ISPECTRUM MAGAZINE Issue 04/November-December 2013 THE BLISSFUL BRAIN: NEUROSCIENCE AND THE PROOF OF THE POWER OF MEDITATION THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES MONEY REDUCES TRUST IN SMALL GROUPS IS THERE A PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLANATION FOR THE NDE?
CONTENTS FEATURES 20 17 03 THE BLISSFUL BRAIN: NEUROSCIENCE AND THE PROOF OF THE POWER OF MEDITATION 07 Exploring mystical experiences elicited by meditation 12 Investigating the effect of medi- tation on measurable health out- comes 20 THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES 24 Universal Melody 26 The Romantic Dance between the Sun and the Earth 27 What do Jupiter or Neptune Sound Like? 28 Eternal Echoes 30 MONEY REDUCES TRUST IN SMALL GROUPS INTERVIEW WITH 3 GABRIELE CAMERA 34 What does money do today? 35 The cooperation is supportable in small groups 37 IS THERE A PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLANATION FOR THE NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE? 42 Psychological theories and evidences 37 30 1
editorial How was Halloween? I hope it was Mado Martinez creepy! Here at ISPECTRUM MAGAZINE Editorial Director we made it through the tricks and treats Ispectrum and survived the ghosts, witches and zombies so we can offer a new edition. magazine This issue number #4 is full of featured contents. The neuroscientist Shanida Nataraja, author of The Blissful Brain, has proven Editorial Director Mado Martinez that meditation has real benefits for [email protected] brain functioning. She explains to us what effects’ meditating has on blood Art Director pressure and depression, through the Rayna Petrova [email protected] latest insights of brain imaging studies. Paco Gonzalez, Editor in Chief of Año/ Copy Editing and Proofreading Cero Magazine and author of hundreds Matt Loveday [email protected] of articles mainly related with history and archeology, shares with us the John Sims amazing music of the spheres. He guides [email protected] us through the cosmos and introduces Victoria Klein us to the sounds of the planets, stars and satellites, as NASA has proved that Contributing Writers Pythagoras was right in his intuitions. Rob Hutchinson Don’t miss our interview with Dr. Gabriel Dr Shanida Nataraja Camera, from Chapman University, who conducts research in the field of Paco González Economy, and has observed that money Images reduces trust drastically in small groups commons.wikimeadia.org, You will also enjoy reading our expert www.sxc.hu, in psychology, Rob Hutchinson, who in morguefile.com, NASA image library this issue, ponders if there is a psycho- logical explanation for near death expe- WWW.ISPECTRUMMAGAZINE.COM riences (NDE). [email protected] Thank you very much for reading. +44 7938 707 164 (UK) Feel free to share your comments and opinions with us! Follow Us 2
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THE BLISSFUL BRAIN: NEUROSCIENCE AND THE PROOF OF THE POWER OF MEDITATION BY DR SHANIDA NATARAJA WEBSITE WWW.BLISSFULBRAIN.COM T he human brain is a mind- attraction. However, the less tan- boggling feat of neural engi- gible aspects of what it means to neering; a biosupercomputer. Over be human have largely resisted our the last couple of decades, as scientific scrutiny. Not only are we the experimental tools at our dis- are still trying to define the neu- posal have become more complex ral basis of human characteristics, and more successful at probing such as creativity and inspiration, the inner workings of the brain, but we are also still far from under- we have been able to define the standing the exact nature of the brain’s involvement in everyday relationship between the brain and tasks, such as object recognition, consciousness. the expression of consciousness Mystical or religious experienc- through language, and even sexual es have historically been seen to 4
lie within the domain of Religion, or spirituality, and scientists have shied away from trying to explain why and how they occur and, in many cases, have challenged their validity. However, groundbreaking research around the turn of the cen- tury revealed the brain’s involve- ment in mystical experiences, and this has prompted a growing inter- est in investigating these phenome- na in the confines of the laboratory. NEUROTHEOLOGY REVEALS HUMANS ARE HARD-WIRED TO HAVE MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES Mystical experiences can be defined and a fabrication of our minds, and as short-lived experiences associ- this insight brings about an expan- ated with a different mode of think- sion of awareness in which the indi- ing and perceiving from that of our vidual loses the sense of time and everyday existence. Because of this, space, and the boundary between mystical experiences defy explana- self and non-self. Although mystical tion in terms that can be understood experiences can occur spontane- by individuals who have not them- ously, particularly during and after selves had an experience. However, a life crisis, regular meditation, as generally speaking, they are associ- practised within countless different ated with a sense of optimism and disciplines, can also increase the unboundedness. The isolated ego, frequency with which these experi- “I”, is perceived to be both restricting ences occur. 5
Mystical experiences were first Although some subjects failed to found to correlate with specific pat- have an experience when wearing terns of brain activity through the the helmet – most notably Richard study of patients with temporal lobe Dawkins, the self-proclaimed athe- epilepsy. The researcher Vilayanur ist – these observations suggest Ramachandran and his colleagues that the large majority of subjects investigated brain activity in these tested had the innate neural wiring patients, and found that many expe- necessary for them to have a mys- rienced bursts of activity in their tical experience. This led Persinger temporal lobe, referred to as micro- to suggest that an individual’s pro- seizures. Patients who frequently pensity to have mystical experi- reported mystical experiences, or ences depends on the lability of who were known to express reli- their temporal lobe (i.e. how prone gious fanaticism, were more likely it is to change). Individuals with a to have these microseizures than high lability were seen to be more those that did not [1]. likely to have microseizures, and Taking this research one step further, Michael Persinger designed a device that would become popularly known as the “God machine”. This simple device – a series of small electro- magnets attached to a motorcycle helmet – delivers a weak electro- magnetic field that can be used to selectively activate distinct regions of the brain. Persinger reported that stimulation of the temporal lobe elicited a mystical experience in about 80% of subjects; stimulation of the right temporal lobe tended to elicit more pleasurable experiences than stimulation of the left temporal lobe. Dr. Persinger 6
therefore more likely to an apple. The perceived ing mystical experi- have mystical experi- apple would not be ences, and, in doing ences. Persinger’s early real; it would be, quite so, gives rise to our results have been con- rightly, an artefact of conscious awareness firmed in a more recent brain function. Does of these experiences. analysis of more than the rep- 400 additional subjects lication [2]. of the neur al impres- For some, this research sion of an provided the proof that apple in mystical experiences, the lab- and even the experi- oratory ence of God, were the call into result of aberrant neu- question ral circuitry, an arte- whether fact of brain function. a pple s However, this view is actually exist in our This research therefore flawed. Our brains are world? Similarly, the merely suggests that designed to receive observation that mys- most of us possess the information about our tical experiences can innate neural circuitry, experiences, whether be artificially evoked or hard-wiring, allow- that be the experience merely reveals that ing us to perceive and of biting into an apple the neural circuitry of make sense of mystical or a mystical experi- the human brain has experiences when they ence. Hypothetically, evolved to allow it to occur. if we were capable of process the full range experimentally stimu- of experiences, includ- lating the specific areas ing mystical experienc- of the brain involved es. Like a radio receives in the perception of and transmits music, an apple, the subject our brain receives infor- would likely report that mation about all of our they had experienced experiences, includ- 7
EXPLORING MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES ELICITED BY MEDITATION The investigation of dent or peak moment and d’Aquili demon- artificially evoked brain of meditation – they strated that meditation events is clearly far were asked to pull on triggered two impor- from ideal. This fact led a string. Radioactive tant changes in brain the researchers Andrew tracer was then inject- activity. Firstly, there is Newberg and Eugene ed into the meditator, an increase in activity d’Aquili to attempt to through an in-dwelling in the frontal cortex, study mystical experi- catheter, and the bind- in the area of the brain ences elicited by medi- ing of this tracer in the known to be involved tation in the laboratory. brain visualised using in sustained attention – Experienced Buddhist SPECT (single photon referred to as the atten- emission comput- tion association cortex. ed tomography). Increased activity in Active regions of this association cor- the brain have tex leads to decreased a greater blood activity in the surround- supply and can ing regions of the brain therefore be that are responsible expected to bind for complex cognitive more of the processing. This is the radioactive trac- consequence of innate er. In this man- circuitry that filters out ner, information redundant information about the activity in order to maintain meditators were asked to in the meditator’s brain sustained attention in meditate and, when they at this transcendent the face of continual felt they were access- moment was captured distractions. The more ing an altered or mysti- and visualised. attention is held on a cal state of awareness single focus, the eas- – sometimes referred From these pivotal ier it becomes to sus- to as the transcen- experiments, Newberg tain that attention. The 8
key feature of this Newberg and d’Aquili demon- first step is a shift strated that meditation triggered in brain activity two important changes in brain from the left to the activity right hemisphere, as attention is predom- inately a right-hemisphere r e su lts function. The implications of this confirm that are discussed below. Secondly, the sustained attention elicits defined increase in activity in the frontal changes in the activity of the fron- cortex drives a decrease in activity tal cortex that trigger the unfolding in the parietal cortex. This houses of the meditative experience. Many two important association cortices; meditators also report a dissolv- the orientation association cortex ing of the boundary between self and the verbal-conceptual cortex. and non-self and an expansion of The former gives rise to our sense awareness that brings a sense of of orientation in space and time, unboundedness and transcendence. and contains the neural circuitry This so-called mystical experience that defines the boundary between can also be understood in terms of self and non-self, whereas the latter changes in brain activity, with medi- confers the ability to relay our expe- tation switching off the circuitry in rience in words. A decrease in activ- the parietal lobe involved in gen- ity in the parietal cortex therefore erating our perception of time and leads to a decreased awareness of space, and our position within it, as space and time, as well as an inabil- well as the self/non-self boundary. ity to describe the experience using Furthermore, the indescribability of language [3]. mystical experiences can also be explained by the reduced activity in the parietal lobe, as this part of the The findings of this research therefore brain also houses the neural circuit- mirror our current subjective under- ry that confers the ability to express standing of the mystical experienc- our experiences in language. es elicited by meditation. Sustained attention is pivotal to all types of meditation, and these experimental 9
MEDITATION AS A NEURAL PROCESS DESIGNED TO UNLOCK THE INNATE POTENTIAL OF OUR BRAINS In the discussion above, we saw that meditation, through sustained attention, elicits a switch between left and right- hemisphere activity. This switch is a crucial component of the process leading to the mystical state of awareness often experienced as a result of meditation. In order to understand fore the implications of this, it is impor- a b le tant to first examine the functions to mime of the two hemispheres. Our under- what a toothbrush standing of the different roles of the would be used for (i.e. they under- two hemispheres largely stems from stood the toothbrush’s purpose); split-brain surgeries performed in however, they were unable to name the 1960s in patients suffering from the object. Both the term “tooth- particularly severe epilepsy. By sev- brush” and the ability to vocalise this ering the connections between the term lie within the left hemisphere. two hemispheres, the two sides of Observations in these split-brain the brain can be essentially isolated patients prompted the neuroscien- from each other. Following one of tists, Jerre Levy and the now Nobel these surgeries, a split-brain patient prize winning Roger Sperry, to sug- was blindfolded and given a tooth- gest that the two hemispheres have brush to hold in their left hand. inbuilt, qualitatively different, and As the right hemisphere controls mutually antagonist modes of cog- the left-hand side of the body, the nitive processing [4]. toothbrush was sensed by the right hemisphere. The patient was there- 10
The left hemisphere houses the perception of ourselves and the neural circuitry that mediates ver- world. Experiences that fit our world bal and written language, as well as view and “boost our ego” are cap- being home to many of the cogni- tured, whereas those that challenge tive processors that give rise to the our world view and “undermine our intellectual functioning of the human ego” are ignored. The right hemi- mind (i.e. our ego). Accordingly, the sphere, on the other hand, captures left hemisphere is often considered the whole experience and therefore, to be the dominant hemisphere, and during meditation, when the practi- many of us spend much of our exis- tioner has access to the right hemi- sphere, often long-forgotten memo- ries can surface in full Technicolor or solutions to unsolved problems or dilemmas can emerge. Meditation therefore provides the practitioner with a method through which to switch between the two modes of thinking and perceiving conferred by the two hemispheres. We have seen that the expansion of awareness often reported dur- ing mystical experiences elicited by tence cultivating and using the left- meditation can be partially explained brain mode of cognitive process- by decreased activity in the neural ing. During meditation, the practi- circuitry conferring our sense of tioner accesses the functioning of orientation in space–time, as well the right hemisphere, and therefore as our self/non-self boundary. This can gain insight from the right- expansion of awareness can also, brained mode of cognitive process- however, be partially explained by ing. Experiments suggest that the the fact that meditation triggers a right hemisphere captures a much shift from left-hemisphere activity more truthful representation of an to right-hemisphere activity, and experience. Our left hemisphere has thus a shift towards a more holistic, a tendency to filter our experiences abstract mode of cognitive process- so that they fit into our established ing that reveals the interrelatedness 11
of all things, as well as the restric- tions of the ego-centred mode of cognitive processing. In the late 1970s, Maxwell Cade, a prominent psychophysiologist, pro- posed that there were five differ- ent levels of consciousness (dream- ing sleep; hypnogogic/hypnopompic [i.e. between waking and dream- ing]; everyday waking; medita- tive; and lucid awareness), and that these different levels of con- sciousness correlate with specific awareness or the “awakened mind” patterns of electrical brain activity. state – involves comparable levels During meditation – considered by of alpha and theta brain waves to Cade to elicit a higher level of con- the meditative level of conscious- sciousness than the normal, wak- ness, but also includes beta brain ing consciousness (equated to the waves, indicating a return of higher aforementioned ‘mystical’ or ‘medi- cognitive functions. Unlike the beta tative’ state of awareness) there is brain waves seen during the every- a prominence of alpha brain waves, day waking level of consciousness, associated with relaxed wakeful- which occur predominantly in the ness, and theta brain waves, associ- left hemisphere, the beta brain ated with the creative subconscious waves seen in the “awakened mind” mind. level of consciousness are balanced across the two hemisphere. Optimal brain functioning, and indeed higher Unsurprisingly perhaps, there is states of consciousness, are thus also a decrease in the beta brain seen to stem from balanced left and waves that are associated with right-hemisphere cognitive function- active thought. The highest level of ing [5]. consciousness – referred to as lucid 12
In our left-hemisphere ity underlying some of dominated society, in the main features of which achieving and mystical experiences succeeding are valued elicited through medi- over being, medita- tation, we have there- tion offers us a method fore not only gained of switching into the a better understanding right-hemisphere mode of the involvement of of thinking, there- the brain in convey- by re-addressing this ing mystical experienc- imbalance. Meditation es and eliciting mysti- also elicits brain wave cal states of aware- changes associated ness, but we have also with higher states of gained a more com- consciousness than our plete picture of the role everyday, waking state, that meditation plays in and therefore provides eliciting these changes the key to unlocking the in brain activity, and innate potential of our indeed, the role it plays brains. By observing the in optimising the per- changes in brain activ- formance of our brains. INVESTIGATING THE EFFECT OF MEDITATION ON MEASURABLE HEALTH OUTCOMES The growing body of ing view of meditation health and well-being evidence supporting as a potential meth- of the practitioner. This the role of meditation od of optimising brain research reveals that in triggering mystical performance, have meditation may play experiences or mystical prompted researchers an important role in states of awareness, to explore the effects modern healthcare. together with the evolv- of meditation on the 13
MBSR trains the practi- precipitated by chronic tioner to become more pain [6]. aware of their moment- to-moment thoughts. Furthermore, in can- Rather than modifying cer patients, particu- these thoughts, prac- larly those with hor- titioners are taught to mone-dependent can- modify their attitude to cers such as breast and these thoughts. MSBR prostate cancer, MBSR also involves the prac- can lead to significant tice of seated medita- improvements in qual- tion, together with a ity of life. In a study body-scan relaxation conducted by Michael technique and some Speca and colleagues, yoga postures. A num- MBSR was shown to ber of studies have elicit a 65% improve- shown that MBSR has ment in mood and a a measurable impact 35% improvement in on the well-being of symptoms of stress [7]. patients suffering from In a recent meta-anal- chronic pain. In one of ysis of studies of MBSR, these studies, conduct- Paul Grossman and col- Mindfulness-based ed by Kabat-Zinn, more leagues concluded that stress reduction (MBSR) than 65% of patient MBSR was an effective is a technique developed who had failed more stress-reduction meth- by Jon Kabat-Zinn for conventional meth- od that was associated use in patients, includ- ods of pain manage- with clear benefits in ing those with chronic ment responded to a terms of both overall pain, depression, can- 10-week programme health and the ability cer, heart disease and of MBSR. Patients of patients to cope with anxiety. Based on the not only reported an their illness. The size Buddhist practice of improvement in their of the effect seen is mindfulness, but essen- level of pain, but also dependent on both the tially independent of an improvement in frequency and duration any esoteric tradition, the mood disturbances of practise [8]. 14
Meditation’s impact on and stress-related dis- meditation with scepti- stress underlies many ease on both the indi- cism. of its proven physi- vidual and our health- This is largely the result cal health benefits. In care systems. of the failure of medi- some patients, regu- tation to demonstrate lar meditation is asso- statistically significant ciated with a reduced Despite the growing results in large-scale risk of cardiovascu- body of evidence sup- meta-analyses. lar disease, as well porting the effect of In 2007, the authors of a as decreases in blood meditation on measur- technology assessment pressure, both of which able health outcomes, based on research con- are likely to result from orthodox medicine still ducted by the University better stress manage- largely approaches of Alberta Evidence- ment. Regular meditation also confers psychological benefits, such as reduc- ing anxiety and depres- sion, improving coping mechanisms (both with disease and chronic pain), and addressing addictive behavior , all of which are again, at least in part, mani- festations of stress. In a world in which the levels of stress appear to be continu- ally escalating, medi- tation appears to offer a therapeutic antidote that can, at least to a certain degree, lessen the impact of stress 15
lines for trial report- ing to ensure that their data are viewed in the most favourable light. Secondly, it remains questionable whether studies of meditation should be forced to meet the rigorous stan- dards devised for clini- cal trials of investiga- tional drugs. Meditation is not a substitute for conventional treatment approaches; it is an alternative therapy that based Practice Center enrolled patient popu- can, in some patients, (EPC) under contract lations [9]. provide added ben- to the Agency for efit. Whereas failure Healthcare Research of an antihypertensive and Quality (AHRQ) This example high- could lead to consider- stated that “firm con- lights a number of able patient morbidity clusions on the effects important issues. and mortality, failure of of meditation practices Firstly, there is a clear meditation to improve in healthcare cannot need to standardise a patient’s clinical situ- be drawn based on the the methodology used ation has few draw- available evidence”. As when studying medi- backs. acknowledged by the tation and to, wher- authors, this negative ever possible, conduct finding results from randomised controlled The value of medita- the low quality of the trials. Furthermore, tion as a healthcare included studies and researchers study- intervention is perhaps the diversity of types ing meditation should best illustrated by the of meditation studied, strive to adhere to fact that, at an increas- methodology used and the CONSORT guide- ing number of medical 16
institutions in the US and Europe, struggling to cope with the ever- training courses in medita- expanding pool of patients, tion are being offered this trend suggests that to a diverse range meditation can play of patients. More a key role in effec- than 16,000 tive patient man- patients have training courses in agement, and undergone meditation are being may well offer MBSR train- offered to a diverse a much-needed ing at the range of patients solution to the Massachusetts growing health- Medical School, care crisis in the Center for West. Mindfulness, since it was founded in 1995, and the feed- back from healthcare profession- als and patients involved is over- whelmingly positive. Furthermore, at the MD Anderson Cancer Center DEFINING A ROLE FOR in Houston, Texas, patients are now MEDITATION IN OUR routinely offered a variety of sup- MODERN, EVERYDAY LIVES port programmes, including cours- es in meditation, to help them to better deal with their illness and In the clinical setting, medita- its consequences. In the UK, the tion can undoubtedly alleviate some Centre for Mindfulness Research of the burden currently placed on and Practice at Bangor University our healthcare systems, as well as offers training courses in mindful- empowering the individual patient ness to both healthcare profession- to play a pivotal role in the manage- als and patients, and strives to pro- ment of their condition. Meditation’s mote the use of mindfulness in the adoption into mainstream society, clinical setting within the National however, requires another sub- Health Service (NHS). In a climate stantial shift in thinking. Our fast- in which our healthcare systems are paced, adrenaline-filled lives draw 17
and their motivation to instigate lifestyle changes that promote good health and well-being. our attention away from our health Meditation offers a potential strat- and well-being, and often promote egy through which an individual can unhealthy lifestyles. Western medi- cultivate and maintain a state of cine is largely responsive rather good health and well-being. Long- than preventive; by the time most term stress can have damaging individuals seek medical help, they effects on the body long before these have established disease requiring effects are manifest as poor health active intervention. There are obvi- or disease. Not only does medita- ous benefits of diagnosing disease in tion reduce stress, but it may also its early stages, or even preventing prevent or delay the onset of stress- it before it can develop. The achieve- related diseases, as well as reducing ment of this, however, depends on risk prone behaviour triggered by both the individual’s awareness of stress, such as smoking and the use their state of health and well-being of recreational drugs. Furthermore, 18
conducive to personal growth. Through med- itation, it is possible to harness the innate power of both our left and right hemispheres, and reap the benefits afforded by using the complementary modes of cognitive process- there is an abundance understanding of which ing offered by them. of anecdotal evidence situations, individu- Meditation, and the suggesting that medi- als and behaviour are mystical states associ- tation can be associ- constructive and which ated with meditation, ated with the following are destructive. This appear to be part and subjective benefits: a evidence provides a parcel of what it means boost in energy levels strong rationale for the to be human, and reg- and a decreased need inclusion of meditation ular practice promis- for sleep; an increase in our everyday lives. es to allow us to fulfil in productivity and In addition to confer- more of our potential, creativity; increased ring health benefits, both as individuals and self-acceptance, which the insights gained for a society as a whole. often translates into an our investigations into increased acceptance of the effects of medi- Dr Shanida Nataraja other people and thus tation on the brain is the author of The improved interpersonal reveal that meditation Blissful Brain: Proof of relationships; a great- is also an important the Power of Meditation er ability to express tool that allows us to (Gaia, £7.99). For more emotions; fewer bouts access higher levels of information, please of irritability and impa- consciousness. These see: tience, or emotional higher levels of con- www.blissfulbrain.com or behavioural out- sciousness are asso- bursts; an improved ciated with optimised and expanded sense of brain functioning, and identity; and a greater their attainment is 19
Dr Shanida Nataraja has a BSc (First Class education agency Hons) in Human Science and Neuroscience producing materials and a PhD in Neurophysiology, both from in the field of neu- University College London. Her research rology, cardiology, thesis focused on learning and memory oncology, psychiatry and she continued researching in this and women’s health. field, holding a post-doctoral research Shanida has many position at the Johns Hopkins School of years of experience Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. After in both Christian five-years in research, Shanida aban- mantra meditation and Buddhist mind- doned the isolation of the laboratory fulness meditation, and has received for the relative comforts of a career basic instruction in a variety of other in medical communications. Shanida is contemplative practices, including Tai currently Scientific Director at a medical Chi, Chi Gung and Iyengar yoga. References: [6] Kabat-Zinn, J. An outpatient program in behav- [1] Ramachandran VS, Blakeslee S. Phantoms in the ioural medicine for chronic pain patients based on the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind. practice of mindfulness meditation: theoretical con- Harper Perennial, 1999; Chapter 9. siderations and preliminary results, General Hospital [2] St-Pierre LS, Persinger MA. Experimental facilita- Psychiatry, 1982: 4(1):33–47. tion of the sensed presence is predicted by the spe- [7] Speca, M, Carlson, LE, Goodey, E, Angen, M. cific patterns of the applied magnetic fields, not by A randomized, wait-list controlled clinical trial: the suggestibility: re-analyses of 19 experiments. Int J effect of a mindfulness meditation-based stress reduc- Neurosci 2006; 116(9): 1079-96. tion program on mood and symptoms of stress in [3] D’Aquili, E, Newberg, AB. The Mystical Mind: cancer outpatients. Psychosomatic Medicine, 2000: probing the biology of religious experience, Augsburg 62(5):613–22. Fortress Publishers, 1999. [8] Grossman, P, Niemann, L, Schmidt, S, Walach, [4] Sperry RW. Hemispheric specialization of men- H. Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health tal faculties in the brain of Man. Advances in Altered benefits: a meta-analysis. Journal of Psychosomatic States of Consciousness & Human Potentialities, Research 2004; 57(1):35–43. Volume 1. A Psychological Dimensions, Inc. (PDI) [9] University of Alberta Evidence-based Practice Research Reference Work. Barber TX (Ed). PDI, 1976. Center/Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. [5] Cade, M, Coxhead, N. The Awakened Mind: bio- Evidence Report/Technology Assessment Number 155: feedback and the development of higher states of Meditation Practices for Health: State of the Research. awareness, Delacorte Press/Eleanor Friede, 1979. AHRQ Publication No. 07-E010, June 2007. 20
THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES BY PACO GONZÁLEZ WEBSITE WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/PACO.GONZA- THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES A In 2004, a NASA satellite discovered that Scientist involved with the the interaction between the Sun’s solar NASA satellite remarked winds and the atmosphere of its depend- that our Sun behaves like a musical able planets’ produces harmonic vibra- instrument. NASA’s evidence sug- tions which, in turn, create incredible gests that the Sun is expelling har- sounds. monic vibrations caused by oscil- lations on its surface, acting in the Does this mean Pythagoras was right? same manner as an internal mem- brane of a speaker. 21
By contrast however, some quite From where did Pythagoras gain stunning NASA images from 2009 this knowledge? Was there another show an impressive nebula, the before him that passed the infor- form of which looks like a Butterfly. mation on? Or did he ordain this The picture was taken by the Hubble information all on his own? Indeed, Telescope and today has become if he did learn of the phenomena by one of the most beautiful visual himself, how was he able to grasp examples of our living Universe. something that we today have only discovered through the means of The Cosmos is alive. Both sounds precise technology in the early and images offer us an insight into 21st Century? a harmonic, moving cosmos image. Our most advanced, 21st Century technology, it would seem, is now beginning to confirm the ancestral legacy that was first mooted and stoically defended and explained by Pythagoras, Kepler, Kircher and many others, hundreds of years ago. PYTHAGORAS THE ALIEN? One of the most mysterious voic- es in world history, Pythagoras is understood to be the first name Pythagoras that records knowledge of the music Perhaps the answer lies with the of the spheres. We do not have contemporary writers of the time; any original manuscripts by him their disciples and the neo-Pla- though, and very little is known tonists. Maybe their area of knowl- about his life. edge and expertise was closer to 22
Pythagoras’s own than his peers. Some of them It was said also, that we ever have been – wrote that even Apollo Arabis once visited not only in the chrono- could have been his him aboard ‘a golden logical sense but in a Father, a view derived arrow’. An extraterres- literal sense. from a consensus that trial visit? Pythagoras literally Our new findings ‘gleamed’ with a super- Almost certainly the mean things we have natural glow. A bright- strangest occurrence(s) always thought to be ness. Some scholars supporting the theory invented fantasies even purport that he is that Pythagoras was and myths could be had a golden thigh. An continually reported revisited through new extraterrestrial pros- to be seen in numer- eyes. Why? Because thesis perhaps? ous different places at Pythagoras was often the same time. This is regarded as a God by known in paranormal 23
HISTORY REPEATING It would not be cant and ancient civili- the first case in sations of world histo- history of a being ry? The secrets that lie seemingly beyond in the origin and con- that of mere mor- struction of the colos- tals. Jesus Christ, sal Pyramids are even of course, was now a suggestive trace born of a Human of an unveiled mystery. but possessed How did the ancient inner abilities far Egyptians manage beyond that of to build such perfect man. But again, it monuments with pre- is believed that he sumably no technology – like Pythagoras – whatsoever? The ques- studied under dif- tion has been discussed ferent ‘Masters’, if we at length, but there terms as bilocation or refer to the Apocryphal is no definitive answer. multilocation. Gospels. However one of the most popular beliefs is Was Pythagoras an It is believed that many that the Pyramids were alien? And if he was of the potential learn- built with the aid of – presumably a being ing’s received by these extraterrestrials. How endowed with precious anomalies descend else could they achieve wisdom and knowledge from ancient Egypt. A something that is so – why did he travel place that could hold far beyond the reaches to so many different an indecipherable of modern man? That locations in order to link between the two is, of course, if they study under different beings, and is it any really did build them. ‘Masters’? coincidence then, that Egypt is the cradle of one of the most signifi- 24
UNIVERSAL MELODY Pythagoras was perceptive enough to study the musical Plato sounds and their relation- described ship with Mathematics. He in ‘Timeus’ maintained that the orbit how the of the ‘heavenly bodies’ – Demiurgus a term given to all matter forged the of Space: Planets; Stars; world divid- Asteroids etc - and their ing the main accompanying sounds were in ‘substance’ in harmony with each other. The harmonic inter- result was a beautiful, perpetual vals. His conclusion, universal melody. through Epinomis’s voice, was that ‘the heavenly bod- Iamblichus wrote of Pythagoras in ies play the best of the songs’, and his book entitled ‘Protepticus’: if we read a little further… ‘He used a divine, ineffable and ‘This harmony produces a music undecipherable power. That is how much more beautiful and intense he could concentrate and listen than the worldly music’. to the sublime symphony of the spheres. He was able to under- Whether Pythagoras was the first stand the universal harmony and to be aware of this Interstellar the concert of the spheres and the Orchestra or not, it would seem Heavenly bodies’. that the comparison between the Cosmos and a huge musical instru- So it seems that Iamblichus attrib- ment has been assumed from the uted to Pythagoras a special power Middle Ages right through to the – a divine power – one that was present day. indicipherable. He is held as some- one with skills far beyond our own. 25
human body; Angels and the music itself. He thought that the Universe was a ‘monochord’ universe where the ten melodic ranges evoked by Pythagoras’s theorem translated the harmony of the creation. Kepler The ‘gene in hermetic philosophy’, Athansius Kircher, is well known for SINGING FROM THE SAME his famous maxim: HYMN SHEET? ‘Heaven above, Heaven below; Stars above, Stars below; all that Kepler was a famous Mathematician is above thus below’. and Astronomer. He attributed a musical note to each planet and He wrote an illustrated book titled affirmed that the angular speeds ‘Musurgia Universalis’ where he of each heavenly body produced explained music as a reflection of sounds. According to Kepler, the mathematics and the essential pro- sounds would be of a higher pitch if portions of creation. the movements were faster. In his own words: If we look back we find many more traces, many famous names, ‘The Heavenly movement is a con- and many sages who recalled the tinuous song for several voices. ancient legacy of Pythagoras, such These voices can only be perceived as Plinius; Boecius; Ptolomeus; by intellect, not the hearing. This Newton; Pico Della Mirandola; Jean music leaves its trace in the flow of Phillipe Rameau etc… It seems the time’. that today – centuries after these philosophers, our contemporary The British Alchemist Robert Fludd Science is finally converging with was very interested in the cor- these fascinating theories. respondence between the plan- ets; the different parts of the 26
THE ROMANTIC DANCE BETWEEN THE SUN AND THE EARTH A satellite called propagated from arc to bombs, the solar explo- ‘Transition Region arc: sions send the acoustic and Coronal Explorer’ sounds through these (NASA) discovered that ‘The sound is very simi- ‘arcs’ at dozens of kilo- the Sun sounds and lar to the one you obtain metres per second: behaves like a musical while plucking the gui- instrument. This sophis- tar’, said Robert von Jay- ‘We can now say that ticated and ultraviolet Siebenburgen – Head these are acoustic observatory studies the of the Solar Physics waves and these waves solar corona. The solar and Research Centre, are excited by explo- explosions generate in a statement for BBC sions at the foot points Plasma rings or elec- Television. Releasing of these loops’, said the trified gas that causes the equivalent energy Mathematician Youra sound waves. These are of millions of Hydrogen Taroyan of the University 27
of Sheffield in the UK, odies, since these ultra- dance. These events in an edition of New sounds are played out however do not confine Scientist Magazine. in a 100 milihertz fre- themselves to just our quency every ten sec- Star… One of the most intrigu- onds. ing aspects of these solar sounds is that despite At NASA, a multidisci- Human Beings not being plinary team from the able to hear them (they ‘Ulysses’ mission has are of a frequency 300 discovered that these WHAT DO JUPITER times lower than those pulses from our Solar OR NEPTUNE we can hear); they pro- Star can be detected SOUND LIKE? duce peculiar effects on in Submarine cables, our planet, causing it seismographs etc. More to vibrate in sympathy fascinating still are the Professor Donald W Kurtz with the frequencies. discoveries of the inves- from the Astrophysics tigators David Thomson Centre at the University In this context, we can and Louis Lanzerotti of Lancashire (UK) propose that the Solar from the Hiscale pro- states: System is a cosmic cho- gram in the Ulysses rus with equilibrated and mission. They conclud- ‘All the Stars in our harmonic ed that different sounds Galaxy produce har- mel- generated by the Sun monic vibrations pro- not only reach ducing a kind of celes- our planet; but tial melody’. the earth also ge ne ra te s NASA has promoted rigid move- some laboratory experi- the Sun sounds and ments in ments in order to syn- behaves like a musical response thesize the sonic oscilla- instrument to the ultra- tions and they obtained sou nds, surprising results. By bri ngi ng accelerating the sounds on a kind of three or eight times, romantic cosmic you would be able to say 28
that you are hearing the waves of the ocean; such is the simi- larity, or the song of whales and dolphins. It depends of course on the intensity of each electromagnetic field as well as the grade of manipulation. And, of course, the imagination. We highly recommend our read- ers make a search on the internet so they can hear these amazing Jupiter sounds. Donald A. Gurnett is Professor ETERNAL ECHOES of Physics and Astronomy at the University of IOWA (USA) and he is one of the pioneers in the classifica- Pythagoras may have been the first tion of the sounds of the Universe. to become aware of the phenome- This scientist’s investigations have non. But who was the first to have actually inspired musicians to the privilege of actually ‘listening’ to introduce these peculiar signa- the music of the spheres? We have ture sounds to travel back to the 1930’s, when into their the young physicist Karl Jansky, composi- from Bell’s Laboratories, discov- tions. ered that some radio waves gener- ated static interferences that came from the centre of the Milky Way. With merely an old radio-receptor and an antenna assembled on his Ford T chassis, he was the first man able to audibly distinguish the Neptune music of the stars. 29
Ultimately, whatever the origin, we can see that this musical struc- ture in the Cosmos is not limited to the ‘Pythagorean School’ of knowl- edge, nor does the knowledge of it end with Kepler. Whether through ancient wisdom or contemporary science, our models for explaining the nature of the Universe continue to overlap; very wide of a rigid or exclusive solution for the world. Karl Jansky The Milky Way,NASA 30
MONEY REDUCES TRUST IN SMALL GROUPS BY MADO MARTINEZ WEBSITE WWW.MADOMARTINEZ.COM INTERVIEW WITH GABRIELE CAMERA G abriele Camera, Fullbright Scholar, has held previous holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the positions at Purdue University of Iowa (USA) and is current- University (USA), ly Research Profesor of Economics and the University of Iowa (USA), and the Finance, in the Economic Science Institute University of Basel (Switzerland). at Chapman University in California. He 31
M.M. Are we more selfish when money is involved? G.C. I want to get the words mon language you can involved, this tendency straight and correct you use them. Basically indi- to try to cooperate with a little bit in terms of viduals tend to be coop- others, over time, is language. In economics, erative with others, that greatly diminished. So if selfishness and altruism is, they tend to sustain you want to call it self- are very precise con- personal costs to help ishness you can think of cepts, so I prefer not others when money is it in that way it’s more to use those types of not involved, and as self-interested. words, though in com- soon as money gets M.M. It’s very interesting what you’re saying because in Spain (where I come from), people are suffering a very big economic recession at the moment, but at the same time there is much growth of solidarity. Do you think that can be related to your theory? G.C. Definitely. The point licated outside the lab extent, but not fully to a here, and the prece- so it gives us a point, certain extent they were dence here, is that we a way to think about successful, at dispelling did a laboratory experi- behaviors in society, but social norms of mutual ment, so all you can you’re right. So what we support, cooperation, get out of the data is found in the experiment as you say, or reciproc- some intuition for how is that people were able ity, in a certain sense, behavior might be rep- successfully, to a certain when there was no way 32
to obtain high pay-offs words ‘greedy’ in the tions in which jobs are otherwise, when there sense and they would lost, as is the current was nothing they could not help others unless situation in Spain and exchange for a favor, they received compen- in many other coun- or for help. Whereas sation. That is they tries, unfortunately, when we introduced this switched behavior from when people do not object that had no cash norms of mutual support have access to liquid- value, it had no refer- to norms of exchange, ity, to money to pay for ence to outside curren- in which I want to be the things they need, it cies, basically it was compensated immedi- is natural for groups of just a symbolic object, ately for some benefit people to come togeth- people started to be that I provide to you. er and rely on norms of in a sense, and I use So it is reasonable to mutual support. quotes around these believe that in situa- 33
M.M. I guess you have tried to compare this information with colleagues in other fields like psychology, sociology, etc. Why is money able to change the way we behave? G.C. Well, so far we have on the others, but if you that if there is some- some hypotheses that help someone today, one who does not help, have to be tested, of or if you’re given help, as everyone else does, course, in order to give then someone else will the entire group has to at least an initial intu- help you in the future, punish these individu- ition, an initial answer, so there is this give and als. These types of pun- but it’s not proof from take. ishment norms are very an experiment, it pro- vides an intuition, and it has to be replicat- ed many times to have some sort of more sci- entific validity, but the idea is this: consider the many differences among the individu- als in a large group of people, individuals that do not know exactly each other’s behavior, they may not help each Creating these norms hard to enforce, and in other, as it is in modern requires that the groups particular there must be societies, large societ- of people that engage some sort of coordina- ies. In these types of in such norms of mutu- tion at the group level. societies, if you want to al support are able to The larger the group, create norms of mutu- punish, or enforce, the harder it is to coor- al support, you really deviations from coop- dinate on this type of have to rely quite a bit eration. The theory is punishment scheme. So 34
the problem is not that to support these norms else – then it becomes people do not under- of mutual support. So problematic because as stand the benefits of that’s really the benefit it happens these days cooperation, the prob- of money, it bypasses in Spain, in Italy and in lem is that people do all these problems of certain parts of the US not understand how to coordinating, of think- for sure, when I have generate behaviors that ing about what you’ve nothing to give you in eliminate opportunism, done in the past, how exchange for what I that’s the complicated to punish. It’s very sim- need, then what do I do? part. How do I punish ple: you give me noth- Well, under the norms individuals? How do I ing, I give you noth- of monetary exchange I make them responsi- ing. That’s why money can give you nothing so ble for what they have works, and that’s why I’m stuck. That’s really done? it can support these the bad component of types of interactions. this arrangement. It is In a society of strangers The negative effect, the simple and it is intui- this is complicated. It one that you notice, is tive, quid pro quo as requires a lot of coordi- that once we decide to the Latins would put it, nation at the civic level, coordinate on this type but it has this negative in the group or society. of exchange – I’ll give component that it dis- What does money do you something only if places norms of mutual today? Money bypasses you give me something support. all this because the pun- ishment for not cooper- ating, so to speak, in a monetary exchange is that I don’t give you anything. You do not give me what I need; I do not give you money. So it simplifies tremen- dously the large degree of coordination that as social groups we have to undertake in order 35
M.M. Anthropologists tend to find that cooperation is supportable in small groups but in large groups it’s very hard to do. How can we teach people to learn to support each other? G.C. As a matter of fact the experiment is not about teaching how people can mutually support so it is a sort of specu- lative comment that I can make at this point from other experiments that we’ve done, the important thing is to make sure that individ- uals are made in their head responsible, at an individual level, for the actions they’ve taken. dously reduced, but you vide disincentives, has So what we’ve found out need to have the bit to to remove incentives, is that communication first communicate, to from doing that type of among individuals, and know and to talk to behavior. in particular, informa- each other, directly if tion about the actions possible, and second to So anyone seeing the that the individual has have information about experiments we’ve tried taken in the past, can what individuals have with prisoner’s dilem- help those who have done. Third, you have mas, anyone who’s inclinations to behave to have the possibility been subject to this opportunistically but is of sustaining punish- type of environment in doing something that is ment if someone does which they can com- not very nice, for per- not behave in a way municate with others, sonal gain, this type of that is socially support- in which they can track behavior gets tremen- ive, society has to pro- each other’s factions 36
and the opportunity you said, tend to find Punishing, not just ver- of punishing individu- that cooperation is sup- bally, others, become als who misbehaved portable in small groups complicated, so this directly, generally it’s but in large groups it’s mechanism becomes a very, very high coop- very hard to do because very difficult. eration level. Which is information about why anthropologists, as behavior becomes hard. 37
M.M. I see that your findings can be applied in many fields. For example, how we behave in a company that uses monetary incentives for their employees? G.C. This is interesting, what people with my medical you say, Mado, because skills. Sometimes pro- there is some research viding additional incen- that looks into the pos- tives to the monetary sibility that monetary need removes these incentives may actually intrinsic incentives, so reduce the effort that our training does not workers put into what- address that there are ever the firm’s objective other interpretations is, so the experiment and other consequenc- was not designed to test es for organizations or this sort of hypothesis work within a firm. but there is some work which shows that some- For example if in team- times monetary incen- work is very difficult to tives in company work organize around coop- environments actual- erative norms, perhaps ly go in the opposite it is because the team is direction because they far apart in the world or displace intrinsic incen- team members cannot tives. For instance, if exactly understand what I’m a baker, I’m allowed each other are doing so to do it because I like to there’s a contradiction make bread. Or if I am to output. There may a doctor, I like to help be monetary incentives 38
that can be introduced, but I’d be very hesitant at this point to interpret our results in the light of small complete type of groups. M.M. I guess the place you did this research was the United States with Americans? G.C. That’s right. We did it at Purdue University, which is a universi- ty in Indiana, a cou- ple of hours south of Chicago, with under- graduate students from that institution. The students ranged in age from eighteen to around twenty-four. I think the median age was twenty. About fifty- fifty men and women. It’s a relatively large international population but of course the stan- dard subject pool was used. It would be inter- esting to look at differ- ent, non-standard sub- ject pools. 39
M.M. What’s the next step now in your research? Do you intend to go further? G.C. Definitely more money can help you successful in creating research because this improve, it certainly supporting cooperation was an initial step. At manages it in the soci- is because sometimes this point we were inter- eties at large. those that needed help ested in understanding could not buy it. That’s what really is the role of Now we are looking at what we call these days money in society from other issues, in particu- a liquidity shortage. So a behavioral perspec- lar leading to the endog- we’re looking into issues tive and it revealed to enous emergence of of this type, whether us that the behavioral the systems, how they liquidity shortages can role is very strong. It emerge, and liquidity or cannot create prob- is even if you can orga- problems. In the exper- lems for society in terms nize society in such a iment, the main reason of performance. way that everybody has why the monetary sys- the maximum pay-off. tem that emerged was Society cannot do it but not a hundred percent 40
IS THERE A PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLANATION FOR THE NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE BY ROB HUTCHINSON WEBSITE WWW.ISPECTRUMMAGAZINE.COM I n the last issue of Ispectrum I have always had an interest in magazine we had a fas- NDEs and despite never experi- cinating interview with Dr Eben encing one myself I am a strong Alexander, a distinguished neuro- believer in them. However, as a surgeon and sceptic of the near psychologist I couldn’t help but death experience (NDE). He never delve into the past research and foresaw that, despite writing a see if there was anything verging paper discrediting people’s experi- on a purely psychological explana- ence of NDEs, he would one day tion for the NDE. Many scientists become a believer. After bacteria point to neurobiological evidence, attacked his brain and put him in such as a lack of oxygen in the a coma for seven days he had his brain as the reason for NDEs, and own NDE in a heavenly realm, and other corroborating evidence also he awoke from that coma a changed points to neurobiological factors. man, a believer. In fact, oxygen starvation causing 41
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