A View from Outside the Box

“We need to understand the inadequacy of an educational system so slanted towards material values. The solution is not to give an occasional lecture, but to integrate ethics into the educational curriculum. To do this effectively requires a secular ethics, free of religious influence, based on common sense, a realistic view and scientific findings.” (For photo source, click here.)

It is entirely possible that behind the perception of our senses, worlds are hidden of which we are unaware.

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—	Albert Einstein (via allthingssoulful) Such a spacious and interesting thought to start the day with…

Richard Feynman, ‘Ode to a Flower.”

Just over a minute to consider the deeper beauty of a flower.

daywhite:

— Neurologist Oliver Sacks

Like everything else, memories are also subject to change…

“The great benefit of science is that it can make a tremendous contribution to the alleviation of suffering on a physical level, but it is only by cultivating the qualities of the human heart and transforming our attitudes that we can begin to address and overcome our mental suffering. We need both, since the alleviation of suffering must take place on both a physical and a psychological level.”

So much of what the Dalai Lama says reads like common sense to me and I’m always left with the same question - namely, “How can we be so clever and yet so stupid at the same time?”

…and oh, what he achieved with that curiosity.

Is anyone going to pay any attention to this statement beyond a passing thought? I doubt it. It’s absolutely true though and we are right on the edge of that now. A generation of, if not idiots, then socially dysfunctional people. A dubious kind of progress.

I thought of autism this week as well... some of the neuroscience I've been listening to says the female to male to autistic continuum corresponds to neural connections getting shorter (not fewer) ie reaching near and not far a way brain areas. In particular the bundle of fibers connecting left and right hemispheres is supposedly much smaller in men, and moreso in the autistic.

memeengine

Thanks very much ‘memeengine’ for the neural perspective. Knowing that verbal processing can be different in those with autism, the male/female statistics make sense. (1 in every 50 men, 1 in every 300 women.) Women are neurally stronger in the area of verbal processing and expression - bigger bundles, longer connections gives an explanation for this.

To read the piece of which ‘memeengine’ is referring, titled, “Spot the Difference,” please click here.

“In my world of emotions, what words to bring this home? Temple Grandin is not the only example of a person considered socially dysfunctional, an autistic that’s attained brilliance. It’s thought that Einstein, Mozart, Newton, Darwin and Michelangelo were also on the spectrum. Pink heart shaped pendants everywhere, if you look you’ll see them too. A little bit of you, a small part of me - we’re in excellent company.”

An excerpt from a piece titled, “Spot the Difference,” posted today on “A View From Outside the Box,” url: adialogue. To read the full piece, click here.