Have Switched To My 'New Age' Perception

[Confused Ape]

I decided to make this a religion topic because I think it might be relevant to religious belief.

When I start getting bored because my arthritis is playing up and I have to rest more I'll switch my brain over to a different way of operating. I call it my 'New Age' perception for want of a better label.

Everything now feels alive and it seems that there's meaning and purpose to life and the universe in general. When I'm in the 'ordinary perception' way of operating I know that my arthritis is playing up because I've been overdoing things. In 'New Age' perception, however, I'm getting the idea that my arthritis is playing up because I've been neglecting this way of operating so I'm being forced to switch over to it.

I find this interesting because there's a part of my unconscious mind which has some form of New Age religious belief when I switch over to 'New Age'. Where can this part of my unconscious be coming from? This question is why I find the video I'm posting particularly interesting. A Neuroanatomist had a stroke and her experience showed her that we have two cognitive minds - one from the left hemisphere and one from the right. Right hemisphere consciousness is being at one with everything etc.

I have to admit that my 'New Age' perception feels a lot nicer than 'ordinary perception' so maybe that's why many religious people want to keep their 'religious perception'. The advantage that I have, however, is that I can enjoy it without having to take any religious dogma on board.

http://youtu.be/UyyjU8fzEYU

[Angrboda]

I'm fascinated by the subject, as it forks into so many deep questions about epistemology, ontology, psychology, ethics, spirituality, religion, and pragmatics, but at the moment I have nothing to contribute on the matter.

I will however, suggest the following video, as well as investigating the subject of the psychology of split-brain subjects, pioneered by Sperry and Gazzaniga. I'll be back when the fog lifts.

Wikipedia: Split-brain (The point I want to emphasize isn't well brought out in Wikipedia; some writings on the subject suggest a great deal of both autonomy and substantiality to the hemispheres, to the point that each can be said to have unique personalities. [And I suppose Julian Jaynes' hypothesis of the emergence of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind, as well as slot in here as well.] And I'm babbling incoherently now, so I'll stop.)

"The Divided Brain"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFs9WO2B8uI

(ETA: If the "by-product" theory of religion is correct, there are emotional [and perhaps health] rewards associated with religious ritual. [Which has been analogized to our taste for sweet and fatty foods; something that is rewarded for reasons that, in current context, are overstimulating.] As such, there may be substantial reasons why a religious life may be "more addictive" than a secular one, as a result of the cognitive rewards from its practice; the question has been asked as to how one should attempt to compete with a lifestyle that is inherently more cognitively rewarding?)

[Confused Ape]

I will however, suggest the following video, as well as investigating the subject of the psychology of split-brain subjects, pioneered by Sperry and Gazzaniga.

Thanks for posting that video. I found it very interesting.

[And I suppose Julian Jaynes' hypothesis of the emergence of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind,

I read that book years ago and think it could be relevant to Jungian psychology - which is a good time to quote Jung on God.

A young female student accused Jung of being an atheist. Jung was confused and asked the student where she had gotten that idea. The student paraphrased a quote she had read in which Jung said he didn’t believe God existed. Jung smiled and said:

Dear girl, rest easy. When we have a relationship to a particular thing or experience with it - belief/faith ceases to be a factor.

The truth is this, I have had the experience of being gripped by something that is stronger than myself, something that people call God. So, I will never say that I believe that God exists. I must say I know God exists.

—Carl Jung, The Undiscovered Self

He was talking about having a subjective experience of something which people label God. This is why he didn't have to believe that God exists as a subjective experience - he knew because he had such an experience himself.

(ETA: If the "by-product" theory of religion is correct, there are emotional [and perhaps health] rewards associated with religious ritual.

I think it's very possible that religious ritual developed as a way to switch over to what I call 'New Age' perception. I don't use any form of ritual because I'm able to tune in - I think it's because of the way my brain naturally works.

As such, there may be substantial reasons why a religious life may be "more addictive" than a secular one, as a result of the cognitive rewards from its practice; the question has been asked as to how one should attempt to compete with a lifestyle that is inherently more cognitively rewarding?

All one has to do is convince religious people that they don't need religious dogma in order to switch over to this form of perception. Easier said than done.

[xXUKAtheistForTheTruthXx]

I decided to make this a religion topic because I think it might be relevant to religious belief.

When I start getting bored because my arthritis is playing up and I have to rest more I'll switch my brain over to a different way of operating. I call it my 'New Age' perception for want of a better label.

Everything now feels alive and it seems that there's meaning and purpose to life and the universe in general. When I'm in the 'ordinary perception' way of operating I know that my arthritis is playing up because I've been overdoing things. In 'New Age' perception, however, I'm getting the idea that my arthritis is playing up because I've been neglecting this way of operating so I'm being forced to switch over to it.

I find this interesting because there's a part of my unconscious mind which has some form of New Age religious belief when I switch over to 'New Age'. Where can this part of my unconscious be coming from? This question is why I find the video I'm posting particularly interesting. A Neuroanatomist had a stroke and her experience showed her that we have two cognitive minds - one from the left hemisphere and one from the right. Right hemisphere consciousness is being at one with everything etc.

I have to admit that my 'New Age' perception feels a lot nicer than 'ordinary perception' so maybe that's why many religious people want to keep their 'religious perception'. The advantage that I have, however, is that I can enjoy it without having to take any religious dogma on board.

http://youtu.be/UyyjU8fzEYU

So your religious side is basically the good side of it and no acting like a dumbass?

[Confused Ape]

So your religious side is basically the good side of it and no acting like a dumbass?

The only thing remotely religious about it is the idea concerning my arthritis playing up when I'm using 'New Age' perception. This appears to be the result of right brain consciousness interpreting things differently to left brain consciousness.