October 2009 Newsletter
YOUR HAPPY GENE: THE SCIENCE OF INDUCING
SPIRITUAL STATES OF HEART
by Dr. Dawson Church
The mythology presented in the popular media is that there is a gene to control this function, and a gene to control that. In reality, about 85% of our genes don’t become active at all until they are activated by a signal from the environment outside of the cell. What if science could identify genes that express during spiritual experiences, and furthermore, what if we discovered the environmental influences that turned these genes on or off? What if we could deliberately engineer the genetics of happiness, spirituality and love?
We’re actually at that point already. A series of groundbreaking studies of gene expression has identified groups of genes, primarily regulatory genes that regulate the activity of organs or entire body systems, that are expressed differently as our psychological, emotional and spiritual states change. What’s more, there are tools of consciousness that we can use to change those states, and deliberately trigger the expression of these genes at will. I call these your “happy” genes, and this presentation presents the results of this research, along with demonstrations of some of the popular new techniques that trigger happy gene expression, such as heart coherence (HeartMath) and EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques). This lively and engaging presentation is guaranteed to leave the audience buzzing with a gene-induced natural “high”!
PLACE: Christ Episcopal Church
1040 Border Road, Los Altos, CA
SPEAKER: Dawson Church, PhD, has edited or authored many books, and collaborated with leading authorities including Larry Dossey, MD, Bernie Siegel, MD, Caroline Myss, PhD, and others. He founded Soul Medicine Institute to research and teach emerging psychological and medical techniques that can yield fast and radical cures. His book, The Genie in Your Genes, www.GenieBestseller.com pioneers the field of Epigenetics, (control of genes from outside the cell), explaining the remarkable self-healing mechanisms now emerging from this science. He has authored several scientific studies of Energy Psychology, and through EFT Power Training(www.EFTPowerTraining.com), teaches groups how to apply these breakthroughs to health and athletic performance.
Students with ID, a $5 donation is asked
From Hwy 101:
1. Take the San Antonio Road exit into Mtn. View.
2. Continue on San Antonio Road past Camino Real to Foothill Expressway (approximately
4 miles).
3. Turn left on Foothill Expressway.
4. Turn right at the first corner onto El Monte Road.
5. Turn left at the first stop light onto University Ave until it ends and you must turn right onto Anita Ave., then follow the University Avenue/Anita Ave. instructions below.
From Hwy 280:
1. Take the El Monte/Moody Road exit in Los Altos.
2. Turn on El Monte toward SF Bay.
3. Turn right at the stop light onto University Ave until it ends and you must turn right onto Anita Ave., and then follow the University Avenue/Anita instructions below.
From University Avenue/Anita Avenue:
1. Turn right on Anita Ave, take an immediate left onto Border Road for 1-1/2 blocks.
2. Pass the junction with Border Hill Dr., then turn right at the first large driveway and go up the road on the LEFT SIDE to the top church parking lot. (Sign will say Church Office).
3. Park in the large lot at the TOP of the slope.
4. FMBR meets in the bldg. on the left, opposite the main door to the church sanctuary.
EDITORIAL
CONSCIOUSNESS
by Willian Gough
Consciousness! So you want to raise your "consciousness." Just what does this mean? Although conscious experience is very familiar to all of us, it is extremely mysterious. The International Dictionary of Psychology really hedges the issue. They say: "Consciousness: The having of perceptions, thoughts, and feelings; awareness. The term is impossible to define except in terms that are unintelligible without a grasp of what consciousness means. Many fall into the trap of confusing consciousness with self-consciousness - to be conscious it is only necessary to be aware of the external world. Consciousness is a fascinating but elusive phenomenon: it is impossible to specify what it is, what it does, or why it evolved. Nothing worth reading has been written about it."
Now lets go to a reference edited by a professor of neuropsychology: The Oxford Companion to the Mind. The entries on consciousness cover five pages but start out as follows: "CONSCIOUSNESS is both the most obvious and the most mysterious feature of our minds. On the one hand, what could be more certain or manifest to each of us than that he or she is a subject of experience, an enjoyer of perceptions and sensations, a sufferer of pain, an entertainer of ideas, and a conscious deliberator? On the other hand what in the world can consciousness be? How can physical bodies in the physical world contain such a phenomenon? --- Not only have we so far no good theory of consciousness, we lack even a clear and uncontroversial pre-theoretical description of the presumed phenomenon. Some have gone so far as to deny that there is anything for the term to name. The mere fact that such a familiar feature of our lives has resisted for so long all attempts to characterize it suggests that our conception of it is at fault."
So how are some theoretical physicists addressing the issue of consciousness? Dr. Amit Goswami in his book The Self-Aware Universe: How Consciousness Creates the Material World gives the following definition -- "Consciousness: The ground of being (original, self-contained, and constitutive of all things) that manifest as the subject that chooses, and experiences what it chooses, as it self-referentially collapses the quantum wave function in the presence of brain-mind awareness". Dr. David Bohm in Wholeness and the Implicate Order discusses consciousness in considerable detail. Yet in his more recent physics oriented book, The Undivided Universe with Dr. B.J. Hiley, they take the "position that quantum theory itself can be understood without bringing in consciousness." However they state: "The intuition that consciousness and quantum theory are in some sense related seems to be a good one. -- The basic relationship of quantum theory and consciousness is that they have the implicate order in common." To accomplish this Bohm extends quantum theory by postulating an incoming "pilot wave" carrying "active information" which can actively put form into something or can imbue something with form.
So let's do a little research. In the unabridged edition of the Random House Dictionary of the English Language the first two definitions of consciousness are: 1. Awareness of one's own existence, sensations, thoughts, surroundings, etc., and 2. The thoughts and feelings, collectively, of an individual or of an aggregate of people. I believe that these two definitions highlight the source of the confusion -- the difference between consciousness and awareness. Today we tend to use these terms interchangeably. The Latin root of consciousness is "what everybody knows all together." It refers to something that is essentially social and cultural. Whereas awareness is based on the word wary or aware, meaning "watchfulness" or "heedfulness."
I believe the underlying fault in our general understanding of consciousness arises because of a paradigm difference. A great many scientists and psychologists hold a worldview that the basic stuff in the universe is matter-energy and that everything is initially random. Hence, mind emerges out of physical matter and creates consciousness (thus, awareness and consciousness appear to be one). My personal worldview holds that the physical world and the apparent separateness between matter-energy stuff and mind-spirit stuff both arise from (and are an integral part of) an all encompassing and intelligent unity. The definition of consciousness can therefore be broken into two parts. The first is the acceptance that an intelligent energy originates from a Source (the Absolute) beyond space and time and permeates the entire universe. Various cultures have called this energy chi, ki, prana, or life force. The second definition focuses upon awareness. The degree to which a human (or any other physical or non-physical form) is "consciously aware" of this universal energy/intelligence. As this conscious awareness is raised, a person, organization or society becomes "more enlightened."
FMBR UPCOMING EVENTS
OCTOBER FMBR WORKSHOPS
“Banish Your Blocks with EFT!” – Dr. Dawson Church will hold a workshop on EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), a fast, simple technique for identifying the “muscle memory” that holds negative blocks in place, and releasing those parts of the body. EFT has been proven effective in many scientific studies.
October 24th, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM at Christ Episcopal Church, 1040 Border Road, Los Altos, CA
Cost: At door $150 ($135 for FMBR members), Pre-paid $135 ($125 members).
FMBR Halloween Psychokinesis Party - Dr. Tiffany Schneider will be offering a lecture on the history of psychokinesis and how it works, and then guide us through an experience of the phenomenon.
October 30th from 7:30 to 10:30 PM, Café Del Soul, 256 Shoreline Hwy, Mill Valley
$40.00 per person - $60.00 per couple -$25.00 Student ID $5.00 off if you’re dressed in a Halloween costume!
FUTURE FMBR MEETINGS
November 27, 2009: Edie Fischer, Research Psychologist, CEO of FMBR and Michael Barclay, Weather Shaman will discuss the Language of Nature and the Weather Modification Project FMBR is supporting. See: www.climatewhisperer.com.
November 10, 2009: In the evening, starting at 7 PM Greg Yau, martial arts teacher, chinese medicine expert, and past President of FMBR, will lead a workshop.
January 22, 2010: Dr. Rollin McCraty, Director of Research, Inst. of HeartMath, will discuss The Global Coherence Initiative, a very exciting science-based initiative.
February 26, 2010: Connie Grauds, President, The Association of Natural Medicine Pharmacists, will speak of the world of the irrational in which spirit and matter meld in her 16-year apprenticeship in Amazonian shamanism in the jungles of Peru. See also this website: www.spiritedmedicine.com.
May 28, 2010: Eliza Mada Dalian healer, mystic, spiritual teacher, and founder of the new Dalian healing method (DHM) will be the speaker. She "offers a fresh new perspective on healing, awakening, and the human search out of fear, pain, and suffer-ing".
May 29, 2010: Eliza Mada Dalian will lead a workshop. ( More information later.)
FMBR Members meeting and election:
Before the regular FMBR meeting on Oct 23 there will be an election of 3 members of the Board of Directors FMBR. The 3 nominated are;
Judy Kitt
Ken Morley
Edie Fischer – Chairman of the Board
Yevgeniy Gorodetskiy – President
Judy Kitt – Vice President
Mary Cummings – Administrative Director
Austin Marx – Treasurer
Tiffany Schneider – Secretary
Francis Lee – A / V Director
Jerry Gin – Director at Large
Greg Yau – Director of New Business
Ken Morley – Communications Director
Additional Positions:
William C. Gough – CEO Emeritus
Earl Goetze – Database Administrator,
Ken Morley – Webmaster
Trudy Dong – Assistant Treasurer
Smart Life Forum
October 15, Gary Taubes,
November 19, John Dommisse, MD,
December 17, Dawson Church
INFORMATION ABOUT THE
FOUNDATION FOR MIND-BEING RESEARCH
The Foundation was established in 1980 to assist in the evolution of consciousness studies and to help bring this new field into wider recognition as a bona fide science. The interdisciplinary nature of the field is reflected in the activities of the organization and in the breadth of interests of its members who currently represent areas of engineering, science, medicine, the humanities, and the arts.
With its major focus on facilitating the development of an integrated model of consciousness, the Foundation provides encouragement and resources to a rather unique group of creative researchers and scientists with the objective of betterment of the individual, the society, and the environment.
Because of the special nature of scientific inquiry in this area, the Foundation is interested in building its regular membership with competent individuals who:
* are open to a multidisciplinary approach to knowledge
* recognize they are an integral part of any experiment
* know and are prepared to extend their own level of consciousness
The intention is to develop high standards of credibility in all research activities and publications.
Donations made to the Foundation are tax deductible.
The Foundation is incorporated under the laws of the State of California and operates as a non-profit scientific research organization under IRS code 509 (a)2 with tax exempt status under section 501 (c)3
Foundation for Mind-Being Research
P.O. Box 449, Los Altos, Ca 94023-0449
| Cofounder/CEO Emeritus Chairman of Board President Vice President Administrative Director Treasurer Assistant Treasurer Secretary Director New Business Director Audio-Visual Director Commmunications Director At-Large |
William C. Gough Edie Fischer Yevgeniy Gorodetskiy Judy Kitt Mary Cummings Austin Marx Trudy Dong Tiffany Schneider Greg Yau Francis Lee Kenneth Morley Jerry Gin |