Latest blog posts
See below for your search result
I recently read a very interesting paper by Shadlen and colleagues, who discussed the neural correlates of decision making. In this paper they discussed the issue of responsibility: if our brain is fully deterministic, and our actions are governed by our brain, then can we said to be responsible for our actions? In particular, if there is a lot of noise in our brain, and that causes us to accidentally commit a negative action. So the question is: what are we to do?
Last week for me was a whirl-wind of emotions. I was getting ready for a conference, and at the same time had to deal with a co-author on a paper who kept wanting to change things (which involved me doing a lot more work in time that I simply did not have). In short, it was a great chance to work with my emotions. And today was the travel day to the conference, with the lovely surprise that someone decided to jump in front of the train, such that all trains were out of commission and I had to find another route to Berlin. Yet, surprisingly, after not dealing with the previous issues very elegantly, this last little bit of train delays did not disturb me majorly. At every road block (e.g., a bus driver driving very slowly although all passengers had a connection to catch on the other end) somehow there was a voice in me that said something about that all these feelings and emotions were just that: thoughts and emotions (and not atom bombs!).

U.S. Congressman Tim Ryan, a big believer in the benefits of meditation, is advocating for making mindfulness a part of the lives of everyday Americans.

Thursday, 12 April 2012 13:29

How long before you are paid to meditate?

There is not one but four delightful, fresh roses on the table. They are glorious buds; a superb pink, and they smell divine. I am sitting having lunch while my wife Ruth and I are leading a meditation retreat. I find myself marveling at the attention to detail and then my mind turns to wondering how long it will be before people are paid to come to these programs?

Here’s more from my What Meditation Really Is Skype with Vincent Horn, co-founder of Buddhist Geeks. We discuss first how technology can support contemplative practice. In the second video we speak about some of the exciting challenges and opportunities when bringing scientists and contemplatives together in the same room. Enjoy!


Recently, I spent almost 90 minutes on skype speaking with Vincent Horn, co-founder of Buddhist Geeks. The Buddhist Geeks podcasts are wildly popular and all kinds of unusual topics are covered through interviews of Buddhist meditators, teachers, scholars and all kinds of other fascinating people. So, I asked Vincent if we could turn the tables and have him be the subject of an interview. He readily agreed.

Meet Nuptul Rinpoche, a Tenzin Gyatso Scholar. Late last year, I blogged (here) about the program which is inspired by HH Dalai Lama, to bring the living tradition of Tibetan Buddhist wisdom together with the insight and intelligence of modern scientific research. By taking accomplished Buddhist scholars, trained in the traditional way, and giving them a first class western university education the result could be incredibly beneficial for humanity—a new synthesis of ancient wisdom and modern scientific inquiry.

Tuesday, 13 March 2012 10:02

How we manifest the universe

I was writing about the the role of consciousness in quantum phsyics lately. Here is what Deepak Chopra has to say about how the conscious observer manifests the universe that he then experiences. It's an interesting mix of Buddhist and Western scientific approaches, I especially like the quote from Eugene Wigner (Nobel laureate in 1963): "It is not possible to formulate the laws of Quantum Mechanics in a fully consistant way without reference to consciousness.
I only hope this does not end up to become some "Chopra meets The Secret"...
I got this interview with U.S. Congressman Tim Ryan for our WhatMeditationReallyIs.com blog. Representative Ryan, a big believer in the benefits of meditation, is advocating for making mindfulness a part of the lives of everyday Americans. He has a new book coming out on the 27th of March called “A Mindful Nation”. Tim is doing great things in congress to bring mindfulness, meditation and emotional intelligence into society, including finding funding for Linda Lantieri’s (who I blogged about here) program with school children.
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next > End >>
Page 1 of 6