Blog Entries » By Series

Content organized by series - pick an area you would like to learn, and follow the sequence. This format is best for learning a particular area of field.

What is Life All About – The Dalai Lama speaks

A fanatastic series of conversations with His Holiness at Delhi University

The Dalai Lama, What is Life all About,

Greal link if Mythology fascinates you – Meet the Gods

Welcome to Godchecker – your Guide to the Gods

www.godchecker.com
Technorati Tags: mythology, meet the gods, god checker

Culture Wires The Brain

More evidence of the BioPsychoSocial model for development is what needs to be studied.
Patterns exists and influence at the level of self, Self, Culture/Enviornment, and the relationship between the indiviual and the environment. We are working on a series right now exploring the meta-programs-patterns that govern our experience of the world.
Any suggestions, thoughts ideas (above and beyond the normal so called NLP Meta Programs) are welcome

Culture wires the brain: A cognitive neuroscience perspective

There is evidence that the collectivist nature of East Asian cultures versus individualistic Western cultures affects both brain and behavior. East Asians tend to process information in a global manner whereas Westerners tend to focus on individual objects. There are differences between East Asians and Westerners with respect to attention, categorization, and reasoning. For example, in one study, after viewing pictures of fish swimming, Japanese volunteers were more likely to remember contextual details of the image than were American volunteers. Experiments tracking participants’ eye movements revealed that Westerners spend more time looking at focal objects while Chinese volunteers look more at the background. In addition, our culture may play a role in the way we process facial information. Research has indicated that when viewing faces, East Asians focus on the central region of faces while Westerners look more broadly, focusing on both the eyes and mouth.

Technorati Tags: Brain, NLP, Meta Programs, BioPsychoSocial, Clare Graves, East and West,

Lost in Translation

An interesting article on something most of us intuitively know and many of the NLPers and linguists have for long shown, along with the work of Ed Hall!

Fasinating read coming to the MSM (mainstream media)

Do the languages we speak shape the way we think? Do they merely express thoughts, or do the structures in languages (without our knowledge or consent) shape the very thoughts we wish to express?

Take “Humpty Dumpty sat on a…” Even this snippet of a nursery rhyme reveals how much languages can differ from one another. In English, we have to mark the verb for tense; in this case, we say “sat” rather than “sit.” In Indonesian you need not (in fact, you can’t) change the verb to mark tense.

In Russian, you would have to mark tense and also gender, changing the verb if Mrs. Dumpty did the sitting. You would also have to decide if the sitting event was completed or not. If our ovoid hero sat on the wall for the entire time he was meant to, it would be a different form of the verb than if, say, he had a great fall.

In Turkish, you would have to include in the verb how you acquired this information. For example, if you saw the chubby fellow on the wall with your own eyes, you’d use one form of the verb, but if you had simply read or heard about it, you’d use a different form.

Does Language Influence Culture? – WSJ.com

Do the languages we speak shape the way we think? Do they merely express thoughts, or do the structures in languages (without our knowledge or consent) shape the very thoughts we wish to express?

Take “Humpty Dumpty sat on a…” Even this snippet of a nursery rhyme reveals how much languages can differ from one another. In English, we have to mark the verb for tense; in this case, we say “sat” rather than “sit.” In Indonesian you need not (in fact, you can’t) change the verb to mark tense.
Related Video

* Yes We Can Learn English

* Learning a Language Online

* Keeping Cajun Alive

In Russian, you would have to mark tense and also gender, changing the verb if Mrs. Dumpty did the sitting. You would also have to decide if the sitting event was completed or not. If our ovoid hero sat on the wall for the entire time he was meant to, it would be a different form of the verb than if, say, he had a great fall.

In Turkish, you would have to include in the verb how you acquired this information. For example, if you saw the chubby fellow on the wall with your own eyes, you’d use one form of the verb, but if you had simply read or heard about it, you’d use a different form.

Technorati Tags: WSJ, lost in translation, cognitive research, linguistics

Paul Ekman’s Taxonomy of Compassion –

THANK YOU !!!

We want to thank all of our listeners, and all of our collaborators today as we have kind of hit a major milestone today. We never thought this project would come as far as it has or take the shape  it has taken.

So we stand here somewhat proud, and yet very humbled that a small group, following its shared vision has managed to reach a goal far beyond its initial sights and its impact far greater than we had imagined.

Yes it feels great today for we have

1. Reached 500,000 downloads of our material
2. We have published 136 shows on various topics
3. Downloads from over 100 Countries
4. Our topics of exploration have spanned various streams including but not limited to Neuro Linguistic Programming, Spiral Dynamics, Gravesian Levels, Mythology, 8 Circuit Brain, Leadership, Martial Arts, Dance, Theater, Shamanism, Positive Deviance, Somatics, Buckminister Fuller………

And we want to thank all of you our listeners for helping us reach this with no marketing or push, but the growth has been completely by self discovery and word of mouth. We also want to thank all our collaborators in helping this project take shape.  Our thanks go to -

• Sensei Srini Sastri - Menkyo Kaiden, Kaze Arashi Ryu for “Way Of the Warrior” Series and so-so much more
• Late Paul Rebillot – For being such a wonderful mentor in our mythology studies and the “Embodied Mythology” series
• Late Richard Roberts – For bringing Joseph Cambell’s work even closer to us than we could have imagined
• Gabrielle Roth & Kathy Altman – who continue to teach us how to dance to our own beat and the “5 Rhythms” series
• Paul Kordis - Best selling author, Friend and collaborator, someone who writes and embodies the work of Clare Graves in the deepest possible ways and “Swimming With Dolphins” series
• Marshal Thurber - For sponsoring our initiation into the world of Bucky Fuller, Positive Deviance and Super Learning – and the “Positive Deviance” series
• David Neenan – Inviting us into his Business & You world, and unique mix of existential living and contribution and his series on “Bucky and Transformation”
• Antero Alli - For the multiple Paratheatre experiences, and the series on “8 Circuit Brain” and “Archetypes Crossing” Series
• Ismana Carney – For her graciousness at Esalen and the series on “Earth As Sacred Text”
• Maniko – For helping us see how voice and dance merge, and the series on “Alchemy of Voice” series
• And a few more Unnamed Mentors and friends who though remain behind curtains have helped shape us and our lives

And above all THANK YOU TO ALL OUR LISTENERS and all the emails and feedback you have sent to this project. We stand in awe, and with humility as we cross the milestone of HALF A MILLION DOWNLOADS!!!!!!!!!!

Amusing Ourselfves to death

orwell, huxley, stuart mcmillen,

Goodbyes are never easy, and yet they do come as both ends and new beginnings

Goodbyes are never easy

These past few months have not been easy, as we have had to say goodbye to two good friends and teachers. Both of them enriched our lives with the magic of mythology and brought alive the Heroic Quest that would have otherwise been much more a theoritical and academic exercise. Words fail to do justice for what magical worlds these wonderful teachers, mentors and friends opened for us.

We are profoundly grateful for having had Paul Rebillot and Richard Roberts in our lives. And with sadness we mourn both their deaths, but with joy remember their lives, their contribution and their generous spirit with which they shared their learnings, not just with the founders of RCG but with the world at large

Both of them opened up their voices and hearts to RCG and made the only recordings they have available to the world at large. Their wisdom and generous spirit has touched thousands of lives worldwide and will be both missed and deeply treasured.

Richards & Paul has been for a long time battling their health issues and now are rejoined with the great spirit. They leave behind an array of students whose lives have been touched, transformed and enriched due to their presence.

We have had the unique honor and privilege to have been participants of the last workshop Paul did, and soon after he took ill. We will remember and treasure the wit, wisdom and above all the kind heart of this wonderful friend and teacher and the evenings we spent enthralled by his stories and learning his structures. He also introduced us to Gabrielle Roth and the work of 5 Rhythms which has had a significant impact on our lives. We will continue to bring some more of his recordings to the world at large through RCG and hope that his voice will find fertile ground where the saplings of new heroic quests emerge. This way his contribution will continue to live..

Richards gave us his time, his private recordings and many an insights into topics as diverse and esoteric as ESP, Seth material, Tarot, the Egyptian mythos, magick besides the magical encounters with Joesph Campbell. He brought Campbell to life, and made him even more a part of our lives. For this he will also have our profound gratitude.

As we lay our friends and teachers to rest, we realize that its never easy to say goodbye, and it leaves a kind of void that is hard to fill. And yet these goodbyes are also hello’s to a new world for both the departed and those still here. We wish that the journeys that Paul and Richards are now on finds happiness, peace and above all love.

And as once Paul told us “the caterpillar must become the butterfly” we will look to continue our quests in the becoming… and with love and fondness remember the enchantment both created for us, and hope to pass it on to the next generation.

Thank you Paul, thank you Richard – You both made this a richer world.

with love and gratitude

RCG

Haiti Earthquake

A rare powerful earthquake has destroyed the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince, left the country in chaos, practically without police and government, and the survivors are relying on the foreign aid for the basic survival needs – food, water, safety, medical help.

We are shaken by the news, and are passing the word to all our listeners and readers to help the people of Haiti with what you can. The RCG founders have donated from their personal funds to “Doctors Without Borders”. Many more organizations are listed in a CNN article – a very much needed and concrete way to make a difference.

The Rise of the Politics of Fear –

This is a fantastic documentary on how much of our lives have been shaped in the last three decades by two competitive mythologies, . Its a wonderful look at how myth on both sides of the fence played such an important role in reshaping the world in the last 3 decades

From the wikipedia and google video
The Power of Nightmares, subtitled The Rise of the Politics of Fear, is a BBC documentary film series, written and produced by Adam Curtis. Its three one-hour parts consist mostly of a montage of archive footage with Curtis’s narration. The series was first broadcast in the United Kingdom in late 2004 and has subsequently been broadcast in multiple countries and shown in several film festivals, including the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.
The films compare the rise of the Neo-Conservative movement in the United States and the radical Islamist movement, making comparisons on their origins and claiming similarities between the two. More controversially, it argues that the threat of radical Islamism as a massive, sinister organised force of destruction, specifically in the form of al-Qaeda, is a myth perpetrated by politicians in many countries—and particularly American Neo-Conservatives—in an attempt to unite and inspire their people following the failure of earlier, more utopian ideologies.

Part 1: “Baby It’s Cold Outside”
The first part of the series explains the origin of Islamism and Neo-Conservatism. It shows Egyptian civil servant Sayyid Qutb, depicted as the founder of modern Islamist thought, visiting the U.S. to learn about the education system, but becoming disgusted with what he saw as a corruption of morals and virtues in western society through individualism. When he returns to Egypt, he is disturbed by westernisation under Gamal Abdel Nasser and becomes convinced that in order to save society it must be completely restructured along the lines of Islamic law while still using western technology. He also becomes convinced that this can only be accomplished through the use of an elite “vanguard” to lead a revolution against the established order. Qutb becomes a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and, after being tortured in one of Nasser’s jails, comes to believe that western-influenced leaders can justly be killed for the sake of removing their corruption. Qutb is executed in 1966, but he inspires the future mentor of Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, to start his own secret Islamist group. Inspired by the 1979 Iranian revolution, Zawahiri and his allies assassinate Egyptian president Anwar Al Sadat, in 1981, in hopes of starting their own revolution. The revolution does not materialise, and Zawahiri comes to believe that the majority of Muslims have been corrupted by their western-inspired leaders and thus may be legitimate targets of violence if they do not join him.
At the same time in the United States, a group of disillusioned liberals, including Irving Kristol and Paul Wolfowitz, look to the political thinking of Leo Strauss after the perceived failure of President Johnson’s “Great Society”. They come to the conclusion that the emphasis on individual liberty was the undoing of the plan. They envisioned restructuring America by uniting the American people against a common evil, and set about creating a mythical enemy. These factions, the Neo-Conservatives, came to power under the Reagan administration, with their allies Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, and work to unite the United States in fear of the Soviet Union. The Neo-Conservatives allege the Soviet Union is not following the terms of disarmament between the two countries, and, with the investigation of “Team B”, they accumulate a case to prove this with dubious evidence and methods. President Reagan is convinced nonetheless.

Part 2: “The Phantom Victory”
In the second episode, Islamist factions, rapidly falling under the more radical influence of Zawahiri and his rich Saudi acolyte Osama bin Laden, join the Neo-Conservative-influenced Reagan Administration to combat the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. When the Soviets eventually pull out and when the Eastern Bloc begins to collapse in the late 1980s, both groups believe they are the primary architects of the “Evil Empire’s” defeat. Curtis argues that the Soviets were on their last legs anyway, and were doomed to collapse without intervention.
However, the Islamists see it quite differently, and in their triumph believe that they had the power to create ‘pure’ Islamic states in Egypt and Algeria. However, attempts to create perpetual Islamic states are blocked by force. The Islamists then try to create revolutions in Egypt and Algeria by the use of terrorism to scare the people into rising up. However, the people are terrified by the violence and the Algerian government uses their fear as a way to maintain power. In the end, the Islamists declare the entire populations of the countries as inherently contaminated by western values, and finally in Algeria turn on each other, each believing that other terrorist groups are not pure enough Muslims either.
In America, the Neo-Conservatives’ aspirations to use the United States military power for further destruction of evil are thrown off track by the ascent of George HW Bush to the presidency, followed by the 1992 election of Bill Clinton leaving them out of power. The Neo-Conservatives, with their conservative Christian allies, attempt to demonise Clinton throughout his presidency with various real and fabricated stories of corruption and immorality. To their disappointment, however, the American people do not turn against Clinton. The Islamist attempts at revolution end in massive bloodshed, leaving the Islamists without popular support. Zawahiri and bin Laden flee to the sufficiently safe Afghanistan and declare a new strategy; to fight Western-inspired moral decay they must deal a blow to its source: the United States

Part 3: “The Shadows in the Cave”

The Neo-Conservatives use the September 11th attacks, with al-Fadl’s description of al-Qaeda,[citation needed] to launch the War on Terror.
The final episode addresses the actual rise of al-Qaeda. Curtis argues that, after their failed revolutions, bin Laden and Zawahiri had little or no popular support, let alone a serious complex organisation of terrorists, and were dependent upon independent operatives to carry out their new call for jihad. The film instead argues that in order to prosecute bin Laden in absentia for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings, US prosecutors had to prove he was the head of a criminal organisation responsible for the bombings. They find a former associate of bin Laden, Jamal al-Fadl, and pay him to testify that bin Laden was the head of a massive terrorist organisation called “al-Qaeda”. With the September 11th attacks, Neo-Conservatives in the new Republican government of George W. Bush use this created concept of an organisation to justify another crusade against a new evil enemy, leading to the launch of the War on Terrorism.
After the American invasion of Afghanistan fails to uproot the alleged terrorist network, the Neo-Conservatives focus inwards, searching unsuccessfully for terrorist sleeper cells in America. They then extend the war on “terror” to a war against general perceived evils with the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The ideas and tactics also spread to the United Kingdom where Tony Blair uses the threat of terrorism to give him a new moral authority. The repercussions of the Neo-Conservative strategy are also explored with an investigation of indefinitely-detained terrorist suspects in Guantanamo Bay, many allegedly taken on the word of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance without actual investigation on the part of the United States military, and other forms of “preemption” against non-existent and unlikely threats made simply on the grounds that the parties involved could later become a threat. Curtis also makes a specific attempt to allay fears of a dirty bomb attack, and concludes by reassuring viewers that politicians will eventually have to concede that some threats are exaggerated and others altogether devoid of reality