Dear Friends,
I want to share my article with you. The
article is directly related to Alternative
mental health, Yoga, Meditation and
Spirituality.
The link
between Mind and Social /
Environmental-Issues.
The fast-paced, consumerist lifestyle of
Industrial Society is causing exponential
rise in psychological problems like
Depression, Anxiety and ADHD besides
destroying the environment. All issues are
interlinked. Our Minds cannot be peaceful
when attention-spans are down to
nanoseconds, microseconds and
milliseconds. Our Minds cannot be peaceful
if we destroy Nature.
Industrial
Society Destroys Mind and Environment.
Subject : In a fast society slow emotions
become extinct.
Subject : A thinking mind cannot feel.
Subject : Scientific/ Industrial/
Financial thinking destroys the planet.
Subject : Environment can never be saved
as long as cities exist.
Emotion is what we experience during gaps
in our thinking.
If there are no gaps there is no emotion.
Today people are thinking all the time and
are mistaking thought (words/ language)
for emotion.
When society switches-over from physical
work (agriculture) to mental work
(scientific/ industrial/ financial/ fast
visuals/ fast words ) the speed of
thinking keeps on accelerating and the
gaps between thinking go on decreasing.
There comes a time when there are almost
no gaps.
People become incapable of experiencing/
tolerating gaps.
Emotion ends.
Man becomes machine.
A society that speeds up mentally
experiences every mental slowing-down as
Depression / Anxiety.
A ( travelling )society that speeds up
physically experiences every physical
slowing-down as Depression / Anxiety.
A society that entertains itself daily
experiences every non-entertaining moment
as Depression / Anxiety.
Fast
visuals/ words make slow emotions extinct.
Scientific/ Industrial/ Financial thinking
destroys emotional circuits.
A fast (large) society cannot feel pain /
remorse / empathy.
A fast (large) society will always be
cruel to Animals/ Trees/ Air/ Water/ Land
and to Itself.
I am trying to get the following
experiment conducted in a
psychophysiology/ bio-chemistry
laboratory.
There is a link between visual / verbal
speed ( in perception, memory,
imagery ) and the bio-chemical state of
the brain and the body.
Emotion can intensify / sustain only when
visual and verbal processing
associated with the emotion slows down (
stops / freezes ).
The degree of difficulty of an emotion
depends upon the degree of
freezing (of visuals and words ) required
to intensify and sustain that
particular emotion.
Experiment:
Subjects (preferably actors specialising
in tragedy / tragic roles )
will be asked to watch a silent video film
showing any of the
following:-
(1) Human suffering.
(2) Animal suffering.
(3) Suffering ( Destruction ) of Air /
Water / Land / Trees.
Subjects will be asked to intensify and
sustain the subjective feeling of pain/
grief for the sufferer.
The chemical changes associated with the
emotion in the body(blood) would be
measured by appropriate methods.
The silent video film will be shown at
different speeds :
(1) 125% of actual speed.
(2) Actual/real speed.
(3) 75% of actual speed.
(4) 50% of actual speed.
(5) 25% of actual speed.
Results :
(1) Intensity of emotion increases with
the decrease in visual speed.
(2) Intensity of emotion is maximum when
visual speed is minimum (25%
of actual speed)
(3) The amount of chemical change
associated with the emotion in the
body(blood) will be found to increase with
the decrease in visual speed.
(4) The chemical change is maximum when
visual speed is minimum.
(5) The amount of chemical change will
increase with the decrease in
breathing rate. Breathing becomes so slow
and non-rhythmic that it stops
for some time at the inhalation/
exhalation stages.
The above co-relations will be valid for
all subjects -even for those who cannot
feel pain/ grief. Such subjects will
experience emotion associated with
boredom/ discomfort/ restlessness/
irritability/ uneasiness. The chemicals
released will be different but the
co-relation between visual speed and
amount of chemical will be same( the
breathing rates will be different/ fast).
All subjects will experience some kind of
emotion.
[If scientists can discover 4000 different
chemicals in cigarette-smoke then they can
certainly detect the few chemicals
released in blood when weexperience
higher-level emotions like pain, empathy,
compassion, remorse etc… ]
In the 2nd stage of experiment we shall
replace the silent video film with a
Narrator ( Audio only ) and repeat the
procedure thereby establishing the link
between intensity of emotion and verbal
speed. The narrator will slow down verbal
speed by-- speaking slowly, stretching
words, repetition of words/ sentences
& making use of
pause/ silence between words.
Please note:
(1) A thinking mind cannot intensify /
sustain any emotion.
While this statement is generally true for
all emotions, it is particularly true for
all painful emotions.
(2) Pain / remorse / empathy cannot be
experienced in a society in which visual
(verbal) speed and breathing- rates are
fast . It is impossible.
PROOF.
Proof of the link between pain and slow
visuals / words :-
In the last century man has made thousands
of movies / films on various
themes / subjects. Whenever pain / tragedy
is shown in any film the
visuals ( scenes ) and words ( dialogues )
are always slowed down. In
many films tragedy is shown in slow
motion. At the most intense moment
of pain the films almost become static /
stationary.
Tragedy-films provide direct proof /
evidence of the link between pain
and slowness.
Pain can intensify / sustain only when
visual ( and verbal ) speed slows
down( stops/ freezes).
Change in
visual speed over the years.
One thousand years ago visuals would
change only when man physically
moved himself to a new place or when other
people ( animals / birds )
and objects ( clouds / water ) physically
moved themselves before him.
Today man sits in front of TV / Computer
and watches the rapidly
changing visuals / audio.
He sits in a vehicle ( car / train / bus )
and as it moves he watches
the rapidly changing visuals.
He turns the pages of a book / newspaper /
magazine and sees many
visuals / text in a short span.
Change in
verbal speed over the years.
In ancient times verbal processing was
“live” in nature—ie it happened when
people actually spoke.
Today there is non-stop verbal processing
inside the mind through print and
electronic media ( newspapers, books,
magazines, radio, television, computer
etc…) as a result of which the verbal
content & speed has increased
thousands of times.
The speed of visuals ( and words ) has
increased so much during the last
one hundred years that today the human
brain has become incapable of
focussing on slow visuals /words through
perception, memory, imagery.
If we cannot focus on slow visuals / words
we cannot experience emotions associated
with slow visuals /words.
Before the advent of Industrial Revolution
Man's thinking was primarily
limited to :
(a) visual processing ( slow visuals )
(b) verbal / language processing ( slow
words )
Today there are many kinds of fast
thinking :
(1) visual processing ( fast visuals )
(2) verbal / language processing ( fast
words )
(3) Scientific / Technical thinking ( fast
)
(4) Industrial thinking ( fast )
(5) Business thinking ( fast )
(3), (4) & (5) are associated with
Numbers / Symbols / Equations /
Graphs /Circuits / Diagrams / Money /
Accounting etc…
As long as the mind is doing this kind of
thinking it cannot feel any
emotion - not an iota of emotion.
In a fast society slow emotions become
extinct.
In a thinking ( scientific / industrial )
society emotion itself becomes extinct.
Emotion is what remains in the mind when
visual/ verbal processing slows down
(stops/ freezes)
There are certain categories of people who
feel more emotion (subjective experience )
than others.
If we attempt to understand why (and how )
they feel more emotion we can learn a lot
about emotion.
Writers, poets, actors, painters ( and
other artists )
Writers
Writers do verbal ( and associated visual)
processing whole day- every day.
They do slow verbal ( and associated
visual) processing every day.
(A novel that we read in 2 hours might
have taken 2 years to write. This is also
the reason why the reader can never feel
the intensity & duration of emotion
experienced by the writer )
Poets
Poets do verbal ( and associated visual )
processing whole day- every day. There is
more emotion in poetry than in prose. This
happens because there are very few words (
and associated visuals ) in poetry than in
any other kind of writing. There is a very
high degree of freezing / slowing down of
visuals & words in poetry.
Actors
Actors do verbal ( and associated visual )
processing whole day- every day. During
shooting / rehearsal they repeat the
dialogues ( words ) again and again ( the
associated visuals / scenes also get
repeated along with the dialogues )
Painters
Painters do visual ( and associated verbal
) processing whole day- every day. They do
extremely slow visual processing - The
visual on the canvas changes only when the
painter adds to what already exists on the
canvas.
There are some important points to be
noted :
All these people do visual & verbal
processing - whole day - every day.
They do slow visual & verbal
processing.
They do not do scientific / industrial /
business processing whole day - every day.
Most of the city people doing mental work
either do this kind of mental processing
which is associated with Numbers /
Symbols/ Equations / Graphs / Circuits /
Diagrams / Money / Accounting etc… or
they do fast visual ( verbal ) processing
whole day - every day.
This kind of thinking ( processing ) has
come into existence only during the last
200 years and has destroyed our emotional
ability ( circuits ).
Once we speed up our minds we become
incapable of slowing down [it would take
years of effort to slow down]. One can
understand it this way - A supercomputer
cannot process at the rate of an ordinary
computer. Once we speed up [and we have
been speeding up for several generations
now] we cannot slow down because the
neural circuits get altered - the
bio-chemistry of the brain and its anatomy
changes.
Self-Assessment of ( subjective )
intensity of emotion is almost always
wrong.
Suppose the maximum intensity(and
duration) of a particular emotion that
can be experienced by any human being is
100 units.
Let us suppose the maximum intensity(and
duration) of that particular emotion ever
experienced by two people A & B in
their entire life is :
A - 100units
B - 20 units
Now suppose A & B are made subjects on
a particular day and are asked
to feel that particular emotion under
experimental conditions ( or
outside the laboratory ) and the intensity
&duration they actually experience is
:
A - 90 units
B - 18 units
If A & B are then asked to indicate
the intensity &duration of emotion on
a scale
of 0 -10 their response is likely to be ;
A - 9
B - 9
Who is right and who is wrong ?
A is right.
B is wrong - B is wrong by a wide margin -
B has experienced an
intensity(and duration) of 18 units out of
a maximum of 100 units and his correct /
actual score should be 1.8
Self- assessment ( self rating ) can be
accurate only if people have
the capacity to experience the highest
intensity &duration ( units ) of the
particular emotion under study.
In small(slow)agriculture-based societies
the mind used to experience a state of
emotion all the time because of physical
work and slow visual/verbal processing .
People who do physical work experience the
same good subjective-feeling which is
experienced by people who do physical
excercise. [People who do physical work
also sleep much better than people who do
mental work - the quality of sleep is much
better]. If we read one thousand-year-old
literature we will not come across the
term "boredom" - the concept of boredom
did not exist in slow societies. There
were long gaps between different visuals
and between words/ sentences - and people
had the ability to experience/ tolerate
the gaps - it was normal for them.
Emotion can intensify / sustain only when
visual / verbal processing slows down (
stops / freezes ). In an Industrial
(thinking) society people experience very
little emotion because of fast ( visual /
verbal / scientific / industrial /
business ) thinking.
Suppose the maximum intensity and duration
of a particular emotion ( for most people
) in a fast society has reduced to 5 units
( from 100 units that people used to
experience in earlier /slower societies ).
If such people experience 4 units of
emotion they will give themselves a
rating /score of 8 on a scale of 0-10
whereas their actual score should
be 0.4
[Please note :
Fast emotions =emotions associated with
fast visuals/fast words/fast
breathing/fast heart-rate.
Slow emotions=emotions associated with
slow visuals/slow words/slow
breathing/slow heart-rate.
Rate of thinking=number of visuals/words
processed per minute.
Gaps between thinking =gaps between
visuals/ words/ sentences.]
Thoughts and Emotions are interlinked -
but different things - totally/ completly
different.
Words can be spoken - words can be read -
words can be heard.
Emotion is a subjective-experience. Other
examples of subjective experience are
taste, smell, touch, headache, stomach
pain.
One can understand the difference this way
:
When we eat an apple we can feel the taste
of apple. Apple can give us the taste of
apple - but apple is not taste.
If we pour apple juice into a glass - the
glass will not feel the taste - it does
not have the ability to feel taste.
If a person eats an apple he will feel the
taste - because he has the ability to
generate taste from apple.
Words/ Visuals can evoke, intensify and
sustain emotions - but words/ visuals are
not emotions.
In every field there is easy work/activity
and difficult work/activity.
In mathematics there is easy mathematics
and difficult mathematics. Everyone can
add 2+4 within microseconds. A PhD level
problem of mathematics would take hours
[or more] to solve - and that too only by
someone who has spent 20 - 25 years
learning mathematics upto PhD level.
Same way in the field of emotions there
are easy emotions and difficult emotions.
Easy emotions are evoked within
nanoseconds, microseconds and milliseconds
- anger, lust, fear, pleasure,
entertainment and excitement are some
examples. These emotions are associated
with fast breathing and heart-rate. These
emotions don"t require gaps between
thinking to evoke, intensify and sustain.
These are the emotions that can be found
everywhere in today's fast society.
Then there are difficult emotions - which
require ability and years of effort to
develop - emotions associated with pain,
compassion and peaceful states of mind are
some examples. These emotions are
associated with slow breathing and
heart-rate. These emotions require
freezing of thought - freezing of visuals
and words - huge amounts of gaps between
thinking - to evoke, intensify and
sustain.
The experiments I have proposed are
primarily meant for those people who
understand only the language of science.
We don't need experiments to understand
that our present lifestyle is destroying
our Minds and Environment - the evidence
is everywhere - left, right and center.
The craze and fetish for science and
scientific proof has mainly existed for
the last 50 - 100 years. People have lived
on this planet for thousands of years
without needing scientific proof to
understand something. It is Science and
Technology that created the consumerist
Industrial Society which has led to the
destruction of Mind and Nature/
Environment. Who needs more science or
more scientific proof.
Science is not
the solution - Science is the
problem.
IQ Vs EQ
IQ always has an element of change in it
– IQ is about trying to make/ discover/
invent something new all the time.
Change is an inherent feature of IQ.
IQ is also about thinking more in less
time—it involves speeding up of mind.
Someone who does more mathematics in less
time is considered more intelligent in
mathematics. IQ is about change and speed.
EQ is about sustainment of the same
feeling/experience over a period of time.
When we experience any higher-level
emotion for 10 minutes we experience the
same feeling( subjective experience) over
and over again for 10 minutes.
The( same) feeling can sustain only if
there is Repetition.
EQ involves
Repetition—Constancy—Sameness.
IQ and EQ are contradictory.
IQ and EQ are opposites.
IQ and EQ are inversely proportional.
(1) A thinking species destroys the
planet.
(2) Animals lived on earth for billions of
years (in very large numbers)
without destroying nature.
(3) They did not destroy nature because
their thinking / activity was
limited to searching for food for one time
only.
(4) Man has existed on earth in large
numbers for only a few thousand
years / a few hundred years.
(5) Within this short period Man has
destroyed the environment.
(6) This destruction took place because of
Man's thinking.
(7) When man thinks he makes things.
(
When he makes
things he kills animals / trees / air /
water / land.
( Nothing can be made without killing
these five elements of nature ).
(9) A thinking species destroys the
planet.
Intelligence Is A Curse.
This planet is on the verge of total
destruction.
The cause of destruction is –
overactivity.
[Out of millions of species in this world
the human-species is the only one that has
indulged in overactivity]
The cause of overactivity is –
Intelligence.
[The environment would never have got
destroyed if Man had been only as
intelligent as animals]
Intelligence is a curse - a disease - a
disability - an abnormality.
Intelligence is the biggest cause/ source
of destruction in this world.
[In fact Intelligence is the only cause of
destruction in this world other than
natural causes]
Mental
work is injurious to the mind and planet.
Life was never good in the past.
Life will never be good in future.
Life can never be good.
Suffering is a part of life - an inherent
feature of life. Suffering can never be
eliminated.
There is Physical suffering - There is
Mental suffering.
In pre-industrial society there were
physical diseases caused by virus and
bacteria.
In modern society there are hundreds of
lifestyle related physical diseases -
Cancer, Stroke, Diabetes, Obesity,
Multiple Organ Failures.
Mental suffering will always exist. It
exists in agrarian society. It exists in
industrial society. As soon as we stop
working we experience mental suffering.
We avoid mental suffering by working
ceaselessly.
There is no higher purpose behind work.
People do not work because they want to
work.
People work because they cannot stop
working.
The energy generated by the food we eat
forces us to work ceaselessly.
Energy = Energy[Physical Work] +
Energy[Mental Work] + Energy[Suffering/
Subjective Experience]
All three energies on the right side are
inversely proportional to one another.
When we do hard physical work or hard
mental work or a combination of physical
work and mental work almost all energy is
used up in doing work.
When we stop physical work and mental work
the unused energy is experienced as
suffering/ anxiety/ restlessness/
discomfort. This suffering is so intense -
so unbearable - that most people cannot
stop physical activity and mental activity
simultaneously for even 2 minutes.
People do not work because they want to
work.
People do not work for their family.
People do not work for their nation.
People do not work for any reason.
People work because they cannot stop
working.
It does not matter what kind of work we do
- whether it is physical work or any kind
of mental work. As soon as we stop working
we suffer from restlessness, anxiety,
uneasiness and discomfort.
[ In Yoga and Meditation the goal is to
stop Physical Activity and Mental Activity
simultaneously - and then transform the
subjective-experience of restlessness/
anxiety/ suffering into peace. This
requires ability and years of effort ]
For most people it is a choice between
physical and mental work.
The switch-over from physical work to
mental work is disastrous for the planet.
Man can do the same physical work every
day.
Man cannot do the same mental work every
day.
When man used to do physical work (
farming and related activities ) he could
do the same repetitive work day after day-
generation after generation.
After the Industrial Revolution when man
switched-over to mental work he began a
never ending process of making new
machines / things / products-- a process
which can only end with the complete
destruction of environment ( planet ).
When society switches over from physical
work to mental work it starts making
thousands of consumer goods. People start
calling them necessities. They are not
necessities at all - 90% of consumer goods
that we see today did not exist 50 years
ago.
Food, Water, Air, Little clothing, Little
Shelter - these are necessities.
Close your nose and stop breathing for a
few minutes - you will then know what
necessity is.
Stop drinking water for a few days - you
will then know what necessity is.
Stop eating food for a few days - you will
then know what necessity is.
Today people are making thousands of
consumer goods - not because they are
necessities - but because they cannot stop
making them. People cannot stop doing work
- After switching over to mental work they
will keep on making thousands of
unnecessary consumer goods. Industrial
Society is destroying necessary
things
[Animals,Trees,Air,Water and
Land] for makng unnecessary
things
[Consumer Goods]. This is the
reason why the switch-over from physical
work to mental work is so destructive.
This is the point of no-return - once this
is crossed the destruction of Environment/
Nature is inevitable.
If we live
a simple life there is individual
suffering - but no largescale destruction
of Environment.
If we live a consumerist life there is
individual suffering - plus largescale
destruction of Environment.
The nature of mental work is such that man
has to do new mental work every day- in
fact he has to do new mental work every
moment- Man cannot repeat in the next
moment the mental work that he has already
done in the previous moment.
A mathematician cannot solve the same
problem of mathematics every day- once he
has solved it he will be forced to take up
a new( unsolved) problem. Even when he is
solving one particular problem he has to
move from one step to another - there is a
continuous change involved -- there is no
constancy at any stage.
An engineer cannot design the same machine
again and again –once he has made a
machine he will try to make changes/
design a new one.
A writer cannot write the same article
every day- he will be forced to write
something new every day/ every moment
(This is also the reason behind endless
discussions/ debates/ arguments).
Discussions, Debates and Arguments.
Let us examine how much discussion we are
collectively having in Industrial Society
every day.
Millions of pages in print – newspapers
/ books / magazines.
Millions of web-pages on internet every
day.
Now add to this all the conversation
(discussion) we are having through radio /
television / telephone and several other
media every day.
And add to this all the discussion we are
having through face-to-face interaction.
The volume of discussion per individual in
one week is greater than the total
discussion someone living in
pre-industrial society would have in his
entire life.
There is too much discussion in modern
society.
Discussion is not solving our problems –
discussion itself has become a problem –
a gigantic problem.
A society that does mental work will
discuss itself to destruction [extinction]
A society that does mental work will argue
itself to destruction [extinction]
A society that does mental work will
debate itself to destruction [extinction]
A society that does mental work can never
stop discussions / debates / arguments –
it is impossible. It will discuss / debate
/ argue till the last moment of it’s
existence.
Discussions / Debates / Arguments –
these are creations of a society that has
switched-over from physical work to mental
work.
Discussions / Debates / Arguments –
these are diseases of a society that has
switched-over from physical work to mental
work.
Discussions / debates / arguments can end
only in agriculture-based societies that
do physical work.
We cannot do physical-work and mental-work
simultaneously.
There is an inverse relationship between
physical-work and mental-work.
If one is high [more] the other has got to
be low [less]
If we want to do physical work we have to
reduce mental activity by the same
proportion.
If we want to do mental work we have to
reduce physical activity by the same
proportion.
There is very little discussion / debate /
argument in societies that do physical
work - ie, agriculture-based societies -
And this is the reason why they are
millions of times saner than industrial
societies.
Change is an inherent feature of mental
work.
Since change is an inherent feature of
mental work - a society that does mental
work can never be at peace with itself –
it is impossible.
A society that does mental work will
always be restless.
Only those societies that do physical work
[agriculture and related activities] can
find contentment and peace.
As long as
cities exist we can neither save the
environment nor the mind.
To save the [ remaining ] environment from
destruction man will have to
return back to physical work [ smaller
communities ].
To save the mind from mental diseases man
will have to return back to physical work
[ smaller communities ].
Criminality and Abnormality.
Industrial Society has collectively killed
billions of Animals and Trees [ Remember -
plant and animal species developed over a
period of millions ofyears]
It has also killed most of Water and Air [
Please note - polluting Water and Air is
equivalent to killing Water and Air ]
The soil was not fertile when the earth
was created. It became fertile - very
slowly - over a period of millions of
years. And look what man has done - He has
covered millions and millions of hectares
of land with cement and concrete. All the
land that has been covered with cement and
concrete has been killed.
Man has stockpiled thousands of tonnes of
highly radioactive nuclear material and
nuclear waste which is going to remain
highly radioactive and carcinogenic for
the next thousands of years - and which
has already leaked into the environment
hundreds of times.
There is an arsenal of 50,000 nuclear
missiles that can destroy the planet
several times over.
What could be more criminal than this.
What could be more abnormal than this.
Lawyers and Judges are trying to catch a
few criminals.
They don’t realize the entire Industrial
Society is criminal.
Psychologists and Psychiatrists are trying
to classify a few people as abnormal.
They don’t realize the entire Industrial
Society is abnormal.
Industrial Society is collectively making
millions of tonnes of weapons and
explosives [of all kinds] every year –
and then it wonders why there is so much
violence in this world.
Big Mystery.
If you make millions of tonnes of weapons
and explosives on earth they are going to
be used on earth – they are not going to
be used on Mars.
The entire Industrial Society is a
terrorist.
The Military-Industrial-Complex is the
real terrorist.
Science and Technology is the terrorist.
Make things
Buy things
Sell things
This is not the purpose of life.
Destroy Shopping Culture.
No one deserves more.
Everyone deserves less.
Life can sustain on earth only when
everyone has less.
There was a time when Man knew nothing
about the number of species and millions
of species existed.
Today Man knows the names of millions of
species and nothing is left of the
species.
It took millions of years for millions of
species to slowly come into existence on
earth - and man has decimated all other
species.
After destroying millions of
highly-developed species on earth Man is
today searching for a few molecules of
life in outer-space.
If a few microbes, a few molecules of
methane / water are found on Mars - it
becomes the newspaper headline.
They call it progress.
The following is about to come true.
Nature can exist
(1) before man.
(2) after man.
(3) not with man.
Destruction of environment can be divided
into two parts - destruction of
environment for producing food - and
destruction of environment for making
thousands of consumer goods. In
pre-Industrial Society people destroyed
environment primarily for
food. In
Industrial Society people are destroying
environment for
food and consumer goods. If
we want to save environment we will have
to bring down the second to the minimum
level by not making all unnecessary
consumer goods.
Environment can be saved only if we stop
production of most [ more than
99% ] of the consumer goods we are making
today.
Environment cannot be saved by
recycling.
The attempt of an industrial society to
save the environment by recycling is like
shooting someone 10,000 times and then
trying to save him by taking out one
bullet.
Time is running out for this planet.
sushil_yadav
[I am
seeking help from volunteers in spreading
this message far and wide]
