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Copyright Peter Fenwick The slides and videos in this presentation are limited by copyright. Please do not copy them. Remember the videos were given to me for teaching so please do not give them to others. Slide 2 Science, Spirituality and Unity Peter Fenwick Kings College Institute of Psychiatry Southampton University Slide 3 Slide 4 COLET HOUSE A School Slide 5 Many people in Colet have reflected the wonderful spiritual gifts it gives Colet is unique in being a free school where the students find their own ways to creativity within the rich culture it supports Slide 6 . He was the youngest ever professor at the Royal College of Art on appointment in 1948. He worked for the College for 34 years, and also acted as consultant designer to Wedgwood, and other British companies. Guyatt created coins for the Royal Mint and designed postage stamps for the Royal Mail. He was made a CBE in 1969. His obituary described him as An Edwardian gentleman, to whom the qualities of duty, fidelity, truthfulness and manners were paramount. Prof. Richard Guyatt (1914 2007) Slide 7 Sean Crampton Sculptor Slide 8 1918 - 1999 His obituary in the Guardian called him an Artist forged by war and whose art reflected interest in the spiritual, his distinctive style owes much to his belief that art is a talent that life is a gift{Artists} must discover the old heroic role of mankind, and seek diligently after truth and after beauty and after goodness. Slide 9 Slide 10 Art and Books Juliette and Peter Kindersley Slide 11 Juliette Kindersley Peter Kindersley Painter Book Empire Builder Slide 12 Paul Robertson A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts he is also now Visiting Professor in Music and Medicine to the Peninsula Medical School and Visiting Fellow of Green, Templeton, College, Oxford. He is also a member of the European Cultural Parliament and Associate of the Royal Society of Medicine Slide 13 Paul Robertson Medici Quartet Slide 14 Rupert Spira - Potter Slide 15 The two phases of The Study Society When did it start? Slide 16 Slide 17 Phase 1 Society for the Study of Normal Psychology Gurdjieff The 4 th Way Enneagram Ouspensky Rigour and Logic - Knowledge Slide 18 Gurdjieffs Last Announcement All the religious revelations failed to create the New Type of Man needed to fill the enlarging gap. "Humanity is at a standstill and from a standstill there is a straight path to downfall and degeneration.... There is nothing that points to evolution proceeding. On the contrary when we compare humanity with a man we quite clearly see a growth of personality at the cost of essence, that is, a growth of the artificial, the unreal, and what is foreign, at the cost of the natural, the real, and what is one's own.... Contemporary culture requires automatons. And people are undoubtedly losing their acquired habits of independence and turning into automatons, into parts of machines.... Man is becoming a willing slave. He no longer needs chains. He begins to grow fond of his slavery, to be proud of it. And this is the most terrible thing that can happen to a man." Slide 19 Phase 2 The Study Society Dr Roles H Advaita - Unity and Love Meditation Rumi Slide 20 To develop the feeling of Atman is very important for the Society. As much as the leaders develop, they make the progress of the members possible. Atman expresses itself as love, and with love arises the welfare of others. All spiritual organisations can only be built upon love. Dr. Roles had love in abundance, and organisations flourish when love prevails between and through the leaders to all the members, just as one sees the sap flowing through every part of a plantIn every organisation there will be some differences, but with love and generosity they can be washed away. This approach will provide opportunity for development of both leaders and the members. Final Message from His Holiness 25 SEPT 1989 Slide 21 Colet had at that time three major paths 4 th way Advaita Rumi Slide 22 Advaita Ouspensky Slide 23 But one important area in Colet teaching in the 21 st century has lacked emphasis It is Science although our founders were prescient about its importance Slide 24 In the 1951 constitution and the 1953 revision The main object (of Colet) is stated to be: for the purpose of promoting the scientific study of normal man on the basis of current advances in the physiology of the nervous system and its functions by means of lectures, research and observations by people from their experience and interests in various walks of life. Slide 25 Science There is a need to integrate our current scientific understanding in to the rich teaching of our Colet heritage. There is also a need in Colet to integrate modern scientific understanding of the brain its functions and how these may reflect the process of enlightenment. Slide 26 All paths require The training of attention Slide 27 Training of Attention in Colet MovementsMeditationTurning Slide 28 Now lets look a little at scientific discoveries Slide 29 Empathy and compassion meditation Slide 30 McClelland 1998 Harvard Compared the effects on the immune system of two groups of students, one watching film of Mother Teresa healing, the other watching a film of the Axis powers in WW2. He found that experiencing feelings of compassion and having compassionate thoughts up-regulated the immune system. Slide 31 Looking now directly at compassionate meditation. Do experiences of the divine correlate with brain function? Is there a Spiritual Brain? Note again These are correlations Slide 32 Special Group Carmelite Nuns Neural correlates of a mystical experience in Carmelite nuns. Beauregard & Paquette 2006 Neuroscience Letters 405: 186 190 Slide 33 Carmelite Nuns Fifteen Carmelite nuns. mean 49.93 yrs In the Carmelite order mean 19.27 yrs Aim to image Mystical union with God the sense of having touched the ultimate ground of reality the experience of timelessness and spacelessness the sense of union with humankind and the universe feelings of positive affect, peace, joy and unconditional love Neural correlates of a mystical experience in Carmelite nuns. M Beauregard V Paquette 2006 Neuroscience Letters 405: 186190 Slide 34 Slide 35 the left brainstem was linked to the visceral feelings of joy and unconditional love. the left dorsal ACC (BA 32) reflected that aspect of emotional awareness during the Mystical condition. the MOFC, .this prefrontal cortical region codes for subjective pleasantness Slide 36 the left insular activation the somatovisceral reactions associated with the feelings of joy and unconditional love. the right middle temporal activation related to the subjective impression of contacting a spiritual reality. the MOC and LG are implicated in visual mental imagery Slide 37 The right SPL is involved in the spatial perception of self. During the Mystical condition they feel that something greater than the subjects seemed to absorb them. Slide 38 The caudate activations during the Mystical condition were correlated with the feelings of joy and unconditional love. The left IPL activation in the Mystical condition related to an alteration of the body schema. The right IPL is crucial to the process of self/other distinction Slide 39 Function of areas and Spirituality R Temporal - contacting spiritual reality Caudate nucleus positive emotions, joy and unconditional love Left brainstem and insular - somatovisceral changes feelings of joy and unconditional love MPFC conscious awareness of above feelings OFC, left dorsal ACC interoceptive emotional signals during the Mystical condition. MOFC, codes for subjective pleasantness A net work of areas Slide 40 MEDITATION - SUMMARY Attentional techniques alter DLPC activity This leads to changes in the self, world view, attentional processing There is a modification of parietal sensory systems and self image VMFC and AC systems are modified leading to control and change in autonomic systems Frontal changes relate to the genesis of positive mood Slide 41 What effects on the brain does meditation have? Is brain size different with meditation? Does number of years meditating affect brain size? Slide 42 Investigation of mindfulness meditation practitioners with voxel-based morphometry Britta K. Hlzel, 1 Ulrich Ott et al. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2008 March; 3(1): 5561 20 meditators, 20 non-meditators Slide 43 Greater gray matter concentration for meditators compared to non-meditators (P