This is a refreshing approach that stands out from the separate schlock genres of secular pop feel-goodism techniques and hermeneutically-sealed [misspelling intended] mega-church pulp. I like to point out, similarly, that the brain is its own best pharmacologist (and pharmacist). The "pharmacology" of the matter involves the courageously self-reflective study of the effects of our presumed neurophysiological mechanisms underlying rational thought, emotions and will leading to motor output. The "pharmacy" end is simply the prescriptive application of what is being learned. Unlike the laboratory and clinical versions of these disciplines, the practical use of these ideas does not require detailed knowledge of chemistry, physiology or psychology. We do not learn motor skills (pitching baseballs, playing the piano, drawing) by studying neurology and kinesiology, we instead rigorously and persistently self-correct outputs. We let the brain engage in the myriad of intellectually boring internal steps of switch-boarding commands to outputs. So too we, by treating life as a game, enterprise, military expedition against the forces of entropy and predation, we are well poised to address the small and the large challenges in satisfying -- but as you point out not necessarily pleasant -- ways. We are aided by the divine where our capacities, heroically employed, nonetheless require a justification for confidence not limited to those known capacities. And not merely in action, but in being, we trust in a divine will infusing every aspect that being itself.
Beyond discursive or contemplative prayer, I find saying the Rosary in the morning to provide what seems like a resetting function, like pushing the ground button on an oscilloscope whose amplifiers have become overwhelmed by noisy signals. Then, one can begin to identify, amplify or alter the time base for examining those signals and deal with them (reposition an electrode for instance, or puff on an experimental agent, or introduce an electrical stimulation). Sometimes such quieting methods are as necessary as lots of concentration. Signal is not a "spike"response per se, but a spike arising from a verifiable baseline, control state correlated with a repeatable natural or applied event or condition.
Thanks for your physician's hard counsel for genuinely adaptive and flourishing mastering of the challenges that beset us, and that -- oddly perhaps -- make like a worthwhile endeavor.
This is a refreshing approach that stands out from the separate schlock genres of secular pop feel-goodism techniques and hermeneutically-sealed [misspelling intended] mega-church pulp. I like to point out, similarly, that the brain is its own best pharmacologist (and pharmacist). The "pharmacology" of the matter involves the courageously self-reflective study of the effects of our presumed neurophysiological mechanisms underlying rational thought, emotions and will leading to motor output. The "pharmacy" end is simply the prescriptive application of what is being learned. Unlike the laboratory and clinical versions of these disciplines, the practical use of these ideas does not require detailed knowledge of chemistry, physiology or psychology. We do not learn motor skills (pitching baseballs, playing the piano, drawing) by studying neurology and kinesiology, we instead rigorously and persistently self-correct outputs. We let the brain engage in the myriad of intellectually boring internal steps of switch-boarding commands to outputs. So too we, by treating life as a game, enterprise, military expedition against the forces of entropy and predation, we are well poised to address the small and the large challenges in satisfying -- but as you point out not necessarily pleasant -- ways. We are aided by the divine where our capacities, heroically employed, nonetheless require a justification for confidence not limited to those known capacities. And not merely in action, but in being, we trust in a divine will infusing every aspect that being itself.
Beyond discursive or contemplative prayer, I find saying the Rosary in the morning to provide what seems like a resetting function, like pushing the ground button on an oscilloscope whose amplifiers have become overwhelmed by noisy signals. Then, one can begin to identify, amplify or alter the time base for examining those signals and deal with them (reposition an electrode for instance, or puff on an experimental agent, or introduce an electrical stimulation). Sometimes such quieting methods are as necessary as lots of concentration. Signal is not a "spike"response per se, but a spike arising from a verifiable baseline, control state correlated with a repeatable natural or applied event or condition.
Thanks for your physician's hard counsel for genuinely adaptive and flourishing mastering of the challenges that beset us, and that -- oddly perhaps -- make like a worthwhile endeavor.
I’d be happy to read the book but can’t afford one right now