MUSINGS ON THE MUSICALITY OF EMOTION, LANGUAGE & THOUGHT Perhaps the musicality of poetry represents a pivotal stage in the evolution of human language – the transition from communicative sounds like shouts, word-less songs, and imitations to communication based on symbols, syntax, and grammar. As such, it could also represent an evolutionary and developmental stage […]
EMOTION AS EMBODIED MEMORIES At their most basic level, emotions are physical reactions triggered in the body by experiences in the moment that map to similar experiences in the past. In this way, emotions function as embodied memories. They may also represent the evolutionary and developmental connection between body and mind, or perceptual and conceptual […]
When electrons or atoms or individuals or societies interact with one another or their environment, the collective behavior of the whole is different from that of its parts. We call this resulting behavior emergent. Emergence thus refers to collective phenomena or behaviors in complex adaptive systems that are not present in their individual parts. […]
STORIES, QUESTIONS & IDEAS ABOUT EMERGENT COMPLEXITY An introduction to the question: What is emergence? Emergence, when you first see it, seems mysterious … The organization comes from the bottom up. So, at the bottom, we have these things that are following their own sets of rules, often fairly simple … What we see […]
DAVID BOHM ON SCIENCE, SPIRITUALITY, AND CULTURE One important point that we connect with spirit is meaning. [….] I would add further that meaning is at the root of our whole being. How we act is determined by what everything means to us. A very elementary case is a person walking in a dark […]
USING THE POWER OF STORIES TO TRANSFORM THE MEANING OF OUR LIVES Each of us has a story about something that’s changed our life, but what changes when we change the story? Stories can create a kind of cognitive resonance in our minds. They represent our interpretations of meaning such that, in many ways, how […]
When a person prevents his emotions from overtaking his rationality, it is called intelligence or reason. When a person prevents his rationality from overtaking his emotions, it is called compassion. When a person can do both, it is called wisdom. ATTRIBUTION A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy | Wing-Tsit Chan Aristotle was very […]
