Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) is arguably the first major text in the history of Western cognitive science: not because Burton is the first to theorize the nature of cognition or engage in cognitive modeling, as is made plainly evident by the many quasi-plagiarisms and numerous references to other thinkers which appear in Burton's text, but because of the thematic underpinnings and encyclopedic nature of Burton's vision. Burton's theories are based upon no contemporaneously new medical evidence about the anatomical workings of the human body or mind. As Floyd Dell has pointed out, "early 17th-century medicine, at the time Burton wrote, was humbly relying upon the authority of the great Greek and Arabian physicians, Galen, Hippocrates, Avicenna, etc.; there was no new scientific knowledge to serve as the basis of any large and illuminating generalizations upon the subject of morbid psychology." In the absence of such information, Burton focused his gaze upon the widest scope of previous thinkers about cognition available to him. There is hardly a previous thinker or school of thought on humanity which is not referenced in Burton's text, and Burton's own references show that he was familiar with nearly all the medical, astrological, and magical books then extant. Burton assimilated these previous thinkers, often playing them off of each other, and produced a model of human consciousness which, while anatomically and logically flawed in almost every respect, canonized a set of conceptual divisions of the human psyche and body which continue to the present day to determine how we examine consciousness and cognition. As its title suggests, the bulk of Burton's text is devoted to cataloguing the many variants, manifestations, and causes of the mental "disease" Melancholy; but before Burton begins his dissection of the anatomy of melancholy, he first embarks upon a more general discussion of overall cognitive functioning, believing it "not impertinent to make a brief digression of the anatomy of the body and faculties of the soul, for better understanding of that which is to follow." This digression, which appears in Partition I, Section I, Members 1 and 2 of the text, provides a detailed analysis of human cognitive processes and of their physiological (and sometimes neurological, in Burton's own terminology,) basis.The Model: Burton's model of human cognition is a mix of philosophizing about the qualitative nature of consciousness and attempts to identify the physiological mechanisms responsible for carrying out the various cognitive processes of which humans are capable. At the heart of Burton's cognitive model is a conception of the mind and body as a total organism. While he does at times gesture towards an historically familiar mind/body dualism, the primary focus of his anatomy is a discussion of the physiology of thought. (see the Discussion below for a more detailed discussion of Burton's dualism.) As such, he begins his anatomy of the mind with an anatomy of the body. Relying on the systems of Laurentius and Hippocrates, Burton asserts that everything that is contained within the human body is composed of either a Spirit or a Humour. In his definition of Spirits, however, he sets the stage for a type of theorizing about the nature of thought and consciousness in which the Greeks themselves did not engage. According to Burton, "Spirit is a most subtle vapour, which is expressed from the blood [but is not actually blood itself, which is a Humour] and the instrument of the soul, to perform all his actions; a common tie or medium betwixt the body and the soul" (129). This belief is, in itself, not radical; but Burton goes on to explain exactly where in the body Spirits are produced, thereby anchoring the soul in the body in a way which is historically unique. According to Burton there are three types of Spirits--Natural, Vital, and Animal--originating in the liver, heart, and brain respectively. The liver produces the Natural which are carried through the body by veins; the heart converts the Natural spirits into Vital spirits and transports these through the body via the arteries; and the brain converts the Vital spirits into Animal spirits and diffuses them "by the nerves, to the subordinate members, giv[ing] sense and motion to them all." The nerves themselves are "membranes without, and full of marrow within; they proceed from the brain, and carry the animal spirits for sense and motion" (129). Burton goes on to distinguish between two types of nerves: Soft and Hard. Soft nerves, he claims, serve the seven senses, while the harder nerves "serve for the motion of the inner parts proceeding from the marrow in the back" (130). After a not so brief description of the exact functioning of the harder nerves and of all the internal organs which they control, Burton begins to lay out the beginnings of a rudimentary model of human cognition which is based in physiology. According to Burton, "in the upper region serving the animal faculties [the head], the chief organ is the brain, which is a soft, marowish, and white substance, engendered of the purest part of seed and spirits, included by many skins" (134), divided into several parts, each with a unique function. The "fore part hath many concavities distinguished by certain ventricles, which are the receptacles of the spirits, brought hither by the arteries from the heart, and are there refined to a more heavenly nature, to perform the actions of the soul. Of these ventricles there be three -right, left, and middle. The right and left answer to their site, and beget animal spirits; if they be any way hurt, sense and motion ceaseth. These ventricles, moreover, are held to be the seat of the common sense. The middle ventricle is a common concourse and cavity of them both and hath two passages, the one to receive pituita, and the other extends itself to the fourth creek: in this they place imagination and cogitation ...The fourth creek behind the head is common to the cerebel or little brain, and marrow of the backbone, the last, and most solid of all the rest, which receives the animal spirits from the other ventricles, and conveys them to the marrow in the back, and is the place where they say the memory is seated" (135). As for the soul itself, which is 'infused' into the fore part of the brain, Burton claims that "We can understand all things by her, but what she is we cannot apprehend" (135); however, this does not prevent from theorizing both about its nature and about the details of how it performs its work. According to Burton, the soul is divided into three principle faculties: 'vegetal', 'sensitive' and 'rational'. The vegetal soul is "a substancial act of an organical body, by which it is nourished, augmented, and begets another like unto itself' (135). It does not include the conscious impulses to engage in these activities, but rather the subconscious impulses which, for example, tell the stomach to digest. The sensible soul is "an act of an organical body, by which it lives, hath sense, appetite, judgment, breath, and motion" (137). This faculty of the soul is seated in the fore part of the brain and is divided into two distinct functions -'apprehending' and 'moving'. "By the apprehensive power we perceive the species of sensible things, present or absent, and retain them as wax doth a seal. By the moving the body is outwardly carried from place to place [conscious movement, as opposed to the unconscious movement brought on by the vegetal soul]" (137), including all of the appetites which stimulate bodily movement. The apprehensive sensible soul is further divided into two parts -outward and inward. The outward senses include the five senses ("to which you may add Scaliger's sixth sense of titillations"); and the inward senses are common sense, phantasy (or imagination), and memory. "Their objects are not only things present, but they perceive the sensible species of things to come, past, absent, such as were before in the sense" (139). Of the three, "common sense is the judge or moderator of the rest, by whom we discern all differences of objects" (139). Phantasy or Imagination, which is located "in the middle cell of the brain" is "an inner sense which doth more fully examine the species perceived by common sense, of things present or absent, and keeps them longer, recalling them to mind again, or making things new of his own" (139). And memory "lays up all the species which the senses have brought in, and records them as a good register, that they may be forth-coming when they are called for by phantasy and reason." The last remaining faculty of the soul is the Rational. The rational soul is a type of oversoul which contains both of the other faculties of the soul -the vegetal and the sensible- and performs its function via mediation between them (similar to Freud's superego). It is "the first substancial act of a natural , human, organical body, by which a man lives, perceives, and understands, freely doing all things, and with election" (144). The Rational Soul is divided into two chief parts, "differing in office only, not in essence" (144): The Understanding and the Will. The Understanding is the most complex of these two components of the Rational Soul. It is "a power of the soul, by which we perceive, know, remember, and judge, as well singulars as universals, having certain innate notices or beginnings of arts, a reflecting action, by which it judgeth of his own doings, and examines them. It is hardwired with innate knowledge of God, good and evil -"Synteresis, or the purer part of the conscience, is an innate bait, and doth signify a conversation of the knowledge of the law of God and Nature, to know good or evil" (145)- but it contains no innate conceptions of objects upon which to exercise this innate knowledge. "The object first moving the Understanding is some sensible thing" (144). "There is nothing in the understanding which was not first in the sense" (145).Discussion: Burton's model sets the stage for mainstream European thinking about cognition in the following three centuries both conceptually and lexically. Anatomy of Melancholy introduces several key terms which remain dominant in models of cognition through the Victorian era. The most significant of these are: 1) Phantasy or Imagination as that function of the psyche which engages in some way in thinking about thoughts; 2) Reflection, a more abstract and less specific ability to think about thoughts made present to the mind via the senses; 3) the Senses, being those physiological mechanisms responsible for bringing thoughts into the mind; and 4) Understanding, the ability to recognize universalities. The definitions of and functions attributed to these various aspects of human thought vary greatly over time; however, as categories of conceptualizing human cognition these terms remain lexically and conceptually dominant for the following three centuries. In addition, also introduces the concept of Active and Passive functions of the human psyche. This division becomes extremely important by the time we get to John Locke in 1690, who borrows much from Burton's model and terminology. The most striking difference between Burton's model of cognition and the canonical ones which follow him is the nature of the mind/body dualism which is inherent in his model. Burton's model does ultimately rely on the influence and presence of a "soul" which can not be explained by way of an anatomy of the brain. As such, he appears to be stuck in a dualist crisis in which the ultimate source of humanity exists outside of the physical. But is never willing to make this concession, and both the language which he uses in developing his model and discussing the attributes of the soul and the overall tone of the Anatomy, suggest that Burton conceived of his dualist dilemma in a manner which was significantly different than most of his contemporaries or followers. He does say of the soul that "we can understand all things by her, but what she is we cannot apprehend" (135); but it would be a mistake to perceive Burton's acknowledged lack of understanding as anything other than a lack of understanding --i.e., as a sign of a belief that it lies outside of the realm of the physical. Burton seems rather to have believed that the soul was rooted in the material, but that man simply lacked the tools or ability to recognize the actual mechanisms of this rooting. Nowhere in the text does he claim that the soul is non-material; but he is everywhere trying to locate it in the in body. Burton's explanations of exactly how the soul springs from material body are ultimately unconvincing in two important ways (other than his obvious biological and medical inaccuracies.) First, in the face of the detailed descriptions which he provides of other bodily and cognitive function, his sparse descriptions of the soul are rhetorically unconvincing. Second, those references to the anatomy of the soul which are present are conceptually vague and unclear. There are, however, two passages in particular which, if read looking backwards through the filter of 18th and 19th century cognitive theories (a practice which is admittedly tenuous) begin to shed some light on Burton's overall conception of an anatomical soul. In the books opening paragraph, Burton defines man as a "Microcosm ...created in God's own Image." Later while discussing the nature of the highest faculties of the soul, he claims that "synteresis, or the purer part of the conscience, is an innate habit" (145). These two statements, combined with various comments which Burton makes throughout the text about the presence of innate tendencies being genetically programmed into the brain and body, suggest that he conceived of the soul as being hardwired into the brain, so to speak. Like the Romantic conception of the individual as both the center and the circumference simultaneously -the whole in the part- Burton seems to be arguing that man is built, at least with regards to brain function, literally in the image of God. Any traces of a mind/body dualism which appear in the work dissolve in the face of this model. The dualist crisis becomes a crisis of understanding rather than one of existence. While this problem is only rudimentally drawn out in Burton's text, his terms of engagement set the stage for the major treatments of dualism which will follow in the next three centuries -particularly the later British Skeptics.
lunes, junio 16, 2008
Robert BURTON, Anatomía de la melancolía
domingo, junio 08, 2008
Nothing to tell
viernes, junio 06, 2008
Solo con 43
martes, mayo 27, 2008
Leann Rimes & Elvis Presley - Amazing Grace
Mola mazo el viejo Neil Diamond
La larga sombra de Andrés Nin
viernes, mayo 02, 2008
jueves, mayo 01, 2008
VERDAD: triatlon padre e hijo
miércoles, abril 02, 2008
House of Jordan
Kravchenko, pionero de la disidencia, reseña de JM Marco
La actitud conservadora, reseña de Antonio Golmar
viernes, marzo 21, 2008
El tio mas listo del mundo.
jueves, marzo 20, 2008
Y Dios observa y Pessoa soy yo
Pero esta teoría no deja de ser "un complejo ruido que hago llegar a los oídos de mi inteligencia, como para que no perciba que, en el fondo, no hay otra cosa que mi timidez y mi incompetencia para la vida".
La cadera me duele y corro en cámara lenta reflexionando mantras patéticos. Mi historia ya ha sido narrada. No me debe preocupar ese area de mi fracaso. Vanidad y dolor de cadera cabalgan juntos. Pessoa como instrumento de Dios. Yo en esos 55 minutos soy su sherpah mas voluntarioso.
miércoles, marzo 12, 2008
Depresión
lunes, marzo 03, 2008
Stefany Hohnjec
La tercera virgen de Fred Vargas
BIOGRAFÍA Fred (Frédérique) Vargas (París, 1957) estudió Historia y Arqueología y ha publicado una serie de novelas policiacas que ha obtenido un gran éxito de crítica y público. Ha recibido, entre otros, el Prix mystère de la critique (1996 y 2000), el Gran premio de novela negra del Festival de Cognac (1999), el Trofeo 813 y el Giallo Grinzane (2006).
La mística salvaje de Michel Hulin. En los antípodas del espíritu
sábado, marzo 01, 2008
Las Redes Humanas, Una Historia Global del Mundo, de JR McNeill y William H McNeill, editorial Crítica.
Me embaulo esto.
La caratula dice:
¿Por qué, cuándo y dónde surgieron las primeras civilizaciones? ¿Cómo se convirtió el Islam en una fuerza unificadora allí donde nació? ¿Qué es lo que permitió a Occidente llevar sus mercancías, y su poder, a todo el mundo desde el siglo XV? ¿Por qué se inventó la agricultura siete veces y la máquina de vapor tan sólo una?A preguntas como éstas, y a otras muchas, responden aquí dos reconocidos historiadores, padre e hijo, que se han propuesto escribir una historia totalmente renovada de las sociedades humanas. Para ello han recurrido a una aproximación original e ingeniosa: explorar las redes que, desde la noche de los tiempos, han ido tejiendo los seres humanos para la interacción y el intercambio, para la cooperación y la competición. Grandes o pequeñas, densas o tenues, estas redes han proporcionado el medio para que dentro de las distintas culturas, sociedades y naciones, y a través de ellas, circularan las ideas, las mercancías, el poder y el dinero. Desde las tenues redes locales que, hace doce mil años, caracterizaron las comunidades agrícolas, pasando por las redes metropolitanas más tupidas que conocieron Sumer, Atenas o Tombuctú, hasta la red electrificada global que hoy sitúa virtualmente al mundo entero en una corriente de cooperación y competición, los profesores McNeill nos enseñan que las redes humanas son un componente fundamental de la historia del mundo, y una formidable herramienta de análisis. .Alejados de cualquier determinismo, medioambiental o cultural, los autores nos ofrecen en Las redes humanas un espléndido panorama de las grandes pautas de la historia universal que ha merecido el siguiente comentario del profesor Alfred W. Crosby: "Si tuvieran ustedes que leer un solo libro sobre la historia del mundo, éste es el que deben escoger".
Las redes humanas, de McNeill y McNeill no es de redes, ni se parece en nada a Smart Mobs o a Emergence. Es un libro de historia que hace énfasis en las conexiones que ha habido entre las culturas y civilizaciones a lo largo de la historia, o dentro de cada cultura, entre sus diferentes componentes: urbano-rural, dirigentes-dirigidos, ricos-pobres.
Poder terrenal de MICHAEL BURLEIGH
- Creía que vivíamos en una democracia en libertad, ¿es tan chocante oír hablar a un liberal? Algunos libros de historia hacen oídos sordos al tema de la religión, en parte porque creen que se trate de una fuerza social reaccionaria, y cuando la mencionan es para descalificarla. Son libros basados en ideas previas. Yo tengo relación con muchas personas en Europa –Alemania, Francia, Italia– que no parten de estos supuestos. También con el mundo polaco que presenta una cultura muy interesante.Mi intento de salir de la corriente principal de la historiografía hace patente el provincianismo de quien habla así de religión.
- Cuando comencé a escribir mi libro sobre el Tercer Reich me interesaba escarbar en cuál era el origen de semejante barbarie. Y eran los jacobinos. Estudiando otros momentos de la historia moderna comencé a darme cuenta de que todas estas teorías, desde la revolución francesa hasta el nazismo, eran intentos de reemplazar a la religión. Avanzando en mi investigación comenzaron a surgir dudas sobre otros temas, dudas que en ocasiones llegaron a ser casi irresolubles. Este libro es el fruto de estas investigaciones y su tesis es que los poderes políticos en la Europa moderna se sitúan como intentos de suplantar al cristianismo. Así, por ejemplo, me pregunté si realmente existió una secularización en el siglo XIX. La secuela de este libro, que irá desde la Primera Guerra Mundial hasta nuestros días, se llamará “causas sagradas”.
- ¿El lugar de la religión política lo ocupan los regímenes estatalistas? Si tomamos los dos principales regímenes políticos del siglo XX, nazismo y comunismo, vemos que tienen patologías similares. En los nazis no encontramos la necesidad de que los perseguidos confesaran su “fe” en la ideología nazista antes de matarles. No necesitaban meterles las piernas en agua hirviendo o torturarles para que confesaran su “fe” en el régimen antes de pegarles un tiro. Entre los comunistas, sí. Hermann Göring, ministro de aviación, era protestante; Bernhard Rust, el ministro de cultura nazi era, formalmente, un católico y el mismo Heinrich Himmler, en 1943 nombrado ministro del Interior creía que el mundo estaba cubierto por una capa de hielo y que del cosmos surgió un rayo que rompió esta capa y de ella salió el primer ario. Sus colegas pensaban que estaba un poco loco, pero lo cierto es que existía una cierta pluralidad de opiniones en el consejo de ministros.Si pretendías ser herético en un consejo de ministros con Stalin, de un momento a otro acabarían contigo y era como si nunca hubieras existido. Esto es lo que le pasó a Yesov, quien mató a 600.000 personas por fidelidad al régimen y después terminó siendo asesinado por orden de Stalin. Increíble ¿no? Eso no pasaba ni en la Alemania nazi. Una vez me enteré de la historia del jefe de una fábrica textil soviética que no hacía más que mirar a sus telas. En un momento se dio cuenta de que en las telas, por un error, se podía entrever algo que parecía una cruz gamada. Tenía que destruir toda la tela, pero decidió colgarse, ahorcarse. Lo hizo por miedo. ¿No es asombroso que esto pueda sucederle a alguien? El hombre tiene la necesidad de reconocer un significado para su vida y para la realidad.Hay muchísimos científicos interesados en esto en Gran Bretaña, genetistas y neurólogos que investigan la razón por la que necesitamos creer en algo. Parece que es algo constitutivo del hombre, como el hard disc de un ordenador. No sé mucho de esto, pero parece un área de la ciencia muy interesante.
- ¿Se identifica esta exigencia racional de significado con la dimensión religiosa de los hombres?Sí, ciertamente. A lo largo de la historia moderna, ¿cómo se resistieron los hombres a la pretensión del poder de llenar su necesidad religiosa?En la mayoría de las democracias occidentales el número de afiliados a partidos políticos disminuye casi tan rápidamente como bajan las personas que frecuentan las iglesias. Se están descolectivizando tanto la religión como la política. El jefe de los rabinos de Inglaterra, que me parece el líder religioso más interesante de Gran Bretaña con diferencia, dijo el otro día que nuestra sociedad empieza a parecerse a un hotel barato para agentes comerciales y debería ser como una casa de campo aristocrática en la que tanto el anfitrión como el invitado se conociesen y el invitado pudiese apreciar los cuadros del anfitrión y hacer preguntas sobre ellos, en lugar de quedarse en hoteles baratos. Es una metáfora muy interesante. Probablemente no he contestado a tu pregunta…
- En una reciente entrevista en La Razón usted dijo: «Si se elimina la religión no hay nada que limite el poder». Toda la Modernidad, sin embargo, sostiene lo contrario. Sitúa la fuente de la libertad en el Estado y no en la persona…La historia ha sido trono y altar. La religión normalmente siempre ha estado al lado del poder político, como sabemos bien en España. Pero cuando un rey hacía un juramento ante Dios tenía que responder dentro de unos límites y en ello se jugaba también su paso al cielo. La religión, además, distingue las características entre un rey y un tirano. Yo no soy católico practicante, pero soy cristiano de cultura y hay cosas de esa cultura que están en nuestra vida y que se las debemos al cristianismo.
- Tradición cristiana, Europa…Si vas al Prado y no conoces la mitología clásica el cincuenta por ciento de los cuadros te pasan desapercibidos, y si no conoces el cristianismo el otro cincuenta tampoco lo entenderás… Llegará un día en el que tengamos una generación de personas a las que les gustarán estos cuadros pero les resultarán tan incomprensibles como lo son para nosotros los jeroglíficos egipcios. No les dirán nada, y esto es muy triste.
- Y sobre el valor de la persona, ¿qué aportación ha hecho el cristianismo?El cristianismo ha hecho explícito el valor absoluto de la persona al margen de su condición social, política o económica. Ninguna persona agresiva o malvada en su vida privada dirige comedores para pobres…
Michael Burleigh ha sido investigador en las universidades de Oxford y Cardiff, y en la London School of Economics. También ha sido profesor en diversas universidades norteamericanas, como Rutgers, Washington & Lee, y Stanford. Ha escrito siete libros, entre ellos, El Tercer Reich (Taurus, 2002). Su séptimo libro publicado es Poder terrenal (Taurus, 2005). Escribe habitualmente para el Sunday Times y el Times Literary Supplement.
PODERES TERRENALES. BURGESS, ANTHONY
viernes, febrero 29, 2008
The Method of Centering Prayer by Thomas Keating
- Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God's presence and action within.
- Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly and silently introduce the sacred word as the symbol of your consent to God's presence and action within.
- When you become aware of thoughts, return ever-so-gently to the sacred word.
- At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes.
Explanation of the Guidelines
"Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God's presence and action within." (cf. Open Mind, Open Heart, chap. 5)
The sacred word expresses our intention to be in God's presence and to yield to the divine action. The sacred word should be chosen during a brief period of prayer asking the Holy Spirit to inspire us with one that is especially suitable for us. Examples: Lord, Jesus, Abba, Father, Mother. Other possibilities: Love, Peace, Shalom.
Having chosen a sacred word, we do not change it during the prayer period, for that would be to start thinking again.
A simple inward gaze upon God may be more suitable for some persons than the sacred word. In this case, one consents to God's presence and action by turning inwardly toward God as if gazing upon him. The same guidelines apply to the sacred gaze as to the sacred word.
"Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly and silently introduce the sacred word as the symbol of your consent to God's presence and action within."
By "sitting comfortably" is meant relatively comfortably; not so comfortably that we encourage sleep, but sitting comfortably enough to avoid thinking about the discomfort of our bodies during this time of prayer.
Whatever sitting position we choose, we keep the back straight.
If we fall asleep, we continue the prayer for a few minutes upon awakening if we can spare the time.
Praying in this way after a main meal encourages drowsiness. Better to wait an hour at least before Centering Prayer. Praying in this way just before retiring may disturb one's sleep pattern.
We close our eyes to let go of what is going on around and within us.
We introduce the sacred word inwardly and as gently as laying a feather on a piece of absorbent cotton. "When you become aware of thoughts, return ever-so-gently to the sacred word."
"Thoughts" is an umbrella term for every perception including sense perceptions, feelings, images, memories, reflections, and commentaries.
Thoughts are a normal part of Centering Prayer.
By "returning ever-so-gently to the sacred word", a minimum of effort is indicated. This is the only activity we initiate during the time of Centering Prayer.
During the course of our prayer, the sacred word may become vague or even disappear.
"At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes."
If this prayer is done in a group, the leader may slowly recite the Our Father during the additional 2 or 3 minutes, while the others listen.
The additional 2 or 3 minutes give the psyche time to readjust to the external senses and enable us to bring the atmosphere of silence into daily life.
Some Practical Points
The minimum time for this prayer is 20 minutes. Two periods are recommended each day, one first thing in the morning, and one in the afternoon or early evening.
The end of the prayer period can be indicated by a timer, providing it does not have an audible tick or loud sound when it goes off.
The principal effects of Centering Prayer are experienced in daily life, not in the period of Centering Prayer itself.
Physical Symptoms:
We may notice slight pains, itches, or twitches in various parts of the body or a generalized restlessness. These are usually due to the untying of emotional knots in the body.
We may also notice heaviness or lightness in the extremities. This is usually due to a deep level of spiritual attentiveness.
In either case, we pay no attention, or we allow the mind to rest briefly in the sensation, and then return to the sacred word.
Lectio Divina provides the conceptual background for the development of Centering Prayer. A support group praying and sharing together once a week helps maintain one's commitment to the prayer.
Extending the Effects of Centering Prayer into Daily Life
Practice 2 periods of Centering Prayer daily.
Read Scriptures regularly and study Open Mind, Open Heart.
Practice one or two of the specific methods for everyday, suggested in Open Mind, Open Heart, chapter 12.
Join a Centering Prayer Support Group or Follow-up Program (if available in your area.)
It encourages the members of the group to persevere in private.
It provides an opportunity for further input on a regular basis through tapes, readings, and discussion.
Points for Further Development
During the prayer period various kinds of thoughts may be distinguished. (cf. Open Mind, Open Heart, chapters 6 through 10):
Ordinary wanderings of the imagination or memory.
Thoughts that give rise to attractions or aversions.
Insights and psychological breakthroughs.
Self-reflections such as, "How am I doing?" or, "This peace is just great!"
Thoughts that arise from the unloading of the unconscious.
During this prayer, we avoid analyzing our experience, harboring expectations or aiming at some specific goal such as:
TRADUCCIÓN CASTELLANA AQUÍ y en la web de super Thomas Keating, OCSO.
Reel Geezers
Ser viejo te lleva a esto. El que mas sabe solo puede opinar desde su casa. Un dueto de profesionales jubilados (reel geezers), y cito al demonio, (Dos octogenarios renuevan la crítica en la era YouTube · ELPAÍS.com) la lían en youtube y, en medio de preciosas broncas, comentan el cine actual. Eso lo haría aquí la prima de la Bardem y Lopez-Vazquez, pero cobrando.