Research in psychology and contemporary
physics
Thanks to Tamara Scarlett-Lyon, we saw the video below, a moving presentation by neuro-anatomist, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor. In her 18 minute video you will hear the scientist talk about a massive stroke she had in her left brain hemisphere. She tells about the amazing experiences she had as a result of this stroke, and how she understood her left hemisphere in terms of what we have been calling consensus reality. Listen to what she says about her right hemisphere, it sounds like what we have been calling, dreamland’s nonlocality and essence levels.
January
2008
If you are in the mood of thinking about where we live and have 6 minutes time (we know, that is a lot!!), check out this (NASA supported short) You-tube video. Click:
We are thankful to and following with great interest, the creative work of our friend and colleague, Ione and her focus on women’s mysteries. We feel very lucky to be “honorary ministers” of Maat. See for more:
Deep Listening Institute, Ltd.
Ministry of Maåt Website
Director, Ministry of Maåt, Inc Myspace page
Fall
2007
We are interested in Prof. Robert P Crease of Brookhaven National laboratory in the US. His article, “Gravitation”, can be found on the physicsworld.com website, where he describes the influence of gravitation on our social systems. He says “Newton's famous equation describing the gravitational force between two objects altered more than our ideas of the solar system.”
As Robert P Crease explains, it also influenced our conception of human nature. For ease, we have attached the rest of his article here.
 Download
"The Influence of Gravitation" by Robert P. Crease (108Kb
PDF file)
Summer
2007
Why did the Moon appear to be so large in the Northern Hemisphere at the end of June? (See the Nasa photo taken by Shay Stevens, “The Moonrise Over Seattle”. -Credit and Copyright, Shay Stevensshay@shay.ws) .
 In 1913 Mario Ponzo gave one explanation to why the moon seems so large when it is near the cityscape or horizon. This explanation is called the “Ponzo Illusion” or the “Moon Illusion.” He suggested that our minds increase or decrease the actual size of objects, depending upon their background. If they are bright and round up and up in the air in the midst of a black or blue sky, they seem smaller than when they appear near the earth’s surface or horizon. There are various newer explanations of this illusion as well.
Our explanation for the moon illusion is a bit different than Ponzo’s. When the Moon or anything else from the sky appears at the horizon (i.e. the edge of the earth) it will seem larger to many people, even larger than Ponzo’s optical illusion would predict, because we need the moon to be larger, closer and more accessible. Amazing things are never close enough!
In any case, next time you see the moon, don’t pass by it by. Stop, watch it flirt with you, and ask yourself, “how large is that moon, and how close is it to your heart”? We hope that everyone interested in psychology, to be amazed at the world and universe we live in.
Einstein’s cosmological constant has undergone many re-evaluations since he proposed it. This constant determines whether the universe gets bigger or smaller. It is a kind of intrinsic energy density of the vacuum. This “constant” is very fine tuned, and measured to be of the order of 10-29g/cm3. To date, no one can find the reason for it being so small. And no one has yet explained why if it were changed just one part in many trillions of parts, life itself would not exist. This kind of accuracy seems very unlikely, very improbable.
Therefore some scientists believe there was some sort of intelligence, a life creating force generally referred to as the “anthropic principle”. That means, the universe is fine tuned so that life can come into being.
Our question; how does this “anthropic principle” appear in psychology? Or does it? What is consciousness and life? Why have many people always believed there was some sort of intelligence “out there in the universe”?
There is always a lot of blaming or “fingerpointing” around difficult world events. For example, the US news is still asking who is responsible for the broken levees and flooding of the city of New Orleans in Louisiana, USA (NOLA) after Katrina hit that city in September of 2005. The levees protecting NOLA broke during the storm. Various groups have said the US Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for inadequate construction. But the Army says the local and federal government is responsible. Some have said racism was the reason the levees were left in an inadequate condition.
In any and all cases, today the people of NOLA are all faced with the interaction between the forces of local and federal government systems, social systems, the climate, the geophysics of the earth, New Orleans culture, mythology and dreaming.
To understand this situation, each of us ought to ask ourselves; “If you know it might be dangerous to live in your room, but can’t find the time or money to make it safer, who is to blame? Culture, classism, racism, ageism, engineering, and/or fate?”
Today, there is reconstruction going on at various rates and at all levels in NOLA. But we hope everyone will think about, and learn to deal with devastating community problems such as Katrina, before they occur again. We need (and are working on) methods that deal with each issue individually, and at the same time, with the entire city “field”.
--Thanks for your comments on this topic.
Thanks to Dr. Gary Reiss for pointing us to the astrophysicist Bernard Haisch’s book, the “God Theory”, and Haisch’s interview with Tikkun Magazine about that book.
We are thankful to Prof Haisch for trying to connect mainstream scientific thinking with the “God” hypothesis; namely that there is some “intelligence” and “purpose” behind the creation of the present universe --which at present is believed to be about 13 billion years old. Haisch suggests that God is an intelligence that wants “to know itself” and “pre-existed” this universe.
In the “The Quantum Mind,” Arny suggests that a way of understanding the self-reflecting nature of the universe (suggested originally by John Wheeler in the 1950’s) is to examine a central mathematical characteristic of the universe, namely the quantum wave function. Quantum theory produces highly accurate empirical answers about physical “reality”. No scientist today knows where this self-reflecting mathematical property comes from. In “Quantum Mind”, Arny suggests there is no “reason” for this self-reflecting property; he simply accepts it as a basic property of the universe we live in.
What is the purpose or reason the universe wishes to self-reflect? Why do those equations of quantum theory work so well? We don’t know. As therapists however, we respect a given individual’s or community’s belief system about “why the universe may self-reflect.” If a given belief system enriches the lives of the people concerned, it is a valuable belief.
As far as we are concerned however, we know from observing thousands of people the world over, that the self-reflection “property” of the equations of quantum theory (and the nature of the universe) leads to useful psychologies, group and organizational methods. Focusing on the awareness process, that is, noticing experiences, and becoming aware of awareness allows one to follow one’s own deepest nature. This focus almost always leads to a richer life experience. Individuals, partners and groups that self reflect, experience more interest in diversity, in one another, and in life.
We don’t understand where the self-reflecting properties of the universe come from, but because they work so well with kids, adults and people near death, we believe in them. (See, for example, the actions and last words of Dr. Sara Halprin.)
--Thanks for the good feedback about the above. In Appendix 3 of his “Earth Based Psychology”, Arny summarizes some information about zero point energy and discusses one of Haisch’s contributions to physics related to the Casimir force.
We are studying synaesthesia because it plays a crucial role in practice—especially working in states of consciousness where experience is difficult to clearly verbalize. We find this area most challenging! Some definitions follow for the synaesthesia in physiology and psychology.
Synesthesia, or syn·aes·the·sia in physiology refers to sensations felt elsewhere in body: the feeling of sensation in one part of the body when another part is stimulated. For example, you are touched in the foot, but feel it in the stomach. Or you are touched in the air near your body, and feel that in a part of the body.
Synesthesia in psychology is the stimulation of one sense alongside another: the evocation of one kind of sense impression when another sense is stimulated, e.g. the sensation of color when a sound is heard, or the sense of geometrical form, when certain tastes appear. These experiences lie at the root of the dreamingbody concept, the dreamland level to body experience where dream images overlap with body sensations. This is like the quantum or “essence” level of psychology, where sensed, yet nonverbal experiences may be equated with the Tao that proverbially, according to the “Tao Te Ching,” “cannot be said”.
Apparently synaesthesia comes from the late 19th century. < modern Latin < syn- (< Greek sun "together") + stem of Greek aisthesis "sensation," after anesthesia.
Spring
2007
Thanks to Dr. Alexandra Vassiliou for making us aware of these enjoyable extra dimensional theories in animation form. They would be good background for Arny’s Quantum Mind.
For Flatland click: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWyTxCsIXE4
For the Double Slit Experiment click: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfPeprQ7oGc
Thanks to Dr. Gary Reiss for pointing us to the astrophysicist Bernard Haisch’s book, the “God Theory”, and Haisch’s interview with Tikkun Magazine about that book.
We are thankful to Prof Haisch for trying to connect mainstream scientific thinking with the “God” hypothesis; namely that there is some “intelligence” and “purpose” behind the creation of the present universe --which at present is believed to be about 13 billion years old. Haisch suggests that God is an intelligence that wants “to know itself” and “pre-existed” this universe.
In the “The Quantum Mind,” Arny suggests that a way of understanding the self-reflecting nature of the universe (suggested originally by John Wheeler in the 1950’s) is to examine a central mathematical characteristic of the universe, namely the quantum wave function. Quantum theory produces highly accurate empirical answers about physical “reality”. No scientist today knows where this self-reflecting mathematical property comes from. In “Quantum Mind”, Arny suggests there is no “reason” for this self-reflecting property; he simply accepts it as a basic property of the universe we live in.
What is the purpose or reason the universe wishes to self-reflect? Why do those equations of quantum theory work so well? We don’t know. As therapists however, we respect a given individual’s or community’s belief system about “why the universe may self-reflect.” If a given belief system enriches the lives of the people concerned, it is a valuable belief.
As far as we are concerned however, we know from observing thousands of people the world over, that the self-reflection “property” of the equations of quantum theory (and the nature of the universe) leads to useful psychologies, group and organizational methods. Focusing on the awareness process, that is, noticing experiences, and becoming aware of awareness allows one to follow one’s own deepest nature. This focus almost always leads to a richer life experience. Individuals, partners and groups that self reflect, experience more interest in diversity, in one another, and in life.
We don’t understand where the self-reflecting properties of the universe come from, but because they work so well with kids, adults and people near death, we believe in them. (See, for example, the actions and last words of Dr. Sara Halprin.)
We are studying synaesthesia because it plays a crucial role in practice—especially working in states of consciousness where experience is difficult to clearly verbalize. We find this area most challenging! Some definitions follow for the synaesthesia in physiology and psychology.
Synesthesia, or syn·aes·the·sia in physiology refers to sensations felt elsewhere in body: the feeling of sensation in one part of the body when another part is stimulated. For example, you are touched in the foot, but feel it in the stomach. Or you are touched in the air near your body, and feel that in a part of the body.
Synesthesia in psychology is the stimulation of one sense alongside another: the evocation of one kind of sense impression when another sense is stimulated, e.g. the sensation of color when a sound is heard, or the sense of geometrical form, when certain tastes appear. These experiences lie at the root of the dreamingbody concept, the dreamland level to body experience where dream images overlap with body sensations. This is like the quantum or “essence” level of psychology, where sensed, yet nonverbal experiences may be equated with the Tao that proverbially, according to the “Tao Te Ching,” “cannot be said”.
Apparently synaesthesia comes from the late 19th century. < modern Latin < syn- (< Greek sun "together") + stem of Greek aisthesis "sensation," after anesthesia.
February
2007
Shifting from figures, forms, insights and cognitive thinking, to the subtle nature of force fields, will bring psychology closer to the earth, body and natural sciences. Our question is; how do we bring science closer to human experience, and what is now called psychology, closer to the nature of the physical universe?
To answer our questions about life, we are pondering the connections between Shamanism, Physics and Taoism:
We are thinking about these three quotes (Thanks to Brian Kahn and Dr. Jai Tomlin for pointing these out to us.)
I. “Nature uses only the longest threads to weave her patterns. So each small piece of her fabric reveals the organization of the entire Tapestry.” Richard Feynman
II. Spinning with your ally will change your idea of the world. That idea is everything. And when that changes, the world itself changes.” Don Juan Matus.
III. The reason why the universe is eternal is that it does not live for itself. It gives life to others as it transforms.” Lao Tse
Winter
2006
We are pondering the connection between the experiences and feelings people seem to have always had about the living quality of the earth, (e.g. “dreamtime” nature), and the behavior and symptoms of our physical bodies. What’s the connection? How exactly did we get disconnected from the earth?
Summer
2006
We are pondering Dick Bierman’s work on
perception. This experimental physicist at the University
of Amsterdam did experiments that show we apparently know
things 1 to 2 seconds before we see them. This convincing
work seems to support timeless or time-reversible aspects
of observation. In other words, we seem to know events before
the physical event signal is actually received by our retinas.
Seattle physicist John Cramer’s quantum theory explanation
of observation (see Arny’s Quantum Mind for more on that)
is that there are forward and backward movements in time.
He speaks of a “quantum exchange” between observer
and observed before observations take place. It seems to us
as if Bierman’s work may lend us experimental validation
for Cramer’s ideas. In other words, the roots of observation
are time-free exchanges. He calls our ability to know things
before we receive physical signals, “presponding”
instead of responding.
While astronomers are deciding how to define
the meaning of the word “planet”, we are studying
how to define who we are. What is the difference between our
everyday selves, and our occasional sense of ourselves as
timeless beings?
Each of us lives on earth. (Or at least most
do :) ). But at the same time, perhaps a part of us does not.
If you simply let your intuition work for a moment, ask yourself,
where do you sense you would fit in this sketch of The New
Solar System?”
If your intuition allowed you to guess where
you are located you in this sketch, go another step. Ask yourself
what is the significance --if any-- of your location? What
does that significance –if any—imply for your everyday
psychology here on earth?
June
2006
This frog helps us understand how to maintain
an awareness of everyday reality and simultaneously of the
altered state of dreaming. :)
Click for a larger image
January
2006
Once again, we are exploring Aboriginal shamanistic traditions, and the
teachings of Castaneda’s Don Juan. In particular, we wonder just what
is needed for individuals and groups to “shape shift” and change “assemblage
points”. That is, what is needed to move from the time and space identification
of everyday reality to the “Nagual”, that is to temporarily move
into the “rheo-mode.” Rheo means “stream” or “flow”.
We therefore speak of a “rheo-mode” to mean the flow of the dreaming
process. We are very thankful to Emetchi for the 150 feet long wonderful
mural she painted on the driveway wall outside the Process Work Institute
of Portland. She let us use two of the many pictures of that mural. When
we saw what we call her “Bear Dance”, we immediately thought
of what it is like to dance at the edge, and of the shaman’s sense
of earth power at that point. The second picture, “At the Edge Before
the Rheo-mode” we see the larger perspective of what happens at the
edge. When we dance at the brink, the known world is behind and the rainbow
serpent path lies in front, leading the shaman-artist into the unknown.
 
Click each for a larger image
Images by Emetchi of
Portland
Summer 2005
Near Death Experiences
We are pondering the interconnections between the teachings of Carlos Castaneda’s
shaman-teacher, don Juan Matus, and the teachings of near death experiences
(NDEs). We are thinking about the NDE experienced by C.G. Jung and reported
on in Chapter 11 of his “Memories Dreams and Reflections”. There
he speaks of an NDE that occurred during a heart attack where he saw his
life in a “snap shot”, part of a timeless “flow”,
free of the “imprisonment” of life, space and time.
Who are We and What Moves Us About?
While  we were pondering the origins of the universe and the meaning of gravity,
we came across this picture from the NASA web site “Windows
to the Universe”. This makes us ask what do we experience as pulling
and moving us about? What is gravity? Why is it here? It’s obviously
something like magnetism which pulls on iron, but also very different than
magnetism. For you can be any kind of matter and you will be influenced by
gravity! As therapists we must ask ourselves what is it that moves us one
way one day, and then moves us in another way on the next day? Is it magnetism,
is it gravity, dreaming…or what do you call it?”
January 2005 
For example, do
these cubes coming out or going into the picture? These so called “Necker
Cubes” may be an optical illusion for your mind. In your awareness,
the two-dimensional drawing of cubes may flicker between protruding from
and intruding into the page. Why is this? What is happening with our awareness?
What does this have to do with quantum waves? Arny’s new book will
discuss this problem in detail and connect it with physics.
July 04
We are thinking about the relationship between the physicist's
idea of time, and the psychologists understanding of the flow of events.
How do
dreams and how do quantum events connect. The Moebius Strip describes many
aspects of the psychological dimensions of everyday time and dreamland
time, and may be a connecting factor in the future of endophysics.
July
03
Particle Physics and Mythic Journeys. Quite accidentally, our recent research
into the nature of light and matter following the approach of Richard Feynman's
QED (quantum electrodynamics, best described in his book, The Strange Theory
of Light, and Matter) has uncovered new, elemental links connecting the
nature of our psychology with the properties of the universe. We have long
been looking for fundamental and easily understood connections between
the theory of matter, Taoism and process-oriented psychology. It seems
as if we are now at the edge of this research.
By using Feynman's concept of "direction" in complex
space, (a method which is part of the standard model" in elementary
particle physics), it has been possible to elucidate what we mean by "process," "path" and "mythic
journey" to create simple practices and theories revealing mystical
depths and everyday resolutions. The quantum mind is connected with the
concepts of directions, tracks and body feeling.
June 03
Awareness and the Collapse of the Wave Function. Physics ponders one of
its central mysteries; how does the imaginary world of the wave function "collapse" or
get reduced into a concrete reality. Psychology offers one possible answer.
We marginalize our various dream-like experiences, valuing one over others
at a given moment, to create "reality". This marginalization
is due to our everyday identity as well as the world situation around us
at any given moment. Our question: why does physics so often tend to deal
with observation as if it had nothing to do with people?
Amy
and Arny are pondering:
A. New ideas about how matter and mind connect: -- viewpoints of the
physicalist, psychologist, philosopher ....
B. Interpretations of quantum physics, and the wave equation. Heisenberg's
Tendencies, The Many Worlds of Everett. Reflections according to Cramer.
Pilot Waves in the mind of Bohm. "Flirts" in attention: (Arny's
view).
C. The meanings of numbers and complex numbers?
D. The significance of Feynman's path/worldline vector approach in physics
(see Edwin F. Taylor, MIT physics department www.eftaylor.com for
more on this). What effect and meaning will this approach have for psychology?
E. What is the meaning of the principle of least action in terms of psychological
experience?
F. What are vectors? A vector is like an arrow. In some myths, Trickster's
arrow is a light beam, or lightening. In the mind of the mathematician,
vectors ...like velocity... are anything that has a direction and a speed.
In psychology, we use the idea of vectors as dreamlike (or meaningful)
directions you are headed in, even though you may not always be conscious
of being on a "vector". Since our 02 spring seminars connecting Taoism,
process work and quantum physics, we have been using vectors in all our
work because they help with seemingly impossible problems (and also connect
dreams and dream fragments to parallel worlds in physics).
G. What is the significance of Feynman's "quantum clock" or Taylor's "propagator" (which
turns and twists particles giving them their direction in mathematical
spaces)?
H. Why is there so much emotional turmoil around developing new ideas
among scientists whose goal is to be objective? What is the connection
between these emotions, what happens inside us, and our world theories
about the world "out there?"
I. We are pondering what happens to our experience of time when sleeping.
Research questions - Koans
1. Why can't you see the diversity of things at the same time, --all the
time?
2. How is this problem linked to the one-sidedness behind so many personal
and political problems?
3. Is anything, any one "thing?"
The law of physics
Cosmic
mysteries think tank
We are interested in Richard Leviton’s research on the relationship
between the earth’s physical energies, spiritual associations and
their connection to astronomy and astrology. See http://www.blueroomconsortium.com/ for
more.
Download
article (45Kb
Word file)
Art,
psychology, physics
 One
summer day in August of 2004, Amy was playing with colored acetate
plastics. Suddenly she discovered or “saw” what
she called “a king emerging”.
Later, Arny walked by the picture and said, “Oh! Look at the goddess
and lion in there!”
Goddess and Lion
Here are some questions we are researching:
a. What do you see when you look at the king? Do you see the Goddess
and the Lion “in” the King?
b. If you can see different parts of the King, can you also imagine seeing
a human being with her different parts -- such as that Lion, Goddess and
King?
c. Why do we often see only the person, and less frequently all the art within
her?
d. Who are we human beings? Who chooses which things get created, then “added” (superposed)
within us to create who we are?
Do you have any problems related to identifying yourself as a person
only instead of an individual full of diverse parallel worlds? This is
one of the many places where quantum physics (and its parallel worlds)
is a type of psychology-- and where psychology is a kind of physics and
art.
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