MINDRAMP PODCAST - LIVE LONG, LIVE WELL Michael C Patterson

Neuroscientist Dr, Jeff Darling and I discuss various aspects of aging, including" 
Why is the topic of aging of interest to a young neuroscientist?How to define aging.the "wear-and-tear" hypothesis of aging.What is inflammageing?How to age successfully?Support the showSupport our work to promote creative aging. Subscribe to the MINDRAMP Podcast.

Are men's and women's brains different. Yes!  The brains of men and women are more alike than they are different, but there are differences.  Not better, or worse, but different. Neuroscientists, Dr. Jeff Darling and I discusses a range of topics related to  sex differences in the brain , including; 
Why it is important to study sex differences in the brainHow women's brains differ from men's.The effect of hormones on  brain developmentMenopauseSex differences and drug developmentWhy the study of sex differences is controversial.Support the showSupport our work to promote creative aging. Subscribe to the MINDRAMP Podcast.

What do people undergo when they have a mystical experience, and why would a mystical experience help us to un-muddle our minds? 

In this episode I explain how mysticism is an expression of what I call hemispheric gelassenheit. I use first person accounts of mystical experiences from neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor, the philosopher jiddu Krishnamurti and the primatologist Jane Goodall to explore the common characteristics of a mystical experience and to speculate how it reflects an adjustment of the way the two hemispheres of our brain interact with each other. 

Take a look at the chapter headings. 
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This episode, the first of three episodes on music, explores the purpose and power of music. MINDRAMP's mission is to provide evidence-based information that can help you to live long and to live well. We focus on keeping our brains healthy and on managing our minds to promote happiness and equanimity. 

Can music play a role in these goals? Yes, it can!  Music can help us keep our bodies and brains healthy. Music helps us to develop the capacities we need to survive and thrive in our environments.  We provide a number of framing ideas that make it easier to understand the evolutionary purpose of music and easier to understand how music has the power to change our physiology.  
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A mystical experience, similar to the "enlightenment" described by Buddhists and other contemplative practices, involves a disillusion of self and a sense of unity with something grander than ourselves.  We  describes this something-grander-than-ourselves, in various ways - as God, as Tao, as the natural order and so on.  

In this episode we explore the following topics
Common characteristics of a mystical experienceIain McGilchrists hemisphere hypothesisAn account of a mystical experience from Clare Booth LuceIntroverted and Extroverted types of unityThe power of metaphors: "The Kingdom of God," as an exampleNo Self: the disillusion of self. Mathieu Ricard and Wolf Singer's book Beyond The SelfDifferent approaches to enlightenment, Buddhist, mystical and hemisphericUnity with God (etc.) is a process of becoming. Support the showSupport our work to promote creative aging. Subscribe to the MINDRAMP Podcast.

In this episode I introduce a new term I am using - "Hemisphere Gelassenheit." It is a combination of the german word, "gelassenheit," coined by the medieval Christian mystic Meister Eckhart and the hemisphere hypothesis as expounded by the contemporary scholar iain McCilchrist.

Gelassenheit is a process of letting go. The full process involves a letting go from one thing and an opening up to something else.  Combining this with the hemisphere hypothesis gives us the strategy for un-muddling our mind and escaping from the distorting effects of left hemisphere dominance.  The hemipshere gelassenheit strategy is to let go of left hemisphere modes of perceptions and an opening up to a more realistic, holistic and integrated perspective of reality afforded by the right hemisphere. 

Click the CHAPTERS tab above to access a list of chapter divisions within the podcast.
Support the showSupport our work to promote creative aging. Subscribe to the MINDRAMP Podcast.