be real when the rich afterlife awaited? In many cultures and beliefs, death is merely the door to the other side: a necessary bridge that needs to be crossed. And that bridge was represented by the resin myrrh. This third gift of the magi, this 'shamanic death', was therefore indicative of death as a state that, however seemingly-powerful, nevertheless could be transcended.

In these specifically-named [5]three gifts we have the symbolic - perhaps even the actual - qualities of a priestly 'kingship' beyond mere earthly royalty, and mystical, symbolic death. For in resurrection even death is transcended, and true and glorious immortality awaits. The gifts of the magi together suggest a biography of their recipient's life to come, even up to the crucifixion and beyond. Intriguingly, after their mention in this single verse in Matthew, these three extraordinary gifts then disappear completely from scripture. What became of them? Perhaps their symbolic use had now been served. And if actual, then their practical use would be applied in the infant's life to come.

[1] Matthew 2:1-11. Contrary to tradition, the 'wise men' did not visit the infant at his place of birth, but some considerable time (weeks or even months) later at his 'house' (annotation on page 1354 to Matthew 2:11 in the Zondervan King James Study Bible).

[2] Jesus' place of birth was not a 'stable', there was no census at that time held by the Roman authorities, there was no 'inn', and there certainly was no 'massacre of the innocents'. The personal agendas of the original unknown writers of the Gospel texts (supplying the apparent fulfilment of Hebraic prophesies) together with accreted folklore growing around mistranslations of the original text has entrenched itself into a tradition which comprises the elements of the Nativity tableau as we know it today.

[3] Another classic example of this scriptural 'knowledge travelling in disguise' is in the 153 fishes of John 21:10-11, discussed in my post Vesica Piscis: The Tale of a Fish. Disguising such Gnostic teachings as details in stories became a way of slipping them under the radar of those who sought to eradicate such teachings from scriptural texts, and thus a way of preserving such knowledge.

[4] The symbolism of myrrh is particularly telling: the tree's large thorns echo the crown of thorns of Jesus' crucifixion, and the myrrh resin is harvested by deliberately 'wounding' the tree. A stake is driven into the tree deeper than bark level, which forces the tree to 'bleed' its precious resin.

[5] If you remain unconvinced by the symbolism which I describe here, then consider the words of the famous American carol We three Kings of Orient Are, written in 1857 by Rev. John Henry Hopkins. The relevant verses (sung in turn by each 'king' and then in chorus) are:

Born a King on Bethlehem's plain

Gold I bring to crown Him again

King forever, ceasing never

Frankincense to offer have I

Incense owns a Deity nigh

Prayer and praising, all men raising

Worship Him, God most high

Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume

Breathes of life of gathering gloom

Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying

Sealed in the stone-cold tomb

Glorious now behold Him arise

King and God and Sacrifice

Laurence Gardner: Genesis of the Grail Kings. Bantam Press, 1999. The idea for this post comes from a brief paragraph in chapter 13 of this title. While I might not always agree with this author's conclusions, his collating of information and his insights into such material have been exemplary, and his researches in this field have become his legacy. Those wishing to know more about monatomic gold (a.k.a. white powder gold, the philosopher's stone, manna, among other terms) can find much information in this and the author's other title Lost Secrets of the Sacred Ark, Element Books, 2003.

The 19th-century painting is The Star of Bethlehem, by Edward Burne-Jones. It was the largest watercolour painted at that time - a remarkable accomplishment of technique in an unforgiving medium which allows little latitude for correction or alteration. The artist has here followed the traditional Nativity interpretation, folkloric rather than scriptural, of the 'kings' visiting the infant in a stable. But the created scene is of such verve that in this case passionate belief counts for more than scriptural accuracy.

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This month is traditionally the time in which the [1]'wise men from the east' brought their gifts to the new-born [2]Jesus. Scripture is low on specifics about them: any details beyond the above brief phrase - that they were kings, that there were three of them and what their names were - are all details added by later hands, but not mentioned in scripture.

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"Besides these literary monuments of the Merkabah gnosis, there was another, extremely curious text which circulated widely during the Middle Ages, excercising a great influence in many lands and in diverse circles: the " Book of Creation," Sefer Yesirah. Concerning the origin and spiritual home of this work, which numbers only a few pages, divergent opinions have been voiced, although to date it has been impossible to come to any reliable and definitive conclusions.

This uncertainty is also reflected in the various estimates of the date of its composition, which fluctuate between the second and the sixth centuries. This slender work is also designated in the oldest manuscripts as a collection of " halakhoth on the Creation," and it is not at all impossible that it is referred to by this name in the Talmud. In the two different versions that have come down to us, it is divided into chapters whose individual paragraphs were likewise regarded by medieval tradition as mishnaic.

[ ... ]

The book's strong link with Jewish speculations concerning divine wisdom, hokhmah or Sophia, is evident from the first sentence:

"In thirty-two wondrous paths of wisdom God . . . [there follows a series of biblical epithets for God] engraved and created His world."

These thirty-two paths of the Sophia are the ten primordial numbers, which are discussed in the first chapter, and the twenty-two consonants of the Hebrew alphabet, which are described in a general way in chapter 2 and more particularly in the following chapters as elements and building blocks of the cosmos.

The "paths of the Sophia" are thus fundamental forces that emanate from her or in which she manifests herself. They are, as in the old conception of the Sophia herself, the instruments of creation. In her or through her-the Hebrew preposition permits both translations-God, the master of the Sophia, "engraved" Creation. The symbolism of the number thirty-two reappears also in some Christian gnostic documents, but it is in this text that it seems to be established for the first time and in the most natural manner.

Mention should, however, be made of Agrippa von Nettesheim, who informs us ( De occulta philosophia 2:15) that thirty-two was considered by the Pythagoreans as the number of righteousness because of its well-nigh unlimited divisibility. More recently Nicholas Sed has discussed in a remarkable essay the relationship of the symbolism of the Book Yesirah with the Samaritan Memar of Marqah.

-Gershom Scholem, Origins of the Kabbalah, 1987, pp. 24-6.

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"Besides these literary monuments of the Merkabah gnosis, there was another, extremely curious text which circulated widely during the Middle Ages, excercising a great influence in many lands and in diverse circles: the " Book of Creation," Sefer Yesirah.

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"Besides these literary monuments of the Merkabah gnosis, there was another, extremely curious text which circulated widely during the Middle Ages, excercising a great influence in many lands and in diverse circles: the " Book of Creation," Sefer Yesirah. Concerning the origin and spiritual home of this work, which numbers only a few pages, divergent opinions have been voiced, although to date it has been impossible to come to any reliable and definitive conclusions.

This uncertainty is also reflected in the various estimates of the date of its composition, which fluctuate between the second and the sixth centuries. This slender work is also designated in the oldest manuscripts as a collection of " halakhoth on the Creation," and it is not at all impossible that it is referred to by this name in the Talmud. In the two different versions that have come down to us, it is divided into chapters whose individual paragraphs were likewise regarded by medieval tradition as mishnaic.

[ ... ]

The book's strong link with Jewish speculations concerning divine wisdom, hokhmah or Sophia, is evident from the first sentence:

"In thirty-two wondrous paths of wisdom God . . . [there follows a series of biblical epithets for God] engraved and created His world."

These thirty-two paths of the Sophia are the ten primordial numbers, which are discussed in the first chapter, and the twenty-two consonants of the Hebrew alphabet, which are described in a general way in chapter 2 and more particularly in the following chapters as elements and building blocks of the cosmos.

The "paths of the Sophia" are thus fundamental forces that emanate from her or in which she manifests herself. They are, as in the old conception of the Sophia herself, the instruments of creation. In her or through her-the Hebrew preposition permits both translations-God, the master of the Sophia, "engraved" Creation. The symbolism of the number thirty-two reappears also in some Christian gnostic documents, but it is in this text that it seems to be established for the first time and in the most natural manner.

Mention should, however, be made of Agrippa von Nettesheim, who informs us ( De occulta philosophia 2:15) that thirty-two was considered by the Pythagoreans as the number of righteousness because of its well-nigh unlimited divisibility. More recently Nicholas Sed has discussed in a remarkable essay the relationship of the symbolism of the Book Yesirah with the Samaritan Memar of Marqah.

-Gershom Scholem, Origins of the Kabbalah, 1987, pp. 24-6.

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"Besides these literary monuments of the Merkabah gnosis, there was another, extremely curious text which circulated widely during the Middle Ages, excercising a great influence in many lands and in diverse circles: the "Book of Creation," Sefer Yesirah. Concerning the origin and spiritual home of this work, which numbers only a few pages, divergent opinions...

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There are 613 ( ( commandments . The positive commandments of organs in the human body. The 365 negative do), numbering 248, are equivalent to the commandments of blood vessels in the human body.

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There are 613 ( ( commandments . The positive commandments of organs in the human body. The 365 negative do), numbering 248, are equivalent to the commandments of blood vessels in the human body.

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Who is Israel? (And What are the Implications for Gentiles?)

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Who is Israel? (And What are the Implications for Gentiles?)

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Shemot (Exodus) 12:47-49 The whole community of Israel must celebrate it. "An alien living among you who wants to celebrate must have all the males in his circumcised ; then he may take part like one born in the land. No uncircumcisedmale may of it.

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If you have an interest in the more esoteric aspects of Judeo-Christian lore, then you may have some passing familiarity with the Nephilim. But you probably have more questions than answers.

Were the Nephilim fallen angels? Were they the children of fallen angels? Were they entirely human? Almost any discussion about the Nephilim is going to be rife with controversy and confusion-and for good reason.

Nobody knows who the Nephilim really were.

How can we break down a complicated topic? Well, let's start by looking at references to Nephilim in the Bible and the Book of Enoch. Then we can explore some of the different theories that scholars, philologists, and theologians have proposed. Among those hypotheses is one which should particularly intrigue you: It is possible that the Nephilim were none other than the Annunaki.

What Does the Word "Nephilim" Mean?

According to the Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon, the word "Nephilim" translates to "giants." The idea of Nephilim as giants seems to be just about the only thing most scholars agree on.

Unfortunately the etymology of the word is complicated and quite nebulous. Nobody is totally sure of the root of the word, but it may be derived from the Hebrew verbal root n-ph-l, for "fall."

What does that indicate about the Nephilim? No one is sure. Anglican cleric Robert Baker Girdlestone asserted it should be interpreted as "those that cause others to fall down" (this could be a literal giant reference or a figurative demonic reference). Professor Ronald Hendel thinks it means "ones who have fallen."

Nephilim in the Bible

Let's go over the actual scriptural references to Nephilim.
In the Hebrew Bible: Genesis 6:1-4 (just before the Flood story):
"4 The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown."
Numbers 13:32-33 (The Twelve Spies report seeing giants in Canaan):
"33 And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight."
In the Book of Enoch The following passage describes the Nephilim as descendents of the Watchers (fallen angels):
"And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.' And Semjaza, who was their leader, said unto them: 'I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.' And they all answered him and said: 'Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.' Then sware they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. And they were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it..."
This passage continues with the names of the participants, and then continues:
"Then they took wives, each choosing for himself; whom they began to approach, and with whom they cohabited; teaching them sorcery, incantations, and the dividing of roots and trees.

"And the women conceiving brought forth giants,

"Whose stature was each three hundred cubits. These devoured all which the labor of men produced; until it became impossible to feed them; When they turned themselves against men, in order to devour them; And began to injure birds, beasts, reptiles, and fishes, to eat their flesh one after another, and to drink their blood. Their flesh one after another."
It seems that all those worldly arts of civilization came at quite a steep price. The essential implication is that the fallen angels enslaved humankind. They bewitched us with wonders and then worked us to death.
"Impiety increased; fornication multiplied; and they transgressed and corrupted all their ways.

"Amazarak taught all the sorcerers, and dividers of roots: Armers taught the solution of sorcery; Barkayal taught the observers of the stars, Akibeel taught signs; Tamiel taught astronomy; And Asaradel taught the motion of the moon,

"And men, being destroyed, cried out; and their voice reached to heaven."
Interpretations
Now that you have seen the scriptural passages, we can talk about popular interpretations.

There are two common theories. They are:

The Nephilim are descendents of fallen angel fathers and mortal human mothers, in other words, a hybrid race.

The Nephilim are fully human.

Let's take a look at the arguments for each...

The Nephilim as Hybrids

If you put stock in the Book of Enoch, you pretty much have to accept the Nephilim as hybrid children of mortal women and fallen angels. The book is pretty clear and specific on this point.

So why is there controversy?

Well, angels are traditionally seen as sexless beings, so in theory they should be incapable of procreation. Of course, we may not know all there is to know about angels. And perhaps fallen angels are different. Maybe their sins reflected not just a change in their actions, but also a shift in their nature.
All of this is supposition-but there was likely quite a bit of that going on when the holy books were originally penned anyway.

The Nephilim as Humans

The other possibility is that the Nephilim were fully human. Giant humans may sound strange-but read the section just after this one on Goliath and you will see there is already scientific precedent.

If the Nephilim were human, most scholars believe they may have represented the descendents of Seth. More specifically, they could have been children of the sons of Seth and the daughters of Cain.

The children of Seth were previously considered righteous, but they lost that status ("fell") when they rebelled against God. The daughters of Cain were never considered righteous.

Was Goliath a Nephilim?

The most obvious reference to a giant in the Bible that you may remember from Sunday school is Goliath. Was Goliath a Nephilim? Probably not, considering the story of David and Goliath is supposed to take place after the Great Flood. As the Flood supposedly wiped out everyone but Noah and his family, all the Nephilim should have perished.

There are a couple alternate explanations. Maybe some Nephilim did survive somehow and made a return and Goliath was one of them. Or maybe Goliath was just a really tall human; bones of a human being larger than Goliath have been discovered.

Could the Nephilim Be the Anunnaki or Their Descendents or Creations?

As I stated at the start of this discussion, there is one more possible explanation for the Nephilim which should interest you greatly-they could be the Anunnaki.

Who Were the Anunnaki?

Just to clarify, I want to take a moment to discuss who the Anunnaki were. I am guessing if you are here reading this, you already know a lot about the Anunnaki, but I don't want to make any assumptions.

If this happens to be one of your first readings on the Anunnaki, then you should know that they represent the deities of the ancient Mesopotamians (Marduk, Enlil, etc.). They were the gods worshipped by the Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Akkadians.

Many people today believe that the Anunnaki may have actually been reptilian alien visitors who came to earth. This view was popularized by author Zecharia Sitchin as well as David Icke.

When I talk about the Anunnaki in this article, I am referring primarily to their original role as Sumerian deities. If you are a believer in the reptilian theory, you can extend the connections here to encompass the modern mythology of ancient astronauts.

The Great Flood Connection

Let's get back to talking about the Nephilim. You may have already started to figure this out. If you have read up on the Anunnaki, you know that the Flood story is woven into their mythos in a couple of different respects:

The Great Flood plays a prominent role in Sumerian mythology.

You may also know about planet Nibiru. Those who believe that the Anunnaki are reptilians from space believe that Nibiru is the homeworld of the Sumerian gods. Nibiru is in theory part of our solar system, but it has a very long orbit and rarely comes close to Earth. The last time it did, the gravitational effects of its presence caused the Great Flood.

In Judeo-Christian lore, the story about the Nephilim takes place right before the Great Flood. The Book of Jubilees actually states in 7:21-25 that God flooded the earth specifically to get rid of the Nephilim:

"21 For owing to these three things came the flood upon the earth, namely, owing to the fornication wherein the Watchers against the law of their ordinances went a whoring after the daughters of men, and took themselves wives of all which they chose: and they made the beginning of uncleanness."

It is clear that the Nibiru story and the Biblical story are both referring to the same cataclysmic event. The stories may differ as to the cause of the Flood, but both narratives connect to a mysterious race of powerful beings which used humanity for its own ends. It seems likely that they are referring to the same race of overlords.

Additional Connections to Sumerian Mythology

We can also look to Sumerian lore for even more insight into the Nephilim and the Anunnaki.

According to scholar J. C. Greenfield, it is possible that the Nephilim story in the Bible is actually derived from Sumerian mythology. Judeo-Christian mythology borrows liberally from pagan myth, so this would not be a surprise.

In particular, Greenfield points toward the story of the Apkallu. The Apkallu were seven demigods created by Enki, one of the chief Sumerian gods. You may also hear Enki referred to as "Ea," which is the name he was later given in Babylonian and Akkadian mythology.

These seven demigods were:

Uanna, "who finished the plans for heaven and earth",

Uannedugga "who was endowed with comprehensive intelligence",

Enmedugga "who was allotted a good fate",

Enmegalamma "who was born in a house",

Enmebulugga "who grew up on pasture land",

An-Enlilda "the conjurer of the city of Eridu",

Utuabzu "who ascended to heaven."

These beings were sent by Enki to teach human beings the arts of civilization: agriculture, writing, building, and so on. You may recall this is a direct parallel to the Book of Enoch, where the fallen angels taught humanity about astronomy, astrology, and so forth.

Just as things turned sour in the Book of Enoch, they went badly in Sumerian lore as well. Interestingly enough, this is where the timeline starts to get murky.

In Biblical lore, the Nephilim angered God before the Flood, which was one of the reasons the Great Flood happened in the first place.

In the Sumerian story, events took place in a different order, but it is easy to imagine that the players were the same. At some point after the Flood, four Apkallu-human hybrids make an entrance: Nungalpirriggaldim, Pirriggalnungal, Pirriggalabsu, and Lu-nana. This indicates that Apkallu and humans were capable of interbreeding, a parallel to the idea that fallen angels and humans were capable of interbreeding.

To top it off, these human-Apkallu hybrids really infuriated the gods.

This is another link to the Bible story.

This is why many scholars believe that the Nephilim myth was directly derived from the story about the Apkallu. It could be that the Nephilim represent the Apkallu themselves or (more likely) their hybrid descendents. Do not forget, in Biblical lore, the Nephilim are the children of fallen angels, not fallen angels.

So let me take a second to clarify.
If anything, the Nephilim can probably be equated to the Apkallu-human hybrids, not the Anunnaki themselves. Remember, the Anunnaki were gods. The Apkallu were demigods. We Now Have Three Versions of One Story
Now that we have stepped in close to look at all the details, let's take a few steps back and take a look at the big picture.

Stories about the Nephilim are vague at best, but we now have three (rough) versions of a single set of events.

The Judeo-Christian Story

Splicing together the information from Genesis, Numbers, The Book of Enoch and Jubilees, we get the following basic story:

The Nephilim were either entirely human giants or they were a race of hybrids spawned by human women and fallen angels. The fallen angels and/or Nephilim gave many arts of civilization to humankind. Nonetheless, men were "destroyed" by this interference. In His wrath, God flooded the world to wipe out the Nephilim and humanity (save for Noah and his family).

The Sumerian Story
One of the Anunnaki, Enki, created seven demigods to help civilize humankind. These demigods were known as the Apkallu. Apkallu and human beings were capable of interbreeding. After the Great Flood, four human-Apkallu hybrids appeared who evoked the wrath of the gods.
The Reptilian Story

Reptilian theorists believe that the Anunnaki were real, literal beings, and moreover, that they came from space. Their homeworld is an undiscovered planet called Nibiru in a long orbit around the earth. When they came to earth, they brought many of the arts of civilization, but like the fallen angels of Christian lore, they used human beings for their own purposes. The gravitational tides caused by their planet's close proximity to ours created the Great Flood.
Some reptilians survived on Earth, but Nibiru moved along in its rotation. The next time it returns, we can expect further cataclysms. The remaining reptilians have gone into hiding or live amongst us as human shapeshifters. Like the Apkallu and the fallen angels that spawned the Nephilim, they are capable of interbreeding with humans. This means that some of their descendents could be real-life Nephilim. What do Nephilim look like today? Probably just like us. *** Remember, All Stories are Interpretive ***

There are many people who believe that their religions are literal truth, perfect in every detail.

But think for a moment about the way that stories are told. There is no such thing as objectivity in storytelling. This is a hard lesson that every journalist learns well. Even something as simple as deciding where to point a video camera when filming a documentary can paint a story with a certain hue. Some information receives a great deal of focus while other information gets left out altogether.

Which story about the Nephilim is true? It could be that all of them are true in some respects-and false in others.

In other words, none of these stories are the truth. They are simply different versions and interpretations of the same set of events. That set of events is the actual truth. But as none of us have the benefit of witnessing those events directly, we are stuck trying to fit the pieces together. The pieces we have are biased and incomplete.

Each of these stories was transcribed through a certain cultural lens. The understanding of the authors was limited by their knowledge of the universe at that time, which limited their language as well.

So were the Nephilim the children of fallen angels? Gods? Aliens? Maybe the simple answer is ... yes. Who says that there is one right answer here?

What we call gods or aliens or angels is simply a reflection of our cultural lenses of understanding.

The real Nephilim were simply whatever they were (or are whatever they are, if descendents of Nephilim today are still among us). They might not describe themselves as gods, angels, or aliens at all.

If we want to become like gods or angels ourselves, the best thing we can do is to keep an open mind. That is how we learn to go beyond our existing definitions and limitations. That and avoiding literal, immutable interpretation is the key to learning more about our place in the universe. If there is a place for us among the gods and the stars, we will need to evolve a fluid understanding.

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If you have an interest in the more esoteric aspects of Judeo-Christian lore, then you may have some passing familiarity with the Nephilim. But you probably have more questions than answers. Were the Nephilim fallen angels? Were they the children of fallen angels? Were they entirely human?

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The name EARTH also comes from EA/Enki. Actually, the name "earth" can be traced to Enki (a.k.a. EA), and " human" is related to Ninharsag/Ninhursag, who was Hathor (the House of Horus): HU ( Horus) is also a transliteration of the ancient Sumerian EA (Grimms' law of interchangeable letters and sounds).

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A Mechanical Translation of the Book of Genesis
Jeff A. Benner

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Ivan Pavlov: A Russian Life in Science - Daniel P. Todes - Google Books

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Winner of the Pfizer Award from the History of Science Society "Contrary to legend, Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) never trained a dog to salivate to the sound of a bell." So begins this definitive, deeply researched biography of Ivan Pavlov. Daniel P.

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vagus nerve – Mom On A Spiritual Journey

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Alternative questions You can also post questions on my Facebook Page or via Twitter...and I will do my best to answer those, too! So, here goes, psychically or otherwise! Answering 3 questions today. Psychic question number 1 "What does the pinky finger represent in reflexology?" As Michael Caine would say "Not ...

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vagus nerve - Mom On A Spiritual Journey

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Alternative questions You can also post questions on my Facebook Page or via Twitter...and I will do my best to answer those, too! So, here goes, psychically or otherwise! Answering 3 questions today. Psychic question number 1 "What does the pinky finger represent in reflexology?" As Michael Caine would say "Not ...

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TransVaginal Mesh - Pudendal Neuralgia Educational Portal

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TransVaginal Mesh - Pudendal Neuralgia Educational Portal

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Dr. Greg Vigna, pudendal neuralgia expert, believes 1-2% of TVM lawsuits may have injuries consistent with pudendal neuralgia. If you are a woman who was implanted with transvaginal mesh (TVM), and you are currently experiencing any of the following symptoms, you may have a Pudendal Neuralgia which is a catastrophic injury that may potentially require ...

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Unveil Your Spiritual Psychic Powers - Mayan Lynch - Google Books

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This book is the result of spiritually guided inspiration and working with people who did the exercises in 2008. It is designed to advance inherent natural psychic skills that you already have. It's theme is spiritual wealth not material wealth. Opening ones vision to a wider panorama of higher consciousness.

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12 Ways to Unlock the Powers of the Vagus Nerve

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Wiring Your Brain for Positivity

The Science Behind Mindfulness and Good Health

The Power of Sharing Stories

How to Rebuild Yourself After an Emotionally Abusive Relationship

Anita Moorjani: The Power of Living Your Purpose

Deva Premal and Miten: Singing the World into Being

Daniel Horowitz: The History of the Happiness Movement

Dr. Saida Désilets: Claiming Your Sexual Sovereignty

The vagus nerve is the most important nerve you probably didn't know you had.

Unlike the other Vegas, what happens in this vagus doesn't stay there. The vagus nerve is a long meandering bundle of motor and sensory fibers that links the brain stem to the heart, lungs, and gut. It also branches out to touch and interact with the liver, spleen, gallbladder, ureter, female fertility organs, neck, ears, tongue, and kidneys. It powers up our involuntary nerve center-the parasympathetic nervous system-and controls unconscious body functions, as well as everything from keeping our heart rate constant and food digestion to breathing and sweating. It also helps regulate blood pressure and blood glucose balance, promotes general kidney function, helps release bile and testosterone, stimulates the secretion of saliva, assists in controlling taste and releasing tears, and plays a major role in fertility issues and orgasms in women.

Dr Justin Hoffman, a Santa Rosa, California, licensed naturopathic medical physician, says:

Without the vagus nerve, key functions that keep us alive would not be maintained.

Nationally recognized sports nutritionist, strength, and conditioning coach Brandon Mentore elaborates:

The vagus nerve is extremely critical to your overall health and is intimately tied in with multiple organs and systems of the body.

The vagus nerve has fibers that innervate virtually all of our internal organs. The management and processing of emotions happens via the vagal nerve between the heart, brain and gut, which is why we have a strong gut reaction to intense mental and emotional states.

Emotional processing happens via the vagal nerve between the heart, brain and gut.

Vagus nerve dysfunction can result in a whole host of problems including obesity, bradycardia (abnormally slow heartbeat), difficulty swallowing, gastrointestinal diseases, fainting, mood disorders, B12 deficiency, chronic inflammation, impaired cough, and seizures.

Meanwhile, the vagus nerve stimulation has been shown to improve conditions such as:

Anxiety disorder

Heart disease

Tinnitus

Obesity

Alcohol addiction

Migraines

Alzheimer's

Leaky gut

Bad blood circulation

Mood disorder

Cancer

A Closer Look At This Super Nerve

The vagus nerve is the longest of our 12 cranial nerves. Only the spinal column is a larger nerve system. About 80 percent of its nerve fibers-or four of its five 'lanes'-drive information from the body to the brain. Its fifth lane runs in the opposite direction, shuttling signals from the brain throughout the body. Anchored in the brain stem, the vagus travels through the neck and into the chest, splitting into the left vagus and the right vagus. Each of these roads is composed of tens of thousands of nerve fibers that branch into the heart, lungs, stomach, pancreas and nearly every other organ in the abdomen.

The vagus nerve uses the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which stimulates muscle contractions in the parasympathetic nervous system. A neurotransmitter is a kind of chemical messenger released at the end of a nerve fiber, that allows for signals to be moved along from point to point, which stimulate various organs. For example, if our brain could not communicate with our diaphragm via the release of acetylcholine from the vagus nerve, then we would stop breathing.

The vagus nerve is the longest of our 12 cranial nerves.

Some substances such as botox and the heavy metal mercury can interfere with acetylcholine production. Botox has been known to shut down the vagus nerve, which causes death. Mercury blocks the action of acetylcholine. When mercury attaches to the thiol protein in the heart muscle receptors, the heart muscle cannot receive the vagus nerve electrical impulse for contraction. Cardiovascular problems normally follow. Mercury used in fillings only inches from the brain as well as the 3,000 tons of mercury put into the atmosphere can interfere with acetylcholine production. Mercury-laden vaccines may also play a role in vagus nerve-related autism in children.

Hoffman says:

Theoretically, anything that helps to improve the presence and function of acetylcholine, will also help to regulate the health of our vagus nerve.

He recommends natural nootropics huperzine and galantamine for improving the sensitivity of acetylcholine receptors.

Vagus nerve damage can also be caused by diabetes, alcoholism, upper respiratory viral infections, or having part of the nerve severed accidentally during an operation. Stress can inflame the nerve, along with fatigue and anxiety. Even something as simple as bad posture can negatively impact the vagus nerve.

Stress can inflame the vagus nerve, along with fatigue and anxiety.

It's also believed that diet plays a role in vagus nerve health. An obesogenic 'cafeteria diet' (high-fat, high-carb junk food) reduces the sensitivity of the vagus nerve. Spicy foods can also cause it to misfire.

A Feeling In Your Gut

When people say they feel it in their gut, that's not just imagination, according to Dr. Mark Sircus, acupuncturist, and doctor of Oriental and pastoral medicine.

Our gut instincts are not fantasies but real nervous signals that guide much of our lives.

This is because the enteric nervous system (ENS), which governs the function of the gastrointestinal tract, communicates with the central nervous system (the brain) via the vagus nerve. This is known as the gut-brain axis. The ENS is sometimes referred to as the second brain or backup brain centered in our solar plexus. Sircus continues:

We now know that the ENS is not just capable of autonomy but also influences the brain. In fact, about 90 percent of the signals passing along the vagus nerve come not from above, but from the ENS.

Keeping the gut and vagus nerve gateway healthy impacts our mental health. A recent study shows how antibiotics can make us aggressive when they upset the microbiome balance in our gut. An important study last year by McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, found that certain beneficial gut microbes can actually prevent PTSD. Probiotics can help keep the gut and vagus nerve signals in a healthier state, according to a report in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).

Keeping the gut and vagus nerve gateway healthy, impacts our mental health.

Dr Abby Kramer, a holistic practitioner and chiropractor in Glenview, Illinois, explains:

Probiotics help promote vagal activity, due to its connection to the gut and digestive functions. Zinc is also a great supplement for anyone with stress or mental health issues, which also links back to the vagus nerve.

Boosting With Electricity

Doctors have long exploited the nerve's influence on the brain. Electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve, called vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), is sometimes used to treat people with epilepsy or depression. VNS is designed to prevent seizures by sending regular, mild pulses of electrical energy to the brain via the vagus nerve. These pulses are supplied by a device something like a pacemaker. It is placed under the skin on the chest wall and a wire runs from it to the vagus nerve in the neck. Researchers studying the effects of vagus stimulation on epilepsy noticed that patients experienced a second benefit unrelated to seizure reduction: their moods also improved.

A 2016 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), showed how stimulating the vagus nerve with a bioelectronic device "significantly improved measures of disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis," a chronic inflammatory disease that affects 1.3 million people in the United States and costs tens of billions of dollars annually to treat.

Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), is used to treat epilepsy, depression and arthritis.

12 Vagus Nerve Stimulation Techniques

The vagus nerve doesn't need to be shocked into shape. It can also be toned and strengthened similar to a muscle. Here are some simple things you can do that might improve your health markedly:

1. Positive Social Relationships - A study had participants think compassionately about others while silently repeating positive phrases about friends and family. Compared to the controls, the meditators showed an overall increase in positive emotions like serenity, joy, and hope after completing the class. These positive thoughts of others led to an improvement in vagal function as seen in heart-rate variability. The results also showed a more toned vagus nerve than when simply meditating.

2. Cold - "Cold exposure such as cold showers or face dunking stimulates the nerve as well," says Mentore.

Studies show that when your body adjusts to cold, your fight or flight (sympathetic) system declines and your rest and digest (parasympathetic) system increases-and this is mediated by the vagus nerve. Any kind of acute cold exposure including drinking ice cold water will increase vagus nerve activation.

3. Gargling - Another home remedy for an under-stimulated vagus nerve is to gargle with water. Gargling actually stimulates the muscles of the pallet which are fired by the vagus nerve.

"Typically patients will tear up a bit which is a good sign and if they don't, we recommend that they do it regularly every day until they notice that they do start tearing up a bit," says Hoffman. "This has been shown to immediately improve working memory performance."

4. Singing And Chanting - Humming, mantra chanting, hymn singing, and upbeat energetic singing all increase heart rate variability (HRV) in slightly different ways. Essentially, singing is like initiating a vagal pump sending out relaxing waves. Singing at the top of your lungs works the muscles in the back of the throat to activate the vagus. Singing in unison, which is often done in churches and synagogues, also increases HRV and vagus function. Singing has been found to increase oxytocin, also known as the love hormone because it makes people feel closer to one another.

Compassion meditation has been shown to result in a more toned vagus nerve.

5. Massage - You can stimulate your vagus nerve by massaging your feet and your neck along the carotid sinus, located along the carotid arteries on either side of your neck. A neck massage can help reduce seizures. A foot massage help can lower your heart rate and blood pressure. A pressure massage can also activate the vagus nerve. These massages are used to help infants gain weight by stimulating gut function, largely mediated by activating the vagus nerve.

6. Laughter - Happiness and laughter are natural immune boosters. Laughter also stimulates the vagus nerve. Research shows how laughter increases HRV in a group environment.

There are various case reports of people fainting from laughter and this may be from the vagus nerve/parasympathetic system being stimulated too much. Fainting can come after laughter as well as urination, coughing, swallowing or bowel movement-all of which are helped along by vagus activation.

7. Yoga And Tai Chi - Both increase vagus nerve activity and your parasympathetic system in general. Studies have shown that yoga increases GABA, a calming neurotransmitter in your brain. Researchers believe it does this by "stimulating vagal afferents (fibers)," which increase activity in the parasympathetic nervous system. This is especially helpful for those who struggle with anxiety or depression.

Studies show that tai chi also can 'enhance vagal modulation.'

8. Breathing Deeply And Slowly - Your heart and neck contain neurons that have receptors called baroreceptors, which detect blood pressure and transmit the neuronal signal to your brain. This activates your vagus nerve that connects to your heart to lower blood pressure and heart rate. Slow breathing, with a roughly equal amount of time breathing in and out, increases the sensitivity of baroreceptors and vagal activation. Breathing around 5-6 breaths per minute in the average adult can be very helpful.

9. Exercise - Exercise increases your brain's growth hormone, supports your brain's mitochondria, and helps reverse cognitive decline. But it's also been shown to stimulate the vagus nerve, which leads to beneficial brain and mental health effects. Mild exercise also stimulates gut flow, which is mediated by the vagus nerve.

Laughter stimulates the vagus nerve and increases HRV in a group environment.

10. Coffee Enemas - Enemas are like sprints for your vagus nerve. Expanding the bowel increases vagus nerve activation, as is done with enemas. This cleansing is accomplished by increasing the liver's capacity to detoxify toxins in the blood and binding them to the bile. In the process, the liver cleanses itself as it releases the toxic bile into the small, then large, intestine for evacuation. The entire blood supply circulates through the liver every three minutes. By retaining the coffee 12 to 15 minutes, the blood will circulate four to five times for cleansing, much like a dialysis treatment. The water content of the coffee stimulates intestinal peristalsis and helps to empty the large intestine with the accumulated toxic bile.

11. Nervana - This wearable product sends a gentle electrical wave through the left ear canal to stimulate the body's vagus nerve, while syncing with music, which in turn stimulates the release of neurotransmitters in the brain that generate a calming sensation throughout the body.

12. Relax - Learning how to chill may be the No. 1 thing to help keep your vagus nerve toned. According to Hoffman, most relaxing activities will stimulate the vagus nerve.

Ultimately, this is where the most profoundly felt impacts can be found. Reading a book, listening to music, watching children play-whatever it is, my advice is to seek relaxation and make time in your life for it. ~ Dr Justin Hoffman

Hacking the Nervous System

How Stress affects Your Brain

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Wiring Your Brain for Positivity

The Science Behind Mindfulness and Good Health

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Wiring Your Brain for Positivity

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How Stress affects Your Brain

Are your Gut Feelings controlling your Mood?

Hacking the Nervous System

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12 Ways to Unlock the Powers of the Vagus Nerve

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Wiring Your Brain for Positivity The Science Behind Mindfulness and Good Health The Power of Sharing Stories How to Rebuild Yourself After an Emotionally Abusive Relationship Anita Moorjani: The Power of Living Your Purpose Deva Premal and Miten: Singing the World into Being Daniel Horowitz: The History of the Happiness Movement Dr. Saida Désilets: Claiming Your Sexual Sovereignty The vagus nerve is the most important nerve you probably didn't know you had.

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Tantra Psychology, Quantum Mind: The Vagus Nerve and the Healing Promise of The Sudarshan Kriya

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At the center of our bodies resides a long, sinewy nerve that extends all the way from our medullas down through our chests to beyond our stomachs. This nerve, known as the Vagus Nerve, happens to be at a most fascinating intersection, not only between our two physical nervous systems (our central and autonomic nervous systems) but also between our conscious minds and subconscious minds. As such, it also acts as a bridge between our gross bodies and our subtle bodies. And it's a nerve probably 99% of the population have never heard of nor even have a clue where it's located. And yet the Vagus Nerve (ironically pronounced the exact same way as sin city itself, Las Vegas) may be the single most relevant organ in our body relative to our peace of mind and happiness.

For thousands of years humanity has explored and discovered subtle realms of mind and body and practices in further these, especially well developed through tantra yoga, of which allopathy is maturing into acknowledging and accepting as propitious for optimal health.

Research indicates that a healthy vagus nerve is vital in experiencing empathy and fostering social bonding, and it is crucial to our ability to observe, perceive, and make complex decisions. Tests have revealed that people with impaired vagal activity have also been diagnosed with depression, panic disorders, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety, panic disorders, violent mood swings, fibromyalgia, early Alzheimer's and obesity. Given the state of society today and the vast array of dis-eases associated with unhealthy Vagus Nerves, it doesn't take a medical doctor to conclude that by healing our collective Vagus Nerves, we can heal a lot of societies woes.
Scientists have discovered that artificial Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS), through electrical impulses via a surgically implanted pacemaker like device, shows promising results in reducing depression, anxieties and even conditions such as epilepsy and obesity. VNS has also shown positive effects in promoting weight-loss as the signals to the brain of 'fullness' are more easily transmitted.

But what if there were a less intrusive and more natural way to stimulate and heal the Vagus Nerve?
Automated Habit Formation
Human Beings have an Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) that is the body's automatic regulatory system of nerves and controls that do all the background tasks that keep the body operating. The ANS is comprised of three separate subsystems, the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS), the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) and the Enteric Nervous System (ENS).
The Parasympathetic Nervous System is responsible for many of our resting functions such as lowering heart rate, increasing digestive & gland activity and sexual arousal, the Sympathetic Nervous System is mainly associated with modulation of hormones and neurotransmitters relating to "flight or fight" responses.

The Enteric Nervous System is generally considered by scientists to be involved predominantly with food digestion, waste elimination and sending full/hungry signals to the brain. However, that doesn't explain why 90% of the nerve fibers of the ENS run one way, from the stomach area, through the vagus nerve and up into the brain.
Furthermore, 95% of the body's serotonin is produced in the gut, not in the brain as most people would assume, making it even more likely that the total functionality of the ENS is far greater than managing our gastrointestinal needs. When you stop to consider that 90-95% of our thoughts occur in our subconscious minds, and also the idea that the Enteric Nervous System is also the organ of the subconscious mind, is it any surprise that most of the nerve fibers between the two systems originate in the ENS or that most of the serotonin is also produced in the ENS?

The cerebrospinal system is the organ of the conscious mind and is the channel through which we receive conscious perception from the physical senses, and exercise control over the movements of the body. While the cerebrospinal or central nervous system (CNS) has the brain as its control center, the ENS has a ganglionic mass in the belly known as the Solar Plexus, often referred to as our second brain*, as its central processing unit and it is in this coprocessor that most of our everyday tasks get executed from. When things in our life become 'second nature', they are effectively processed through our ENS rather than our CNS.
It is our Vagus nerve that provides the gateway between the two systems, acting as a bioinformational data bus that routes the impulses going through in both directions. Since the Vagus Nerve acts as the central switchboard between our two nervous systems, it should not come as a surprise that impaired functioning of this one nerve can lead to so many different conditions and problems.

Our consciousness's natural tendency is to compartmentalize tedious tasks so that the brain can focus on higher priority activities. As we go through life and learn to do things, such as tying our shoes, it would take far too much of our brain's capacity to have to focus on every small aspect of life so once most things are learned with our conscious awareness, they then get handed over to our automatic background systems. Over time more and more repetitive tasks go from originating in our conscious minds to happening in our subconscious minds.
When an athlete is said to be 'in the zone' and performing at near perfect levels, it is because they are practically and literally almost unconscious and functioning entirely through their ENS. And when someone has an intuition, or in other words they have a 'gut' feeling, that information is coming to them through the Solar Plexus and when we say that someone has learned to play a song 'by heart', in reality, it would probably be more accurate to say they learned how to play 'by solar plexus'!

Why Laughter IS the best medicine Humans have two natural albeit involuntary methods of VNS that have been long considered to be therapeutic, both laughter and weeping. There is ample scientific evidence suggesting that both laughing and sobbing are extremely beneficial for our health and in the context of Vagus nerve research, it is obvious how these two acts can promote healing and wellness through the increase in vagal stimulation.
However, there is also powerful breathing technique to manually and naturally stimulate the vagus nerve, called the Sudarshan Kriya. Scientists have found that SK&P (Sudarshan Kriya along with the related Practices, of yogic asanas, pranayams [including Nadi Shodana] and meditation) can be extremely effective at opening up this vital channel of energy.
In the ancient Sanskrit language, Sudarshan translates to 'right vision' and Kriya mean purification process. The Sudarshan Kriya is rhythmic breathing method that has been known to create profound transformations in the people who practice it. The Sudarshan Kriya has been scientifically proven to help cure symptoms associated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, provide relief for people suffering from addictions of many forms, helps reduce cortisol (the human 'stress' hormone), cut down on cholesterol, improve sleep patterns and in general, create a better sense of peace of mind and well being. Basically, the same list of symptoms associated with impaired Vagal activity are all conditions known to be significantly improved through SK&P.

Scientific Research on Sudarshan Kriya

Scientists in the West have been studying the effect of various forms of breathing exercises on our mental and physical health for many years and Yogis from India have been emphasizing a variety of techniques featuring the breath for thousands of years so this is nothing new, but what is new about the Sudarshan Kriya is just how it works.
Of all the various functions of our autonomic nervous systems, from heart beat, perspiration, hormonal release, gastrointestinal operation, neurotransmitter secretion, etc., the breath stands alone as the only subsystem the conscious mind can put into 'manual override' and so it is through manipulation of the breath that we can recalibrate the entire system.
Dr. Richard Brown M.D., Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University, is one of the first clinicians to successfully correlate impaired Vagal activity with so many different diseases. He has theorized that SK&P contributes to a state of alert calmness by its effect on the Vagus Nerve, which is vital in transmitting data between our two nervous systems. Dr Brown also suggested that other mechanisms by which SK&P works are by relaxing of stress response systems, neuroendocrine release of hormones, nitric oxide neurotransmission, fear conditioning circuits (prefrontal cortex and limbic system), and thalamic generators.
There are many environmental factors that have been associated with impaired Vagal Activity including stress, excessive adrenaline and hormone secretion, over stimulation from television/film/video games, diet and lack of exercise. Interestingly, brain wave rhythms measured during and after SK&P are similar to those of babies.
One of the foremost research experts on the effects of Vagal nerve stimulation through SK&P is Stephen Porges, PhD. Dr. Porges postulates that the different rhythms of breath in SK&P may stimulate different diameter fibers of the vagus nerve. This makes SK&P unique and likely to have a much wider range of applications and effects than the currently available electronic vagus nerve stimulator.

Probably the most exciting scientific findings regarding the benefits of Sudarshan Kriya come from Dr. Fahri Saatcioglu PhD. of Oslo, Norway. In his most recently published findings, Dr. Saatcioglu has provided evidence for how SK&P actually enhances gene expression and alteration which leads to a plausible explanation for how practicing Sudarshan Kriya regularly promotes anti-aging in the body by encouraging DNA strands to repair themselves. According to Dr. Saatcioglu, "during Sudarshan Kriya, yoga and related practices, changes in the way our immune cells use the genetic information in their DNA are increased. This may then result in processes in these cells which may contribute to their function and may also affect the functioning of tissues and organs which then can affect the whole physiology ", adds Saatcioglu, "these data suggest that previously reported therapeutic effects of yoga practices have an integral physiological component at the molecular level".
SK&P Promotes Changes at the Molecular Level
SK&P has been shown to have a 68%-73% success rate in the treatment of depression, regardless of severity. Relief from depression, determined by psychiatric evaluation and standard psychiatric measures (Beck Depression Inventory, Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, and others), was experienced within three weeks. At the three-month follow-ups, patients remained stable and in remission. Published studies further suggest that SK&P normalizes patients' brain-wave patterns, increases serum prolactin (a "well-being" hormone), and has been proven to be as effective as standard anti-depressant drug regimens.
Dr Stephen Larsen, Ph.D., has researched the neurophysiological responses before, during and after SK&P. He conducted experiments measuring EEG (recorded at 19 cortical sites), EKG, heart rate, galvanic skin response, hand skin temperature, pulse plethysmography and blood pressure. He found that SK&P produced significant changes in every physiological measurement. Significant increases in beta activity were observed in the left frontal, occipital, and midline regions of the brain in the SK&P practitioners, as compared to controls (p<0.05). These results are interpreted by neurologists as indicative of increased mental focus/heightened awareness in SK&P practitioners. It is striking to note that SK&P practitioners displayed significantly greater mental alertness (beta activity) than the control group of physicians and medical researchers, whose profession requires development and daily use of these very skills.
Effect on Depression Blood lactate is another biochemical measure of stress. Participants in police training constitute a highly stressed group. They undergo intense physical and emotional training daily. Blood lactate was measured in 10 such individuals, both before learning SK&P and after the first session. There was a significant fall in lactate levels after SK&P, suggesting that it induces a state of relaxation.
Dr. Larsen's results indicate that over a period of time, the practitioner's health becomes more robust, flexible and able to deal with the challenges of stress.

This research further reinforces the theory that through the Vagal Nerve stimulation that the Sudarshan Kriya provides, the many conditions associated with impaired Vagal activity can all be addressed.
Antioxidant Response to SK&P
The body is constantly exposed to environmental toxins, and its cells continuously produce normal metabolic by-products. Both of these factors can result in the formation of free radicals. These react with oxygen and cause oxidant damage, contributing to many diseases, including cancer and such cardiovascular diseases as heart disease and stroke. To counteract these free radicals, the human body has a defense system in the form of antioxidant enzymes. A study was conducted to assess the effect of SK&P on antioxidant enzymes. Levels of three major antioxidant enzymes-superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, and glutathione-were all found to be significantly higher in SK&P practitioners than in the matched control group. These data suggest that people who practice SK&P have an improved antioxidant status and an enhanced defense against oxidative stress on the body.

Effect on Cortisol, the "Stress Hormone"

Several studies have demonstrated SK&P leads to a significant reduction in cortisol levels. In one study, blood cortisol, known as the"stress hormone," was measured in 21 individuals, 35-50 years of age. Regular SK&P practitioners (Group 1) were compared with beginning practitioners (Group 2) during their SK&P sessions. The beginning practitioners were also measured before learning SK&P, while listening to classical music (Group 3). Among beginners, the fall in cortisol levels was significantly greater during SK&P than when listening to classical music, suggesting that SK&P produces a better relaxation response. Regular SK&P practitioners had significantly lower blood cortisol levels at baseline than beginning practitioners, indicating that they experienced less physiological stress under the demands of daily living. The significant further fall in serum cortisol levels, during and following SK&P, among beginning and regular practitioners, suggests that regular practice of SK&P progressively develops greater levels of both relaxation and resilience to stress.

The interaction of the conscious and subconscious mind requires a congruent interaction between the corresponding systems of nerves, our Autonomic Nervous Systems and our Cerebrospinal Nervous Systems. Again, the interface between our two nervous systems is made by the vagus nerve, which passes out of the cerebral region as a portion of the voluntary system to the thorax, networking out to our hearts and lungs, and ultimately passing through the diaphragm it loses its outer coating and becomes merged with the nerves of the Solar Plexus, thus establishing a binding connection between the two and making humans the self aware beings that we are.
Having an understanding of the dual nervous systems, the relationship between unhealthy vagal activity and a myriad of diseases, the knowledge of how the health of our nervous systems directly corresponds do our mental health, it makes sense that healing the Vagus Nerve can provide profound benefits.
Practicing Sudarshan Kriya, in conjunction with a comprehensive set of yogic postures and pranayamas, assists in fine tuning the nervous systems and healing this most vital organ. While it seems obvious that the action of SK&P works through Vagus Nerve Stimulation, this is probably a gross over simplification of the overall beneficial biophysiological effects of the practice and scientists continue to analyze other ways SK&P functions on the nervous systems as well.

Although no specific empirical data has been scientifically gathered yet on enhancing athletic and sports performance through SK&P, it only stands to reason that a technique with the proven benefits of improved intuition, increased clarity of mind, quicker reaction times, greater composure and significantly more stamina and endurance would aid any competitor in any sport increase performance levels. Sports Performance Enhancement

In conclusion, there is one more vital piece to this puzzle to ponder over. If you think about the automatic habit forming mechanism in place and how thought patterns (such as the act of tying a shoe) go from the conscious mind to the subconscious mind, it is important to understand that this same transference also happens in the case of mental habits as well. So many of us have self-defeating mental habits such as guilt, blame, victimness, complaining, the sense of lack, defensiveness, etc. and what's important to keep in mind is that many of these thought patterns have been committed to our subconscious thoughts. They've become as automatic as so many other habits and unless we actively bring these mental habits back up into our conscious awareness, they will continue to persist and bring misery and sorrow into our lives.
It is important to remember that once an impaired Vagus Nerve has been returned back to health, the harmful negative habits that have been accumulated over years of impaired Vagal Activity don't automatically disappear. It is vital therefore, to be mindful of these common mental patterns and bring them to your awareness, back into your conscious mind, so they can be disarmed and removed.

*While the Enteric Nervous System (which includes the Solar Plexus) has also been called the second brain over the past few decades, the Solar Plexus has been called the second brain in the east for thousands of years.

**Some portions reprinted with permission from the original author(s)

Frank Huguenard is an author, teacher and documentary film producer, specializing in films on Science and Spirituality. You can see a trailer of his Beyond Imagination Trilogy here: https://vimeo.com/60887570 and you can see all three of his films, Beyond Me, Beyond Belief and Beyond Reason at his website www.beyondmefilm.com . Read more articles by Frank Huguenard, .

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The Vagus Nerve and the Healing Promise of The Sudarshan Kriya

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For thousands of years humanity has explored and discovered subtle realms of mind and body and practices in furthering these, especially well developed through tantra yoga, of which allopathy is maturing into acknowledging and accepting as propitious for optimal health.

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The Secret of Genesis, An Astro-religious Record. The Legends and Their Interpretation, from the Fall of the Angels to the Building of the Babel Tower - Google Play

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The Secret of Genesis, An Astro-religious Record. The Legends and Their Interpretation, from the Fall of the Angels to the Building of the Babel Tower - Google Play

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Sacred poetry; or, The most important and interesting parts of the Old and New Testaments, paraphrased in verse, with some original hymns and spiritual songs ... adapted to the perusal of all persuasions. By ... James Nelligan - Google Play

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Sacred poetry; or, The most important and interesting parts of the Old and New Testaments, paraphrased in verse, with some original hymns and spiritual songs ... adapted to the perusal of all persuasions. By ... James Nelligan - Google Play

# data[].attributes.body
A Handbook of suggestive therapeutics, applied hypnotism, psychic science - Google Play

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Handbook of suggestive therapeutics, applied hypnotism, psychic science - Google Play

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Often unrecognized, the symptoms of patulous eustachian tube may, and often do, mimic other ear conditions.

This article describes a relatively little known otologic condition called Patulous Eustachian Tube. The symptoms often go unrecognized since the complaints may, and often do, mimic other ear conditions. This article discusses the assessment, differential diagnosis, and types of treatment currently being utilized for this often challenging condition. This disorder is sometimes described by Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) physicians as eustachian tube chronic patency. There are a variety of speculative reasons as to why this condition may occur in the first place. Yet, very little is currently offered as a definitive treatment protocol for the patient who suffers this malady. Reports of incidence (0.3-6%) are unreliable at this point. It is my opinion that the condition described in some circles as being "rare," may only be "rare" to that reporting clinician, but not in the patient population. Goethe's maxim, "What one knows, one sees" is universally true. For example, at one time reports of the phrase "disorders of the temporomandibular joint" were also considered "rare," but now, 40 years later, the phrase brings chills to the insurance industry because of the appreciable incidence in the general population.

Most clinicians choose to leave the complexities of ear and nose and throat medicine to those who have specialized in the ENT field. Tumors of the deep lobe of the parotid or a condition such as Glomus Jugularis, are usually found by the combined skills of the radiologist and the ENT physician or neurologist. And, once in a while, we who are not radiologists, ENT, or neurology docs may get lucky and find ourselves having made a correct diagnosis in an area where we do not have specialized skills. As a dentist in pain management, I often say that I get lucky, or have beginner's luck, when I am successful in area outside my professed expertise. For whatever the reason, we are surprised when a hunch-based on an educated guess-yields benefit for the patient.

Anatomy and Function

The eustachian tube, also known as the auditory tube or pharyngeotympanic tube, connects the nasopharynx to the middle ear. Most texts describe the tube at its proximal end extending from the anterior wall of the middle ear to the lateral wall of the nasopharynx. Typically the proximal one third of the tube is bone. And, the distal two thirds is cartilage with the distal end forming a tuber shaped end at the nasopharynx.

Most texts describe the tube as being 3 to 4 centimeters long. ¹ The inner wall of the tube also is coated with a mucous fluid that moistens the lining of the tube so that surface tension plays a partial role in the maintenance of closure. Closure or collapse of the tube is the norm and helps protects the ear from harmful sounds. ² Atmospheric pressure variations, swallowing, nose blowing, yawning, sneezing, and other maneuvers can cause the tube to open for a brief time. Such opening helps to accomplish the functions of ventilation, drainage, and protection.

The nerve supply to the eustachian tube is complex, and thus any discomfort may contribute to referred pain to other areas of the head and neck. There are four muscles associated with the tube. They include the tensor veli palatini, the levator veli palatini, the salpingopharyngeus, and the tensor tympani muscle. The tensor veli palatini is believed to play a role in active dilation of the tube by distention of the membraneous wall both laterally and inferiorly. The function of the levator veli palatini is believed to be dilation and support. The eustachian tube roles of the salpinogpharyngeus and tensor tympani are not clear at this time.

Pathology and Diagnosis

A pathologic condition can exist by which the tube remains open, or is patent, thus the phrase patulous eustachian tube. This state does not allow the air in the middle ear to equalize and can produce a variety of possible symptoms. Not the least of which is the possibility of fluid and bacteria entering and staying in the middle ear chamber.

There are a battery of tests the ENT doctor may utilize to examine and evaluate the condition of the eustachian tube. Some of the tests include otoscopy, pneumatic otoscopy, indirect nasopharyngoscopy, and endoscopy of the nasopharynx. Additionally, several maneuvers can be done: Valsalva test, Politzer test, and the Toynbee test. All three tests include visualization of the tympanic membrane with specific techniques unique to each. ³

Symptomatically, the patient may present with a variety of signs and symptoms. Obviously, the patient cannot look into his or her outer ear to visualize the tympanic membrane to see what the doctor would observe. However the symptomatic patient often can hear their heartbeat in their ear, the sound of their nasal breathing, and sense of aural fullness. There also may be a popping sound, or clicking or clickity series of sounds as well. The patient may also experience some diminished hearing and, when speaking, may have a head-in-the-bucket resonance, or sound like someone speaking into a well to those listening.

If the patient lies down, they may often have a reduction in aural complaints or a temporary elimination of symptoms. If the patient puts their head between their legs in an upside position, the aural sounds almost always stop. Patients can also tilt the head to the side, or pinch the jugular vessel in the neck for a few seconds to momentarily stop the symptoms. The listing of patient complaints may not be complete because the condition is still a mystery concerning etiology. However, if the clinician uses an otoscope to visualize the tympanic membrane, it will be noted that the membrane moves outward with nasal expiration, and move inward with nasal inspiration. The membrane will also vibrate with talking and the patient hears their own voice and breaths echoing off the tympanic membrane. Further, the membrane will retract each time swallowing occurs. Additionally, the echoes sound too loud to the patient, and they sometimes describe hearing ocean waves as if putting a seashell up to the ear. Some patients hear ringing in the ear, distortion when talking, popping or a clicking sensation when swallowing, and roaring sounds. The patient's voice often sounds lower or congested to other people because the open eustachian tube adds air volume in the pharynx.

The difficulty in trying to diagnose the patient without otoscopic exam of the tympanic membrane, simply leads to confusion and frustration. The patient is not by virtue of their vague or seemingly strange complaints irrational. They are simply an undiagnosed symptomatic patient with symptoms that can become frustrating and even hopeless. A hopeless patient is one who can choose to make irrational decisions, not the least of which are thoughts of self injury or worse may commit suicide.

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This article describes a relatively little known otologic condition called Patulous Eustachian Tube. The symptoms often go unrecognized since the complaints may, and often do, mimic other ear conditions. This article discusses the assessment, differential diagnosis, and types of treatment currently being utilized for this often challenging condition.

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Everything You Wanted To Know About The Vagus Nerve And How It Affects Your Bone Health

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The nervous system is the central portal to all body systems, including your bones. The process of bone remodeling cannot take place unless the appropriate signals are sent along the nerves to regulate the process.

As a part of the autonomic nervous system, the vagus nerve is the "head honcho" of involuntary biological processes. It stimulates and sends feedback from the organs in the abdominal cavity, plus it regulates involuntary actions like mood, digestion, stress response, and so forth. The vagus nerve is also largely responsible for activating the production of cortisol, the stress hormone that damages bone when levels are chronically high.

To stimulate the vagus nerve and "set things right" again, you can employ the Valsalva maneuver, which is easily performed anywhere, any time. It's so effective that it's used in medical practice as a treatment for depression.

So let's take a look at this "wandering" nerve, how it affects your health and your bones, why the Valsava maneuver works, and how to perform it.

The Vagus Nerve In A Nutshell

The word "vagus" is derived from the Latin word vagary, meaning "to wander." This is also where we get words like "vagrant" and "vagabond." It signifies a meandering pathway that is not anchored in an obvious way, unlike the contained nerves in the spinal cord. But even though this nerve appears to wander, it's not random in its pathway.

The vagus nerve originates in the brain stem - it's actually the tenth cranial nerve - and travels up to the eyes and down through the chest and abdominal cavity. It branches off in various places along the way, innervating the pupils, esophagus, lungs, digestive organs, bladder, kidneys, reproductive organs, and much more. It's the longest cranial nerve in the body, and it's also one of the most important.

In fact, the vagus nerve is the most vital element of the parasympathetic nervous system, or PNS, which works in opposition to - and also in conjunction with - the sympathetic nervous system, or SNS.

The PNS is responsible for maintaining homeostasis in the body's various systems. A good way to think of the PNS is as the "rest and digest" nervous system. It decreases heart rate, constricts bronchial tubes, relaxes muscles, and increases the secretion of digestive juices and saliva.

The SNS controls the way the body reacts to danger and acute stress (the automatic "fight or flight" response). It tightens muscles, dilates the bronchial tubes, releases adrenaline, converts glycogen to glucose for fast and quick energy to the muscles, and increases heart rate.

As the major "boss" of the PNS, the vagus nerve calms your body down after a SNS-instigated fight-or-flight response. Once the stressor has passed, the vagus nerve brings the body back to a state of mental and physical balance and calm.

The vagus nerve does all that and a whole lot more.

Seven Ways The Vagus Nerve Affects Your Health And Your Bones

Here are seven of the many ways this wandering nerve is involved in your health.

1. Regulates Heart Rate

The vagus nerve actually controls your heart rate by stimulating the sinoatrial node of the heart to release acetylcholine, a hormone that slows down the heart rate. The relationship between the vagus nerve and the heart is so reliable, that doctors can test the vitality of your vagus nerve (and the variability of your heart rate) by timing and charting the moments between heart beats.

2. It Can Cause Fainting When Over-Stimulated

If you feel light-headed (or actually pass out) when you see blood or observe medical procedures, it's not a sign of weakness. Instead, it's a phenomenon known as "vagal syncope," a response to stress that over-stimulates the vagus nerve. As noted in the first point, the vagus nerve is closely connected to your heart, so when it's over-stimulated, it can cause your heart rate to drop and your blood pressure to drop. The blood flow to your brain is then restricted, causing you to feel faint.

3. Improves Memory

Animal studies show that vagus nerve stimulation improves memory. ¹ This is likely due to the fact that the vagus nerve releases norepinephrine into the amygdala, the area of the brain that organizes and consolidates memories and emotions.

4. Sends Messages To And From The Brain And The Gut

Phrases like "I have a gut feeling" have been in our language for many years, yet the knowledge that the vagus nerve connects the two is relatively new. Your gut feelings actually have basis in biology. The vagus nerve acts as a sort of message translator between your gut and your brain, using electrical impulses to communicate between the two.

The vast majority of these messages go from the gut (via the ENS, or enteric nervous system in the digestive tract) to your brain; so in essence, your belly really does tell your brain how you're feeling.

5. Prevents Inflammation

There's no question that inflammation plays a role in bone health as well as many other health conditions, and in particular, heart disease. Inflammation literally ages your bones via oxidative damage, making them more vulnerable to fracture.

The vagus nerve is always on a reconnaissance mission, gathering information from the organs as to the presence of inflammatory substances like cytokines. It then alerts the brain, which in turn responds by sending out anti-inflammatory neurotransmitters. This underscores the fact that inflammation is meant to be temporary; once it's done its job, such as promoting the healing necessary for an injury, it needs to be "shut off." The vagus nerve performs this vital action.

6. Keeps You Breathing

By causing the secretion of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, the vagus nerve tells your lungs to breathe, over and over. Breathing is important for obvious reasons, but deep breathing is even more so. When you breathe deeply, it not only alkalizes your body, but it also stimulates the vagus nerve itself, producing a sense of calm and reducing bone-damaging stress. So it helps your bones two ways, and also reduces depression and anxiety (more on this later).

7. Helps You To Relax

Did you know that your body has a mechanism in place for relaxation? It makes sense - something must kick in to cause you to calm down from an intense, stressful moment. Acetylcholine is involved once again, as well as the vagus nerve's stimulation of this neurotransmitter. Acetylcholine signals the vagus nerve to release relaxing, feel-good hormones such as prolactin and oxytocin - to name a few - to the organs where they are needed.

The many branches of the vagus nerve distribute these relaxation chemicals directly to the organs that need them, causing you to feel calmer.
Strengthening this vagus response helps you to recover more quickly from stress, which is where the Valsalva maneuver comes in.

What Is The Valsalva Maneuver And How It's Done

Antonio Valsalva (1666-1723) was an Italian anatomist who spent much of his scientific career studying the ear. He is responsible for the term Eustachian tube, and he also developed the maneuver we're going to look at today. The original intention of the Valsalva maneuver was to clear debris and infection from inside the ear, but its uses and benefits extend far beyond this to include vagus nerve stimulation. Here's how it works.

The Valsalva maneuver increases pressure within the chest cavity and expands your abdomen, setting a series of physiological processes into place. As mentioned earlier, the vagus nerve is directly connected to your heart's rhythm, which is why doctors recommend the Valsalva maneuver to halt an SVT episode. (SVT is supraventricular tachycardia.) Because of this, if you have any heart condition, make sure you ask your doctor before performing this maneuver.

Here's how to do it:

1. Hold your nose so you can't breathe through it.

2. Close your mouth and try to breathe out through your pinched nose.

3. Hold this "forced exhalation" for 10 to 15 seconds, and then release.

Breathing against a closed-off airway increases chest cavity pressure, thus forcing the heart to pump more blood for a few seconds. Then the opposite happens - the pressure now has the effect of preventing blood from returning to the heart, so blood vessels constrict, raising blood pressure.

When you resume normal breathing, the pressure drops suddenly, allowing the chest cavity to expand and blood to fill the heart again. Ironically, cardiac output may actually drop even more at this point. Seconds later, your heart and lungs resume normal rhythm and breathing.

This maneuver "tones" the vagus nerve, which can also be accomplished by deep breathing. This is best performed by drawing a slow, deep breath in through your nose, envisioning your abdomen filling with a balloon. Let your ribs expand all around and your belly as well. Breathe in for about seven seconds, hold it for a moment, and then slowly exhale through your nose for 11 seconds. Repeat six to 12 times.

Anxiety And Depression Relief

Remember that the vagus nerve controls the "calm down" aspect of the parasympathetic nervous system? Stimulating it, then, kicks this calm-down response into gear, reducing stress, anxiety, depression, and the cortisol that accompany these conditions. In addition to alkalizing your pH, this is another way that deep breathing is excellent for your bone health.

The bottom line is, stress is acidifying. The Save Our Bones Program did not overlook this fact, and you'll find an entire chapter (Chapter 14) devoted to the issue of relaxation and stress reduction. As you learn how to relax your mind and body, it helps you to control your stress and cortisol levels.

Chapter 14 includes 10 easy behavioral changes you can make that will have a huge impact on your sense of well-being and your bone health, as well as specific relaxation techniques you can employ every day to bring a sense of calm.

Stop Worrying About Your Bone Loss
Join thousands of Savers from around the world who have reversed or prevented their bone loss naturally and scientifically with the Save Our Bones Program. Learn More Now →
The Save Our Bones Program certainly covers all the bases when it comes to bone health!

Till next time,

References:
¹ Chen, C. C. and Williams, C.L. "Interactions between epinephrine, ascending vagal fibers, and central noradrenergic systems in modulating memory for emotionally arousing events." Front Behav Neurosci. 6. 35. (2012). Web. November 1, 2016. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3384987/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Everything You Wanted To Know About The Vagus Nerve And How It Affects Your Bone Health

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The nervous system is the central portal to all body systems, including your bones. The process of bone remodeling cannot take place unless the appropriate signals are sent along the nerves to regulate the process. As a part of the autonomic nervous system, the vagus nerve is the "head honcho" of involuntary biological processes.

# data[].attributes.body
Everything You Wanted To Know About The Vagus Nerve And How It Affects Your Bone Health

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The nervous system is the central portal to all body systems, including your bones. The process of bone remodeling cannot take place unless the appropriate signals are sent along the nerves to regulate the process.

As a part of the autonomic nervous system, the vagus nerve is the "head honcho" of involuntary biological processes. It stimulates and sends feedback from the organs in the abdominal cavity, plus it regulates involuntary actions like mood, digestion, stress response, and so forth. The vagus nerve is also largely responsible for activating the production of cortisol, the stress hormone that damages bone when levels are chronically high.

To stimulate the vagus nerve and "set things right" again, you can employ the Valsalva maneuver, which is easily performed anywhere, any time. It's so effective that it's used in medical practice as a treatment for depression.

So let's take a look at this "wandering" nerve, how it affects your health and your bones, why the Valsava maneuver works, and how to perform it.

The Vagus Nerve In A Nutshell

The word "vagus" is derived from the Latin word vagary, meaning "to wander." This is also where we get words like "vagrant" and "vagabond." It signifies a meandering pathway that is not anchored in an obvious way, unlike the contained nerves in the spinal cord. But even though this nerve appears to wander, it's not random in its pathway.

The vagus nerve originates in the brain stem - it's actually the tenth cranial nerve - and travels up to the eyes and down through the chest and abdominal cavity. It branches off in various places along the way, innervating the pupils, esophagus, lungs, digestive organs, bladder, kidneys, reproductive organs, and much more. It's the longest cranial nerve in the body, and it's also one of the most important.

In fact, the vagus nerve is the most vital element of the parasympathetic nervous system, or PNS, which works in opposition to - and also in conjunction with - the sympathetic nervous system, or SNS.

The PNS is responsible for maintaining homeostasis in the body's various systems. A good way to think of the PNS is as the "rest and digest" nervous system. It decreases heart rate, constricts bronchial tubes, relaxes muscles, and increases the secretion of digestive juices and saliva.

The SNS controls the way the body reacts to danger and acute stress (the automatic "fight or flight" response). It tightens muscles, dilates the bronchial tubes, releases adrenaline, converts glycogen to glucose for fast and quick energy to the muscles, and increases heart rate.

As the major "boss" of the PNS, the vagus nerve calms your body down after a SNS-instigated fight-or-flight response. Once the stressor has passed, the vagus nerve brings the body back to a state of mental and physical balance and calm.

The vagus nerve does all that and a whole lot more.

Seven Ways The Vagus Nerve Affects Your Health And Your Bones

Here are seven of the many ways this wandering nerve is involved in your health.

1. Regulates Heart Rate

The vagus nerve actually controls your heart rate by stimulating the sinoatrial node of the heart to release acetylcholine, a hormone that slows down the heart rate. The relationship between the vagus nerve and the heart is so reliable, that doctors can test the vitality of your vagus nerve (and the variability of your heart rate) by timing and charting the moments between heart beats.

2. It Can Cause Fainting When Over-Stimulated

If you feel light-headed (or actually pass out) when you see blood or observe medical procedures, it's not a sign of weakness. Instead, it's a phenomenon known as "vagal syncope," a response to stress that over-stimulates the vagus nerve. As noted in the first point, the vagus nerve is closely connected to your heart, so when it's over-stimulated, it can cause your heart rate to drop and your blood pressure to drop. The blood flow to your brain is then restricted, causing you to feel faint.

3. Improves Memory

Animal studies show that vagus nerve stimulation improves memory. ¹ This is likely due to the fact that the vagus nerve releases norepinephrine into the amygdala, the area of the brain that organizes and consolidates memories and emotions.

4. Sends Messages To And From The Brain And The Gut

Phrases like "I have a gut feeling" have been in our language for many years, yet the knowledge that the vagus nerve connects the two is relatively new. Your gut feelings actually have basis in biology. The vagus nerve acts as a sort of message translator between your gut and your brain, using electrical impulses to communicate between the two.

The vast majority of these messages go from the gut (via the ENS, or enteric nervous system in the digestive tract) to your brain; so in essence, your belly really does tell your brain how you're feeling.

5. Prevents Inflammation

There's no question that inflammation plays a role in bone health as well as many other health conditions, and in particular, heart disease. Inflammation literally ages your bones via oxidative damage, making them more vulnerable to fracture.

The vagus nerve is always on a reconnaissance mission, gathering information from the organs as to the presence of inflammatory substances like cytokines. It then alerts the brain, which in turn responds by sending out anti-inflammatory neurotransmitters. This underscores the fact that inflammation is meant to be temporary; once it's done its job, such as promoting the healing necessary for an injury, it needs to be "shut off." The vagus nerve performs this vital action.

6. Keeps You Breathing

By causing the secretion of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, the vagus nerve tells your lungs to breathe, over and over. Breathing is important for obvious reasons, but deep breathing is even more so. When you breathe deeply, it not only alkalizes your body, but it also stimulates the vagus nerve itself, producing a sense of calm and reducing bone-damaging stress. So it helps your bones two ways, and also reduces depression and anxiety (more on this later).

7. Helps You To Relax

Did you know that your body has a mechanism in place for relaxation? It makes sense - something must kick in to cause you to calm down from an intense, stressful moment. Acetylcholine is involved once again, as well as the vagus nerve's stimulation of this neurotransmitter. Acetylcholine signals the vagus nerve to release relaxing, feel-good hormones such as prolactin and oxytocin - to name a few - to the organs where they are needed.

The many branches of the vagus nerve distribute these relaxation chemicals directly to the organs that need them, causing you to feel calmer.
Strengthening this vagus response helps you to recover more quickly from stress, which is where the Valsalva maneuver comes in.

What Is The Valsalva Maneuver And How It's Done

Antonio Valsalva (1666-1723) was an Italian anatomist who spent much of his scientific career studying the ear. He is responsible for the term Eustachian tube, and he also developed the maneuver we're going to look at today. The original intention of the Valsalva maneuver was to clear debris and infection from inside the ear, but its uses and benefits extend far beyond this to include vagus nerve stimulation. Here's how it works.

The Valsalva maneuver increases pressure within the chest cavity and expands your abdomen, setting a series of physiological processes into place. As mentioned earlier, the vagus nerve is directly connected to your heart's rhythm, which is why doctors recommend the Valsalva maneuver to halt an SVT episode. (SVT is supraventricular tachycardia.) Because of this, if you have any heart condition, make sure you ask your doctor before performing this maneuver.

Here's how to do it:

1. Hold your nose so you can't breathe through it.

2. Close your mouth and try to breathe out through your pinched nose.

3. Hold this "forced exhalation" for 10 to 15 seconds, and then release.

Breathing against a closed-off airway increases chest cavity pressure, thus forcing the heart to pump more blood for a few seconds. Then the opposite happens - the pressure now has the effect of preventing blood from returning to the heart, so blood vessels constrict, raising blood pressure.

When you resume normal breathing, the pressure drops suddenly, allowing the chest cavity to expand and blood to fill the heart again. Ironically, cardiac output may actually drop even more at this point. Seconds later, your heart and lungs resume normal rhythm and breathing.

This maneuver "tones" the vagus nerve, which can also be accomplished by deep breathing. This is best performed by drawing a slow, deep breath in through your nose, envisioning your abdomen filling with a balloon. Let your ribs expand all around and your belly as well. Breathe in for about seven seconds, hold it for a moment, and then slowly exhale through your nose for 11 seconds. Repeat six to 12 times.

Anxiety And Depression Relief

Remember that the vagus nerve controls the "calm down" aspect of the parasympathetic nervous system? Stimulating it, then, kicks this calm-down response into gear, reducing stress, anxiety, depression, and the cortisol that accompany these conditions. In addition to alkalizing your pH, this is another way that deep breathing is excellent for your bone health.

The bottom line is, stress is acidifying. The Save Our Bones Program did not overlook this fact, and you'll find an entire chapter (Chapter 14) devoted to the issue of relaxation and stress reduction. As you learn how to relax your mind and body, it helps you to control your stress and cortisol levels.

Chapter 14 includes 10 easy behavioral changes you can make that will have a huge impact on your sense of well-being and your bone health, as well as specific relaxation techniques you can employ every day to bring a sense of calm.

Stop Worrying About Your Bone Loss
Join thousands of Savers from around the world who have reversed or prevented their bone loss naturally and scientifically with the Save Our Bones Program. Learn More Now →
The Save Our Bones Program certainly covers all the bases when it comes to bone health!

Till next time,

References:
¹ Chen, C. C. and Williams, C.L. "Interactions between epinephrine, ascending vagal fibers, and central noradrenergic systems in modulating memory for emotionally arousing events." Front Behav Neurosci. 6. 35. (2012). Web. November 1, 2016. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3384987/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Everything You Wanted To Know About The Vagus Nerve And How It Affects Your Bone Health

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The nervous system is the central portal to all body systems, including your bones. The process of bone remodeling cannot take place unless the appropriate signals are sent along the nerves to regulate the process. As a part of the autonomic nervous system, the vagus nerve is the "head honcho" of involuntary biological processes.

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Anatomy, Head and Neck, Ear Eustachian Tube - StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Anatomy, Head and Neck, Ear Eustachian Tube

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Eustachian tube is named after the Italian anatomist, Bartolomeo Eustachi, who observed that it was a canal that connected the nasopharynx to the middle ear. The Eustachian tube is also known as the pharyngotympanic tube or the auditory tube.[1][2]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Wounded healer is a term created by psychologist Carl Jung. The idea states that an analyst is compelled to treat patients because the analyst himself is "wounded". The idea may have Greek mythology origins. Research has shown that 73.9% of counselors and psychotherapists have experienced one or more wounding experiences leading to their career choice.

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The coming of Christ is our becoming Christ. 

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Copyright © 2018, Rabbi Ted Falcon, PhD All rights reserved.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In animals, including humans, the startle response is a largely unconscious defensive response to sudden or threatening stimuli, such as sudden noise or sharp movement, and is associated with negative affect.[1] Usually the onset of the startle response is a startle reflex reaction. The startle reflex is a brainstem reflectory reaction (reflex) that serves to protect vulnerable parts, such as the back of the neck (whole-body startle) and the eyes (eyeblink) and facilitates escape from sudden stimuli. It is found across many different species, throughout all stages of life. A variety of responses may occur depending on the affected individual's emotional state,[2] body posture,[3] preparation for execution of a motor task,[4] or other activities.[5] The startle response is implicated in the formation of specific phobias.[citation needed ]

Neurophysiology

Layout of the brain

A startle reflex can occur in the body through a combination of actions. A reflex from hearing a sudden loud noise will happen in the primary acoustic startle reflex pathway consisting of three main central synapses, or signals that travel through the brain.

First, there is a synapse from the auditory nerve fibers in the ear to the cochlear root neurons (CRN). These are the first acoustic neurons of the central nervous system. Studies have shown a direct correlation to the amount of decrease of the startle to the number of CRNs that were killed. Second, there is a synapse from the CRN axons to the cells in the nucleus reticularis pontis caudalis (PnC) of the brain. These are neurons that are located in the pons of the brainstem. A study done to disrupt this portion of the pathway by the injection of PnC inhibitory chemicals has shown a dramatic decrease in the amount of startle by about 80 to 90 percent. Third, a synapse occurs from the PnC axons to the motor neurons in the facial motor nucleus or the spinal cord that will directly or indirectly control the movement of muscles. The activation of the facial motor nucleus causes a jerk of the head while an activation in the spinal cord causes the whole body to startle.[6]

During neuromotor examinations of newborns, it is noted that, for a number of techniques, the patterns of the startle reaction and the Moro reflex may significantly overlap, the notable distinction being the absence of arm abduction (spreading) during startle responses.[7]

Reflexes

There are many various reflexes that can occur simultaneously during a startle response. The fastest reflex recorded in humans happens within the masseter muscle or jaw muscle. The reflex was measured by electromyography which records the electrical activity during movement of the muscles. This also showed the latency response or the delay between the stimulus and the response recorded was found to be about 14 milliseconds. The blink of the eye which is the reflex of the orbicularis oculi muscle was found to have a latency of about 20 to 40 milliseconds. Out of larger body parts, the head is quickest in a movement latency in a range from 60 to 120 milliseconds. The neck then moves almost simultaneously with a latency of 75 to 121 milliseconds. Next, the shoulder jerks at 100 to 121 milliseconds along with the arms at 125 to 195 milliseconds. Lastly the legs respond with a latency of 145 to 395 milliseconds. This type of cascading response correlates to how the synapses travel from the brain and down the spinal cord to activate each motor neuron.[8]

Acoustic startle reflex

The acoustic startle reflex is thought to be caused by an auditory stimulus greater than 80 decibels.[1] The reflex is typically measured by electromyography, brain imaging or sometimes positron electron tomography.[9][10] There are many brain structures and pathways thought to be involved in the reflex. The amygdala, hippocampus, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) and anterior cingulate cortex are all thought to play a role in modulating the reflex.[11][12] The anterior cingulate cortex in the brain is largely thought to be the main area associated with emotional response and awareness, which can contribute to the way an individual reacts to startle-inducing stimuli.[11] Along with the anterior cingulate cortex, the amygdala and the hippocampus are known to have implications in this reflex.

The amygdala is known to have a role in the " fight-or-flight response", and the hippocampus functions to form memories of the stimulus and the emotions associated with it.[13] The role of the BNST in the acoustic startle reflex may be attributed to specific areas within the nucleus responsible for stress and anxiety responses.[12] Activation of the BNST by certain hormones is thought to promote a startle response[12] The auditory pathway for this response was largely elucidated in rats in the 1980s.[14] The basic pathway follows the auditory pathway from the ear up to the nucleus of the lateral lemniscus (LLN) from where it activates a motor centre in the reticular formation. This centre sends descending projections to lower motor neurones of the limbs[clarification needed ].

In slightly more detail this corresponds to ear ( cochlea) → cranial nerve VIII (auditory) → cochlear nucleus (ventral/inferior) → LLN → caudal pontine reticular nucleus (PnC). The whole process has a less than 10ms[clarification needed ] latency. There is no involvement of the superior/rostral or inferior/caudal colliculus in the reaction that "twitches" the hindlimbs, but these may be important for adjustment of pinnae and gaze towards the direction of the sound, or for the associated blink.[15]

In a 2005 study by Martin et al., at the Department of Aviation and Logistics, University of Southern Queensland, the performance of aircraft pilots following unexpected critical events, in relation to recent aircraft accidents, is examined. The deleterious effects of the startle response was identified as causal or contributory in these events. The authors argue that fear resulting from threat (especially if life-threatening[16][17]) potentiates startle effects and has significant deleterious effects on cognition. This could contribute to poor performance following an unexpected critical event in aviation. They discuss training strategies for improved performance, which would expose pilots to unexpected critical events more often, and develop greater self-efficacy.[18]

1. ^ Rammirez-Moreno, David. "A computational model for the modulation of the prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle reflex". Biological Cybernetics, 2012, p. 169

2. ^ Lang, Peter J.; Bradley, Margaret M.; Cuthbert, Bruce N. (1990). "Emotion, attention, and the startle reflex". Psychological Review. 97 (3): 377-95. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.97.3.377. ISSN 1939-1471. PMID 2200076.

3. ^ Castellote et al (2007) cited Brown, P; Day, BL; Rothwell, JC; Thompson, PD; Marsden, CD (1991b). "The effect of posture on the normal and pathological auditory startle reflex". J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 54 (10): 892-97. doi:10.1136/jnnp.54.10.892. PMC 1014574. PMID 1744643.

4. ^ Castellote et al (2007) cited Valls-Sole, J; Rothwell, JC; Goulart, F; Cossu, G; Munoz, E (1999). "Patterned ballistic movements triggered by a startle in healthy humans". J Physiol. 516 (3): 931-38. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7793.1999.0931u.x. PMC 2269293. PMID 10200438.

5. ^ Castellote et al (2007) cited Nieuwenhuijzen, PH; Schillings, AM; Van Galen, GP; Duysens, J (2000). "Modulation of the startle response during human gait". J Neurophysiol. 84 (1): 65-74. doi:10.1152/jn.2000.84.1.65. PMID 10899184.

6. Davis, M. (2007). "Neural systems involved in fear and anxiety based on the fear-potentiated startle test." ^ Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (pp. 381-425). Elsevier Incorporated.

7. ^ Fletcher, Mary Ann (1998). Physical Diagnosis in Neonatology. p. 472. ISBN 978-0397513864.

8. Davis, M. (1984). "The mammalian startle response". In R. Eaton (Ed.), ^ Neural stop of Startle Behavior (pp. 287-351). Plenum Publishing Corporation.

9. Pissiota, Anna. "Amygdala and Anterior Cingulate Cortex Activation During Affective Startle Modulation:a PET Study of Fear". ^ The European Journal of Neuroscience, 2003, p. 1325

10. Phillips, R.G. "Differential Contribution of Amygdala and Hippocampus to Cued and Contextual Fear Conditioning". ^ Behavioral Neuroscience, 1992, p. 274

11. ^ Medford, Nick. "Conjoint Activity of Anterior Insular and Anterior Cingulate Cortex:Awareness and Response". Brain Structure and Function, 2010, p. 535

12. ^ Lee, Younglim. "Role of the Hippocampus, the Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis, and the Amygdala in the Excitatory Effect of Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone on the Acoustic Startle Reflex". The Journal of Neuroscience, 1997, p. 6434

13. Grouen, Wouter. "Amygdala and Hippocampus Enlargement During Adolescence in Autism". ^ Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2010, p. 552

14. ^ Davis, M; Gendelman, Ds; Tischler, Md; Gendelman, Pm (Jun 1982). "A primary acoustic startle circuit: lesion and stimulation studies". Journal of Neuroscience. 2 (6): 791-805. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.02-06-00791.1982. ISSN 0270-6474. PMC 6564345. PMID 7086484.

15. ^ Castellote, Jm; Kumru, H; Queralt, A; Valls-Solé, J (Feb 2007). "A startle speeds up the execution of externally guided saccades". Experimental Brain Research. Experimentelle Hirnforschung. Experimentation Cerebrale. 177 (1): 129-36. doi:10.1007/s00221-006-0659-4. ISSN 0014-4819. PMID 16944110. S2CID 19678962.

16. ^ Martin, Wayne; Murray, Patrick; Bates, Paul (2012). (The Effects of Startle on Pilots During Critical Events: A Case Study Analysis PDF). 30th EAAP Conference : Aviation Psychology & Applied Human Factors - working towards zero accidents. Discussion, p. 389. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-09-16.

17. ^ Field, JN; Boland, EJ; van Rooij, JM; Mohrmann, JFW; Smeltink, JW. Startle Effect Management (Report Number NLR-CR-2018-242) (PDF) (Report). European Aviation Safety Agency. 2.4.3 Fear-potentiated Startle or Surprise, p. 18. cited Martin, W; Murray, P (2013). Training Interventions for Managing Startle During Unexpected Critical Events. 66th International Air Safety Summit. Flight Safety Foundation.

18. ^ Martin, Wayne L.; Murray, Patrick S.; Bates, Paul R.; Lee, Paul S. Y. (2015). "Fear-Potentiated Startle: A Review from an Aviation Perspective". The International Journal of Aviation Psychology. 25 (2): 97-107. doi:10.1080/10508414.2015.1128293. S2CID 147250211.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia In animals, including humans, the startle response is a largely unconscious defensive response to sudden or threatening stimuli, such as sudden noise or sharp movement, and is associated with negative affect.[1] Usually the onset of the startle response is a startle reflex reaction.

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Possible causes of opsoclonus include neuroblastoma and encephalitis in children, and breast, lung, or ovarian cancer in adults. Other considerations include multiple sclerosis, toxins, medication effects (e.g. Serotonin Syndrome), celiac disease, certain infections ( West Nile virus, Lyme disease), non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and renal adenocarcinoma.

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There are two key forms of nystagmus: pathological and physiological, with variations within each type. Nystagmus may be caused by congenital disorder or sleep deprivation, acquired or central nervous system disorders, toxicity, pharmaceutical drugs, alcohol, or rotational movement. Previously considered untreatable, in recent years several drugs have been identified for treatment of nystagmus.

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Dysarthria is a motor speech disorder resulting from neurological injury of the motor component of the motor-speech system and is characterized by poor articulation of phonemes. In other words, it is a condition in which problems effectively occur with the muscles that help produce speech, often making it very difficult to pronounce words.

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Apoptosis (from Ancient Greek ἀπόπτωσις "falling off") is a form of programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms. Biochemical events lead to characteristic cell changes ( morphology) and death. These changes include blebbing, cell shrinkage, nuclear fragmentation, chromatin condensation, chromosomal DNA fragmentation, and global[vague ] mRNA decay.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Apoptosis (from Ancient Greek ἀπόπτωσις "falling off") is a form of programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms. Biochemical events lead to characteristic cell changes ( morphology) and death. These changes include blebbing, cell shrinkage, nuclear fragmentation, chromatin condensation, chromosomal DNA fragmentation, and global[vague ] mRNA decay.

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Download Graphic Images from the Hillis/Bull Lab

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Download Graphic Images from the Hillis/Bull Lab

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A clade (from Ancient Greek: , klados, "branch"), also known as monophyletic group, is a group of organisms that consists of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants, and represents a single "branch" on the " tree of life".

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Toggle the table of contents

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ecdysozoa () is a group of protostome animals,[4] including Arthropoda ( insects, chelicerata (including arachnids), crustaceans, and myriapods), Nematoda, and several smaller phyla. The grouping of these animal phyla into a single clade was first proposed by Eernisse et al. (1992) based on a phylogenetic analysis of 141 morphological characters of ultrastructural and embryological phenotypes.[5] This clade, that is, a group consisting of a common ancestor and all its descendants, was formally named by Aguinaldo et al. in 1997, based mainly on phylogenetic trees constructed using 18S ribosomal RNA genes.[6]

A large study in 2008 by Dunn et al. strongly supported the monophyly of Ecdysozoa.[7]

The group Ecdysozoa is supported by many morphological characters, including growth by ecdysis, with moulting of the cuticle - without mitosis in the epidermis - under control of the prohormone ecdysone, and internal fertilization.[8]

The group was initially contested by a significant minority of biologists. Some argued for groupings based on more traditional taxonomic techniques,[9] while others contested the interpretation of the molecular data.[10][11]

The name Ecdysozoa is "scientific" Greek, derived from ἔκδυσις (ékdusis ) "shedding" + ζῷον (zôion ) "animal".

The most notable characteristic shared by ecdysozoans is a three-layered cuticle (four in Tardigrada[12]) composed of organic material, which is periodically molted as the animal grows. This process of molting is called ecdysis, and gives the group its name. The ecdysozoans lack locomotory cilia and produce mostly amoeboid sperm, and their embryos do not undergo spiral cleavage as in most other protostomes. Ancestrally, the group exhibited sclerotized teeth within the foregut, and a ring of spines around the mouth opening, though these features have been secondarily lost in certain groups.[13] A respiratory and circulatory system is only present in onychophorans and arthropods (often absent in smaller arthropods like mites); in the rest of the groups, both systems are missing.

The Ecdysozoa include the following phyla: Arthropoda, Onychophora, Tardigrada, Kinorhyncha, Priapulida, Loricifera, Nematoda, and Nematomorpha. A few other groups, such as the gastrotrichs, have been considered possible members but lack the main characters of the group, and are now placed elsewhere. The Arthropoda, Onychophora, and Tardigrada have been grouped together as the Panarthropoda because they are distinguished by segmented body plans.[14] Dunn et al. in 2008 suggested that the tardigrada could be grouped along with the nematodes, leaving Onychophora as the sister group to the arthropods.[7] The non-panarthropod members of Ecdysozoa have been grouped as Cycloneuralia but they are more usually considered paraphyletic in representing the primitive condition from which the Panarthropoda evolved.[15]

A modern consensus phylogenetic tree for the protostomes is shown below.[16][17][18][20][21] It is indicated when approximately clades radiated into newer clades in millions of years ago (Mya); dashed lines show especially uncertain placements.[22]

The phylogenetic tree is based on Nielsen et al.[23] and Howard et al.[24]

Articulata hypothesis

The grouping proposed by Aguinaldo et al. is almost universally accepted, replacing an older hypothesis that Panarthropoda should be classified with Annelida in a group called the Articulata, and that Ecdysozoa are polyphyletic. Nielsen has suggested that a possible solution is to regard Ecdysozoa as a sister-group of Annelida,[25] though later considered them unrelated.[26] Inclusion of the roundworms within the Ecdysozoa was initially contested[10][27][28] but since 2003, a broad consensus has formed supporting the Ecdysozoa [29] and in 2011 the Darwin-Wallace Medal was awarded to James Lake for the discovery of the New Animal Phylogeny consisting of the Ecdysozoa, the Lophotrochozoa, and the Deuterostomia.[30]

Coelomata hypothesis

Before Aguinaldo's Ecdysozoa proposal, one of the prevailing theories for the evolution of the bilateral animals was based on the morphology of their body cavities. There were three types, or grades of organization: the Acoelomata (no coelom), the Pseudocoelomata (partial coelom), and the Eucoelomata (true coelom). Adoutte and coworkers were among the first to strongly support the Ecdysozoa.[31] With the introduction of molecular phylogenetics, the coelomate hypothesis was abandoned, although some molecular, phylogenetic support for the Coelomata continued until as late as 2005.[32]

1. ^ Howard RJ, Giacomelli M, Lozano-Fernandez J, Edgecombe GD, Fleming JF, Kristensen RM, et al. (2022). "The Ediacaran origin of ecdysozoa: Integrating fossil and phylogenomic data". Journal of the Geological Society. 179 (4). Bibcode:2022JGSoc.179..107H. doi:10.1144/jgs2021-107. hdl:2445/186596. S2CID 246494357.

2. ^ Liu, Yunhuan; Carlisle, Emily; Zhang, Huaqiao; Yang, Ben; Steiner, Michael; Shao, Tiequan; et al. (17 August 2022). "Saccorhytus is an early ecdysozoan, and not the earliest deuterostome". Nature. 609 (7927): 541-546. Bibcode:2022Natur.609..541L. doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05107-z. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 35978194. S2CID 251646316.

3. ^ Howard, Richard J.; Edgecombe, Gregory D.; Shi, Xiaomei; Hou, Xianguang; Ma, Xiaoya (23 November 2020). "Ancestral morphology of Ecdysozoa constrained by an early Cambrian stem group ecdysozoan". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 20 (1): 156. doi:10.1186/s12862-020-01720-6. ISSN 1471-2148. PMC 7684930. PMID 33228518.

4. ^ Telford, Maximilian J.; Bourlat, Sarah J.; Economou, Andrew; Papillon, Daniel; Rota-Stabelli, Omar (2008). "The evolution of the Ecdysozoa". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 363 (1496): 1529-1537. doi:10.1098/rstb.2007.2243. ISSN 0962-8436. PMC 2614232. PMID 18192181.

5. ^ Eernisse, D.J.; Albert, J.S.; Anderson, F.E. (1992). "Annelida and Arthropoda are not sister taxa: A phylogenetic analysis of spiralian metazoan morphology". Systematic Biology. 41 (3): 305-330. doi:10.1093/sysbio/41.3.305.

6. ^ Aguinaldo, A.M.A.; Turbeville, J.M.; Linford, L.S.; Rivera, M.C.; Garey, J.R.; Raff, R.A.; Lake, J.A. (29 May 1997). "Evidence for a clade of nematodes, arthropods, and other moulting animals". Nature. 387 (6632): 489-493. Bibcode:1997Natur.387R.489A. doi:10.1038/387489a0. PMID 9168109. S2CID 4334033.

7. ^ Dunn, C.W.; Hejnol, A.; Matus, D.Q.; Pang, K.; Browne, W.E.; Smith, S.A.; et al. (10 April 2008). "Broad phylogenomic sampling improves resolution of the animal tree of life". Nature. 452 (7188): 745-749. Bibcode:2008Natur.452..745D. doi:10.1038/nature06614. PMID 18322464. S2CID 4397099.

8. ^ Ax, P. (1985). "The position of the Gnathostomulida and Platyhelminthes in the phylogenetic system of the Bilateria". In Conway Morris, S.; George, J.D.; Gibson, R.; Platt, H.M. (eds.). The Origins and Relationships of Lower Invertebrates. Systematics Association Special Volume. Vol. 28. New York, NY: Clarendon / Oxford University Press. pp. 168-180. ISBN 019857181X. OCLC 59186778 - via Internet Archive (archive.org). proceedings of an international symposium held in London, September 1983 ISBN 9780198571810

9. ^ Blair, J.E.; Ikeo, Kazuho; Gojobori, Takashi; Hedges, S. Blair (8 April 2002). "The evolutionary position of nematodes". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 2: 7. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-2-7. PMC 102755. PMID 11985779.

10. ^ Wägele, J.W.; Erikson, T.; Lockhart, P.; Misof, B. (December 1999). "The Ecdysozoa: Artifact or monophylum?". Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research. 37 (4): 211-223. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0469.1999.tb00985.x.

11. ^ Smith, Martin R.; Caron, Jean-Bernard (2 July 2015). "Hallucigenia's head and the pharyngeal armature of early ecdysozoans" (PDF). Nature. 523 (7558): 75-78. Bibcode:2015Natur.523...75S. doi:10.1038/nature14573. PMID 26106857. S2CID 205244325.

12. ^ "Panarthropoda". Paleos (palaeos.com). Invertebrates. Archived from the original on 2007-02-07.

13. ^ Webster, Bonnie L.; Copley, Richard R.; Jenner, Ronald A.; Mackenzie-Dodds, Jacqueline A.; Bourlat, Sarah J.; Rota-Stabelli, Omar; et al. (November 2006). "Mitogenomics and phylogenomics reveal priapulid worms as extant models of the ancestral Ecdysozoan". Evolution & Development. 8 (6): 502-510. doi:10.1111/j.1525-142X.2006.00123.x. PMID 17073934. S2CID 22823313.

14. ^ Edgecombe, Gregory D.; Giribet, Gonzalo; Dunn, Casey W.; Hejnol, Andreas; Kristensen, Reinhardt M.; Neves, Ricardo C.; et al. (June 2011). "Higher-level metazoan relationships: Recent progress and remaining questions". Organisms, Diversity & Evolution. 11 (2): 151-172. doi:10.1007/s13127-011-0044-4. S2CID 32169826.

15. ^ Fröbius, Andreas C.; Funch, Peter (4 April 2017). "Rotiferan Hox genes give new insights into the evolution of metazoan bodyplans". Nature Communications. 8 (1): 9. Bibcode:2017NatCo...8....9F. doi:10.1038/s41467-017-00020-w. PMC 5431905. PMID 28377584.

16. ^ Smith, Martin R.; Ortega-Hernández, Javier (2014). "Hallucigenia's onychophoran-like claws and the case for Tactopoda" (PDF). Nature. 514 (7522): 363-366. Bibcode:2014Natur.514..363S. doi:10.1038/nature13576. PMID 25132546. S2CID 205239797.

17. ^ Yamasaki, Hiroshi; Fujimoto, Shinta; Miyazaki, Katsumi (June 2015). "Phylogenetic position of Loricifera inferred from nearly complete 18S and 28S rRNA gene sequences". Zoological Letters. 1: 18. doi:10.1186/s40851-015-0017-0. PMC 4657359. PMID 26605063.

18. ^ Peterson, Kevin J.; Cotton, James A.; Gehling, James G.; Pisani, Davide (27 April 2008). "The Ediacaran emergence of bilaterians: Congruence between the genetic and the geological fossil records". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences. 363 (1496): 1435-1443. doi:10.1098/rstb.2007.2233. PMC 2614224. PMID 18192191.

19. ^ Nielsen, Claus; Brunet, Thibaut; Arendt, Detlev (2018-08-22). "Evolution of the bilaterian mouth and anus". Nature Ecology & Evolution. 2 (9): 1358-1376. doi:10.1038/s41559-018-0641-0. ISSN 2397-334X. PMID 30135501. S2CID 52067372.

20. ^ Howard, Richard J.; Giacomelli, Mattia; Lozano-Fernandez, Jesus; Edgecombe, Gregory D.; Fleming, James F.; Kristensen, Reinhardt M.; et al. (10 March 2022). "The Ediacaran origin of Ecdysozoa: Integrating fossil and phylogenomic data". Journal of the Geological Society. 179 (4). Bibcode:2022JGSoc.179..107H. doi:10.1144/jgs2021-107. hdl:2445/186596. ISSN 0016-7649. S2CID 246494357.

21. ^ Nielsen, C. (September 2003). "Proposing a solution to the Articulata-Ecdysozoa controversy". Zoologica Scripta. 32 (5): 475-482. doi:10.1046/j.1463-6409.2003.00122.x. S2CID 1416582.

22. ^ Zrzavý, J. (12 January 2002). "Ecdysozoa versus Articulata: Clades, artifacts, prejudices". Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research. 39 (3): 159-163. doi:10.1046/j.1439-0469.2001.00168.x. - in support of clade Ecdysozoa

23. ^ Wägele, J.W.; Misof, B. (September 2001). "On quality of evidence in phylogeny reconstruction: A reply to Zrzavý's defence of the 'Ecdysozoa' hypothesis". Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research. 39 (3): 165-176. doi:10.1046/j.1439-0469.2001.00177.x.

24. ^ Telford, Maximilian J.; Littlewood, D. Timothy J. (27 April 2008). "The evolution of the animals: Introduction to a Linnean tercentenary celebration". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 363 (1496): 1421-1424. doi:10.1098/rstb.2007.2231. PMC 2394567. PMID 18192193.

25. ^ "The Darwin-Wallace Medal" (Press release). The Linnean Society of London.

26. ^ Adoutte, A.; Balavoine, G.; Lartillot, N.; Lespinet, O.; Prud'homme, B.; de Rosa, R. (25 April 2000). "The new animal phylogeny: Reliability and implications". Special feature. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. 97 (9): 4453-4456. Bibcode:2000PNAS...97.4453A. doi:10.1073/pnas.97.9.4453. PMC 34321. PMID 10781043.

27. ^ Philip, G.K.; Creevey, C.J.; McInerney, J.O. (9 February 2005). "The Opisthokonta and the Ecdysozoa may not be clades: Stronger support for the grouping of plant and animal than for animal and fungi, and stronger support for the Coelomata than Ecdysozoa". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 22 (5): 1175-1184. doi:10.1093/molbev/msi102. PMID 15703245.

"Ecdysozoa introduction". Phyla. University of California Museum of Paleontology (ucmp.berkeley.edu). Berkeley, CA.

"Ecdysozoa". Kingdoms / Animalia. palaeos.com. Archived from the original on 2003-03-13.

"Tardigrades and Ecdysozoa". Tardigrades. nematodes.org. Archived from the original on 2008-06-18.

Schmidt-Rhaesa, Andreas; Bartolomaeus, Thomas; Lemburg, Christian; Ehlers, Ulrich; Garey, James R. (December 1998) [6 January 1999 (online publication)]. "The position of the Arthropoda in the phylogenetic system". Journal of Morphology. 238 (3): 263-285. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-4687(199812)238:3<263::AID-JMOR1>3.0.CO;2-L. PMID 29852696. S2CID 46920478. "Abstract & images". chuma.cas.usf.edu/~garey. Archived from the original on 2010-05-10.

Garey, James R.; Schmidt-Rhaesa, Andreas (December 1998) [3-7 January 1998]. Essential role of "minor" phyla in understanding animal evolution. Annual Meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, 3-7 January 1998, Boston, Massachusetts. Symposium on Evolutionary Relationships of Metazoan Phyla: Advances, problems, and approaches. American Zoologist. Vol. 38, no. 6. pp. 907-917. doi:10.1093/icb/38.6.907. JSTOR 4620218. Archived from the original on 2003-03-13 - via chuma.cas.usf.edu/~garey.

"Nematomorpha". nematomorpha.net.

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Toggle the table of contents From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ecdysozoa () is a group of protostome animals,[4] including Arthropoda ( insects, chelicerata (including arachnids), crustaceans, and myriapods), Nematoda, and several smaller phyla. The grouping of these animal phyla into a single clade was first proposed by Eernisse et al.

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Lord, I'm Available To You - Thompson Community Choir (Tommys)

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Solomon Snyder, M.D. | The Lieber Institute for Brain Development | Research 

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Solomon Snyder, M.D. | The Lieber Institute for Brain Development | Research & Discovery

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Solomon Snyder, M.D. is the Distinguished Service Professor of Neuroscience, Pharmacology and Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Snyder received his undergraduate and medical training at Georgetown University and joined the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

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Ten-year-old Greg Barnes was acknowledged by school personnel as highly gifted. His scholastic achievement test scores placed him in the 99.9th percentile, as did his score on the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. On this particular day, when he returned home from school, Mrs. Barnes knew immediately from his despondent expression that the day had been less than ideal.

"Something wrong?" she probed gently.

"Yeah," he said in a tone of thorough disgust, "I got into trouble. We'll have to see the principal tomorrow."

"What for?"

"I got into a fight with Joe and beat him up."

Mrs. Barnes was shocked. Greg was not an aggressive child. He had never reported such an incident before. In fact, he was an extraordinarily sensitive boy who genuinely cared about other people.

"What happened?" she inquired further.

Greg explained that he and Joe had exchanged insults during music class. Both boys, Greg insisted, were at fault. Later, Joe had cornered Greg by the lockers, taunting him, threatening to beat him up, and egging Greg on to fight. Greg responded by punching Joe, who punched Greg back. When the teacher came onto the scene, Joe was crying while Greg continued to rain punches upon him.

"Well, it sounds like you stood up for yourself..." began Mrs. Barnes. She was surprised at Greg's immediate and heated denial.

"No, Mom - it wasn't that simple."

"But wasn't he threatening to beat you up?"

"No, Mom! You don't understand!"

Greg was getting visibly more upset as Mrs. Barnes attempted to convey that she was not being judgmental. Unable to comprehend why her efforts to convey caring and understanding were being met with mounting frustration, Mrs. Barnes decided to defuse the issue.

"OK. Why don't you write down what happened and explain how you feel about it. Obviously you were there and you know why it happened better than I do."

Greg willingly took a seat at the typewriter and laboriously typed out his story and explanation. An hour and a half later, he handed the pages to his mother: "It all began in third grade..." started the first paragraph. Greg went on to describe in careful detail how he and Joe had met and embarked upon a rocky friendship. At certain times, Joe seemed to want to be friends. At other times, Joe refused to allow Greg to participate in ongoing playground activities. Greg admitted to sometimes levelling "insults" at Joe in retaliation for these playground rejections.

Greg listed incidents from 3rd and 4th grades as well as the 5th grade incident that precipitated the immediate problem. For each incident, he detailed each child's behaviours with painful accuracy in an effort to render an objective view of what had happened. Greg's outburst was, according to him, not only a response to the day's happenings, but a reaction to the entire pattern of incidents composing their relationship over the past two years. The argument of the day was simply "the straw that broke the camel's back".

The next day, Joe, too, wrote out his version of the fight. He wrote simply, "Greg hit me and then I hit him back and he kept hitting me."

Or, consider four-year-old Jennie. Jennie's grandfather died several months ago; Jennie is asking questions about death and showing evidence of emotional upset. Her mother tries to reassure her by telling her that she need not worry - she and Mommy and Daddy will live a long time. She will grow up and have children and Mommy will be a grandmother. Jennie responds in trembling voice, "But you don't know, Mommy. Even children die sometimes. Nobody knows for sure...

Most four year olds would simply accept the mother's reassurance. Jennie, however, like Greg, is highly gifted.

Consequently, her logical and abstract reasoning abilities far exceed those of most four year olds. They create for her a reality more complex and threatening than that facing her age mates. Like average four year olds, she needs to believe her mother in order to feel emotionally secure. However, her advanced cognitive capacities allow her to see too clearly the faulty logic. She is left vulnerable and bereft of comfort.

Giftedness as Asynchronous Development
Greg and Jennie exhibit a lack of synchronicity in the rates of their cognitive, emotional and physical development. Jennie's physical development is similar to that of an average four year old, while her cognitive development more nearly approximates that of a child at least twice her age (Morelock, 1991). The emotional needs that must be fulfilled for Jennie's healthy emotional development to take place are similar to those of other four year olds. In order to feel secure, to trust in the world and to begin to develop her own identity, Jennie requires a certain comfortable predictability in her daily existence. She also needs to have a simple, solid trust in the strength and reliability of her parents. However, the fulfilment of those four-year-old emotional needs is complicated by Jennie's extraordinary capacity for abstract thought. Her internally imposed demand for logical consistency leaves her emotionally unable to accept anything contradicting it. Children do die. Mommies and Daddies aren't omnipotent and omniscient. For Jennie - and for other gifted children like her - the world can threaten to dissolve into unpredictable and frightening chaos.

Roedell (1988) points out that young gifted readers or children who watch the television news can be exposed to highly complex, emotionally charged information that they may not be mature enough to deal with.

The parent of an intellectually advanced four year old described how he came upon his daughter looking terrified as she read the Bible. When he inquired about her concern, she replied, "I'm reading The Book of Revelations, and it's really scary!"(p. 7)

Children like Jennie, and the four year old cited by Roedell, lack the life experience necessary for interpreting the cognitive realities that confront them.

.....a disagreement, dissonance, or disparity either between the age of the individual, which should place him in one stage, and the ... stage he is actually in, ...or disparity between the cognitive stage he is in and the affective stage he is in... (p. 165).

Gowan emphasized the trauma that can result when an individual is thrust prematurely and abruptly into a higher level of cognitive awareness...

Just as the baby developing within the womb is surrounded by a placenta, we are all shielded from external reality by an envelope which protects us from it. Development, hence, consists (in post-uterine as in prenatal existence) in growth and specialization which will allow for the appropriate penetration of the placental envelope so that the individual can gain greater freedom and interaction with the external world. But if this placental shell is ruptured too soon, then chaos results, and special means are required to save the individual and nurse him back to healthy development. (p. 188)

External dyssynchrony refers to the lack of natural fit between the gifted child and a school curriculum geared to average children of the same chronological age. It also suggests any experience when a gifted child does not "fit" the cultural expectations of how a child of his or her chronological age "should" think, feel, or act.

Remember Greg, for example, in the scenario about the fight with Joe. Mrs. Barnes' initial difficulty in characterizing what had happened stemmed from her viewing the incident from the perspective she assumed a child Greg's age to have taken. Greg's emotionally intense denial was a clue that she had to listen more carefully if she wanted to get a glimpse of Greg's unique personal reality. Greg's understanding of the incident was out of sync with Mrs. Barnes' expectations.

The cultural expectations aspect of external dyssynchrony is also exemplified in the story that one mother told about trying to find books for her three-year-old son who was reading on a second grade level. She recounted her frustration when she discovered that the books available on his reading level all dealt with stories about experiences common to older children, such as losing one's first tooth or going to school. The cultural expectations with regard to which story themes would be appropriate for a child reading on a second grade level were simply out of sync with the needs of her preschooler.

In addition, external dyssynchrony involves problems gifted children have in developing friendships. When gifted children find other children who have similar intellectual abilities and interests, their newfound companions are likely to be older and more physically mature (Terrassier, 1985). In such cases, the older child will have considerable advantage in terms of real-world experience and physical capabilities.

In the scenario above, Greg was especially fortunate in that he could convey through his writing his precise view of the incident with Joe.

Furthermore, his previous experience with his mother and his principal led him to feel confident that his version of reality would be taken seriously by the adults in his life. It was this trust that freed him to write the story exactly as he had experienced it.

Clearly, in order to help children like Greg and Jennie, we need to explore their inner worlds - the inner experience and reality of giftedness. Clearly as well we cannot hope to understand the nature of giftedness without understanding those inner worlds. Surprisingly, however, up until now, definitions of giftedness, and research based on those definitions, have dealt minimally with reality as seen through the eyes of the gifted. In a recent major book covering contemporary conceptions of giftedness, all of the approaches mentioned emerged out of definitions based on some aspect of achievement or performance (Sternberg & Davidson, 1986). Nevertheless, some researchers have begun to investigate giftedness from an internal perspective. These studies deal mainly with the emotional lives of the gifted.

Dabrowski (1972) found emotional intensity and sensitivity to the characteristic of the intellectually and artistically gifted. He outlined five dimensions through which this intensity can be displayed and called them "forms of psychic overexcitability" to underline the enhancement and intensification of mental activity much beyond the ordinary:

PSYCHOMOTOR - an augmented capacity for being active and energetic, expressed as movement, restlessness, drivenness

SENSUAL - an enhanced differentiation and aliveness of sensual experience

INTELLECTUAL - avidity for knowledge and the search for truth - expressed as discovery, questioning, and love of ideas and theoretical analysis

IMAGINATIONAL - the power of thought creation - expressed through vividness of imagery, richness of association, liking for the unusual, and a facility for dreams, fantasies, and inventions

EMOTIONAL - the heart - recognized in the great depth and intensity of emotional life expressed through a wide range of feelings, attachments, compassion, heightened sense of responsibility, and scrupulous self-examination. (Piechowski, 1991, p. 287)

Dabrowski introduced the concept of "developmental potential", which he saw as talents and intellectual abilities infused and motivated through the psychic overexcitabilities. The stronger these psychic overexcitabilities are in a particular individual, the more developmental potential he or she possesses.

While the Dabrowskian framework addresses emotional intensity, the work of Sommers (1981) links the breadth of emotional responsiveness to cognitive complexity. She introduced the concept of "emotional range" to denote the number and variety of emotions experienced by an individual. Sommers found that college students evidencing advanced cognitive organization had a wider "emotional range." She concludes:

The picture of the more emotional person, as it is emerging from this research ... reveals that a high level of emotional responsiveness may be associated with advanced cognitive organization. All of the cognitive skills that were found to be related to the ability to respond with more emotions are marks of a highly organized awareness - an awareness that might be governed by a well-structured system of values, oughts, and beliefs, but not by momentary excitements. (p. 560)

Thus, we have the beginnings of internal view of giftedness. The heightened and broadened emotionality of the gifted, the role played by a well-structured system of values in evoking emotional reactions, and the asynchronicity of development leads us to two important questions. The first is a very practical one, while the second is theoretical: (1) How does this "view from within" help us to deal with the Jennies and Gregs of the world? (2) How do we incorporate the "view from within" into our definition of giftedness?

The Practical Implication of the View From Within
The view from within allows us to see a three dimensional gifted child rather than giftedness simply as manifested through "two-dimensional" achievement criteria. When we set about to teach, counsel, or parent Jennie or Greg, we do so knowing that we must allow the child to communicate to use that unique personal reality rich with ascribed meaning constructed by a complex awareness. When children like Jennie and Greg experience a situation, they superimpose on it their remembrances of past experiences and their projections of future ramifications should they act in a number of different ways. They live life by analysing it step by step while emotionally responding to that analysis.

Thus, we allow a Greg to write out his impressions if that is the best way for him to convey them to us. And we are not impatient with the detail he insists must be a part of his account. Greg must be helped to see, of course, that others do not always perceive experiences with such detailed clarity or infused with such emotional intensity and significance especially other children his age. Nevertheless, this should not be conveyed as a defect on his part, such as "oversensitivity" or a tendency to "carry a grudge." Rather, he needs first to have his view of reality validated, and second, to be helped to find ways of building bridges with other children and not faulting them because of their differing level of awareness. We can think out with Greg what he could have done differently at various points in the relationship to prevent things from escalating to the point where a fight occurred. We can also elicit his aid in projecting the best way to handle his future interactions with Joe.

At the same time, children like Joe need to be made aware of the role they play in instigating unnecessary ill feelings. Joe does not have the extensive memory and keen analytical ability that would allow him to understand the relationship in the same way Greg does. Nevertheless, we can help him to understand more completely the dynamics leading to the most recent conflict and to think out with him what he could have done differently to prevent the fight. We can also design some clear rules for his future interactions with Greg.

Because of the differences in Greg's and Joe's reality picture about the fight, these initial explorations should be conducted separately with each boy. That way, we can confine - or expand - the discussion to focus on whichever reality we are dealing with.

Afterwards, if we choose, we can bring the two boys together to talk about the aspect of the situation that both boys will share - the "rules" for their interaction in the future.

When we approach Jennies, we must keep in mind that we must satisfy her advanced cognitive needs while remaining attuned to her four-year-old emotional ones - no easy task! In the scenario presented, her mother can point out to Jennie that everyone in Jennie's family is well, that they have periodic check-ups at the doctor's office to make sure that they stay well and that there is, therefore, little probability that anyone will die in the immediate future. They also keep their car in very good condition, wear their seatbelts, and take other safety precautions to prevent accidents. Even so, of course, the bottom line, as Jennie knows on some level, is that "No one knows for sure." For this, all Mom can offer is reassuring hugs, and her conveyed confidence that all will be well. In Jennie's case, however, the conveyed confidence must be couched within a context of taking Jennie's questions very seriously, acknowledging the inevitability and unpredictability of death. Otherwise, her logic will not allow her to accept the offered comfort.

Giftedness is asynchronous development in which advanced cognitive abilities and heightened intensity combine to create inner experiences and awareness that are qualitatively different from the norm. This asynchrony increases with higher intellectual capacity. The uniqueness of the gifted renders them particularly vulnerable and requires modifications in parenting, teaching and counselling in order for them to develop optimally. (The Columbus Group, 1991)

If development is perceived as a life-long process, giftedness can then be understood as producing atypical development throughout the lifespan in terms of awareness, perceptions, emotional responses, and life experiences. This places the gifted individual developmentally out of sync both internally, in relation to the different aspects of development, and externally, in relation to cultural expectations.

This definition of giftedness allows penetration beyond behavioural achievement or non-achievement. Achievement remains an interesting and significant expression of giftedness, and it continues to be important to examine whether it occurs and why or why not. Nevertheless, it is neither the essence of giftedness nor the most important aspect of it. The Columbus Group definition calls for a shift of focus from the external products of giftedness to the true nature of the phenomenon itself. This shift to a view from within is an important move towards both understanding giftedness and understanding our gifted.

References

Columbus Group (1991, July). Unpublished transcript of the meeting of the Columbus Group. Columbus, Ohio.

Dabrowski, K. (1972). Psychoneurosis is not an illness. London: Gryf.

Gowan, J.C. (1974). Development of the psychedelic individual. Northridge, CA.: John Curtis Gowan.

Morelock, M.J. (1991). The case study of Jennie, a profoundly gifted child. Unpublished manuscript Tufts University, Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study, Medford, MA.

Piechowski, M.M. (1991). Emotional development and emotional giftedness. In N. Colangelo & G.A. Davis (Eds.), Handbook of gifted education (pp. 285306). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Roedell, W.C. (1988). "I just want my child to be happy": Social development and young gifted children. Understanding Our Gifted, 1(1), 1, 7, 9-11.

Sommers, S. (1981). Emotionality reconsidered: The role of cognition in emotional responsiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41, 553-561.

Sternberg, R. & Davidson, J. (1986). Conceptions of giftedness. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Terrassier, J-C. (1985). Dyssynchrony - uneven development. In J. Freeman (Ed.), The psychology of gifted children (pp. 265-274). New York: John Wiley.

Student on 5/16/2014

This was such a helpful article! I am writing a paper for a college class on the emotional and psychological impact of gifted programs, and this better explain the existing emotional state of gifted students. It's also really nice to know that I'm not crazy; that others feel this way too.

Parent on 4/18/2012

Wow, now I will be able to better understand my anxious teen who is a beauty to look at, but feels excessively socially out-of-the-loop. She is a Duke TIP participant (very intellectually gifted). She imitates the "normal" kids behaviors, because she cannot relate to anyone if she is just being herself. It's been a tough decade so far! Thanks for the hope!

Other on 1/5/2012

Thank you so much for spelling this out. As a gifted adult, this article helped me a great deal and I will share it with people who need to understand where I am coming from. I never had anyone understand my condition, and therefore it was never nurtured and I spent a great deal of my life thinking that everyone's thought processes were the same as mine; it's been very difficult living this way.

Parent on 6/20/2008

Wow, I can't believe how perfectly this explains my 6-year-old. IQ of 142, constantly inquiring about space, life, creation, science etc. Questions I couldn't begin to answer. Yet he has constant behavior issues at school. It really is comforting to know that we may be able to understand him better, so he can do better.

The appearance of any information in the Davidson Institute's Database does not imply an endorsement by, or any affiliation with, the Davidson Institute. All information presented is for informational purposes only and is solely the opinion of and the responsibility of the author. Although reasonable effort is made to present accurate information, the Davidson Institute makes no guarantees of any kind, including as to accuracy or completeness. Use of such information is at the sole risk of the reader.

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This article by Martha Morelock introduces the Columbus Group's definition of giftedness as asynchronous development. The reader is also given a developmental picture of giftedness that extends beyond achievement. The author focuses on giftedness "from the inside out," demonstrating how advanced cognitive development shapes the rest of the personality.

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Solomon's artisans reputedly used the Shamir in the construction of Solomon's Temple. The material to be worked, whether stone, wood or metal, was affected by being "shown to the Shamir." Following this line of logic (anything that can be 'shown' something must have eyes to see), early Rabbinical scholars described the Shamir almost as a living being.

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A Lamplighter - Kabbalah, Chassidism and Jewish Mysticism

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The previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, R. Joseph Isaac Schneerson, who brought Chabad-Lubavitch to America, once recalled a thought-provoking conversation between his father and predecessor, R. Sholom Dov-Ber, and a Chassid:

The Chassid asked: "Rebbe, what is a Chassid?"

R. Sholom Dov-Ber answered: "A Chassid is a street-lamp-lighter. A street-lamp-lighter has a pole with fire. He knows that the fire is not his own, and he goes around lighting all lamps on his route."

The Chassid asked: "But what if the lamp is in a desolate wilderness?"

The Rebbe answered: "Then, too, one must light it. Let it be noted that there is a wilderness, and let the wilderness feel ashamed before the light."

"But what if the lamp is in the midst of a sea?"

"Then one must take off the clothes, jump into the water and light it there!"

"And that is a Chassid?"

The Rebbe thought for a long moment and then said:"Yes, *that* is a Chassid."

The Chassid continued:"Rebbe, I see no lamps!"

"That is because you are not a street-lamp-lighter."

"How does one become such?"

The Rebbe replied: "One must be sur mera (avoid evil). When beginning with oneself, cleansing oneself, becoming more refined, then one sees the lamp of the other. When, Heaven forbid, one is crude, then one sees but crudeness; but when himself noble, one sees nobility."

(This again reflects typical Chassidic thought. The Baal Shem Tov (in comment on Avot 4:1; Nega'im 2:5; and Kidushin 70a) teaches that what man sees in another is a mirror-reflection of himself: as he is himself, so he sees the other. Divine Providence brought him to see it in order to correct his own deficiencies.)

When the present Rebbe recounted this conversation, he added: The lamps are there, but they need to be lit. It is written, "The soul of man is a lamp of G‑d" ( Proverbs 20:27), and it is also written, "A mitzvah is a lamp and the Torah is light" ( Proverbs 6:23). A Chassid is he who puts his personal affairs aside and goes around lighting up the souls of Jews with the light of Torah and mitzvot. Jewish souls are in readiness to be lit. Sometimes they are around the corner . Sometimes they are in a wilderness or at sea. But there must be someone who disregards personal comforts and conveniences and goes out to put a light to these lamps. That is the function of a true Chassid.

Chassidism in general demands that one disseminate Torah and Yiddishkeit all over and seek to benefit fellow-Jews. In the words of R. Sholom Dov-Ber: "A Chassid is he who surrenders his self to seeking the welfare of another." (This reflects R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi's definition of a Chassid in terms of the Talmudic statement (Nidah 17a) that he who burns his nails is a chassid, as explained there by Tossafot; Likutei Diburim, vol. I, p. 135. See Likutei Sichot XI:p. 85 and 87.)

Over and beyond that, Chabad demands pnimiyut (inwardness): one should not act superficially, as a mere act of faith, but with inner conviction, with the soul-faculties of Chabad. One must involve even the rational faculties of the animal soul, and even the physical brain of the body. This is the mystical concept of `the Divine soul entering the physical body.'

(Chochmah (conceptual wisdom), Binah (comprehensive understanding), Da'at (penetrating knowledge and conscious awareness of the chochmah expanded by binah, to the point of bringing it to its logical conclusion in actual implementation) Tanya, ch. 3; see Mystical Concepts in Chassidism ch. III: sect. 4. These are the foundation underlying the philosophical and psychological system of Lubavitch Chassidism, which , therefore, is referred to as Chabad - Chassidism.

Also the saying of R. Dov Ber of Lubavitch: "Chabad means intellectualization, comprehensive understanding and a profound, absorbing delving into. Exert yourself, and you will be a Chassid!")

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The previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, R. Joseph Isaac Schneerson, who brought Chabad-Lubavitch to America, once recalled a thought-provoking conversation between his father and predecessor, R. Sholom Dov-Ber, and a Chassid: The Chassid asked: "Rebbe, what is a Chassid?" R. Sholom Dov-Ber answered: "A Chassid is a street-lamp-lighter. A street-lamp-lighter has a pole with fire.

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A prophet escapes

The biblical book of Jonah, read during the afternoon service of Yom Kippur, relates one of the most moving and fantastic tales of the Bible. It is the story of a prophet, Jonah, living in the year 700 B.C.E. who was determined to run from G‑d. G‑d called on him to travel from Jerusalem to the Assyrian capital of Nineveh 1 and influence its large population to repent from its immoral and corrupt ways.

Instead, Jonah went to the old port city Jaffa and boarded a ship voyaging to Tunisia, Africa 2 where he thought he would find respite from G‑d. 3

" Then G‑d cast a mighty wind toward the sea," the Bible relates, " and there was a great tempest in the sea, so that the ship seemed likely to be wrecked." Jonah accepted upon himself the blame for the storm threatening their lives, since he had attempted to run from G‑d. Jonah suggested to them to heave him into the sea, " and the sea will calm down from upon you, for I know that that it is because of me that this great tempest is upon you."

" So they lifted Jonah and heaved him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging." While in the sea, a large fish swallowed Jonah, where he remained for three days. 4

Finally, Jonah takes on his divine mission, traveling to the Assyrian capital and causing a moral transformation in the hearts of its people. An evil civilization committed itself to redefining its life and relationships. But when Jonah discovers that G‑d had indeed accepted the population's repentance and would not destroy the city, he is grieved. G‑d then proceeds to demonstrate to Jonah, in a rather creative way, his error.

This concludes the four short but incredibly rich chapters of the book of Jonah.

Two layers of Torah

...what is the relevance of this episode to our lives?

Why do we read this story on Yom Kippur? And what is the relevance of this episode to our lives?

One of the most fascinating elements about Torah is that all of its stories contain, in addition to their literal concrete interpretation, a psychological and spiritual interpretation. Every detail of every tale recorded in Torah contains an allegorical and metaphorical interpretation, symbolizing an event that transpires continually within the human heart. The sages and rabbis have, over the course of 3,000 years, decoded the inner metaphysical meaning of most of the Torah's stories.

The same is true, of course, regarding the story of Jonah and the fish. In addition to the simple, literal meaning of this moving episode, taking place in a particular milieu at a specific location, this tale should also be viewed as a metaphor for a mental and spiritual story still transpiring today. Indeed, the Zohar states, that the story of Jonah is really a story about "the entire life span of human beings in this world."

It is this inner story of Jonah that I wish to explore in the continuation of this essay.

Journey of a soul

The name Jonah in Hebrew - Yonah - means a dove, representing the inner soul of man, that fragment of truth, that little piece of G‑d that constitutes the core of human identity. 5 The dove is the only animal that once it encounters its mate, remains forever loyal, never exchanging it for anybody else. Similarly, the soul embodies that part of the human animal that may run and hide, but ultimately never replaces the truth of G‑d for the pleasures of the material world.

Nineveh, the large and powerful and corrupt city, is a metaphor for the planet we inhabit, filled with petty politics, vanity and corruption. Jonah, the human soul, is dispatched by G‑d on a mission to revolutionize the earthly landscape; to introduce the light of G‑dliness and holiness into every aspect of terrestrial life. Man is a messenger who carries a message; man is a witness to the presence of the living G‑d.

Denying your reality

...very often, we choose to run from our life's mission...

But very often, we choose to run from our life's mission, rejecting our identity as witnesses. We embark on a ship, represented by the body containing the human soul, just as a ship contains its passengers, and attempt to escape, physically and emotionally, to a place where we can more easily embrace the illusion that we are bereft of mission and message, that we are no more than creatures seeking satiation and self-gratification. We sail blithely through the waters of life, ignoring the inner voice of G‑d, all the while trying to convince ourselves that we are happy.

Turbulence

Everything seems fine and dandy, until turbulence begins to shake up our lives and palm pilots. The turbulence of the sea in the Jonah story is a metaphor for the tumultuous circumstances that life presents, threatening the very survival of our "ship" - our body and existence. At this point, many people awake from their illusion.

Yet there are those who, precisely at such moments, become even more detached from their authentic reality. "The sailors became frightened, and they cried out, each man to his god... But Jonah went down to the ship's holds; he lay down, and fell asleep." Jonah, according to this interpretation, represents the human being who may see the world turn over, but he continues to sleep, making believe that all is normal, that his life is a success story. And the greater the turmoil, the deeper the chaos, the more this person sinks into the muck of his slumber, oblivious to the disintegration of his reality.

A tickle

At this point, man usually experiences a tickle from his divine consciousness. "The shipmaster approached him, and said to him, 'How can you sleep so soundly? Arise! Call to your G‑d! "

The shipmaster, the captain of the body, represents the Good Inclination, the little spark of G‑d residing within the human soul. This spark calls out to the soul, asking, "How can you sleep so soundly?" How long can you be in denial of your universe gone mad? How much longer will you make believe that you don't get it?

"Remember from where your soul came," the inner voice speaks to a Jonah who eagerly craves to return to his sleep. "Remember your authentic occupation and from what people you are," it says to him. Stop denying who you are; run not from your destiny as a witness to the voice at Sinai charging you with the mission of paving a road through the jungle of history. Escape not your calling to dig and uncover the divine art in every aspect of life.

Resignation and surrender

A strange and melancholy honesty takes over Jonah. His moral instinct finds perverse expression in his suggestion to the sailors to throw him into the sea to rid themselves of the burden imposed by his existence.

This represents the profound existential depression that takes over many a soul upon discovering that it can never truly convince itself that G‑d is nonexistent. Caught in a limbo state, afraid to embrace G‑d fully and unable to run from G‑d, the soul resigns itself to death. "Just get rid of me," Jonah cries to the voices within. "Bury my soul."

At this devastating moment, the human being surrenders his last vestige of spiritual dignity, allowing his soul to be swept away by the raging waters of lust and addiction. What is even worse, he allows his human identity to become swallowed and converted into an amphibian creature. Ceasing to see himself as different from an animal, he is "free" at last to truly ignore the presence of G‑d.

The Hebrew term used in the story for a fish, daga, can also be translated as anxiety, states the Zohar. This represents an alternative emotional response to the turmoil of life. The person throws himself into materialistic pursuits, so that the extraordinary anxiety and stress involved in climbing the financial ladder eclipse the deeper anxiety of his soul. He allows himself to become swallowed up completely in his career until he forgets that he is a human being.

Rebirth

And yet, paradoxically, at this very moment, the soul, for the first time, encounters G‑d.

"From the belly of hell I cried out," declares Jonah. Until the soul reached the belly of hell, it was busy running from G‑d and from itself. Only when man reaches his nadir can he suddenly discover the presence of a living and caring G‑d. Why?

Because a soul, by its very nature, can never remain in one place. It must always be in a state of movement. The only question is in which direction it moves: Is it running to G‑d or from Him? Therefore, once the soul hits rock bottom and can no longer move downward, it must begin to move upward.

The new challenge

Man's rediscovery of the truth - that he is here on a mission - causes the fish to spit out the soul. Man abandons his addictions and promiscuity. He embarks now on his journey to make a difference in people's lives, to bring holiness and G‑dliness into his own life as well as into the life of a mundane and egocentric society.

Yet, soon the soul becomes distressed over G‑d's loyalty to our world. The soul, once discovering the truth of G‑dliness, craves to remain in a sacred environment, removed from the filth of many human environments. "Why must I deal with so much profane ugliness?" cries the soul. "Am I supposed to dedicate the remainder of my life to understand the pettiness and politics of small human beings"?

For this is the predictable pattern: After the soul discovers G‑d's living presence, it craves to become an ascetic, to escape the confinements of a lowly universe and melt away in His Infinite Light.
The soul...must learn to emulate G‑d and embrace the world, not escape it.
At this stage, G‑d reveals to Jonah, to the soul, that by infusing the unholy with the holy the ultimate plan of G‑d is fulfilled. Only in the muck of planet Earth does the glory of the Divine-human partnership shine forth. The soul, despite its natural resistance, must learn to emulate G‑d and embrace the world, not escape it.

Two types of sleepers

So why do we read this story on Yom Kippur?

For there are two types of human sleepers. There are those who find themselves in a lighter sleep, who with a gush of inspiration or turbulence will awake; and those who are so submerged in their slumber that even the most powerful explosion will not budge them.

The first category of people wake up via the sound of the Rosh Hashanah shofar. The primitive, piercing sounds of the ram's horn, stemming from the simple primitive depth of the human core, inspire the soul to return to who it really is.

But there are those people who sleep through everything, even the mighty sound of the shofar. The ship is about to break, but they are asleep. The Titanic is about to go under and they are stretched out on their first-class deck chair smoking cigars, oblivious and numb to reality.

September 11th, massacres in Israel - the worst bloodshed in modern Jewish history - but they are asleep. Children being blown to pieces and a world caught in the grip of fear and confusion, yet they are busy playing the game of vanity.

Israel's political leadership has, over the past 10 [now 20 - Ed.] years, been paralyzed by the mythical fantasy that if it tolerates evil, the world will finally love them, a myth that has brought rivers of blood flowing through the streets of the Holy Land. But despite all of this, some of us are still asleep. We continue making believe that life is, more or less, normal.

This is the profile of a person who can hear 100 blasts of a shofar, but he just puts the alarm clock on snooze and turns over in bed.

The day that tolerates no cover-ups

Then comes Yom Kippur.

This is the one day a year that does not tolerate any facades. On this holiest day of the calendar, all the veils are lifted! The sheer truth of the living G‑d breaks through all the walls, reaching even those who have tucked themselves away under a myriad of blankets.

On Yom Kippur, even those who have sunk into the deepest of slumbers can hear the voice of the captain, "How can you sleep so soundly? Arise! Call to your G‑d!"

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A prophet escapes The biblical book of Jonah, read during the afternoon service of Yom Kippur, relates one of the most moving and fantastic tales of the Bible. It is the story of a prophet, Jonah, living in the year 700 B.C.E. who was determined to run from G‑d.