Category Archives: Abstracts

YOGACARA AND COSMOLOGY

ALLAN COMBS & RIEN HAVENS.
This presentation explores relationships between understandings of self-organizng systems such as “Kantian wholes” and insights derived from classical Tibetan Yogacara philosophy.

Stuart Kauffman’s recent discussions of “Kantian wholes” comprised of autocatalytic sets of chemical and organic reactions that exhibit self-organized criticality are reminiscent of earlier reflections by thinkers as prominent as Kant himself, as well as Hegel, Peirce, Bergson, Whitehead, Poincaré, Schrödinger, Bertalanffy, Prigogine and others. In each case a fundamental question has concerned causality, and whether valid scientific explanations must come entirely from bottom-up analyses. Each has argued in one way or another for the fine-grain “incomputability” (Kauffman’s term) of such systems, and the latter’s importance for the creativity seen in biological and other forms of evolution.

Through a series of closely reasoned publications beginning in 1995 Combs has labored to show that the onflow of the mind, James’ “stream of consciousness,” can be understood as such a Kantian whole. Moreover, that the dynamical processes describing it may reflect parallel dynamical processes of the brain itself. Drawing together the ideas from these past efforts, and combining them with current complexity theory the authors attempt to give a partial answer to James’ query, “This multitude of ideas, existing absolutely, yet clinging together, and weaving an endless carpet of themselves…whence do they get their fantastic laws of clinging, and why do they cling in just the shapes they do?” (The Principles)

This presentation also these ideas in the light of insights form Yogacara philosophy.

Leslie.Allan.Combs@Gmail.com
RienHavens@gmail.com

Creativity, Psychopathology and Healing

Mindy Atkin. An investigation of the ways that creativity may have helped heal and promote wellness in a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic patient incarcerated in a state mental hospital. The subject, Issa Ibrahim, a forty-seven year old Jamaican American man was a patient for 20 years at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center where he spent most days creating art. Thought to be incurable and sentenced to life, Issa Ibrahim was released two years ago. The question, “What effect has daily creative expression had on your art and lived experience?” was the focus of this investigation.

Creative expression may promote creative solutions to everyday difficulties.This may potentiate future resilience and adaptation; a framework of healing I call FAR: flexibility, adaptability and resilience. Past and current research in creativity and mental health will support this thesis. Daily creative expression may play a role in brain plasticity; structural transformation.

Sources of data include: four tape-recorded in-depth interviews from a prior pilot study transcribed for accuracy; four new interviews; audible documentation of music performances; analyzation and visual documentation of paintings and drawings; newspaper and magazine articles; an HBO documentary film; art therapy assessments; Ibrahim’s (2008) novel written under the pseudonym, Izzy Aha, The cosmic knockout: A love story with the devil; and, Ibrahim’s autobiography, Autopsy of the Damned (2009). Due to the large volume of creative expression I will focus on Mr. Ibrahim’s artwork and music.

THE EPIGENETIC HERITABILITY OF ANCESTRAL TRAUMA—THE BIOLOGY OF SYSTEMIC ENTANGLEMENTS

Liz Jelinek. This presentation provides a unique opportunity to explore epigenetics—a on the leading edge of science and medicine, and the expansion of understanding in Systemic Family Constellations. Liz will explain how epigenetics can explain what the Constellations Community accepts—that an individual can become entangled with the fate of an ancestor. Bert Hellinger, creator of Family Constellations, suggests that individuals are influenced by traumas experienced by the ancestors, creating Systemic Entanglements that continue to show up for generations.

Participants will hear how experiences of the ancestors are passed to the present. Liz will describe the role of epigenetics in the heritability of ancestral trauma, based on research from the fields of biology, genetics, medicine, and psychology. If you’re looking for a highly technical, reductionist talk—filled with equations, statistics, and probabilities—this talk isn’t for you! Rather, using a warm extemporaneous style, Liz will bring this potentially boring scientific information to life, offering a fascinating new insight into science—in such a way that you can actually understand it—even if you are not a biologist!

When an individual experiences a traumatic event, the expression of the genome is changed, but the underlying DNA remains the same. These changes are stored in the epigenome, and it is the epigenome that transmits the effects of ancestral trauma across generations. Not all epigenetic changes are permanent, but enduring epigenetic changes are heritable. Once the relationship between the environment and all living organisms is understood, and the epigenetic changes that result, it is easier to see why the fate of the ancestors remains tied to today—physiologically, sociologically, and psychologically. With the understanding of transgenerational epigenetic effects, is becomes possible to change, by healing the scars of the past, creating a better present, and creating a better future for all!

EUGENE TAYLOR: AN APPRECIATION

Dr. Eugene Taylor was my professor at Saybrook for a short time over the course of about 18 months. In that time, he instilled in me a passion for the depths of history that has fueled my work since. His understanding and insight of the shadow culture, or the underlying spiritual currents of America helped me to find my own disparate roots in psychology, philosophy, and chiropractic. He taught me to build models of consciousness layered on historical artifacts and through that teaching, I have been able to bring a glimmer of his work to the world.

SHIFTING TOWARDS A PARTICIPATORY PARADIGM

Mel Schwartz
The drag on our transition toward the emerging participatory worldview from the classical Newtonian construct may be informed by the relationship between our thinking and our words. Our thinking remains rooted in objective or literal thinking because our language — in particular the to be verbs –anchor us to the classical paradigm. To facilitate our transition into the emerging worldview we must release the static nature of the to be verbs, which in turn ushers in participatory thinking. The benefits of this cognitive/communication shift are profound as they facilitate dialogue, enhance relationships and have innumerable benefits to our psychological/ emotional wellbeing. Participatory thought requires language  –EPrime –absent the to be verbs. This paper/talk will further Bohm’s distinction between literal and participatory thought via the introduction of E-Prime language as a facilitation.
melschwartz77@gmail.com

AUTHENTIC MOVEMENT: AN EXPERIENTIAL WORKSHIP

Tamara Berdofe, MFA, ADTR

The practice of Authentic Movement has as many diverse paths as there are practitioners, in keeping with the intrinsic value of the concept of authenticity. I practice and lead Authentic Movement to enrich the sense of self-awareness in relationships. I do this on both a transpersonal and interpersonal basis by respectfully creating a traditional Authentic Movement container: groups, dyads or triads with equanimity among the mover and the witness. Authentic Movement as I practice it enables one to engage in a deeper sense of compassion, empathy and awareness. This awareness can subsequently transform, liberate, move or remove old restrictive personal, cultural & societal paradigms in the expectation of one’s self and others. When thoroughly owning a first person context with deliberation, one can avoid analysis, judgment, reference point or any interpretation other than validating one’s authentic self with integrity. Through engaged witness validation we enable our deepest source of self- consciousness, embracing and opening to the confluence of the collective consciousness. Authentic Movement is a vibrant pathway that enhances our self-discovery as it fully embodies and integrates the threefold complexities of our extraordinary mind, body, and spirit.

In this workshop, I will give a brief introduction to the work, then participants will each practice moving and witnessing with reflection and discussion. Participants should be dressed comfortably for moving.

Authentic Movement and consciousness studies: A model for transpersonal interaction and development.

Dane G. Reese, Ph.D,

The discipline of Authentic Movement offers a somatically based lens for viewing the interaction and development of consciousness. Originally developed within a Jungian framework, later branches of the discipline have adopted transpersonal psychology as a framing theory, mutually illuminating both somatic practice and theory of consciousness. Concepts and vocabulary such as witness consciousness, being moved, dyad, and collective consciousness have emerged as a result of decades of conscious practice, reflection, and scholarship in the discipline of Authentic Movement. Grounded in an approach to the body as subject, object, and epistemology, Authentic Movement is inherently a somatic practice, but one that seeks to interweave the threads of body, mind, and spirit. Its work in witness consciousness explores the interplay of relationship and autonomy within a defined container of practice. The concepts and relationships of the discipline can be extended as models for education, communication, research paradigms, and many other fields in which the development and interaction of consciousness are of interest.

danegregoryreese@gmail.com

Preparing to Cross Over: Implications of the “Instant of Illumination” Immediately Preceding Brain Death

James Clement van Pelt

Death is certainly the end of phenomenal experience, which by definition depends on the physical senses and their attendant neurochemical processes. But death may also be an experience in itself. Near-death experience seems to happen in the liminal space between the two.

Death seems beyond our ken to comprehend and certainly to research beyond the mortal veil. Yet the stunning results of recent neurological research conducted at the University of Michigan, combined with modest inferences drawn from logic and our own incorrigible personal experience, suggest some new perspectives on the experience of death — in particular, whether experience persists beyond the time at which brain activity ceases irrevocably, and what may underlie such experiences. This presentation reviews that research and explores such inferences concerning what each of us can reasonably expect to experience when our physical bodies meet their inevitable demise. More particularly, a hypothesis is advanced that evolution may transcend its biological limits.

jvp@CTFolk.com

Alterations of Consciousness at a Matrix Energetics Seminar

Imants Barušs, Carrie van Lier, Diana Ali
Department of Psychology, King’s University College at the University of Western Ontario.

 

Matrix Energetics is a system of self-transformation developed by Richard Bartlett in the context of alternative medicine, which he teaches at training seminars around the world to anyone who wishes to learn it. The authors conducted the present study to determine what happens psychologically at a Matrix Energetics seminar and to see if there are any long-term health benefits associated with participation at such a seminar. Participants were 97 attendees at a Matrix Energetics seminar held over three days at a hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Participants were given questionnaires to complete before the beginning of the seminar, at the end of each of the three days, and through a website at a two-month follow-up. The questionnaires included measures of demographic information, personality, psychological well-being, physical and mental health, state of being, and profundity of experiences. In addition, behavioral observations were made and participants were interviewed. During the seminar, some participants appeared to experience reality as being more plastic than we ordinarily assume it to be and perceived themselves as having profound, meaningful, sacred, spiritual, transcendent experiences in altered states of consciousness that brought them closer to the truth. Although the study was not designed to verify them, among the 42 interviews and 427 written comments were claims of occurrences of anomalous phenomena, including instances of physical healing. Participants showed slightly improved health at a two month follow-up, although that result must be interpreted with caution given the small proportion of participants who completed the follow-up measures and the fact that such improvement cannot be attributed to seminar attendance. The implications of these results for non-contact healing are discussed.

Imants Barušs is a professor of psychology at King’s University College at The University of Western Ontario where he teaches courses about consciousness. He is the author of five books including Alterations of Consciousness. baruss@uwo.ca

Carrie van Lier completed her BA in psychology at the University of Western Ontario and currently works at The Westin Grand Cayman Seven Mile Beach Resort and Spa on Grand Cayman Island.

Diana Ali completed her BA in psychology at King’s University College at the University of Western Ontario and currently works at Family Service Thames Valley, London, Ontario, Canada.

Six Protocols, Neuroscience, and Near Death: An Emerging Paradigm Incorporating Nonlocal Consciousness

Stephan A. Schwartz‡

It has been more than six decades since Gilbert Ryle, Waynflete Professor of Metaphysical Philosophy at Oxford, coined “The Ghost in the Machine,” in his book The Concept of the Mind, as a way of criticizing what he saw as Descartes’ absurd mind-body dualism. Since then the nature of consciousness has been largely explored only from the assumption that it was an as yet not understood neurophysiological process entirely resident in the organism. Its inherent physicality became an ironbound axiom. However, a growing body of experimental research now challenges this and a fundamental transition is underway in science. Still a minority position, it is nonetheless the trend direction in a wide range of disciplines, from medicine to biology to physics. Whole new sub-disciplines have emerged driven by the results of this research since Ryle’s dismissive words. This work is pushing toward a new paradigm, one that is neither dualist nor monist, but rather one that postulates consciousness as the fundamental basis of reality…

‡  Stephan A. Schwartz is a Research Associate of the Cognitive Sciences Laboratory of the Laboratories for Fundamental Research.
Correspondence: saschwartz@earthlink.net