{"id":5008,"date":"2014-12-24T14:27:43","date_gmt":"2014-12-24T19:27:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/?p=5008"},"modified":"2014-12-21T14:24:36","modified_gmt":"2014-12-21T19:24:36","slug":"a-schizo-essay-for-the-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/?p=5008","title":{"rendered":"A Schizo Essay for the Holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is going to be one of those schizophrenic essays, where it is time to speak of many things: ships, shoes and sealing wax, walruses, etc. But actually, I want to start out with something about brain activity during meditation, and then talk about why I finally understand atheists (a little better, anyway). Just in time for the holidays! (Well, a little late for Hanukkah, admittedly . . . )<\/p>\n

So, first off \u2013 meditation. There was an interesting article in the November 2014 issue of Scientific American about \u201cThe Mind of the Meditator<\/a>\u201d. The article was something of a puff-job about the many psycho-physical benefits of meditation. It cites all sorts of positive effects in the brain and with behavior; but despite the alleged focus of SciAm on hard science, the authors forgot to ponder which way the lines of causation were running here.<\/p>\n

I.e., were these benefits the RESULT of the meditation practice, or did they help allow the meditator to meditate? The unsaid presumption behind the article seems to be that anyone can practice meditation and everyone should. But life is usually more complicated than what most \u201cshould\u201d statements assume; some people just might not be able to sit in silence and focus their minds on a mantra or count their breath for 30 minutes to an hour everyday. And psychological and genetic factors may well have something to do with that. Strange that SciAm just let that slide.<\/p>\n

But an interesting factoid about meditation that I gained from the article regards the specific form that Zen meditators are advised to use, i.e. counting the breath. In a nutshell, \u201cthe dorsolateral prefrontal cortex continues to retain a high level of activity as the meditator’s attention remains directed toward an object such as the breath\u201d (see p. 42). Hmmm . . . so, to be a true Zennie, you’ve got to keep your dorsolateral prefrontal cortex revved up. I’ve heard Zen teachers say that meditation causes the mind to be stilled, akin to a lake where the winds subside and the surface of the water becomes clear and transparent. The implication being that you will be able to see inside your head, figure yourself out, and thus become a better person. But if your dorsolateral prefrontal cortex keeps humming away, isn’t that like floating on the lake in a boat with its motor running? How are you going to have such wonderful self-revelations when a fairly big chunk of your thinking brain is working on keeping you focused? (See the brain drawings on page 41 of the SciAm article). <\/p>\n

Perhaps that’s why I’ve never been such a big fan of counting the breath when I sit. But hey, if it works for other people, then who am I to say? Everyone deals with their dorsolateral prefrontal cortex differently.<\/p>\n

OK, now on to atheists and whatever I do or don’t understand about them. There’s an article in the December Atlantic entitled \u201cWhy God Will Not Die<\/a>\u201d, written by an English Professor named Jack Miles. The title of the article would make you believe that atheism gets the short end of the stick from Professor Miles. However, God really doesn’t get much play in his article. The main point is that \u201chumans seek closure\u201d on the existential level. Many, if not most of us, need to settle up with ourselves about \u201cwhat it’s all about\u201d. For many people, that means maintaining a religious belief in God, taking up the creeds chanted and repeated by the faithful, wherein a great book or a great prophet or a great revelation explains it all. Obviously, lots of people just don’t like existential uncertainty. <\/p>\n

Admittedly, in modern times there are more and more \u201cagnostic\u201d fence-sitters. Where disease and famine seem under control and you can live 60 or 70 good years without daily reminders that death is all around you (very different from what life must have been like before say 1700, or maybe still is like in places like western Africa), it becomes easier to get by without taking a stand on this, on pushing the ultimate decision off as to what to hope or not hope for in the future. Still, a lot of people do feel the need to decide. And let’s face it, deciding upon God is not for everyone. So, for those who don’t want to sit on the fence but just don’t like what the religionists are selling, fervent atheism becomes the answer. <\/p>\n

Ah, so now it makes more sense to me! Atheism just never seemed like my cup of tea; why give up all hope of a better after-life when it isn’t strictly necessary based on the earthly facts? Those facts really don’t point one way or another on ultimate questions like this. Why not look at the bright side; nothing guarantees that a better after-life is going to happen; sure, it might all just be a figment of wishful thinking. But nothing entirely precludes it either. Why not then see the glass as half-full? <\/p>\n

Yes, I’ve heard the argument that it’s better to focus one’s hopes, dreams and energies on making this world a paradise instead of hoping for an after-life paradise; but there’s something about this world that just seems paradise-proof, despite humanity’s best intentions. And when humanity’s worst intentions kick-in, look out. More to the point, I’ve also heard that some people fear that God will turn out to be the ultimate sadist, and that any afterlife might be a living hell. For them, buying closure against this possibility by joining up with the radical atheists is the best means to get some comfort.<\/p>\n

It seems that most people just don’t like half-full glasses. As Professor Miles points out, the need for closure is very powerful with humans. His ultimate point appears to be that atheists shouldn’t get down on religious people, and religious people should be a lot more understanding of atheists. He says that our common need for closure should make religious pluralists of all of us. Believers and non-believers should recognize that they both share this deep need for closure. I.e., they aren’t as dis-alike as it seems on the face of it. <\/p>\n

OK, well . . . sounds good to me! Personally, I’m willing to keep sitting on the fence for now. I very much hope that the theistic religions (well, the nicer ones anyway) are correct in that there is a God, that God is ultimately about love, and that such love ultimately involves an afterlife available to all of us. But I know that it can’t be proven, and thus I understand humankind to be living in something akin to a quantum mechanics paradox. For now, hope but not closure is good enough for me. <\/p>\n

However, as to Professor Miles and the rest of the world . . . if you all need closure, well, then everyone should try to be nice about it. The people who say that you are completely wrong in believing or denying God are saying this for sub-conscious reasons very similar to your own; why not respect that. And even if I’m not similar to either believers or atheists in that respect, I’m willing to be nice too.<\/p>\n

But despite my niceness, I really don’t want to hear about miracles (I remember a religious young woman at work who told me not long ago about some candle that no one could blow out . . . I’m not in the mood for virgin births either, bah humbug!). Neither do I want to discuss teapots in space or creators in need of creators. Both are forms of limited thinking, whereas I prefer to look at the bigger questions, e.g. like why does anything exist at all. There ain’t no easy or simple answers to such questions . . . there may not be any answers at all. So please, don’t try to throw any half-baked answers at me.<\/p>\n

Hey, I’m schitzo enough right now, after trying to digest questions about meditation and belief in and against God, all in one little blog entry! But nonetheless, I wish everyone peace on earth and goodwill towards men (OK, sorry for the sexism). And to all, a good night . . . atheist, believer, or anywhere in between.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is going to be one of those schizophrenic essays, where it is time to speak of many things: ships, shoes and sealing wax, walruses, etc. But actually, I want to start out with something about brain activity during meditation, and then talk about why I finally understand atheists (a little better, anyway). Just in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,12,27],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5008"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5008"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5032,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5008\/revisions\/5032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}