Comments on: The Inexplicable Monks: On Second Thought http://www.danielgoleman.info/blog/2008/01/12/the-inexplicable-monks-on-second-thought/ Sat, 05 Jul 2008 18:04:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.2 By: Fred Ranaudo http://www.danielgoleman.info/blog/2008/01/12/the-inexplicable-monks-on-second-thought/#comment-34536 Fred Ranaudo Thu, 21 Feb 2008 14:39:57 +0000 http://www.danielgoleman.info/blog/2008/01/12/the-inexplicable-monks-on-second-thought/#comment-34536 I met David Morehouse at an Omega workshop several years ago and was very intrigued and excited by his work with remote viewing. My take in a nutshell is that he is offering a program whereby individuals learn to work with the universe as a holographic entity where all information,action, energy that ever was or will be is available for perusal (sounds familiar). His goal is to train enough remote viewers to attain a critical mass of consciousness that will trigger a paradigm shift in the rest of humanity, thus elevating all human consciousness. His work is worth some serious consideration in the context of operational analysis of meditation, its form and its function. Its amazing how many roads there are, and that in the end they all do lead to Rome (so to speak). I met David Morehouse at an Omega workshop several years ago and was very intrigued and excited by his work with remote viewing. My take in a nutshell is that he is offering a program whereby individuals learn to work with the universe as a holographic entity where all information,action, energy that ever was or will be is available for perusal (sounds familiar). His goal is to train enough remote viewers to attain a critical mass of consciousness that will trigger a paradigm shift in the rest of humanity, thus elevating all human consciousness. His work is worth some serious consideration in the context of operational analysis of meditation, its form and its function. Its amazing how many roads there are, and that in the end they all do lead to Rome (so to speak).

]]> By: Donald Hoover http://www.danielgoleman.info/blog/2008/01/12/the-inexplicable-monks-on-second-thought/#comment-31825 Donald Hoover Sat, 09 Feb 2008 08:15:32 +0000 http://www.danielgoleman.info/blog/2008/01/12/the-inexplicable-monks-on-second-thought/#comment-31825 We are 'wired' for God. How hard can the conclusion be? djay www.werone.us We are ‘wired’ for God. How hard can the conclusion be?

djay

http://www.werone.us

]]> By: John Yeo http://www.danielgoleman.info/blog/2008/01/12/the-inexplicable-monks-on-second-thought/#comment-31381 John Yeo Thu, 07 Feb 2008 02:42:42 +0000 http://www.danielgoleman.info/blog/2008/01/12/the-inexplicable-monks-on-second-thought/#comment-31381 I am a training consultant intending to introduce a discussion on Emotional Intelligence in one of our courses on project management. I noted a reference to “the dose-response rule”, and would like to cite Oliver Sacks’ book <i>Awakenings</i> (1973, 1990, ISBN 0-375-70405-1) on his treatment of patients using the drug L-DOPA. He and his staff tried to find the optimum dosage but found some strange results. My explanation (as for the monks) is that human beings are not mechanistic and whilst we may sometimes treat people that way we are now and then brought down to earth and have to face reality. We face this even more in training. The person who does a five-day course should but does not necessarily know more or perform better than the person who does a 2-day course. And the person who has managed ten projects may not manage them any better than the person who has managed two. I am a training consultant intending to introduce a discussion on Emotional Intelligence in one of our courses on project management. I noted a reference to “the dose-response rule”, and would like to cite Oliver Sacks’ book Awakenings (1973, 1990, ISBN 0-375-70405-1) on his treatment of patients using the drug L-DOPA. He and his staff tried to find the optimum dosage but found some strange results. My explanation (as for the monks) is that human beings are not mechanistic and whilst we may sometimes treat people that way we are now and then brought down to earth and have to face reality. We face this even more in training. The person who does a five-day course should but does not necessarily know more or perform better than the person who does a 2-day course. And the person who has managed ten projects may not manage them any better than the person who has managed two.

]]> By: Mary http://www.danielgoleman.info/blog/2008/01/12/the-inexplicable-monks-on-second-thought/#comment-28683 Mary Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:02:42 +0000 http://www.danielgoleman.info/blog/2008/01/12/the-inexplicable-monks-on-second-thought/#comment-28683 I would like to tell you about a website we have started to spread compassion. It is called the Hidden Angel Network (ha.net) and is a site where people can give thanks to others for acts of kindness. Thought you would be interested, let me know if you would like to participate in any way :) - Mary http://ha.net I would like to tell you about a website we have started to spread compassion. It is called the Hidden Angel Network (ha.net) and is a site where people can give thanks to others for acts of kindness.

Thought you would be interested, let me know if you would like to participate in any way :)

- Mary
http://ha.net

]]> By: Dorianne Cotter-Lockard http://www.danielgoleman.info/blog/2008/01/12/the-inexplicable-monks-on-second-thought/#comment-28020 Dorianne Cotter-Lockard Sun, 20 Jan 2008 23:21:04 +0000 http://www.danielgoleman.info/blog/2008/01/12/the-inexplicable-monks-on-second-thought/#comment-28020 I am glad that the neuroscience community is conducting this type of research on the topic of higher levels of consciousness as achieved through meditation. It doesn't surprise me that lifetime "olympic level" meditators would show these high levels of gamma activity. I am a new doctoral student in Human and Organizational Development and am about to conduct some research for a paper on the experience of deep meditators who reach these higher levels of consciousness. My questions on this topic were spurred by reading Satprem's book, "Aurobindo - The Adventures of Consciousness," in which he discusses different levels of consciousness. It was Aurobindo's goal to reach a "supramental" level in which humans can consciously evolve our species - in other words, actually influence our physical structure. He theorized that in the process of moving more people to higher levels of consciousness, we could move the world in general to a more evolved existence (maybe even eliminate war and famine...). I wonder if there's a "tipping point" what would it be? It seems that your monks have arrived at a level of consciousness close to this supramental level. However, if it takes a certain number of people to reach this level in order to change the evolution of our species, and if it takes Olympian effort to get there, would it ever happen? I'm wondering if we could raise the general level of consciousness to one or two levels above the current levels, would we impact our species? How many people would need to meditate and how many hours per day (I only meditate 30 minutes per day....) BTW, I found your blog because there's an ongoing dialog on my blog about EI. I referenced your work and your research institute, but you may want to post and give further explanation. One of my European readers questions whether EI can be measured in a similar way to IQ. The post is titled "Spirituality in Business" at www.phdconfidential.wordpress.com I am glad that the neuroscience community is conducting this type of research on the topic of higher levels of consciousness as achieved through meditation. It doesn’t surprise me that lifetime “olympic level” meditators would show these high levels of gamma activity. I am a new doctoral student in Human and Organizational Development and am about to conduct some research for a paper on the experience of deep meditators who reach these higher levels of consciousness.

My questions on this topic were spurred by reading Satprem’s book, “Aurobindo - The Adventures of Consciousness,” in which he discusses different levels of consciousness. It was Aurobindo’s goal to reach a “supramental” level in which humans can consciously evolve our species - in other words, actually influence our physical structure. He theorized that in the process of moving more people to higher levels of consciousness, we could move the world in general to a more evolved existence (maybe even eliminate war and famine…). I wonder if there’s a “tipping point” what would it be?

It seems that your monks have arrived at a level of consciousness close to this supramental level. However, if it takes a certain number of people to reach this level in order to change the evolution of our species, and if it takes Olympian effort to get there, would it ever happen? I’m wondering if we could raise the general level of consciousness to one or two levels above the current levels, would we impact our species? How many people would need to meditate and how many hours per day (I only meditate 30 minutes per day….)

BTW, I found your blog because there’s an ongoing dialog on my blog about EI. I referenced your work and your research institute, but you may want to post and give further explanation. One of my European readers questions whether EI can be measured in a similar way to IQ. The post is titled “Spirituality in Business” at http://www.phdconfidential.wordpress.com

]]> By: Mark McGuinness http://www.danielgoleman.info/blog/2008/01/12/the-inexplicable-monks-on-second-thought/#comment-27553 Mark McGuinness Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:13:22 +0000 http://www.danielgoleman.info/blog/2008/01/12/the-inexplicable-monks-on-second-thought/#comment-27553 Fascinating posts, thank you. Particularly interesting to see such dramatic results coming from meditation on compassion. Are you aware of any studies comparing meditation on compassion with other forms of meditation (e.g. concentration)? Fascinating posts, thank you. Particularly interesting to see such dramatic results coming from meditation on compassion. Are you aware of any studies comparing meditation on compassion with other forms of meditation (e.g. concentration)?

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