In the future, there will not be a vast
gulf between those who pursue knowledge of themselves through what we
now call spiritual or mystical means and those
who use only science. These 'world views'
are converging. Elsewhere, I have described the use of Praxis as
comparable to conducting experiments in the laboratory of your self,
and only those results that are provable and repeatable
need be retained. ("Proceed directly to
the truth"). After a life time of Praxis use and development, it
was gratifying to come across an internationally respected
and successful scientist and academic, Antonio Damasio, whose findings
in the "outside" world of science so strongly echo
the "inside" findings of Praxis. Damasio's books are
academic by style so not always so easy to read but worth
the effort. Below, there are a few
quotes, a diagram, a YouTube movie of one of his
presentations and a link to Damasio's site, the Brain
and Creativity Institute. That is described as follows
: "The Brain and Creativity Institute was founded
by Antonio Damasio and Hanna Damasio in 2006. Since ancient times,
thinkers and scientists have sought to explain how we perceive,
interpret, and shape our existence. However, until very recently,
researchers interested in these questions have had to rely
entirely on conjecture or indirect evidence. Now, recent
technological advances in brain imaging and fresh insights into
the functioning of the human brain at the level of systems, cells
and molecules, provide extraordinary new opportunities for
uncovering the neurological underpinnings for a large array of
mental functions – from emotion and decision-making to innovation
and creativity".
“Looking for Spinoza” by Antonio Damasio
". . .feelings depend not just on
the presence of a body and a brain capable of body representations,
they also depend on the prior existence of the machinery of life
regulation . . . . . Feeling is not a passive
process".
“The Feeling of What Happens” by Antonio
Damasio
" The
apparent self emerges as a feeling of a feeling . . . .
.Well targeted and well deployed emotion seems to be a support
system without which the edifice of reason cannot operate
properly"
