mindpotion Blog
Friday, 23 March 2012
The Denbigh Ghost and UFO Sightings
Mood:  bright
Topic: Paranormal

It seems the ancient, rural village of Denbigh Town, in North Wales, UK, is a hotspot for paranormal activity, boasting both UFO and ghost sightings hovering over the countryside and lurking among the ruins. Can it be true?

In the YouTube video below, an unidentified resident of the town has photographed several instances of both apparitions haunting ancient ruins and unidentified flying objects floating in the sky.

Full Story from news.gather.com


Posted by Neil Bartlett DHyp M.A.E.P.H at 01:01 MEST
Updated: Friday, 23 March 2012 02:12 MEST
Thursday, 22 March 2012
A dying boys special bond with a rescue dog
Mood:  chatty
Topic: Inspirational


Tennessee dad had a gut feeling that he could train the shepherd to help his son, 4

As nearly anyone who has adopted a dog or cat from a shelter can attest, there’s something special about a rescued pet; it’s as if the animal senses he’s been given a second chance at life. That’s certainly the case with Juno, a Belgian Malinois who was rescued from a shelter just days before she was to be euthanized. But since coming to live with her family in Alcoa, Tenn., Juno has taken on the role of rescuer to four-year-old Lucas Hembree.

Lucas suffers from Sanfilippo syndrome, an inherited, metabolic disease caused by the absence or malfunctioning of an enzyme needed to break down long sugar molecules. As the disease progresses, children lose the ability to speak, walk and eat. The disease also causes severe neurological damage that leads to aggressive behavior, hyperactivity and seizures.

“The most catastrophic thing parents hear when they learn their child has this disease is that there’s no cure or treatment available,” says Lucas’ father, Chester.

Unless that changes, Lucas isn’t expected to live past the age of 15 and may be in a vegetative state by the time he is eight. Realizing that every moment is extra precious, Chester and his wife, Jennifer, want their son to experience as much as he can while he still has the capacity to enjoy it.
 
Prayer and persistence

So when the disease started to take a toll on Lucas’ joints, Chester looked into getting a service dog to keep Lucas steady when he walked. “I was told that a service dog would cost at least $15,000, and that Lucas wasn’t a good candidate because of his deteriorating abilities and his behavior,” Chester says. “I refused to accept this answer.”

A combination of prayer and persistence led Chester to Juno. “I came across a posting about her on a rescue group’s website,” he says. “I had the feeling in my gut that I had to go see this dog.”

The whole family made the two-hour trip to meet Juno, who was being held at an east Tennessee shelter. “She was emaciated, and was days away from being euthanized,” Chester says. “She had been surrendered to the shelter because her previous owners didn’t understand the Belgian Malinois.”

Fortunately, Chester did. He’d gotten to know and love the breed while working as a law enforcement officer years earlier.

“I used to help with the training of police K-9s, and our dogs were Belgian Malinoises,” he says. “I loved their desire to work and their ‘never quit’ attitude.”  In addition to being a popular choice for police dogs, the breed is often used in combat. In fact, it’s believed that the dog that helped Navy SEALs take down Osama bin Laden was a Belgian Malinois.

Showered with love and affection

But while the breed has proven its prowess on patrol and in combat, Chester needed to be sure Juno would be a suitable service dog for his little boy. “I put her on a loose leash and she walked with me and never pulled,” Chester says. “Next came the Lucas test. They took to each other immediately, like kindred spirits.”

The Hembrees brought Juno home and showered her with love and affection.

“I wanted to make sure she had plenty of time to adjust to the family before I started the formal training,” Chester says. Yet, from the beginning there seemed to be something instinctive about their relationship. One day, Chester noticed Juno circling Lucas while he was in his wheelchair. “She was whining and nudging him with her nose,” Chester says. “I checked his oxygen levels and they were very low.” After giving him oxygen, Lucas returned to normal and Juno greeted him with licks and affection.

“That’s when I knew she had the ability to pick up on his neurological changes,” Chester says. “Now she alerts us when Lucas is about to have a seizure or if his oxygen levels drop really low. She has saved him several times."

Juno has become a literal shoulder for Lucas to lean on when walking, and a calming influence when he’s agitated. And while Chester makes sure that Juno gets time off, he says that it’s hard to get Juno to leave Lucas’ side. “You don’t see one without the other close by,” he says. “It really feels like it was meant to be.”
 To learn more about Lucas you can go to the Facebook page that his dad writes from Lucas' perspective.

Article Source - dailygood.org


Posted by Neil Bartlett DHyp M.A.E.P.H at 01:01 MEST
Updated: Thursday, 22 March 2012 02:42 MEST
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Choose a healthy lifestyle to help with menopause symptoms
Mood:  happy
Topic: Alternative Health


It's understandable that a woman would like to avoid discomfort while going through menopause. After all, what woman likes having hot flashes or experiencing vaginal dryness? The problem, though, is that taking hormones is not the answer. Natural News has covered the multiple dangers of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), warning women that HRT can possibly cause asthma, ovarian and breast cancer, and other unwanted ailments. Avoiding a hot flash is not worth the trade for breast cancer.

So what can women do to ease the symptoms of menopause while staying safe? There are a few natural remedies that won't leave women worse off than when they started.

Regular exercise

According to Patient UK, regular exercise can be a good way to manage the symptoms of menopause. The site recommends aerobic activities that involve sustained effort, like swimming. Weight-bearing exercise can also be beneficial and could help combat osteoporosis later in life as well because this kind of exercise helps build bone. Yoga can be helpful because of its relaxing effect on the body.

Also, because regular exercise can help with general overall physical and mental health, this alone might be all a woman needs to do to feel better during the change.

Healthy eating habits

Like exercise, healthy eating habits are something that will benefit a woman regardless of what stage of life she's in. However, it's best to avoid some of those items that often wind up on "bad" food lists. Such foods to avoid would include foods high in sodium, as well as food and beverages with caffeine, sugar and alcohol. It also might help to cut out spicy and processed foods.

Holistic Online recommends that menopausal women focus on consuming foods that are high in fiber and low in fat because those foods will help the body adjust to its new state more quickly. Obviously, one of the best ways to get lots of fiber while decreasing the fat in one's diet is to eat more plant-based foods, such as leafy green vegetables, beans, sea vegetables, and fruits and vegetables high in antioxidants.

Herbal remedies

Many women would prefer an herbal remedy to a pill. Fortunately, there are a variety to choose from that offer different benefits. For example, some herbs might be helpful because, by putting relatively low doses of plant hormones in the body, they can counteract some of the symptoms menopause can cause. Primrose oil is one such herbal remedy. Studies have suggested that black cohosh might also be effective at minimizing hot flashes. Other remedies include herbs like ginseng and gingko biloba.

No one says women should have to suffer through menopause, but why should a woman suffer from damage caused by treating those symptoms with HRT? A healthy lifestyle, including eating nutritious foods and exercising, supplemented with herbal remedies, might be the safest way to combat menopause.

Article Source - naturalnews.com


Posted by Neil Bartlett DHyp M.A.E.P.H at 01:01 MEST
Updated: Wednesday, 21 March 2012 02:06 MEST
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
The Ghost of Herne Bay Pier
Mood:  bright
Topic: Paranormal

Ghost stories abound around the old Herne Bay Pier near Kent, England, ever since a violent storm isolated the pier head out at sea in 1979. Since then, many reports of a ghostly figure shuffling back and forth have chilled the spine. Now, a new video offers up some real proof to back up the tale.

Full Story from news.gather.com

 


Posted by Neil Bartlett DHyp M.A.E.P.H at 01:01 MEST
Updated: Tuesday, 20 March 2012 03:54 MEST
Monday, 19 March 2012
Top Five Regrets of the Dying
Mood:  not sure
Topic: Death


by Bronnie Ware

For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.

People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learnt never to underestimate someone's capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.

When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.

It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.

2. I wish I didn't work so hard.

This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.

By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.

We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.

It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.

When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.

Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.

Source - dailygood.org


Posted by Neil Bartlett DHyp M.A.E.P.H at 01:01 MEST
Updated: Monday, 19 March 2012 03:23 MEST
Sunday, 18 March 2012
Ambitious people earn more money, but they die younger
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Ambition


Parents who teach their children  to value career ambitions over spending time with friends could be setting them up for an early grave, a study has revealed.

It found that go-getters who attend the best universities and secure high-powered jobs suffer poorer health and die younger than those with more modest aspirations.

Over 70 years, the U.S. study tracked 717 high-achievers who attended universities, such as Oxford, Harvard and Yale, as well as those without university degrees, to the end of their lives.

Full Story from dailymail.co.uk


Posted by Neil Bartlett DHyp M.A.E.P.H at 01:01 MEST
Updated: Sunday, 18 March 2012 11:58 MEST
Saturday, 17 March 2012
Can Hypnosis Really Help?
Mood:  bright
Topic: Hypnosis & Psychology


Bring up the word "hypnosis", in any conversation and ask people what picture comes to mind. I'm fairly certain they'd immediately summon a rather cliched idea of the hypnotist swinging a pocket watch at a willing victim, telling the subject that they are "getting sleepy".

What transpires after that depends on which film you watched that specific incident in. However as sure as I'm writing this, the hypnotic session would end up with the hypnotist instructing the subject that he will count to three, snap his fingers then the patient would wake up from the trance, often recalling nothing of what happened during the whole incident.

This is what Hollywood hypnotism is, as depicted on the silver screen. Regardless of whether the film turns out to be a massive success or perhaps a a great big flop, it has accomplished one thing: It's affected countless people that hypnotherapy can have power over your mind. Then the one hypnotized turns into a slave of the hypnotist and does everything he is instructed only to recall nothing of it after.

In reality, you are rather totally aware of what you are doing whilst in hypnosis. The fact is that you'll never be forced to do anything that you would not ordinarily or willfully do.

During hypnotherapy sessions for healing, whether or not this is you using self hypnosis or it's being done to you by another person, the conscious mind is bypassed to access the subconscious mind. Nevertheless, yet again, you are still utterly aware of your surroundings.

Your subconscious mind processes everything that you hear, see and feel. Every now and then we do not always perceive things with our conscious mind, but it is still being recorded by our subconscious mind.

Hypnosis supports you to correspond directly with your subconscious to transform beliefs or thoughts that will assist you to accomplish a specified objective or goal. In actuality, hypnotherapy assists you override your conscious mind's rigid notions in relation to your life and reset it to process only your desired behavior. It is because your subconscious is considerably more open to solutions than your conscious mind.

If you find that you're frequently feeling distressed and hopeless regarding how things are coming along in life, hypnotherapy can help to change your thinking patterns to ensure that you're able to look positively at life and possess hope for the future.

Hypnosis has also been successful to cause a smoker to start to abhor the smell and taste of cigarettes. In fact, the identical technique applies to those addicted to sweets or candies, along with people who bite their nails.

Another use for hypnosis is to alleviate those struggling with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD, by helping them acquire a sense of calm and peace when they begin to feel frazzled or out of control.

There are times when fear grips someone so tightly that they're prevented from living their lives to the fullest. A number of examples are: Fear of flying, fear of heights as well as fear of going out in public. Every one of these fears restrict the activities of individuals who have them.

Hypnosis or hypnotherapy can alleviate or remove those irrational anxieties outright by replacing them with feelings that make more sense so that you simply don't have to pass on a normal life. Worry, hopelessness and panic attacks will no longer be a problem since your mind can be reset to react about those fears you had before.

Hypnotherapy affords you a superior possibility at success as it enables you to coach your mind to maintain only thoughts and beliefs which will ensure success.

Author Resource:-  Rachel Ford is a Clinical Hypnotherapist who helps people create powerful & permanent changes in their lives. Visit http://www.yourmindzone.com today and download your free hypnosis session.


Posted by Neil Bartlett DHyp M.A.E.P.H at 01:01 MEST
Updated: Saturday, 17 March 2012 08:09 MEST
Friday, 16 March 2012
How to Deal With Your Mind
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Hypnosis & Psychology


The mind is a truly wonderful body part. It receives and generates data all day and night long. It controls processes and functions within the body automatically without conscious thought. It keeps the heart pumping and the lungs functioning. It stores information, retrieves information and continually mixes information around (often without mixing it up!) leading to creativity and solutions to problems.

All of these tasks are just some of the things the brain is capable of. If the brain were a corporation, it would take hundreds of people to do all of the things that just one brain is capable of. It is magnificent! With a control centre like the human brain, it is conceivable that the human race is capable of equal greatness, right? That would stand to reason, wouldn't it? Perhaps this would be a true statement if the brain were fuelled perfectly and given only pure and true information. Unfortunately, we do not get perfect food and we do not get perfect information and the mind also almost seems to have a life of its own.

With a thought generated by a brain, many conveniences have been created. So many creations started with the wisp of a thought swirling around in someone's brain. Thoughts pop seemingly randomly into our heads all day and night long. Brains are influenced by all the information received. Our thoughts are influenced by what we see - with our external eyes and with our mind's eye, what we hear, what we feel both emotionally and physically also what we feel physically both internally and externally. There is a vast quantity of information coming in from a vast variety of sources and the brain has to make sense of it all and form rational, coherent thoughts and conclusions. Even before we are born the brain starts receiving information. It struggles to organize and make sense of it all.

Bombarded with information all day and night, every day, day after day after day. It's a wonder that the brain keeps receiving information, keeps regulating all the unconscious and necessary bodily functions as well as it does. Even with failing nutrition and harmful substances imposed on it, it functions amazingly well, all day and night, every day, day after day after day. This, of itself, should be enough for people to give kudos and thanks to this amazing body part. It should be enough to spur us to take care of this amazing body part given all the work and how hard it works to manage and regulate functions, feelings physical and emotional, internally and externally, and yet we take it for granted. We largely ignore it until there seems to be something 'wrong' with it. Until it is keeping us up at night, until it seems to control our every sleeping and waking moment, running like a wild horse with the bit in its teeth or incessantly chattering like a monkey in overdrive and then we feel hopeless and helpless to the little tyrant inside our skulls.

We get to this point of despair and we think - yes, we think still with that thing that seems to have turned into the enemy - what can I do? Why is one of my best body parts betraying me. It should be obvious but maybe it isn't at first. The brain needs a break. The brain needs discipline and the brain, as funny as it sounds, needs to know who is the boss of it. It may appear that the brain is the boss of everything but really, there is a higher awareness, a higher consciousness just right above the brain. This consciousness often sits and watches all that is going on. It doesn't usually say too much, it mainly observes but it is there to give the brain some well deserved R&R, the catch is, you have to ask it to step in and help you out.

Wow, this is great, right? Your brain is running around in circles, it is tired, it is stressed out, it is in over drive, it is a wild and undisciplined horse or monkey, maybe both, AND there is a built in solution. Just ask the 'overseer' to cover. Easy! You'll do it right now, won't you? So you do.

"Please mighty overseer, help me rest my brain and deal with this stress. Please make the crazy, frenetic thoughts stop whirling around in my head. Please give me a break."

That ought to do it. You wait. Nothing is happening. You wait. Still nothing. You give it about 10 more seconds because that's all you can stand really. Then your brain starts screaming again. "Stupid overseer, I knew it wouldn't work, it's not really there, it doesn't really do anything at all. Mother was right if you want anything done you've got to do it yourself." And you're back on the vicious cycle. The brain is back in its tyrannical role, barking out orders, sizing up situations, taking care of business.

You're disappointed. You were really looking forward to feeling less stressed. You really thought that it could work. You must have been wrong, the overseer does not exist. What other explanation could there be?

Ask yourself another question. How much of a chance did you give the overseer? Half a minute? You're brain has been over worked for years and you expected the overseer to fix all of that in 30 seconds? Really??

Try again. Find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed for at least 20 minutes. Make yourself comfortable. Make sure you will be warm - bring a blanket, warm socks or a sweater. Make sure you will feel safe - lock a door if you need to. Get into position, seated or laying down. Ask again.

"Okay, overseer, I need a break, take over!" Now wait, but really wait. Let your mind go blank. A thought will come, push it back where it came from. Wait some more. Another thought will come. Bat it away. Thoughts will keep trying to push themselves to the front of your consciousness - DON'T LET THEM. You may need to be tenacious in your effort to keep the thoughts away. Soon you will notice the overseer suggests that you take a longer breath in and let the breath out slowly. It won't do it with a recognizable thought. Your lungs will respond. You will notice your heart rate is a little slower, again, that's the overseer. You will also notice - eventually - that your brain DOES relax and let go. This is where you will find the rest that it needs.

Spend the whole 20 minutes taking the break. Even if the thoughts never completely disappear. Stay with it. As often as a thought comes you send it away. With practice, not putting expectations or goals on the amount of time it takes to "get results", the thoughts will not try to come any more. You will rest.

To begin, visualize, forming only pictures in your mind, a vast nothingness. Let yourself float there in complete stillness not thinking, not worrying, not talking in your head to yourself, not planning, not scheming. At first it may help to draw pictures in your head. You are floating on a cloud. There is fog all round. Picture the fog, see it in your mind. Your body becomes part of the fog. The fog is everything, contains everything. The fog is nothing and emptiness. Everything and nothing. You are the fog. You are everywhere, everything and everyone. You expand without limit. You melt into nothingness.

At first it will be challenging to push the thoughts away but with practice you will achieve this more easily. If possible, set aside 20 minutes at the same time each week to start. As you practice week by week you may add more sessions. Like any exercise, as a general rule, the more you get the more it benefits you. However also, as with any new activity, the first few attempts can be clumsy and awkward maybe even discouraging. Don't be discouraged. It doesn't matter if you don't 'ace it' the first or second or third time you try. You will get another chance the next time and the time after that and the time after that. Be easy on yourself. Give yourself as many chances as it takes. Forgive yourself if it seems to be going 'wrong.' Don't judge it and when you're done with it, forget it. Nobody is keeping score. Take the Nike slogan to heart and "Just DO it!"

What You Will Need:

- 20 minutes, undisturbed

- A 'place' that is comfortable and (what you consider to be) safe and private

- Patience

- Kindness/forgiveness/love

Please email/contact me (seabelle7@gmail.com) if you have any questions regarding quieting the mind. Please visit my website - http://www.yogazoebella.ca - for more information on meditation and yoga.

Thank you. May you find peace and fulfillment.

Coleen Schnurr


Posted by Neil Bartlett DHyp M.A.E.P.H at 01:01 MEST
Updated: Friday, 16 March 2012 02:23 MEST
Thursday, 15 March 2012
How NASAs Curiosity probe will land on Mars
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Space


As landings go, this will be one of the trickiest ever attempted.

On August 6 Nasa’s Curiosity rover, packed inside the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft, will hurtle towards the Martian surface at around 13,200mph – and has just over six minutes to slow down and make a soft landing.

What’s more, the craft has to be at just the right angle for the descent to be a success – likened by one Nasa scientist to firing a golf ball from Los Angeles to land in a hole at St Andrew’s in Scotland.

Full Story from dailymail.co.uk


Posted by Neil Bartlett DHyp M.A.E.P.H at 01:01 MEST
Updated: Thursday, 15 March 2012 10:31 MEST
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
Profit vs Principle, The Neurobiology of Integrity
Mood:  chatty
Topic: Hypnosis & Psychology


Let your better self rest assured: Dearly held values truly are sacred, and not merely cost-benefit analyses masquerading as nobel intent, concludes a new study on the neurobiology of moral decision-making. Such values are conceived differently, and occur in very different parts of the brain, than utilitarian decisions.

“Why do people do what they do?” said neuroscientist Greg Berns of Emory University. “Asked if they’d kill an innocent human being, most people would say no, but there can be two very different ways of coming to that answer. You could say it would hurt their family, that it would be bad because of the consequences. Or you could take the Ten Commandments view: You just don’t do it. It’s not even a question of going beyond.”

In a study published Jan. 23 in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Berns and colleagues posed a series of value-based statements to 27 women and 16 men while using an fMRI machine to map their mental activity (Left: Blood flows to different parts of the brain in utilitarian (green) and matter-of-principle (yellow) decisions. Image: Berns et al./Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.) The statements were not necessarily religious, but intended to cover a spectrum of values ranging from frivolous (“You enjoy all colors of M&Ms”) to ostensibly inviolate (“You think it is okay to sell a child”).

After answering, test participants were asked if they’d sign a document stating the opposite of their belief in exchange for a chance at winning up to $100 in cash. If so, they could keep both the money and the document; only their consciences would know.

According to Berns, this methodology was key. The conflict between utilitarian and duty-based moral motivations is a classic philosophical theme, with historical roots in the formulations of Jeremy Bentham and Immanuel Kant, and other researchers have studied it — but none, said Berns, had combined both brain imaging and a situation where moral compromise was realistically possible.

“Hypothetical vignettes are presented to people, and they’re asked, ‘How did you arrive at a decision?’ But it’s impossible to really know in a laboratory setting,” said Berns. “Signing your name to something for a price is meaningful. It’s getting into integrity. Even at $100, most all our test subjects put some things into categories they were willing to take money for, and others they wouldn’t.”

When test subjects agreed to sell out, their brains displayed common signatures of activity in regions previously linked to calculating utility. When they refused, activity was concentrated in other parts of their brains: the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, which is known to be involved in processing and understanding abstract rules, and the right temporoparietal junction, which has been implicated in moral judgement.

'If it's a sacred value to you, then you can't even conceive of it in a cost-benefit framework.'

In short, when people didn’t sell out their principles, it wasn’t because the price wasn’t right. It just seemed wrong. “There’s one bucket of things that are utilitarian, and another bucket of categorical things,” Berns said. “If it’s a sacred value to you, then you can’t even conceive of it in a cost-benefit framework.”

According to Berns, the implications could help people better understand the motivations of others. He’s now studying how moral equations change according to the social popularity of values, and what happens in the brain when deep-seated principles are confronted with reasoned arguments. “Can I change your mind? Lessen your conviction? Strengthen it? And how does this happen? Is this appealing to rule-based networks, or to systems of reward and loss?” Berns wondered.

Whether sacred principles offer utilitarian benefits over long periods of time — many years, perhaps many generations, and at population-wide as well as individual scales — is beyond the current study design, but Berns suspects that one of their benefits is simplicity.

“My hypothesis about the Ten Commandments is that they exist because they’re too hard to think about on a cost-benefit basis,” he said. “It’s far easier to have a rule saying, ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery.’ It simplifies decisionmaking.”

Article Source - dailygood.org


Posted by Neil Bartlett DHyp M.A.E.P.H at 01:01 MEST
Updated: Wednesday, 14 March 2012 02:34 MEST

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