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  1. Don DeGracia

    Dr. Donald DeGracia, NIH Medical Scientist Talks Yoga and Consciousness |388|

    Hi Steve There is a difference between moralistic self-righteousness and making an evaluation. A child, a cat or dog, someone with disease, etc. are the "lesser rank". If you don't like the term, that is fine, we can replace it with "people to whom we should respond with compassion". And I...
  2. Don DeGracia

    Dr. Donald DeGracia, NIH Medical Scientist Talks Yoga and Consciousness |388|

    Hi again, David! LOL! All of my writing is publicly and freely available so, no, there are no political hangups with what I say in public. There are many different ways to approach your comments. First a couple specific things: > NS needs gradual change to be feasible. Darwinian evolution...
  3. Don DeGracia

    Dr. Donald DeGracia, NIH Medical Scientist Talks Yoga and Consciousness |388|

    Hi David Those are very interesting points. I'll tackle them in reverse order. The question is: what aspects of the other complexity of neurons would you simulate? There are some factors that may enhance neural nets, such as simulating the higher order structures that synapses form, such as...
  4. Don DeGracia

    Dr. Donald DeGracia, NIH Medical Scientist Talks Yoga and Consciousness |388|

    Dear Michael I have offended you and I apologize for that. If you took me to belittle Kastrup's work and its importance to you, that was not my intention. I was expressing my weariness at the, as I say in Yogic View, facades of academic respectability that has been my experience in the...
  5. Don DeGracia

    Dr. Donald DeGracia, NIH Medical Scientist Talks Yoga and Consciousness |388|

    Hi Michael Thanks for the very interesting letter! A couple replies: >>you framed it in almost materialistic terms I perhaps wasn't as clear as I could be on this point. There is the interpretation about the link between physical structure and mind/consciousness/behavior that most people think...
  6. Don DeGracia

    Dr. Donald DeGracia, NIH Medical Scientist Talks Yoga and Consciousness |388|

    It's my pleasure, Dan. I have tons of fun engaging with people intellectually.
  7. Don DeGracia

    Dr. Donald DeGracia, NIH Medical Scientist Talks Yoga and Consciousness |388|

    Hi David That is a really smart question and hard to address in a quick answer. I do a whole 2 hr lecture about the nuances of the nervous system along the lines you raise. Two key points: 1. Real neurons are insanely more complex than any software coding method we've developed, and 2. Neurons...
  8. Don DeGracia

    Dr. Donald DeGracia, NIH Medical Scientist Talks Yoga and Consciousness |388|

    Hi Michael That was really interesting and really moving. Yes, it sounds like you are "getting it". I can take it one step further even. You're consciousness IS the Absolute. You have to distinguish between the contents of consciousness and consciousness per se. Consciousness per se is the...
  9. Don DeGracia

    Dr. Donald DeGracia, NIH Medical Scientist Talks Yoga and Consciousness |388|

    Hi David Yes, your impression of neural nets is correct. They mimic certain associative abilities that our brain and memory systems also share. These very much fall under the heading of "non-conscious processing". This is the kind of stuff I was referring to in the previous post. For sure...
  10. Don DeGracia

    Dr. Donald DeGracia, NIH Medical Scientist Talks Yoga and Consciousness |388|

    Hi again Dan! The manifest world is vibrations of consciousness. I try to point out in the book that materialism and idealism are actually the exact same viewpoint. We are conscious of "stuff" that includes the world we perceive, the emotions we feel, the thoughts we think, the desires and...
  11. Don DeGracia

    Dr. Donald DeGracia, NIH Medical Scientist Talks Yoga and Consciousness |388|

    Consciousness has no beginning. Time is a product of our minds. But consciousness transcends our minds. Time is the illusion. Eternity has no beginning or end. I perhaps sound like an idiot saying these things. I suggest you read van der Leeuw's book. I am only trying to convey ideas I learned...
  12. Don DeGracia

    Dr. Donald DeGracia, NIH Medical Scientist Talks Yoga and Consciousness |388|

    Hi David I agree with the sentiment you express. There was been one technical development in AI called "deep networks". These are multilayered neural nets and are used for all kinds of things nowadays, like data mining, photo classification, and even underlie how the Jeopardy-playing computer...
  13. Don DeGracia

    Dr. Donald DeGracia, NIH Medical Scientist Talks Yoga and Consciousness |388|

    Hi Michael Thanks for getting all the books! I hope you keep your sanity after reading all of them! LOL! (seriously, just joking!!). I addressed the issue of group vs. individual above so won't repeat here. But I will add that yes, reincarnation continues until we recognize what is going on...
  14. Don DeGracia

    Dr. Donald DeGracia, NIH Medical Scientist Talks Yoga and Consciousness |388|

    Hi Michael The whole issue I quoted above is captured in the yogic teachings about the kleshas. That is, the kleshas explain where apparent individuality comes from. I try to explore it in the book by stressing that in this life, our nature is 100% relative. Which is to say, we are not...
  15. Don DeGracia

    Dr. Donald DeGracia, NIH Medical Scientist Talks Yoga and Consciousness |388|

    All I can say to what you wrote above is: yes. -Don
  16. Don DeGracia

    Dr. Donald DeGracia, NIH Medical Scientist Talks Yoga and Consciousness |388|

    Hi Wormwood You have to better understand the idea. It offers an explanation of how we get to the "after death" state, so it is perfectly consistent with ideas of reincarnation. Don't forget, yoga comes from Hindu thought, which is also where reincarnation comes from, so it only makes sense...
  17. Don DeGracia

    Dr. Donald DeGracia, NIH Medical Scientist Talks Yoga and Consciousness |388|

    Hi Dan Yes, that is my understanding as well...that these experiences are "distractions" and that is exactly what I explain in Yogic View. I very much compare psychedelic experiences to shiddhis. Not only are they "spiritual junk food" as you allude to, but I tend to use the word "delusion" in...
  18. Don DeGracia

    Dr. Donald DeGracia, NIH Medical Scientist Talks Yoga and Consciousness |388|

    Hi dpdownsouth Actually, I address DMT in the book, as well as salvia and LSD. I found someone's description of an extreme DMT/LSD experience that fit perfectly with the yogic model of the bindu. Even to the point of using the word "black hole" to describe being pulled through the bindu. Pretty...
  19. Don DeGracia

    Dr. Donald DeGracia, NIH Medical Scientist Talks Yoga and Consciousness |388|

    Hi David LOL! You should get a hard copy of the Kline book. If you have an interest in the subject, it will be well worth it. That is one of the conclusions Kline basically demonstrates is that proof is a way to dress up our intuitions after the fact. Herman Weyl also said as much and I quote...
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