November 19, 2004

• But fuck that nonattachment shit, I want my money.
• Oops, that should read "...changes in the brains of meditating Buddhist monks, scanning their brains..."
• just for posting the first thing i've had the time and want to read online in real time at the time for the longest time for practical and personal interest reasons i'll send some of my black starred youwhores money should someone actually send real cash wanna bite of my heart of gold? filled with very dark "chocolate" ya big slut insert superior buddhist head joke here
• People can change.
• More on gamma waves: Gamma phase synchrony Long-Range Synchrony in the Gamma Band: Role in Music Perception Gender Differences, Gamma Phase Synchrony and Schizophrenia
• Induced Gamma-Band Activity and Human Brain Function (PDF)
• Meditation study aims to leap over mental barriers The Shamatha Project
• The design of that UC Davis page sure looks familiar.
• Gage says that what particularly impressed him was the Dalai Lama's empirical approach. "At one point I asked: 'What if neuroscience comes up with information that directly contradicts Buddhist philosophy?'," says Gage. "The answer was: 'Then we would have to change the philosophy to match the science'."
• Ooh thankee homunculus! My dad is going to love that article.
• Meditation Gives Brain a Charge, Study Finds
• Meditation changes temperatures: Mind controls body in extreme experiments
• Andrew Newberg discusses what happens in our brains during prayer, meditation and mystical visions. Yet understanding the brain, argues the neuroscientist, does not close the book on the nature of religious experience.
• Interesting article. The great question for scientists, of course, is does the mind equal the brain? The great question for most of the rest of us is how does my experience correspond or not correspond to what scientists are saying today. And often it's dang little, even over so simple - one might well think - a matter as what sleep is, despite the fact most of us will spend a third or so of our lives asleep. The thing is, most of us live in our minds. Not our brains. Our awareness of what goes on in our brains at any given moment is problematical at best. Why, even my conception of my beeswackiness is a frail illusion!
• Miss you, ethylene.
• Heh. Less pragmatism and more music in these glasses, eh, barman?
• Anyone up for a shot of Yogacara?
• Here's a working link of the original article on neuroplasticity: Meditation Alters Brain Structure Here's a new article on neuroplasticity in Time: How The Brain Rewires Itself Via MindHacks.
• Neuroscience of altruism
• Searching for God in the Brain: Researchers are unearthing the roots of religious feeling in the neural commotion that accompanies the spiritual epiphanies of nuns, Buddhists and other people of faith.
• (A few niggling omissions from the article.)
• Short term vs long term meditation on attention and delta waves
• Seeds of Compassion
• Another piece on neuroplasticity: Can a damaged brain change its own structure and learn to replace lost functions? Conventional neuroscience once said no, but pioneers in the field have achieved miraculous transformations. From his investigation of their work, Norman Doidge tells the story of the perpetually falling woman.
• Absolutely fascinating read, Homie. Why have I never heard of this Bach-y-Rita gentleman before? Unfortunately, Google for him shows that he died in 2006. .
• Dalai Lama to fund 'neuroscience of compassion'
• Neuroplasticity is not a new discovery
• You know, I just had to deal with two teenagers today, and I swear they must take their brains out and play with them. These kids act like they've dropped them several times and have gotten them covered with fuzz balls, string, and old gum. Just missing a few of the normal synaptic connections. Prime candidates for neuroplasticity.
• New brain scan reveals nothing at all
• But the colors... The pretty, pretty colors.
• Mind Over Matter? Core Body Temperature Controlled by the Brain
• Scientists Convince People Their Hands Are Rocks