How do you see life ?

[Anatta]

Kia Ora,

" Life is like a flower and towards the sun it grows-
its scent may seem unpleasant or pleasing to the nose.

However, this reality is an illusion-for a smell is 'just' a smell-
the attachment one gives to it can make life heaven or an hell!

Quote: The American Physiological Society

"We examined whether presenting an odour with a positive, neutral, or negative name would influence how people perceive it. In experiment 1, 40 participants rated 15 odours for their pleasantness, intensity, and arousal. In experiment 2, 30 participants passively smelled 10 odours while their skin conductance (SC), heart rate (HR), and sniffing were recorded. We found significant overall effects of odour names on perceived pleasantness, intensity, and arousal. Pleasantness showed the most robust effect of odour names: the same odours were perceived as more pleasant when presented with positive than with neutral and negative names and when presented with neutral than with negative names. In addition, odorants were rated as more intense when presented with negative than with neutral and positive names and as more arousing when presented with positive than with neutral names. Furthermore, SC and sniff volumes, but not HR, were modified by odour names, and the SC changes could not be accounted for by sniffing changes. Importantly, odour names presented with odourless water did not produce any effect on skin conductance and sniff volumes, ruling out the possibility that the naming-related findings were triggered by an emotional reaction to odour names. Taken together, these experiments show that there is a lot to a name, at least when it comes to olfactory perception!"



"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet !"


Metta Zenda

[Anna++]

So, yeah, it is a well established fact that the brain creates an internal reality base on sensory input plus internal projections..The created reality may not be 100% that of the outside and biased by internal experience or expectation..

So what..it has successfully allows to conquer and dominate our planet and the year to come it will allows to conquer other planets...

The next few decades will see the introduction of brain-computer interfaces that would allows us to enhance and augment our internal representation of the outside universe....Got to love technology and sciences

Just like in The Matrix!  What if we're already in a computer simulation of the world and gender dysphoria is just a bug that happens when your simulated body doesn't line up with your real body?

[Anatta]

Kia Ora,

When you say a 'bug' do you mean the machine had a 'male'-function ? 

Metta Zenda

[Anatta]

So, yeah, it is a well established fact that the brain creates an internal reality base on sensory input plus internal projections..The created reality may not be 100% that of the outside and biased by internal experience or expectation..

So what..

Kia Ora Peky,

"If you change the way you look at things-The things you look at change !"

Do you understand the full implications of the above statement, Peky ?

Life is what you make it !

What I was getting at with the piece from the American Physiological Society,is that we are open to 'suggestion' including 'auto'-suggestion...We are what we 'think'...So think 'positive' thoughts...

Metta Zenda 

[Anatta]

Stick to you day job darling...as a comic writer you sure would starve yourself to oblivion 

Kia Ora Peky,

My day job 'is' as a stand up comic...That's why I'm on an ongoing diet ! 

Metta Zenda

[spacial]

I see it as a mission...a misson from G-d

Let me say at the start, I respect that without reservation.

It is very Jewish. 

Might be interesting, some time, perhaps in the Spiritual section, rather than any specific denomination.

I have a few logical findings which might be of interest.

[Anatta]

I have a few logical findings which might be of interest.

Kia Ora Jill,

...Well what are they then ? Don't leave me in suspense 

Metta Zenda

[Anatta]

Let me say at the start, I respect that without reservation.

It is very Jewish. 

Might be interesting, some time, perhaps in the Spiritual section, rather than any specific denomination.

Kia Ora Jill,

I think [Peky,] like some other spiritual and or religious members, 'do' see life 'through' their god's eyes... If not through their 'creator', how else could they view their world ?

Metta Zenda

[spacial]

Kia Ora Jill,

I think [Peky,] like some other spiritual and or religious members, 'do' see life 'through' their god's eyes... If not through their 'creator', how else could they view their world ?

Metta Zenda

I think we all do, whether we are all prepared to admit it or not.

Still, as interesting as the point is, it's not quite the one I was alluding to.

[Kevin Peña]

I think we all do, whether we are all prepared to admit it or not.

Please don't try to assert your religion as fact without any evidence. It's offensive to us nonbelievers, not to mention those of other religions.

[Anatta]

I think we all do, whether we are all prepared to admit it or not.

Still, as interesting as the point is, it's not quite the one I was alluding to.

Kia Ora Jill,

In one way or other, we have been conditioned from conception through pregnancy-birth, and as we grow we are continually conditioned, whether it be by religion, spirituality, political ideologies, 'life' experience [real or imaginary] etc...

We have been conditioned to react in a certain way...

The trick is to de-programme the conditioned 'self' and re-programme/ re-fit it with a more positive outlook, one that's more aligned with what 'is'...

Metta Zenda     

[Anatta]

You are so unmindful that you think you know how I see life....

"G-s has no body now on earth but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which to look out
G-d's compassion to the world
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about
doing good;
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless humans now."
after ― Teresa of Ávila

Kia Ora Peky,

Who is this "I" you speak of Peky ?

Metta Zenda

[Sandra M. Lopes]

I think we all do, whether we are all prepared to admit it or not.

Nah, we see "life" through our own socially/educationally-conditioned perceptions. If that includes a religious view, then we see life from a religious viewpoint. If it includes a nihilistic view, nothing in life makes sense. If we view it through "our own view", than that's just self-conditioning. It's that simple, really.

In a sense, this is what this thread has already demonstrated: we simply cannot agree with a single view, although we can certainly find common points This is specially true if we have a similar background.

[Sandra M. Lopes]

"G-s has no body now on earth but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which to look out
G-d's compassion to the world
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about
doing good;
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless humans now."
after ― Teresa of Ávila

Aw I love that!

There is something strange about the Christian mystics. They have such wonderful insights about reality — so often bordering on transmitting an experience which goes beyond the boundaries of our usual perceptions, just described using Christian words.

What Teresa of Ávila seems to be experiencing is this idea that there is a way to tap a source of compassion which is beyond description, but to put it into practice for the well-being of everybody, we ought to use our body and our will as the tools to bring that compassion to our fellow beings.

I can most certainly emphasize with that view.

(To Zenda: it's also so interesting how the mystics rarely need to use the word "I". They don't even talk about making big efforts to put things into practice. They just do it, effortlessly. It's fascinating, isn't it?)

[Anatta]

(To Zenda: it's also so interesting how the mystics rarely need to use the word "I". They don't even talk about making big efforts to put things into practice. They just do it, effortlessly. It's fascinating, isn't it?)

Kia Ora Sandra,

"I" know You know all this....

It's important to understand what "I" is, that is the make up of "I" [this psycho-physical phenomena ] and how it comes into play with everyday life...But for the most part we give "I" no 'thought'... Even though we think there is an unchanging abiding "I" [self] whose thinking ...When in fact it's just 'thought' itself that does the 'thinking'...And "I" just go along with the thought for the ride...

But it's best we don't go too deep into this age old quest/search for 'who or what am "I"...Well not for this thread...Maybe you would like to start one up in the philosophy or spiritual section...

Thought has just planted another 'thought-seed' for a thought to germinate and grow-think about 

WARNING TO THOSE WHO HAVE READ THE ABOVE...
PLEASE DON"T TRY THIS A HOME
'THINKING' IS CARRIED OUT UNDER STRICT SUPERVISION AND ONLY BY PROFESSIONAL THOUGHTS

Metta Zenda

[Pica Pica]

(To Zenda: it's also so interesting how the mystics rarely need to use the word "I". They don't even talk about making big efforts to put things into practice. They just do it, effortlessly. It's fascinating, isn't it?)

Probably has more to do with the register of mystic writing than much else though.

[Sandra M. Lopes]

Probably has more to do with the register of mystic writing than much else though.

Hehe I have no idea — I'm no mystic, so don't know what "the register of mystic writing" actually means. All I can observe is what they write, but I cannot really speculate much about what they felt when they wrote about their experiences.

[Pica Pica]

The register is the tone of writing, the certain stylistic elements that make it clear that you are writing to a friend or an MP for example.

It may be that the use of 'I' is not a standard one in mystic writing, either because influential early practitioners avoided it but more likely because of the setting in which the writing was shared with it's audience. This would then mean that certain mannerisms become part of mystic writing.

The point being that it is probably more a matter of style then how they felt or anything like that.

[Sandra M. Lopes]

Now that's a very interesting point, Pica Pica! Do you think that the style is common across cultures? It's just because it seems to be independent of the epoch and the region where it was written; all write in the same way.

Of course, I'm aware that cultures were actually much more in touch with each other than we usually like to think, but, still, it's a bit strange.

It would be like finding a lot of different cultures around the globe spontaneously writing in English in the 12th century.

I'm not saying that you're not right; I'm just saying it's a very interesting point you make!

[Anatta]

Kia Ora,

"Life" is what we make it...And the choice is ours and ours alone!......Or is it ?

Metta Zenda