BrainMarch 1979B Libet, E W Wright, B Feinstein et al.
Subjective experience of a peripherally-induced sensation is found to appear without the substantial delay found for the experience of a cortically-induced sensation. To explain this finding, in relation to the putative delay of up to about 500 ms for achieving the "neuronal adequacy" required to elicit the peripherally-induced experience, a modified hypothesis is proposed: for a peripheral...
Characteristics of Visual Evoked Potentials (N120, P200, P300) were investigated during choice reaction time situations in a group of 10 subjects practising meditation (E.S.) versus a matched control group (C.S.) During a series of visual stimuli occuring at fixed intervals, with 10% random omissions, the subjects were asked : 1) to respond by a finger displacement to each visual stimulus; 2)...
Dreams are descirbed as "single-minded," meaning that they tend to be unaccompanied by other, simultaneous streams of thought and imagery. Four manifestations of single-mindedness are discussed: (1) the absence of a reflective awareness that one is dreaming while the dream is in progress; (2) the absence of alternative images and thoughts while attending to the primary dream content; (3) the...
"Mystical Dimensions of Islam" presents, for the first time, a balanced historical treatment of the transnational phenomenon of Sufism -- Islamic mysticism -- from its beginnings through the nineteenth century. Through her sensitivity and deep understanding of the subject, Annemarie Schimmel, an eminent scholar of Eastern religions, draws the reader into the mood, the vision, the way of the...
Cardiac output, renal and hepatic blood flows, arterial lactate concentration, and minute volume were measured before, during, and after 40 min of rest induced either by the practice known as "transcendental meditation" (TM) or by an ordinary eyes-closed rest-relaxation period. Two groups of normal young adults were studied: one group consisted of regular practitioners of TM and the other of...
This article presents evidence from a random sample survey of the San Franciscio Bay Area on some of the differences between people who claim to have had intense peak experiences and people who have not had such experiences. The data indicate that most people have had some kind of peak experience, but some people seem clearly to be more oriented toward "peaking" than others. Peakers tend more...
Commissurotomy surgery has lately attracted considerable philosophical attention. It has seemed to some that the surgical scalpel that bisects the brain bisects consciousness and the mind as well; and that the ordinary concept of a person is thereby most seriously threatened. I shall assess the extent of the threat, arguing that it is overestimated. The argument begins with section III; section...
THE LOSS OF THE ORIGIN IN SOTO ZEN AND IN MEISTER ECKHART SEVERAL JAPANESE AUTHORS who have come into contact with the Western tradition have underlined similarities between key concepts in Zen Buddhism and in Meister Eckhart.1 Sometimes their statements, for instance Suzuki's, betray a rather superficial acquaintance with the schools of thought that intersectinEckhart'shighly syncretistic...
AbstractA rapid and convenient synthesis of the psychotomimetic agent 4‐iodo‐2, 5‐dimethoxyphenylisopropylamine is described, incorporating the radioisotope 123I (T1/2 13 hr). With the amine function of 2, 5‐dimethoxyphenylisopropylamine blocked as the phthalimide, it was found that the aromatic 4‐position could be directly iodinated with iodine monochloride. The phthalic acid moiety was...
Abstract The author explains why it is important at this juncture in time to acquaint researchers and clinicians in the field of hypnosis with the current serious research in altered states of consciousness, and vice versa. In a 1975 SCEH symposium, the author brought together both well-established and young researchers coming from orientations as widely differing as neurophysiology, cognitive...