tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608434988263487822023-11-15T05:38:29.242-08:00Emotional IntelligenceThe Beasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04009206503900045740noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60843498826348782.post-18479593574459830812010-06-16T17:52:00.000-07:002010-06-17T15:49:10.176-07:00The neuro-science of karmaHow would your life change if you believed with absolute certainty that everything you, I and everyone else did would be rewarded in-kind - not just *some* of the time but *all* of the time?<br /><br />What might become of your reluctance to give of yourself to others if your fear of being taken advantage of was replaced with an absolute certainty that you would receive in kind and proportion to what you give no matter what other people do?<br /><br />Conversely, if someone did something to cause you great pain, how might you react differently if you knew with absolute certainty that they would suffer greatly for doing so without any action being taken by anyone?<br /><br />The purpose of this article is to give you a scientific basis for establishing the conviction that the amount joy or suffering we experience in our life is a direct consequence of the amount of joy or suffering that we bring to others. <br /><br /><h1>Justice</h1><br /><br />The desire for justice is innate and universal. The force that gives rise to the desire for justice within us is the same force that ensures that justice will be done in the minds of those who have violated it. This force is biological. It exists within all of us – without exception - and it is absolutely undefeatable.<br /><br />There is no need to inflict justice on others because they are already inflicting it on themselves. This is true even if we can’t see any evidence of it. This is true even if they are not consciously aware of the fact that they are doing so.<br /><br />In this article I will demonstrate why all perceptions of injustice are misperceptions. Therefore all of the systems of coercion and punishment that we establish to constrain behavior are based on the fundamentally erroneous belief that injustice exists. It does not. Injustice is an illusion because karma is inviolable.<br /><br />Here’s why …<br /><br />Like all animals, we homo-sapiens are driven to pursue happiness, but the biology of the human brain is such that the happiness/unhappiness we experience ourselves varies in direct proportion to the happiness/unhappiness that we bring to others.<br /><br />There is no need to inflict punishment or threaten to inflict punishment on people for acting in disharmony with their conscience. Such actions actually serve to sustain and perpetuate the disharmony. Instead, what we should do, is to help them to understand clearly why the path to happiness that they have chosen to walk is actually responsible for their unhappiness if it has lead them to intentionally bring harm to others.<br /><br />This can be a difficult argument to make because the chain of cause and effect can be very difficult to see – especially for those who do not want to see it. However, understanding how the brain works to unconsciously enforce karma can help to lift the fog of confusion and replace it with the light of clear understanding that can shine the way to a brighter future for us all.<br /><br /><br /><h1>The amygdala hub</h1><br /><br />The neurological roots of the desire for happiness lie within a structure in the most evolutionarily ancient part of the brain called the amygdala hub. Inside the amygdala hub is the amygdala. You can think of it as an alarm bell. This alarm bell rings at a range of intensities. When it is not ringing at all we are completely relaxed. When it is ringing at maximum intensity we are in a state of total panic. Most of our lives are spent somewhere in between these two extreme states.<br /><br />The amygdala hub is where primal impulsive fear-based decisions are made. <br /><br />Evolution has naturally endowed us with a tendency to be overly fearful because being extra-cautious in a predatory environment gave our ancestors an advantage in the battle for survival. This is why our alarm bell tends to ring a lot more than we would like it to and why we often suffer from unnecessary stress. Consequently, most of the time our desire for happiness is a desire to reduce the rate of the ringing of the alarm bell.<br /><br />But this is not the whole story. When the alarm bell has been silenced for an extended period of time we may suffer from boredom and desire excitement. At these times our desire for happiness is a desire to increase the rate of the ringing of the alarm bell. The enduring happiness that we desire is in reality a mind-state that achieves perfect balance. It is the perfect combination of a state of deep relaxation mixed with excitement. We are driven to pursue, attain and maintain this state of mind.<br /><br />Positive psychologists call this “flow” or being “in the zone”. It is in this state of mind that we are able to utilize the full intellectual capacity of our brain. It is in this state of mind that we are most creative. It is in this state of mind that we are most alive. It is in this state of mind that we are capable of achieving greatness.<br /><br />Although we are biologically driven to pursue this state of enduring joy we cannot do so when the amygdala hub is in charge of making decisions because of its overly fearful nature. Fear prevents us from achieving this state of mind. Fear prevents us from sustaining it once we have achieved it.<br /><br />What is needed is a means to regulate our fears so that we are only fearful when we truly need to be.<br /><br /><h1>The anterior cingulate cortex hub</h1><br /><br />The ability to self-regulate is a function of a second center of decision making called the anterior cingulate cortex hub. It is connected to the amygdala hub and serves the function of regulating it.<br /><br />Every decision we make, we make twice. There is the initial fear-based decision of the amygdala hub that is made quickly and then there is the sober second-thought decision that is made in the acc hub that is made more deliberately.<br /><br />A crucial point to understand is that the emotion of empathy is absolutely central to our ability to self-regulate our fears and maintain the state of enduring joy that we desire. Mirror neurons enable us to connect with others and feel as they do.<br />We evolved this ability because it enabled us to more accurately ascertain the true intentions of predators in our environment. Those amongst our ancestors who evolved the ability to connect more deeply and thus more correctly judge the intentions of other beings were better equipped to decide when they should stay in the safety of the trees and when they should take the risk to venture out to pursue opportunities for food or sex.<br /><br />Neurologically when our empathy leads us to believe that our environment is safe the acc hub tells the amygdala hub to ease up with the alarm bell. Conversely, when our empathy leads us to believe that our initial decision to be fearful was correct, it will tell it to intensify its ringing to gear our body up for the fight or flight response.<br /><br />The emotion of empathy is absolutely crucial to our ability to accurate ascertain the intentions of others, to self-regulate our destructive emotions and to achieve and maintain the state of enduring joy that we desire. Anything that we may do that hinders our ability to live our lives with an open heart – where our ability to fully connect with others in our environment is constrained – limits our ability to attain and sustain the enduring joy that we seek.<br /><br /><h1>Delusion</h1><br /><br />In the pursuit of happiness we have all wired ourselves uniquely as to the things that we believe will bring us happiness or unhappiness. The stronger these neuro-associations the more these beliefs serve to guide our actions.<br /><br />However, if we are honest with ourselves, and look more deeply, we will see that all of those things that we wish to obtain are merely means to enable us to achieve and maintain a deeper underlying desire - connection with others.<br /><br />We are driven to connect. Above all we are driven to pursue love. That which we call “love” is in reality the experience of a state of deep empathy with other human beings in which we can feel that they care deeply about our well-being and they can feel that we care deeply about theirs.<br /><br />But in our desire to pursue the things that we believe will bring us happiness we mistakenly make decisions that lead us to bring harm to others. When we do so, and we refuse to atone for our misdeeds, we purposely limit our ability to empathically connect with them or anyone who reminds us of them. The more people that we hurt, the more deeply we hurt them and the more we refuse to make amends, the more we reduce the number of people with whom we can safely connect and the darker our world becomes. The irony is that it is our desire for happiness that drives us down the path that leads us to unhappiness. But we often do not see this chain of cause and effect clearly because our attention is focused on the immediate gratification we obtain by acting in disharmony with our conscience. And because we do not clearly see the true cause of our unhappiness, we often compound our error by blaming others for it.<br /><br />Neurologically, if we are in disharmony with our conscience, the acc hub sends a powerful signal to the amygdala hub to force us to experience the searing pain of guilt whenever our thoughts lead us to feel empathy for those we have harmed. There are a variety of methods that we use on ourselves to war with our conscience but they all boil down to different approaches to restrict our ability to feel empathy for those whom we have harmed so that this painful signal is not sent. In so doing we are pursuing the same behavioral pattern of seeking instant gratification that led to the pain to begin with. But these approaches do not and can never achieve the desired effect because our brain is designed to prevent them from doing so.<br /><br /><h1>Karma</h1><br /><br />It has now been well established that what we call morality is but a product of the emotion of empathy. When we are empathically connected to another we feel their joy and suffering as if it were our own and thus naturally “do unto others as we would have done unto us”.<br /><br />While it is now widely accepted that the golden rule has this biological origin, what has not yet been widely accepted is that its converse – the “law of reciprocity” or “karma” – does as well. When we do not “do to others as we would have done unto us”, our brain will work to ensure that we will “have done unto us as we have done unto others”.<br /><br />The enforcer of karma is us. We do it to ourselves, but we do it unconsciously. Our unconscious mind knows that our happiness requires us to not bring harm to others and will work relentlessly against us if we consciously decide otherwise. Our conscience is the agent of self-sabotage. It will work to prevent us from achieving the object of our desire. If we achieve it, it will work to prevent us from enjoying it. If we enjoy it, it will work to ensure that we feel guilt for doing so.<br /><br />Conscious decisions to violate our conscience to pursue happiness are made in the amygdala hub. The battle within is a battle between the more evolutionary ancient amygdala hub and the evolutionarily newer acc hub. To the extent to which the amygdala hub wins these contests all such victories are pyrrhic because the cost of winning is the loss of the ability to regulate our fear. And if we cannot regulate our fears, we cannot achieve the happiness that we seek. We are less able to accurately judge the intentions of others. Even acts of kindness can be perceived as threats. When we war with our conscience we create our own hell.<br /><br />All attempts to overpower our conscience are futile because to the extent we are able to do so to achieve immediate gratification we are destroying our long-term ability to attain and maintain the enduring joy that we really desire. This is why you can be absolutely certain that those who purposely pursue a course of action which leads them to bring harm to others will suffer greatly; even if they try to hide it; even if you see no evidence of it. There is nothing that they can do to escape their fate because their brain is designed prevent all such attempts from succeeding.<br /><br />This is why all desire for coercion and punishment is misguided and should be dispensed with. In their stead we should cultivate compassion for those who have caused their own suffering and help them to understand its true origins so that they can voluntarily choose to walk a different path to happiness in the future. We cannot control the actions of others nor should we desire to do so but we can, in the spirit of satyagraha, encourage them to do the right thing by offering them the gift of forgiveness.<br /><br /><br /><br/><br/><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">For a more detailed description of how our brains unconsciously enforce karma, see “<a href="http://bit.ly/aadYZC">A proof of the inviolability of karma</a>”: <a href="http://bit.ly/aadYZC">http://bit.ly/aadYZC</a></span>The Beasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04009206503900045740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60843498826348782.post-54888946341573856692010-06-10T16:55:00.000-07:002010-06-10T17:19:36.706-07:00A proof of the inviolability of karma (Part 6)<a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-1.html"><br />Part 1: The task, the consequences, the methodology & the illusion of injustice</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-2.html"><br />Part 2: Law enforcement 101: the enforcer</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-3.html"><br />Part 3: Law enforcement 201: "in kind"</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-4.html"><br />Part 4: Law enforcement 301: "in proportion"</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-5.html"><br />Part 5: Law enforcement 401: inner civil war</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-6.html"><br />Part 6: Law enforcement 501: The neuro-science of karma</a><br /><br /><h1>9 Law enforcement 501: The neuro-science of karma</h1><br /><br />In this section I will demonstrate how our brain has been molded by evolution to use karma as the punishment/reward system to enforce the golden rule and why no attempt to circumvent this can ever succeed.<br /><br />First we’ll answer the question “why do what we do?”<br />Then we’ll examine how our brain makes decisions.<br />Finally we’ll look at what happens in our brain when we decide to (1) be in disharmony with our conscience, (2) stay in disharmony with our conscience and (3) surrender to our conscience.<br /><br /><h2>9.1 Why do we do what we do?</h2><br /><br />Although we might like to believe otherwise the truth is that we are not moved by logic or reason. We are moved by our emotions. <br /><br />This is because emotions came first in the evolution of the brain. The ability to reason logically is a relatively recent addition to the capabilities of our species.<br /><br /><br />Although we human beings have a wide range of emotions that we can feel, all of them boil down to two basic types:<br /><br />“Everything that you and I do, we do either out of our need to avoid pain or our desire to gain pleasure.”<br />~Tony Robbins<br /><br />Intuitively we know this to be true. <br /><br />Logic and reason can be used to re-wire our pain/pleasure associations, but that does not alter the fact that what moves us is our aversion to suffering and desire for joy.<br /><br />Here is a neurological explanation of why it is so ...<br /><br />All of us have a structure in the center of the most evolutionarily ancient part of our brains called the “amygdala”. You can think of this structure as an alarm bell.<br /><br />When we are fearful the alarm bell rings - which stimulates our sympathetic nervous system (SNS) into action and gears our body up for the fight or flight response. Conversely the stimulation of our parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) calms our amygdala. It stops the alarm bell from ringing so intensely.<br /><br />You can think of this alarm bell ringing at a range of intensities in between the two extremes of (1) not at all (aka total blissful joy) and (2) extreme panic.<br /><br />Picture a volume control which can be used to dial-up or dial-down the intensity of the ringing.<br /><br />We are biologically driven to dial down the intensity of our alarm bell away from the state of extreme panic and towards the state of total bliss.<br /><br />Every decision that we make in our lives is driven is driven by this desire.<br /><br />With this understanding of the underlying neuro-science it now becomes easier to understand why “the need to avoid pain” and “the desire to gain pleasure” are really two different ways of conceptualizing the same underlying phenomenon.<br /><br />“The need to avoid pain” is the desire to move away from the state of maximum alarm bell ringing.<br /><br />“The desire to gain pleasure” is the desire to move towards the state of zero alarm bell ringing.<br /><br />It is the same underlying craving.<br />Both seek to dial down the volume control.<br />One view does so by focusing on our aversion to maximum volume.<br />The other view does so by focusing on our desire for minimum volume.<br /><br />The “desire for pleasure” is “fear of pain” in disguise.<br /><br />This makes sense when you really think about it.<br />Think about something that you strongly desire.<br />Is there any part of you that fears not having it?<br /><br />This also helps us to understand why human beings will do more to avoid pain than to achieve pleasure.<br /><br />The underlying goal is to calm the amygdala. So we will always choose the course of action which we believe will better enable us to achieve that goal. Avoiding pain always trumps achieving pleasure because we believe it will lead to a greater reduction in the intensity of the ringing.<br /><br />In same way as the world’s most complex computer programs ultimately break down into the simple binary machine code language of zeros and ones, the vast range of human emotions that motivate us to action ultimate break down into the simple binary brain code language of “pain” and “no pain” - the language of the of the amygdala.<br /><br /><h2>9.2 Skillful and unskillful beliefs</h2><br /><br />Every decision that we make in our lives is driven is driven by the need to dial down the intensity of the alarm bell.<br /><br />(Note: This is not entirely true. When we are bored, we desire excitement and this means dialing up the intensity of the alarm bell a little. What we really desire is a state of perfect balance between excitement and relaxation. But because destructive emotions tend to be a much larger problem I am ignoring this.)<br /><br />The only reason there are any differences between any of us is that we all have different beliefs as to what will bring us joy and what will bring us suffering.<br /><br />We often choose these beliefs unwisely. For example, Tony Robbins gives the example of how a toddler who falls off of a couch may establish a neuro-association that couches cause pain. Mistaken neuro-associations like this are not limited to toddlers.<br /><br />The beliefs that we hold shape the decisions that we make, the actions that spring from these decisions and the habitual behaviors repeating these actions establish.<br /><br />Some beliefs are more accurate than others and the resulting habitual behaviors they give rise to are therefore more skillful.<br /><br />In Buddhist terminology the word “craving” is used to represent greed, hate and delusion.<br />Greed is “desire for pleasure”.<br />Hate is “fear of pain”.<br />They are both forms of “clinging”.<br />Delusion is the misconception that the enduring happiness we seek can be achieved by obtaining or holding onto the object of our desire.<br /><br />The fundamental delusion that characterizes our species in the age of barbarism is the belief that enduring happiness can be attained and sustained by bringing unhappiness to others.<br /><br />If our craving for the object of our desire is stronger than the craving to act in harmony with our conscience we will act unskillfully and cause ourselves pain.<br /><br />The Buddha taught that craving is the cause of suffering.<br />Suffering is dialing up the volume control to increase the rate of intensity of alarm bell ringing.<br /><br />But some forms of craving are more skillful than others.<br />The craving to bring happiness to others is one such craving.<br /><br />Beliefs that happiness can be attained by taking joy from others are unskillful.<br />Beliefs that happiness can be attained by giving joy to others are skillful.<br /><br />Why is this so?<br />Because our empathy will force us to feel the feelings that we intended to bring to others.<br /><br /><h2>9.3 How do we make decisions?</h2><br /><br />It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.<br />~Tony Robbins<br /><br />Our brain has been beautifully designed by evolution.<br />The architecture is such that each decision we make, we make twice.<br />We have the ability to make very quick impulsive non-thinking decisions when we need to.<br />We also have the ability to re-think our initial impulsive decision when we need to as well.<br /><br />These decisions are made in two different places in the brain.<br />They are (1) the amygdala hub and (2) the anterior cingulate cortex hub.<br />Author Susan Jeffers refers to these respectively as the “lower self” and the “higher self”.<br />The lower self is that part of us that is driven by fear.<br />The higher self is that part of us that may choose to face and overcome the fears that hold us back from living the life of our dreams.<br /><br /><h3>9.3.1 the first decision: our lower-self</h3><br /><br />The fear-driven amygdala hub is the most ancient part of the brain.<br />Here is where our first impulsive decision is made.<br />There is no thinking involved in this decision.<br />This decision is reflexive and very quick<br />This decision can save our lives.<br />It is purely instinctual.<br />More often than not it is an over-reaction.<br />If we see a stick in a tree we are about to walk under, this part of the brain may warn us that the stick might be a snake and ring the alarm bell which stimulates our SNS into action and gears us up for the fight or flight response.<br /><br /><h3>9.3.2 the second decision: our higher-self</h3><br /><br />Connected to the amygdala hub is the anterior cingulate cortex hub.<br />This is where all non-impulsive deliberate decisions are made.<br />It is where thinking takes place.<br />This is also where impulse control takes place.<br />It is where we have the opportunity to self-regulate the impulsive decisions of the amygdala when appropriate.<br />We can use logical reasoning to determine whether the stick is indeed a stick or whether it is a snake.<br /><br />As you may have guessed, the neural circuitry for empathy is contained here as well.<br />Our empathy enables us to reach out with our feelings, our senses and our full attention to ascertain the true intentions of a potential predator and to either over-ride or approve the impulse fear-driven decision made in the amygdala hub.<br /><br /><h3>9.3.3 Who wins?</h3><br /><br />This architecture works well much of the time.<br />It enables us both to react quickly to save our lives when we need to and also to take calculated risks to seize opportunities as well.<br /><br />However, when the initial impulse is very strong our higher-self can become “hijacked” by our more primitive brain such that the ability to regulate our primal fear-driven impulses is impaired.<br /><br />This happens when our state of anxiety is very high.<br />The higher our anxiety the less able our higher-self is to function.<br />When our anxiety reaches the point where the “fight or flight” response is triggered, our higher self is rendered completely impotent and our lower self assumes complete control.<br /><br />The lower our baseline state of anxiety the greater the ability of our higher self to self-regulate our primal impulses and limit our self-destructive behavior.<br />The higher our baseline state of anxiety the lesser the ability of our higher self to self-regulate our primal impulses and the more out of control that we feel.<br /><br /><h2>9.4 The decision to be in disharmony</h2><br /><br />When we have a belief that achieving happiness for ourselves requires us to cause suffering to others and we act on that belief we create suffering for ourselves.<br /><br />The empathic abilities within our anterior cingulate cortex hub trigger the alarm bell within our amygdala hub.<br /><br />This increases our anxiety by causing the alarm bell to ring at a higher intensity.<br /><br />It will continue to do so until we can somehow re-direct our attention away from the person who we’ve harmed so that the anterior cingulated cortex hub will stop sending us waves of pain.<br /><br /><h2>9.5 The decision to stay in disharmony</h2><br /><br />The decision to stay in disharmony is a decision to permanently increase our baseline state of anxiety.<br /><br />As I’ve illustrated, all of the techniques that we use to war with our conscience require us to switch off our empathy for our victim.<br /><br />But our subconscious mind knows that enduring happiness is indelibly linked to caring about others and it will fight us tooth and nail.<br /><br />The more we fight it, the more it will resist.<br /><br />The more often we cause harm to others and the greater the harm that we cause the deeper into hell that we sink.<br /><br />The reason why self-destructive behaviors are so hard to change is because they actually achieve the objective of reducing the intensity of the ringing of the alarm bell in the short term. The problem is that the means by which they do so leads to an increase the baseline intensity of ringing in the long-term. <br /><br />It’s as if they succeed in dialing down the volume control a notch but in so doing prevent us from returning the volume control to zero. Over time the range of motion of the volume control becomes more and more limited and we are less able to return to the low volume settings.<br /><br />But because we are focused only on the short term pleasure that we get from engaging in these behaviors, the belief that behavior leads to pleasure is strengthened each time we take action. We don’t see the larger picture. We don’t see the cause and effect. When we become unhappy we don’t realize that our unhappiness is caused by our behavior.<br /><br /><h2>9.6 The decision to surrender</h2><br /><br />We all know from experience how good it feels to finally admit our wrong-doing and to ask for forgiveness.<br /><br />Despite the shame of having to do so, the persistent state of high anxiety that we’ve been living within suddenly dissipates permanently.<br /><br />The reason for this is because we have stopped fighting our conscience.<br /><br />We no longer have to struggle to control our thoughts to prevent ourselves from being reminded about what we’ve done.<br /><br />We no longer have to tell ourselves lies.<br /><br />We no longer have to fear truth.<br /><br />We no longer have to fear thinking.<br /><br />We no longer feel compelled to turn to self-pity to alleviate the persistent anxiety.<br /><br />We not longer feel compelled to get angry or to run and hide from our shame.<br /><br />The tension that we’ve created in the amygdala cingulated cortex by seeking to constrain our thoughts is relieved and it is now free to function at full capacity. <br /><br />Our baseline state of anxiety returns to a much lower level and we are more at ease more of the time.<br /><br />We can now allow ourselves to feel empathy again without fear of pain.<br /><br />We can now allow ourselves to feel love.<br /><br />We now have the ability to experience the enduring joy that we seek above all else.<br /><br /><h2>9.7 Conclusions</h2><br /><br />Every decision that we make has consequences - not only in the world at large, but within our own minds.<br /><br />When we make decisions that violate our conscience we introduce a physiological change in our brain in the form of the emotion of guilt.<br /><br />The greater our disharmony with our conscience, the stronger the guilt that we feel, the greater the influence it has on our choice of thoughts and the greater the suffering it produces.<br /><br />Our strongest primal drive is to move away from suffering.<br />All strategies for ending the suffering of guilt break down into two types.<br />1: We can choose to surrender to our conscience and seek to atone for our misdeeds.<br />2: We can choose to go to war with our conscience by switching off our empathy for those we have harmed.<br /><br />Biologically, no other choice is possible because our empathy is the source of the suffering.<br /><br />All of the tactics that we use for warring with our conscience are really variations on a common approach: they all attempt to achieve a measure of inner peace by switching off our empathy for our victim.<br /><br />fight: overpowering empathy with anger<br />flight: choosing not to think thoughts which would trigger empathy by re-focusing our attention<br />depression: choosing not to think thoughts which would trigger empathy by becoming self-absorbed<br />self-deception: choosing not to think thoughts which would trigger empathy lying to ourselves about what we did<br /><br />Any other strategy that might be tried would have to do the same.<br />No other choice is possible.<br /><br />But natural selection favored the evolution of those with empathy over those without for a reason.<br />Our empathy is what enables us to detect the true intentions of those around us.<br />This is why empathy is essential to our ability to self-regulate our destructive emotions.<br />The less empathy we have, the less ability we have to self-regulate our destructive emotions.<br />The less ability we have to self-regulate our destructive emotions, the more we are ruled by them.<br />The more we are ruled by our destructive emotions, the more frequently we engage in self-destructive behaviors.<br />The more frequently we engage in self-destructive behaviors, the greater our probability to self-destruct.<br /><br />Self-regulation is essential to achieving the enduring states of joy that we desire and minimizing the inevitable suffering that life will bring to us. The more we seek to switch off our empathy for others, the more we distance ourselves from the very thing we are biologically programmed to seek – enduring joy - and the deeper we fall into that which we a biologically programmed to avoid – enduring suffering.<br /><br />This is built into the very physiology of our brain.<br /><br />This is the physiological reason why our happiness/unhappiness varies in direct proportion to our harmony/disharmony with our conscience.<br /><br />It is physiologically impossible to violate the law of karma because our brain has been hard-wired by evolution to prevent us from doing so.<br /><br />I believe that this is something that you already knew in your subconscious mind.<br /><br />Our life experiences teach us that “what goes around comes around”.<br /><br />The purpose of this paper has been to simply raise that unconscious belief to the level of full consciousness with a clear and accurate explanation of why it is true.<br /><br />The rest is up to you.<br /><br /><h1>10 A summary of the proof</h1><br /><br />Karma is the punishment/reward system that we all subconsciously use on ourselves to persuade ourselves to follow the golden rule.<br /><br />Karma is inviolable because the very biology of our brain is designed to ensure that the happiness/unhappiness that we experience varies in direct proportion to our harmony/disharmony with our conscience.<br /><br />The delusion that happiness can be achieved for ourselves by bringing unhappiness to others is the root cause of our unhappiness. This belief gives birth to disharmony within which, in turn, gives birth to barbarism without. To the extent to which we change such beliefs we will bring greater peace and happiness to both ourselves and our world.The Beasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04009206503900045740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60843498826348782.post-70946809897285864562010-06-10T16:50:00.000-07:002010-06-10T18:50:00.989-07:00A proof of the inviolability of karma (Part 5)<a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-1.html"><br />Part 1: The task, the consequences, the methodology & the illusion of injustice</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-2.html"><br />Part 2: Law enforcement 101: the enforcer</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-3.html"><br />Part 3: Law enforcement 201: "in kind"</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-4.html"><br />Part 4: Law enforcement 301: "in proportion"</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-5.html"><br />Part 5: Law enforcement 401: inner civil war</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-6.html"><br />Part 6: Law enforcement 501: The neuro-science of karma</a><br /><br /><h1>8 Law enforcement 401: inner civil war</h1><br /><br />In this section I will cover the anatomy of the civil war we choose to fight when we choose to war with our conscience.<br /><br />I’ll start by describing the primary means by which our conscience fights the war that we have chosen to fight & give a few examples of the various ways in which this manifests itself.<br /><br />I’ll then use inductive reasoning to illustrate how - when it comes to violating karma – every action has an equal but opposite reaction. I will give concrete examples of the most common ways in which we attempt to fight the war with our conscience and illustrate the means by which our conscience seeks to counter these and punish us further.<br /><br /><br /><h2>8.1 How our conscience wages war</h2><br /><br />If we consciously try to subvert karma by intentionally seeking to find joy for ourselves in a fashion that takes joy from (causes suffering to) others our conscience will work tirelessly and subconsciously to sabotage our efforts and will punish us in exact proportion to the degree to which we act in disharmony with it.<br /><br />It will work to prevent us from achieving the goal that we seek.<br /><br />If we achieve the goal it will work to prevent us from experiencing joy from doing so.<br /><br />If we experience joy it will work to ensure that we experience the appropriate retaliatory measure of guilt.<br /><br />It will punish us relentlessly for the rest of our lives until we take action to right the wrong that we have wrought.<br /><br />How can this possibly be?<br />Read on …<br /><br /><br />If I ask you to picture in your mind someone who seemed to have it all but was absolutely miserable who comes to mind?<br />What are your thoughts about this person?<br /><br />If I ask you to picture in your mind someone who seemed to have absolutely nothing or was treated very badly by many people but who seemed to be radiantly happy, who comes to mind?<br />What are your thoughts about this person?<br /><br />Isn’t it true that the circumstances of our lives, by themselves, do not determine whether we are happy or unhappy?<br />Isn’t it true that it is how we choose to think about them does?<br /><br />Ponder the truth that all non-physical pain is entirely self-inflicted.<br />Is not the same true for joy?<br /><br />Do we not have the ability within us to search for and find the positive in anything and to generate happiness for ourselves?<br />Do we not have the ability to be happy even in the midst of tragedy?<br /><br />We do. However, there is an unforeseen force that constraints our ability to do so.<br />If our conscience believes that we deserve to suffer then it will work incessantly to ensure that we do.<br /><br />Think for a moment about how your mind works.<br />Have you ever wondered about how you choose to think the thoughts that you think?<br />Have you ever noticed how one thought reminds you of something else which reminds you of something else and this pattern of association generates a chain of interconnected thoughts that we call “thinking”.<br />When you are focused on one thought it can be associated to potentially thousands of other thoughts in your mind, but for some reason you chose to focus your attention on one particular thought that it reminds you of more than the others.<br />You choose one train of thought instead of another.<br />That choice presents a new set of associations and a new set of choices.<br />Have you ever wondered why you made that choice of which next thought to think?<br /><br />Could it be that the emotions that we are feeling are influencing our choice of what to focus on?<br />Could it be that the stronger the emotion the more influence it has on directing our focus?<br />In so doing could it be that our emotions are subconsciously pushing us towards a particular train of thought?<br /><br />If we are in disharmony with our conscience and we feel guilt will that not influence our choice of what thoughts to think?<br /><br />If we intended to cause suffering we will feel guilt and that emotion will influence the choice of our thoughts.<br />If we intended to spread joy we will feel joyous and that emotion will influence the choice of our thoughts.<br />The thoughts that we think shape our perception of our reality.<br />And our perception of reality changes the way that we relate to the world.<br />And the way that we relate to the world and the people in it creates our reality.<br /><br />Our conscience is the unseen hand that works behind the scenes to determine how much joy or suffering we should experience. It does so by subconsciously influencing the thoughts that we think to steer us in the direction that it believes that we deserve to go.<br /><br />Remember that karma is about “intention”.<br /><br />If we genuinely intended to give joy to others then we will expect to share in their joy in return regardless of how they respond to us. If they mistake our good intentions for bad ones do we tend to beat ourselves up for their mistake or do we tend to laugh it off? <br /><br />Our conscience is the force that shapes how we allow ourselves to feel. If our good intentions are reciprocated with cruelty our conscience steels our resilience to the initial cruelty because we know in our hearts that it has not been earned. Thus our conscience will not allow us to feel pain. (That is, unless we subsequently choose to hurt ourselves by creating a victim story.)<br /><br />Conversely, if we genuinely intended to cause harm to others but they misinterpret our bad intentions as good ones and are happy are we able to feel sympathetic joy with them? Why not? Is it not because our conscience will not allow us to do so?<br /><br />Karma is not about deeds, it is about the intention behind the deeds.<br />All that matters is our intention.<br /><br />If we intend to find happiness for ourselves by brining happiness to others, our conscience will work to make sure that we are happy regardless of the reaction that we get.<br /><br />If we intend to find happiness for ourselves by bringing suffering to others, our conscience will work relentlessly to sabotage our efforts to do so and inflict on us the suffering that we intended for others.<br /><br />The primary means by which our conscience acts to control us is by influencing the choice of thoughts that we think. This influence enables our conscience to practice self-sabotage subconsciously in a variety of ways.<br /><br /><h3>8.1.1 Negativity</h3><br /><br />If you are not completely convinced of this, try this exercise …<br /><br />Picture in your mind a person who you would consider to be excessively negative on a persistent basis.<br />What are your thoughts about this person?<br />Now picture in your mind a person who you would consider to be excessively positive on a persistent basis.<br />What are your thoughts about this person?<br /><br />Now answer this question: Between the two people who do you trust more?<br /><br />Is it possible that you are subconsciously aware of the fact that people who are excessively negative in their thinking might be in disharmony with their conscience and that you should be careful about trusting them?<br />Could it be that a person’s outward behavior of negativity is an unforeseen ripple effect of being in disharmony with their conscience that subconsciously advertizes to the world: I am not to be trusted!<br /><br />One of the consequences of persistent negativity is the “law of attraction”.<br />We attract what we focus on.<br />Our focus becomes our reality.<br /><br />This is one means by which our conscience subconsciously gives us the punishment it believes we deserve.<br /><br /><h3>8.1.2 Anxiety</h3><br /><br />We may subconsciously communicate our guilt to others even in the midst of professing our innocence.<br /><br />If I ask you to picture in your mind someone who appears to have a higher baseline state of anxiety than usual who comes to mind?<br /><br />Do you trust this person or are you on your guard in their presence?<br /><br />Is it possible that emotional instability is one means by which our conscience seeks to subvert us by warning others that we are not to be trusted?<br /><br />Persistent anxiety is another form of “subconscious confession”.<br /><br /><h3>8.1.3 Discomfort</h3><br /><br />Have you ever wondered why it makes us uncomfortable to keep secrets, or be less than 100% open and honest with others?<br /><br />Lying is difficult and even more difficult to do convincingly. When our body language does not match our words we appear incongruent.<br /><br />Even if people do not recognize this on a conscious level they do realize it subconsciously.<br /><br />And these subtle incongruencies will ensure that people will not trust us.<br /><br />Our conscience is the force behind the incongruency.<br /><br />While we are consciously trying to deceive people, our conscience is screaming at them not to trust us by whatever means it can.<br /><br /><h3>8.1.4 Pyrrhic victories</h3><br /><br />Did you know that the majority of people who win the lottery end up in bankruptcy?<br />Did you ever wonder why that might be?<br /><br />Have you ever noticed that savoring something that you know you have truly earned is a more joyful experience than savoring something that you have not?<br />Did you ever wonder why that might be?<br /><br />By influencing our choice of thoughts our conscience works against us to ensure that we will not enjoy the object of our desire if we have not earned it.<br />The intensity with which it works against us will vary in proportion to the degree to which we intentionally caused suffering in order to obtain it.<br /><br />Our mind is always selectively interpreting events.<br />Our conscience will work to influence our thoughts to selectively interpret events in order to cause ourselves the same kind of pain that we’ve caused others.<br /><br />The Buddha said …<br />“Success is not the key to happiness. <br />Happiness is the key to success. <br />If you love what you are doing you will be successful.”<br /><br /><h3>8.1.5 Denial of love</h3><br /><br />The ultimate irony of our habitual decision to stay disconnected from others is that this connection is the very means by which a state of happiness can be persisted.<br />In Greek mythology Tantalous was punished by the gods for his crimes by being forced to stand in a pool of water from which he could never drink because each time that he bent down the water would recede.<br /><br />Such is the nature of our relationship with love when we are in disharmony with our conscience. The instant that we open up our heart to feel love we are vulnerable to thoughts which cause us great pain if we think them.<br /><br />While we may “taste” the enduring happiness that love brings it will be forever beyond our reach until we move to make peace with our demons.<br /><br />So although we desire love we also fear it.<br /><br />This “denial of love” may well be the ultimate weapon of our conscience.<br /><br />Our habitual pattern of choosing immediate gratification ultimately leads to an inability to experience the enduring joy that we truly desire.<br /><br /><br /><h3>8.1.6 Trauma</h3><br /><br />Ponder the truth that all non-physical pain is entirely self-inflicted.<br /><br />Have you ever wondered why there are such huge differences in the way that people react to trauma?<br /><br />Two different people who experience the exact same type of trauma can react very differently.<br />The range of reactions can vary from the extremes of laughing it off to total devastation.<br />Isn’t that curious?<br />Why might that be?<br /><br />If we react to trauma by feeling devastated is it possible that our conscience has been just waiting for the opportunity to pay us back for the unhappiness that we have inflicted on others and has seized on this opportunity to do just that?<br /><br />At the beginning of this paper I asked you …<br />“How certain are you that the people who caused your injustice are responsible for your suffering?”<br /><br />By any chance was the type of injustice you experienced similar to that which you believe you inflicted on someone else?<br /><br />It is possible that you subconsciously put yourself into a situation where you could be hurt because you deserved to feel the same sort of pain that you caused?<br /><br />Ask not “How could they do this to me?”<br />Ask instead “Why am I doing this to myself?”<br /><br /><br /><h2>8.2 How we wage war with our conscience</h2><br /><br />In this section I’ll describe the typical ways in which we respond to the pain of guilt once we’ve made a decision to war with our conscience and highlight the often unseen ways in which our conscience seeks to counter each of these tactics. The tactics covered include: getting angry, running away, getting depressed and lying to ourselves.<br /><br /><h3>8.2.1 Fight or Flight</h3><br /><br />I refer to the most common means that we use to do battle with our conscience as “tactics” rather than “strategies” because the term strategy connotes planning and thinking. But it is precisely the lack of thinking about the consequences of the recurring decision to war with our conscience that characterizes this choice. <br /><br />There is a physiological reason for this. When we are in a state of anxiety and are gripped by the “fight or flight” response our body shunts blood out of the brain and into the extremities to gear us up for a fight or flight for our lives. It clogs our arteries with cholesterol to reduce the loss of blood in the event of an injury. The loss of blood flow in the brain demonstrably lowers our IQ for the duration and hinders our ability to make good long-term decisions. And it kills our ability to empathize so that we might destroy our foe without remorse. This behavior enabled our ancestors to survive in a predatory environment. But now that all of our predators have been eliminated it serves only to encourage us to war with each other and thus destroy ourselves. A trait that was once favored by natural selection has now become disfavored due to the changed environment in which we live.<br /><br />The fight or flight response is the way we are programmed to respond to very high anxiety without regard to its cause. It may have evolved in response to the fear of the pain of being physically attacked and eaten, but the same response can be triggered to handle the fear of the pain of guilt that has not been faced.<br /><br /><h3>8.2.2 Fight</h3><br /><br />Above all we are driven to avoid pain.<br />Guilt can be very painful.<br />When the fear of pain becomes overwhelming the “fight or flight” response can be triggered.<br />Getting angry is the choice to fight.<br /><br />When we have caused harm to someone and don’t want to accept responsibility we may choose to find a way to actually anger ourselves.<br />Getting angry does have the effect of temporarily numbing the pain because it kills our ability to empathize and our empathy is the source of the pain of guilt.<br /><br />Getting angry can feel good because it can make us feel powerful.<br />It can give us courage to do things that we would not otherwise do.<br /><br />But, in the words of Robert G. Ingersoll …<br />“Courage without conscience is a wild beast.”<br /><br />And we know from our own life experiences that Benjamin Franklin was correct when he said …<br />“Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.”<br /><br />When we are angry we do stupid things that we later regret.<br />We may attempt to shift the blame to the victim. <br />We may lash out at them in the hopes that they will reciprocate.<br />If they return the favor they will give us the gift of a reference upon which to sustain the delusion so that we can convince ourselves that we are the victim instead of the victimizer.<br /><br />Getting angry is the means by which internal disharmony gives birth to external barbarism.<br />Getting angry almost always makes things worse.<br />It is when we are in this state of mind that we do the things that become the greatest regrets of our lives.<br /><br />When the anger subsides and our conscience wakes from its slumber we almost invariably find ourselves in even greater disharmony with our conscience and suffering from an even greater pain of guilt.<br /><br /><h3>8.2.3 Flight</h3><br /><br />When the fight or flight response is triggered, the alternative to fight is flight.<br /><br />If the person whom we hurt is in our environment, then their mere presence will be a constant reminder of our guilt and every time we see them the pain will return.<br /><br />Looking into the eyes of someone whom we’ve gravely injured without cause is excruciating.<br /><br />So we are driven to escape the pain by putting them out of our mind altogether.<br /><br />We are driven to avoid all contact with them either directly or indirectly.<br />We may distance ourselves not only from them but from anything that reminds us of them - including all the tribes to which they belong.<br /><br />Common friends are sacrificed and we retreat into the safety of a smaller tribe.<br /><br />There are serious drawbacks to this tactic as well.<br /><br />One of which is that it gives birth to a “fear of thinking”.<br />We can develop a fear of thinking because we know subconsciously that our conscience will be working against us to force us to the think thoughts that will cause us pain.<br /><br />Of all the things to develop a fear of, thinking has to be one of the worst.<br />This is the means by which bad decisions made at a time of high anxiety become habitual.<br /><br />Another ripple effect of the choice to run is that it requires us to further shrink the circle of people that we can safely empathically connect with.<br /><br />In part this is a voluntary choice to avoid being reminded of what we have done.<br />We distance ourselves not only from the people that we’ve hurt but everyone who will remind us of them and might lead us to think those painful thoughts again.<br />This includes not only people who are directly connected to our victim but also people of good character who do not behave in that fashion.<br /><br />In part this is an involuntary choice.<br />Word will inevitably spread about our character causing others to distance themselves from us and increasing the tension between the “us” and “them” tribes that we have created.<br /><br />The end result is that we are forced into a smaller circle of people who will accept us.<br />By necessity they will be people who are in a similar type of disharmony with their conscience and tend to re-enforce our unskillful decisions instead of encouraging us to do the right thing.<br /><br />The choice of flight is a choice to retreat in the battle. <br />It is a choice for the immediate gratification of relief from pain.<br />And like all such choices it further entrenches the conditions for a more enduring unhappiness in the future.<br /><br />Both fight and flight sink us deeper into the pit of hell that we have dug for ourselves.<br /><br /><h3>8.2.4 Depression</h3><br /><br />Fighting or fleeing gives us temporary relief from the pain of guilt but these high intensity states cannot be sustained for long periods of time. The pain of guilt will return in the form of persistent anxiety.<br /><br />If we are still unwilling to make peace with our conscience there is another highly effective strategy that we can choose to reduce the persistent anxiety. We can choose to “depress” it by becoming depressed. We do this by shifting the focus of our attention away from the person that we’ve hurt to ourselves. In so doing self-loathing can be transformed into self-pity.<br /><br />The relief from unrelenting anxiety that self-pity offers is intoxicating. It feels very good to feel sorry for ourselves. It really is like a drug – a pain killer. We crave more of it. <br /><br />Much like drugs and alcohol, self-pity is an opiate. It has real short term benefits that can lead us to get addicted to it. If the addiction is strong enough we will avoid thinking about the long term consequences.<br /><br />The reason self-pity works is that it reduces the influence of our conscience by reducing our ability to empathize with others. Self-pity is about becoming self-absorbed for an extended period of time.<br /><br />Staying depressed enables us to maintain a prolonged war with our conscience with greater ease. It offers a means of switching off our empathy for others by staying self-absorbed without the intense drawbacks of persistent anxiety bubbling over into the desire to fight or flee.<br /><br />What we may not be cognizant of is the unseen force that is continuing to extract punishment from us.<br />Our conscience is continuing to influence our choice of thoughts.<br />We have not stopped our conscience for extracting its pound of flesh we have merely decreased the rate at which it extracts its toll from us.<br />But we don’t see that because we are so focused on the immediate gratification that we have achieved.<br />The intensity of pain may have diminished but the pattern of thinking remains self-destructive.<br /><br />The draw backs of depression are obvious.<br />If we are depressed we are not happy.<br /><br />The long-term consequences of this pattern of thinking are devastating.<br />When we choose to feel self-pity we are choosing to see ourselves as a helpless victim at the mercy of the world.<br />Nothing could be more dis-empowering.<br />This habitual pattern of thinking can completely destroy our self-confidence over time.<br /><br />The more frequently that we choose this option the more that self-pity becomes the habitual conditioned response to even the slightest hint of anxiety. This is sometimes called “learned helplessness”.<br /><br />This leads to an inability to live our life to the full.<br />We are unable to chase our dreams.<br />We are unable to set goals and strive to meet them.<br />We are unable to do all of these things because we have taught ourselves to “give up” whenever we encounter even the smallest obstacle.<br /><br />This is but another means by which our conscience works subconsciously to ensure that we do not attain what we have not earned. Because we have sought to find happiness for ourselves by taking it from another our conscience subconsciously acts to restore balance by ensuring that we will have less happiness in our present and our future.<br /><br /><h3>8.2.5 Self-deception</h3><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">“If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.”<br/><br />~Mark Twain<br /></span><br />Our addiction to the opiate of self-pity and desire to hide from the truth can, over time, lead us to tell the most outrageous of lies to ourselves. <br /><br />We may be tempted re-write history in our minds to change our role from that of victimizer to victim. In so doing we can get our self-pity fix.<br /><br />To maintain a state of war with our conscience for an extended period of time it is crucial that we find some means to morally justify our behavior to ourselves.<br /><br />When we choose not to live in harmony with our conscience we invariably seek to weave our contrived moral justifications into a shield of self-deception to protect ourselves against its incessant attacks.<br /><br />We seek out people who will help us re-enforce the falsehoods which enables us to blame others instead of taking responsibility.<br /><br />The long-term consequences of self-deception are devastating.<br /><br />When we make a conscious decision to avoid the pain of guilt by lying to ourselves, we lay the foundation for irrationality because the tangled web of lies we tell ourselves must be sustained in order to avoid the pain.<br /><br />When we lie to ourselves we shatter the very foundation of our internal integrity and create the conditions for the unrelenting pain of the fear that our beliefs may be revealed as untruths.<br /><br />Each time we engage in self-deception the fragile edifice of untruths grows like a stack of cards that can collapse upon itself at the slightest breeze. The potential for cognitive dissonance increases and we develop not only a “fear of thinking” but a “fear of truth”. This further increases our baseline level of anxiety.<br /><br />By choosing self-deception we are once again choosing the immediate gratification of avoiding the pain of facing our demons at the cost of creating the conditions for even greater long-term pain for ourselves.<br /><br />All of the belief systems to which we cling that divide us into warring tribes spring from and are sustained by a desire to avoid a pain that we fear and this is often the pain of guilt. We can strengthen the shield of self-deception by joining together in tribes with others who wish to accomplish the same goal and use our collective resources to help re-enforce each other’s delusions. All of the moral codes, ethical systems, laws, rules, regulations, ideologies and belief systems to which we cling exist solely for this purpose despite our conscious beliefs to the contrary. To the extent to which we can summon the courage to face our fears and abandon our individual war these tribes and their belief systems will wither and die and the world will know peace.<br /><br /><h2>8.3 Conclusions</h2><br /><br />All of the tactics that we use to battle our conscience have one thing in common…<br />They help us to achieve a temporary respite from our pain at the expense of greater long term unhappiness.<br />It is the same “immediate gratification” pattern of thinking which got us into trouble to begin with.<br /><br />For every action there is an equal but opposite reaction.<br />For every decision we make there are consequences.<br />Every effect has a cause.<br />Everything we do has a ripple effect and we are usually oblivious to many of the ripple effects of our actions.<br /><br />When we choose to war with our conscience we are suffering from the delusion that our conscience can be defeated.<br />We are suffering from the delusion that whatever resistance it offers can be countered and contained.<br />Both are untrue.<br /><br />Our conscience is resilient.<br />The irony is that both we and our conscience are driven to fight by the same desire to be happy.<br />But our unconscious mind knows things that our conscious mind does not.<br />The difference is that our conscience knows with absolute certainty that we cannot be happy by causing harm to others and that real enduring happiness requires caring about and bringing joy to others.<br />No matter how many battles it loses it will keep fighting us until we get with the program or perish.<br />And the harder we fight it the harder it fights back.<br />It will never surrender.<br />It will never relent.<br /><br />Ripple effects cannot be contained because they are unforeseeable.<br />Each action we take to contain one spawns a series of others.<br />It’s like each time we try to plug a hole in a sinking ship several more holes are created, many of which are unseen.<br />The very act of forcing us to expend energy containing ripple effects is one of the means by which our conscience wars with us. <br /><br />Moreover, resistance to pain increases the pain itself.<br />What we resist persists. What we embrace dissipates.<br />This is true of all types of pain including the pain of guilt.<br />The more we consciously choose to war with our conscience the greater the amount of the pain that we subject ourselves to. Our choice to flee from the pain instead of facing it with courage causes the small monster to grow into a big one – from a gecko to Godzilla.<br /><br />The inner civil war that we fight is like a split personality disorder that we all suffer from.<br />The only way to achieve inner peace and happiness is to end the war and integrate these personalities.<br />Ending the war means living in alignment, in harmony, with integrity and congruency.<br />It means having the courage to keep our heart open at all times despite our fears.<br />It means following our heart in everything that we do.<br />The only way to end the war is to surrender to our conscience because our conscience will *never* surrender.<br /><br />In this section I’ve used inductive reasoning to illustrate the typical ways in which we seek to fight our conscience and demonstrated some of the ways in which our conscience seeks to counter each of them and to strike back. These references may serve to increase the strength of our belief in the invincibility of our conscience but they do not, by themselves, prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that no strategy can ever work. That is exactly what I will prove in the next section when I illustrate how our brain is constructed to prevent any attempt to defeat our conscience from succeeding.<br /><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-6.html"><br />Part 6: Law enforcement 501: The neuro-science of karma</a><br/><br/><br/>The Beasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04009206503900045740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60843498826348782.post-16697232935819542732010-06-10T16:42:00.000-07:002010-06-10T17:48:41.921-07:00A proof of the inviolability of karma (Part 4)<a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-1.html"><br />Part 1: The task, the consequences, the methodology & the illusion of injustice</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-2.html"><br />Part 2: Law enforcement 101: the enforcer</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-3.html"><br />Part 3: Law enforcement 201: "in kind"</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-4.html"><br />Part 4: Law enforcement 301: "in proportion"</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-5.html"><br />Part 5: Law enforcement 401: inner civil war</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-6.html"><br />Part 6: Law enforcement 501: The neuro-science of karma</a><br /><br /><h1>7 Law enforcement 301: “in proportion”</h1><br /><br />At this stage you might be convinced of the truth that our conscience enforces the rule that our “long-term” happiness/un-happiness varies in direct proportion with our harmony/disharmony with our conscience.<br /><br />However “direct proportion” is not the same as “exact proportion”.<br /><br />There may be some part of us that believes that although we will suffer the pain of the guilt if we defy our conscience, the amount of pleasure that we receive by doing so will outweigh the amount of pain. Therefore we might be inclined to go for it. <br /><br />Here I will illustrate why it would be unskillful to do so.<br /><br /><h2>7.1 The currency of the mind</h2><br /><br />How on earth could our conscience seek to balance in “exact proportion” anyway?<br /><br />In order to understand this, we need to understand the true nature of “value” and the way that our brains have evolved to measure it.<br /><br />In our daily lives, one way that we measure value is with money.<br /><br />Rather than exchange goods and services directly for other goods and services we use the intermediary of currency to make it easier to enable everyone to get what they desire.<br /><br />But our brain evolved before the invention of currency.<br /><br />The currency of the brain is not dollars or euros or yen.<br />It is not gold or silver or paper money.<br />Nor is the vast range of “things” that can be exchanged for these “things”.<br /><br />What matters to us is not the “things” themselves but the degree of happiness that they bring to us or that we believe they will bring to us.<br /><br />The currency of the mind is “happiness”.<br /><br />Understanding this is crucial to understanding how our conscience works to ensure that we receive in “exact” proportion to what we give.<br /><br />When we say that we should receive “in kind and proportion” to what we give we mean simply …<br />1: If we seek to bring joy to others, we will experience joy ourselves.<br />2: If we seek to cause suffering to (take joy from) others, we will experience suffering (have joy taken from) ourselves.<br />3: The amount (intensity and duration) of joy or suffering that we experience will be in proportion to that which we give.<br /><br />How can this be?<br />How do we keep score?<br />How do we know how much joy or suffering that we deserve?<br /><br />Because we have empathy, we know how much joy or suffering that we have caused.<br />And even if we try to hide from it, we *always* know how much joy or suffering that we truly “intended” to cause do we not?<br />This is how our conscience keeps score.<br /><br /><h2>7.2 Voluntary interactions</h2><br /><br />As the “subjective theory of value” from the Austrian school of economics correctly states: “value is relative”.<br />We all place different value on things because we all have different pain-pleasure neuro-associations to those things in our minds. Something that is of great sentimental value to you may be of little value to others.<br /><br />This is why all voluntary (coercion free) transactions are always “fair”. Both parties trade something that makes them less happy for something that makes them more happy. All such transactions are win-win and both parties derive pleasure from both receiving something of more value themselves as well as well as experience the sympathetic joy of giving something of more value to somebody else.<br /><br />Voluntary exchanges are exchanges which are made between two parties who are both in harmony with their conscience.<br />Neither party seeks to gain at the expense of the other and thus no karmic debt is owed by either when the transaction is concluded.<br />Each voluntary exchange increases the net amount of happiness in the universe.<br /><br />There are two key points to be noted here:<br />1: both parties receive increased value in such exchanges – so value is not a finite quality and scarcity is a delusion.<br />2: nothing – not even currency – has intrinsic value. All value is relative to the individual.<br /><br />Why is this relevant here?<br /><br />Because the exchange of value is present in all human interactions – not just those that fall within the domain of formal economics. And even for those transactions that do fall within the realm of financial exchanges, the exchange of value is never purely monetary.<br /><br /><h2>7.3 Involuntary interactions</h2><br /><br />To understand to the true nature of value is to begin to comprehend the astonishing truth that not only are all voluntary interactions *fair*, but all involuntary ones are as well.<br /><br />Remember, if karma is real, then injustice does not exist.<br />If karma is real, then all perceptions of injustice are misperceptions.<br /><br />Consider the case of theft.<br /><br />When we have a neuro-association that having a particular thing will bring us happiness, we may be tempted to take that thing without offering something of equal value to the person who currently posses it.<br /><br />If we think about it in purely monetary terms we may think that theft will make us a net winner.<br />If we think only of the immediate happiness we will experience when obtaining the object of our desire we will believe that theft will make us a net winner.<br />But both types of thinking are narrow-minded and misguided.<br />To truly understand the exchange of value we must ask ourselves if the theft will truly make us happier over the long term.<br /><br />It never does, of course.<br />If we steal we will feel shame for taking what does not belong to us – because deep down we know that we have not *earned* it. <br />We feel shame whenever we feel empathy for the victim of our theft. <br />We will feel shame whenever our thoughts remind us of what we have done.<br />We may have to live with the constant fear that people might find out that we are not trustworthy.<br />These are just some of the ways that our conscience seeks to punish us for acting in disharmony with it.<br /><br />The belief that stealing creates a net win for the thief is a delusion.<br />It creates a net loss.<br />Our conscience knows that we owe a debt to those we have stolen from.<br /><br />If we cause other people pain our conscience tables that as a “debt” that we owe them. The size of the debt is measured in terms of the amount of pain we believe that we intentionally caused through either an attempt find joy in hurting others directly or indirectly through indifference. Our conscience will pound us with pain relentlessly until we take action to repay that debt in some fashion. The longer we resist, the greater the destruction of our self-esteem.<br /><br />In the same way as only we know how much we value the things we exchange in trade, only we know the true intentions behind our actions. Only we know how deeply we intended to hurt our victim or how indifferent we were to their feelings when we acted to hurt them. That is exactly the amount of “value owed” that our conscience tables and it will work relentlessly to repay that debt.<br /><br />This is how our conscience enforces the rule that we should receive both in *kind* (pain or pleasure) and in *proportion* to what we give.<br /><br /><h2>7.4 Keeping score</h2><br /><br />Deep down we know the people whom we feel indebted to and those whom we feel are indebted to us.<br /><br />Our conscience is our score-keeper.<br /><br />Which of these two groups of people do you have warm feelings for?<br /><br />To which type do you feel compelled to give to?<br /><br />If you were to name the force behind this compulsion would you not label it your “conscience”?<br /><br />In your experience, amongst the givers and takers in your orbit, which group do you perceive to be happier?<br /><br />Might this be because the givers cultivate feelings of good will towards those in their orbit and are treated well in return whereas the takers cultivate feelings of ill will and are treated accordingly?<br /><br />If you think that you have been have been taken advantage of, is it possible that you may have over-estimated the value of what you gave to the person that you gave it to?<br /><br />Or is it possible that that they may be giving back to you in ways that you may not be cognizant of?<br /><br />Is it possible that they feel indebted to you and intend to pay you back when they are able to?<br /><br />In the end, everything balances out, because all human beings subconsciously keep score of who they owe and who owes them.<br /><br />If we directly or indirectly cause great joy or suffering intentionally to others it will come back to us in some form.<br /><br />We may not be aware of the form that it takes but we can rest assured that it will come back to us.<br /><br />“But”, you might object, “is it not possible that others may misjudge our intentions and view our offer of giving as really an act of taking?”<br /><br />Of course. It happens all the time.<br /><br />But [and this is absolutely key] the fascinating thing is that what we actually receive or fail to receive from others does not really affect our net level of joy or suffering.<br /><br />That’s crazy right?<br />Wrong.<br />Read on to discover why …<br /><br /><br /><h2>7.5 Conclusions</h2><br /><br />In this section I’ve illustrated how our conscience enforces the rule that our “long-term” happiness/un-happiness varies in “exact” proportion with our harmony/disharmony with our conscience.<br /><br />It does so by “keeping score” of the amount of joy or suffering that we intended to bring to others and subconsciously working to ensure that we experience that ourselves.<br /><br />But this is not the whole story. We know that what we resist persists. We know that attempts to cover up what we have done or otherwise run from the shame actually lead to even more pain than that which we originally intended to cause. In the next section, I will illustrate why that is.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-5.html"><br />Part 5: Law enforcement 401: inner civil war</a><br/><br/><br/>The Beasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04009206503900045740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60843498826348782.post-77999111856920121492010-06-10T16:39:00.000-07:002010-06-10T17:47:53.406-07:00A proof of the inviolability of karma (Part 3)<a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-1.html"><br />Part 1: The task, the consequences, the methodology & the illusion of injustice</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-2.html"><br />Part 2: Law enforcement 101: the enforcer</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-3.html"><br />Part 3: Law enforcement 201: "in kind"</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-4.html"><br />Part 4: Law enforcement 301: "in proportion"</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-5.html"><br />Part 5: Law enforcement 401: inner civil war</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-6.html"><br />Part 6: Law enforcement 501: The neuro-science of karma</a><br /><br /><h1>6 Law Enforcement 201: “in kind”</h1><br /><br />In this section I will illustrate in more detail exactly why and how our conscience acts to ensure that we receive “in kind” to what we give.<br /><br />I’ll also illustrate why our conscious mind fails to pick up on this but our unconscious mind does not.<br /><br /><h2>6.1 Bad karma</h2><br /><br />If we believe that happiness can be achieved by causing harm to another an act on it, we will feel the pain of guilt and that pain will persist until we either (a) seek to atone for our misdeed or (b) find a way to numb the pain by switching off our empathy for the person that we have harmed.<br /><br />To choose the former path is to choose to return to harmony with our conscience and permanently eliminate the source of the pain and re-enable our ability to connect with others.<br /><br />To choose the later path is to choose to maintain the disharmony and to search for methods numb the pain and limit our ability to connect with others.<br /><br />The reason that we often choose the later path is that it actually works – in the short term. There are various means that we can use to switch off our feelings for the person that we have harmed. When we use them we can feel as if we have broken the rules and gotten away with it.<br /><br />The more often we do this the more we strengthen the belief that pleasure really can be achieved by disregarding the feelings of others and taking what we want. Our life experiences *appear* to support that belief. And so we continue behaving in this fashion. We continue to take what we want and to get rewarded and to increase our ability to avoid the emotion of guilt and each time that we do we strengthen our belief that we have gotten away with it.<br /><br />But we are deluding ourselves.<br /><br />We are like the mouse who is being led to the mouse trap by a trail of cheese. Each time we take another piece of cheese we are rewarded with pleasure but we are moving closer and closer to having our neck snapped by the mouse-trap.<br /><br />The more often we have gotten away with defying our conscience and being rewarded by it the stronger our belief becomes that this is the path to happiness.<br /><br />But the more that we do it the more that we notice that the pleasure we used to get from this behavior is not as intense and does not last as long.<br /><br />We find that a greater portion of our lives is spent in a state of anxiety and depression and all that we have to look forward to is the intense pleasure that comes from taking.<br /><br />We may begin to use drugs, alcohol, sex or food to get that momentary burst of pleasure that comes from taking but it never seems to endure.<br /><br />We are unhappy and we don’t know why.<br /><br />And because we have become so adept at hiding from the truth our ability to see the true reason for our unhappiness is impaired. Rather than accept responsibility, our instinct is to look for someone else to blame. After all, we are “entitled” to receive happiness without giving it – are we not?<br /><br />When we decide to switch off our empathy for those we have intended to harm we are killing our ability to love and thus destroying our ability to experience the very state of enduring joy that we think we are seeking by doing so. This is the fundamental delusion that characterizes the human condition and the defining characteristic of the age of barbarism.<br /><br />The reason that we are led into the temptation of immediate gratification is that it works. But when our minds are resolutely and narrowly focused on immediate gratification we fail to see the long term consequences of our decisions.<br /><br />And the long term consequence is that each time we hurt somebody and refuse to make amends we are shrinking our bubble of empathy. The circle of people that it is safe to connect with becomes a little smaller.<br /><br />To avoid the pain of guilt we are forced to put the person that we harmed out of our minds. That means distancing ourselves from not only them, but everything and everyone that reminds us of them.<br /><br />But the more people that we wound and the more deeply we wound them the more difficult this becomes because we are forced to further constrain the range of the thoughts that we think to those that will not cause pain and to constrain our interactions in the world at large in order to prevent ourselves from having those painful thoughts.<br /><br />Each time we do this our bubble of safety becomes smaller and the world at large becomes a little darker and more menacing. <br /><br />We see enemies everywhere. And because our ability to judge the true intentions of others has been constrained by our decision to avoid connecting with them, we begin to consistently misjudge their good intentions for bad and act accordingly.<br /><br />In this fashion we create the very thing that we fear.<br /><br />The further down this path we venture the more hellish our world becomes.<br /><br />We delude ourselves into believing that we have gotten away with it but the pain of guilt continues to grow like a monster beneath the surface.<br /><br /><br /><h2>6.2 Good karma</h2><br /><br />The Buddha said it best …<br />“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”<br /><br />Unlike the temporary pleasure that is achieved by “taking”, the happiness that that is achieved by “giving” can endure for a life-time.<br /><br />When we choose to find happiness for ourselves by giving to others and experiencing the sympathetic joy of the receiver we are strengthening the belief that enduring happiness comes from increasing our empathy for others because the more deeply we connect with them the more deeply we can share in their joy.<br /><br />It helps us to see clearly that happiness is not a scarce resource that must be taken.<br /><br />Rather each time we give to others we increase the net happiness in the universe.<br /><br /><h2>6.3 Conclusions</h2><br /><br /><br />Our conscience acts to ensure that we receive “in kind” to what we give.<br /><br />When we seek to bring unhappiness to others we generate bad karma for ourselves.<br /><br />When we seek to bring happiness to others we generate good karma for ourselves.<br /><br />Our conscious mind fails to pick up on this because our narrow focus on the immediate gratification we receive when violating our conscience seems to support our misguided belief that happiness can be achieved by bringing unhappiness to others.<br /><br />Despite this, our unconscious mind knows that our long-term happiness/un-happiness varies in direct proportion with our harmony/disharmony with our conscience.<br /><br />In the next section I will explain how our conscience ensures that we receive both “in kind” and “in proportion” to what we give.<br /><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-4.html"><br />Part 4: Law enforcement 301: "in proportion"</a><br/><br/><br/>The Beasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04009206503900045740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60843498826348782.post-62623143259967385542010-06-10T16:35:00.000-07:002010-06-10T17:47:04.077-07:00A proof of the inviolability of karma (Part 2)<a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-1.html"><br />Part 1: The task, the consequences, the methodology & the illusion of injustice</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-2.html"><br />Part 2: Law enforcement 101: the enforcer</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-3.html"><br />Part 3: Law enforcement 201: "in kind"</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-4.html"><br />Part 4: Law enforcement 301: "in proportion"</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-5.html"><br />Part 5: Law enforcement 401: inner civil war</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-6.html"><br />Part 6: Law enforcement 501: The neuro-science of karma</a><br /><br /><h1>5 Law enforcement 101: the enforcer</h1><br /><br />In this section I will first prove the premise that all human beings have a conscience. <br /><br />Next I will reveal the enforcer of the law of karma and describe from whence this force originates.<br /><br />I’ll then describe the fundamental delusion that gives rise to all unhappiness in the world.<br /><br />I’ll illustrate how this delusion gives rise to disharmony within, which in turn, gives rise to barbarism without, and is ultimately responsible for keeping our entire species trapped within in the age of barbarism.<br /><br />Finally I will reveal the reason why the enforcer of the law of karma is absolutely undefeatable.<br /><br /><h2>5.1 The universality & permanence of conscience</h2><br /><br />Is it really the case that the people who we might consider to be monsters actually have a conscience? <br /><br />It is. The apparent absence of a conscience in some people is a misperception. <br /><br />We can be certain that all human beings have a conscience because our conscience has a biological origin that we all share. <br /><br />Have you ever wondered why so many disparate cultures across the globe throughout the ages have developed moral codes wherein the foundational belief always seems to be some variant of the golden rule: do unto others as you would have done unto you?<br /><br />The reason is because the golden rule is hard-wired into the very neural circuitry of our brains.<br /><br />What we call “morality” is merely a manifestation of the emotion of empathy. When we empathize with another we feel connected to them in a fashion wherein we feel their joy and suffering as if it were our own. <br /><br />While we feel connected to someone we naturally “do unto them as we would have done unto us” because we feel as if we *are* them. We are not capable of harming others when we are connected to them because it would be like harming ourselves.<br /><br />When we do hurt someone and subsequently feel connected to them, we feel their pain as if it was our own and know that we are the cause of it. That horrible feeling we call “guilt” or “remorse” and it creates a powerful and persistent memory that has the power to re-shape our beliefs and the behaviors which flow from those beliefs for the better.<br /><br />What we call our “conscience” is our fear of feeling that pain of guilt again.<br /><br />We are programmed by evolution to seek pleasure and avoid pain.<br /><br />The fear of the pain of guilt drives us to limit the scope of our pleasure seeking and pain avoiding activities to those that will not cause pain to others.<br /><br />Empathy is an indispensible component of our ability to “self-regulate” our primal pleasure seeking and pain avoiding drives.<br /><br />When the fear of feeling the pain of guilt successfully influences our decision making process, we act “in harmony” with our conscience.<br /><br />When a larger fear of pain overpowers the fear of the pain of guilt, we may act “in disharmony” with our conscience.<br /><br />It is our empathy that enables us to connect.<br />It is our empathy that enables us to feel the pain of guilt.<br />It is our empathy that is the source of our conscience.<br />All human beings – without exception – are wired for empathy.<br />Therefore all human beings have a conscience.<br /><br />Empathy is not learned. It is innate. When one baby in hospital nursery begins to cry, the other babies begin to cry in unison because we are all born with empathy.<br /><br />The fact that people do not always act in harmony with their conscience is not evidence of the lack of a conscience. The fact that some socio-paths seem to never act in harmony with their conscience is not evidence of a lack of a conscience. Rather it is evidence that an even stronger fear of pain exists than that of the fear of the pain of guilt.<br /><br />Despite what we may think, it is *always* “fear of pain” and not “desire for pleasure” that leads people to act in disharmony with their conscience because “fear of pain” always trumps “desire for pleasure” in our decision making process. (The reason for this will be described when we examine the neuro-science of the decision making process.)<br /><br />Those who appear to be without a conscience are usually just trying to deceive us with their “tough guy” acts because they fear appearing weak more than they fear the pain of guilt. You can rest assured that beneath the surface of even the worst psychopathic murders is a terrified little boy or girl who feels powerless and out of control unless they are inflicting their will on others.<br /><br />Unconvinced?<br /><br />Then consider why our species evolved the ability to empathize to begin with.<br /><br />Empathy almost certainly evolved as a means to judge the true intentions of potential predators in the vicinity of the tribe. <br /><br />Imagine our ancestors swinging from the trees in an environment where predators were always present.<br /><br />Would not those who had the ability to correctly judge the intentions of the predators have an advantage over those who could not?<br /><br />Those who could correctly ascertain the intentions of the predators would know when to venture out of the trees for food whereas those who did not would either remain paralyzed by fear and die of starvation or venture out when the predators were hungry.<br /><br />To test if someone really has empathy simply make a sudden and threatening move toward them. If they flinch you can rest assured that they have the ability to ascertain the intentions of others. They have empathy. They must. They would not have evolved if they did not. <br /><br />Our ability to feel empathy is key to our ability to self-regulate our destructive emotions. <br /><br />When our species became dominant our #1 predator became each other. <br /><br />Empathy enables us to ascertain to the true intentions of other humans.<br /><br />Empathy is what enables us, for example, to detect dishonesty and deception in others – if only subconsciously.<br /><br />It is clear from our understanding of how the brain evolved that the ability to empathize evolved later than the primal fear-driven motivation system of the reptilian brain. (Mammals have empathy. Reptiles do not.) It evolved as a means to self-regulate our fears to enable us to only be fearful when we truly need to be and to not allow inappropriate fear to prevent us from seizing opportunities.<br /><br />Our species has now achieved dominance over our predators but we are still saddled with a brain that evolved to enable us to survive in a predatory environment. It is also clear that, in the absence of predators, natural selection continues to favor those with greater empathy and thus a greater ability to self-regulate their destructive emotions. This is true for the simple reason that those who are less able to control their destructive emotions have a higher probability to find and destroy each other. The alpha-male is an endangered species.<br /><br />Thus not only do all human beings have empathy and therefore a conscience, but our conscience is being strengthened with each new generation by natural selection. This is the reason why we are progressively becoming less and less barbarous and why the end of the age of barbarism is drawing nearer.<br /><br /><br /><h2>5.2 The enforcer of the law of karma</h2><br /><br />The force which ensures that that the law of karma is enforced is largely unseen.<br /><br />For millennia it has remained hidden within a fog of confusion.<br /><br />This lack of understanding has led some of us to identify it as meta-physical being.<br /><br />The lack of clarity about how it works has led many of us to question its inviolability.<br /><br />You may be surprised to discover the identity of the enforcer of karma.<br /><br />It is you!<br /><br />And it is me.<br /><br />It is all of us.<br /><br />We do it ourselves.<br /><br />But we do it unconsciously.<br /><br />Karma is enforced by each of us. It is enforced by our conscience. <br /><br />It is enforced by our conscience whether we are conscious of it or not.<br /><br />It is enforced by our conscience whether we will it to be or not.<br /><br />Our conscience acts as an independent personality within us applying constant pressure on us to “do unto others as we would have done unto us”.<br /><br />If we do not “do unto others as we would have done unto us”, our conscience will work tirelessly to ensure that we will “have done unto us as we have done unto others”.<br /><br />Karma is the punishment / reward system that we unconsciously use on ourselves to persuade ourselves to follow the golden rule.<br /><br />The greater the pain that we intentionally cause others, the greater the pain of the guilt that we will feel when we feel connected to them and the more that we will fear connecting with them.<br /><br />The greater the joy that we intentionally bring to others, the greater the joy that we will feel when we feel connected to them and the more that we will desire to connect with them.<br /><br />The more we behave in a fashion which causes us to harm others the more we will fear connecting with anyone.<br /><br />The more we behave in a fashion which brings joy to others the more we will desire to connect with everyone.<br /><br />The intensity of the emotion of guilt or sympathetic joy that we feel subconsciously influences our thoughts and behaviors and either enables or constrains us from experiencing the happiness that we desire to experience.<br /><br />Our conscience rewards us or punishes us in direct proportion to the magnitude of our harmony or disharmony with it.<br /><br />This is how our conscience enforces the rule that we should receive in kind and proportion to what we give.<br /><br /><h2>5.3 The root cause of unhappiness</h2><br /><br />The fundamental delusion of our species in this age of barbarism is the misguided belief that we can achieve happiness for ourselves by following a course of action which brings unhappiness to others.<br /><br />Some of us have very strong beliefs of this nature and because our life experiences tend to support them we tend to cling to them even more strongly when we become unhappy.<br /><br />Yet we continue to be unhappy and we don’t really know why. <br /><br />In our frustration, we may blame others for our unhappiness.<br /><br />But this is not true. <br /><br />Happiness or unhappiness comes from within.<br /><br />Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; <br />Not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.<br />~Khalil Gibran<br /><br />We are not defined by the cards we are dealt by life. We are defined by how we choose to play them.<br /><br />The longer we blame others for our unhappiness the more we prolong and deepen our unhappiness.<br /><br />The longer we blame others the longer that we blind ourselves to the very truth that can put an end to it.<br /><br />It is a truth that we already know in our hearts but we are afraid to hear it.<br /><br />The strength of our attachment to our beliefs about what will make us happy may be such that we may feel a powerful resistance to even contemplating the astonishing truth that it is our own collection of misguided beliefs about what will make us happy that is the cause of our unhappiness.<br /><br />The more we cling to them the more unhappy we become but we do not see this because we do not consciously perceive the larger chain of cause and effect. Because we are narrowly focused we see only that acting on these beliefs *appears* to bring us happiness in the short term and this evidence serves to re-enforce these erroneous beliefs.<br /><br />In order to see with absolute clarity how deeply and irrevocably misguided such beliefs are it is necessary to understand a little bit about how our brain works and why our brain evolved in the way that they did.<br /><br />Our brain has been crafted by evolution in a fashion to desire pleasure and avoid pain.<br /><br />We are biologically engineered for the pursuit of happiness.<br /><br />Every decision that we make is guided by this desire.<br /><br />We share this basic motivation system with all animals.<br /><br />Mammals, however, developed the ability to empathize.<br /><br />And the ability to empathize re-wired our brains to more correctly identify what will bring pain and what will bring pleasure.<br /><br />Remember that the emotion of empathy evolved as a means to ascertain the true intentions of other beings.<br /><br />It evolved as a means to self-regulate our fears to enable us to only be fearful when we truly needed to be and to not allow inappropriate fear to prevent us from seizing opportunities.<br /><br />When we meet someone new we instinctively seek to connect with them to identify them as a friend or foe.<br /><br />When we sense that we can trust them, we feel safe.<br /><br />When we sense that they care about our well-being, we feel safer.<br /><br />The safer that we feel, the more happy that we become.<br /><br />The more people in our environment that we feel connected with, the safer that we feel and the more happy that we are.<br /><br />This ability to connect with others and establish a sense of mutual trust is a pre-requisite for enduring happiness because we cannot be happy if we are afraid.<br /><br />It is empathy that enables us to do this.<br /><br />But when we mistakenly believe that happiness can be achieved by causing harm to others we are choosing to do battle with our own innate need to connect with others.<br /><br />We are choosing to switch off our ability to empathize with some.<br /><br />We are choosing to go to war with our conscience.<br /><br />But in so doing we are attacking the very source of our ability to be happy.<br /><br />Anything we do that leads us to switch off our ability to connect with others constrains our ability to attain and maintain the enduring happiness that we desire.<br /><br />The more people that we harm and the more deeply that we wound them the worse our situation becomes.<br /><br />But rarely do we perceive this on a conscious level. <br /><br />The amount of happiness that we are capable of attaining and sustaining varies in direct proportion to our ability to connect with others and sustain those connections.<br /><br />Also of importance is the depth of the connection.<br /><br />It now becomes apparent why our species developed the capacity to love.<br /><br />That which we call “love” is in reality a state of having deep empathy for another person.<br /><br />By “love” we are not referring to infatuation, or lust, but rather the “true love” that is a deep caring for the welfare of other beings.<br /><br />That which we call “happiness” and that which we call “love” are just two different words that we use to describe the same underlying mind-state that we are driven to pursue.<br /><br />If you doubt this, try this simple exercise the next time you feel great happiness…<br /><br />Pay attention to your thoughts.<br /><br />Notice that when you are joyful that you have warm feelings for others.<br /><br />When the joy leaves you, notice what thought triggered the joy to leave.<br /><br />Was it not some form of fear that caused you to stop thinking about others and to think about protecting yourself?<br /><br />Love is the means by which a state of joy is persisted.<br /><br />Love enables enduring joy. <br /><br />The greater our ability to sustain a state of warm feelings for others the longer the duration of the joy that we experience.<br /><br />When we decide that our path to happiness requires us to switch off our empathy for another person we are working at cross purposes with ourselves.<br /><br />The tragedy of the decision to fight empathy to avoid the short term pain of guilt is that it limits our ability to experience the very state of joy that we are seeking. <br /><br />The decision to choose immediate gratification over harmony with our conscience is a decision to deny ourselves the very state of enduring joy that we yearn for.<br /><br />When we are relaxed, joyous and free from fear, our ability to connect with others is at its height. Happiness and caring about others are indelibly connected. The physiology of our brain is such that we cannot have one without the other. This is why all beliefs that happiness can be achieved by hurting other people are misguided beliefs.<br /><br />But we don’t see this because we are so narrowly focused on the immediate gratification we get from doing so. This temporary pleasure serves to strengthen the misguided belief that we are on the path to happiness and blinds us to the larger truth that by defying our conscience we are creating the conditions for long term enduring unhappiness.<br /><br /><br /><h2>5.4 Disharmony within</h2><br /><br />This delusion that happiness can be achieved by following a course of action that brings unhappiness to others gives rise to the need for karma.<br /><br />Both our conscious and unconscious minds are driven by the same desire to be happy.<br /><br />But our unconscious mind knows things that our conscious mind does not.<br /><br />Unconsciously we are very aware of the fact that seeking to bringing unhappiness to others will only bring unhappiness to ourselves.<br /><br />It is this subconscious awareness that gives rise to the internal disharmony of the inner civil war that ensues when we consciously seek to find happiness by brining unhappiness to others.<br /><br /><h2>5.5 Barbarism without</h2><br /><br />Disharmony within gives birth to barbarism without.<br /><br />The belief that happiness can be achieved by bringing unhappiness to others leads us to do so.<br /><br />When others act selfishly and intentionally seek to harm us, our lack of faith in the natural justice of karma may lead us to respond in kind.<br /><br />They in turn may do the same.<br /><br />In this fashion our delusion gives birth to, sustains and empowers the cycle of barbarism that can grow to consume and destroy us.<br /><br />It is in this fashion that the delusion that gives rise to disharmony within also gives rise to barbarism without.<br /><br />This is the root cause of all of the barbarism in the world.<br /><br />The belief that happiness can be achieved for ourselves by bringing unhappiness to others is the root cause of our unhappiness. This belief gives birth to disharmony within which, in turn, gives birth to barbarism without. To the extent to which we change such beliefs we will bring greater peace and happiness to both ourselves and our world.<br /><br />The delusion that happiness can be achieved by bringing unhappiness to others is the delusion that we can get away with violating karma. We cannot. Karma is inviolable.<br /><br /><h2>5.6 The resilience of the law enforcer</h2><br /><br />Why is our conscience undefeatable?<br /><br />We may perceive that our conscience is working against our desire to be happy, but we could not be more wrong.<br /><br />Our unconscious mind knows things that our conscious mind does not.<br /><br />The reason why our conscience is so relentless is because it too is driven by the desire to be happy, but it knows with absolute certainty that the only way to achieve this is to stay connected to others, to keep our hearts open to them at all times, and to do unto them as we would have done unto us.<br /><br />The more we intentionally act to cause harm to others the more our unconscious mind seeks to move to counter us.<br /><br />It is resilient and it is undefeatable because deep down it knows with absolute certainty that it is acting in our best interests.<br /><br />That is the message that our unconscious mind has been broadcasting to us at maximum volume through the emotion of guilt our entire lives.<br /><br />We need only to take out our ear-plugs and listen.<br /><br /><h2>5.7 Conclusions</h2><br /><br />All human beings have a conscience. <br /><br />Karma is the punishment / reward system that we unconsciously use on ourselves to persuade ourselves to follow the golden rule.<br /><br />The root cause of the disharmony within which generates the barbarism without that characterizes our species in the age of barbarism is the misguided belief that happiness can be achieved by following a course of action which brings unhappiness to others.<br /><br />The reason why our conscience is absolutely undefeatable is because we unconsciously know with absolute certainty that causing suffering to others will bring us unhappiness rather than the happiness we desire.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-3.html"><br />Part 3: Law enforcement 201: "in kind"</a><br/><br/><br/>The Beasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04009206503900045740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60843498826348782.post-698052932513316092010-06-10T16:27:00.000-07:002010-06-10T17:46:10.219-07:00A proof of the inviolability of karma (Part 1)<a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-1.html"><br />Part 1: The task, the consequences, the methodology & the illusion of injustice</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-2.html"><br />Part 2: Law enforcement 101: the enforcer</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-3.html"><br />Part 3: Law enforcement 201: "in kind"</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-4.html"><br />Part 4: Law enforcement 301: "in proportion"</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-5.html"><br />Part 5: Law enforcement 401: inner civil war</a><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-6.html"><br />Part 6: Law enforcement 501: The neuro-science of karma</a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">“When words are both true and kind, they can change the world.”<br/><br />~Buddha</span><br /><br /><h1>1 The task </h1><br /><br />Do you believe that “what goes around comes around”?<br /><br />Do you believe that “good things come to good people”?<br /><br />Do you believe that “people get what’s coming to them”?<br /><br />Then you believe in karma.<br /><br />How strong is that belief?<br /><br />Is it something that you think “tends to be true” some of the time, or even much of the time but not always?<br /><br />What would you say if I told you that I could prove to you beyond a shadow of a doubt that karma was 100% real and 100% inescapable with zero exceptions and that all evidence to the contrary is misperception?<br /><br />What if I could prove to you that karma is absolutely inviolable and that you and I and everyone in this world are destined to receive in kind and proportion exactly what we give?<br /><br />What if I could prove to you conclusively that no matter how hard we might try that all attempts to subvert karma are 100% guaranteed to fail?<br /><br />Intrigued? Read on…<br /><br /><h1>2 The consequences</h1><br /><br />Put your skepticism aside for a moment and just imagine how the world would change if the inviolability of karma could be so conclusively proven that people all over the world began to not only accept it as fact but to make it a core belief which guided all of the decisions we make in our daily lives?<br /><br />If we truly believed with absolute certainty that the universe would give back to us in kind and proportion exactly what we give to it and that it was absolutely impossible to subvert this, imagine how we all would behave differently.<br /><br />Imagine the earth shaking consequences if we could all see the hidden chain of cause-and-effect that revealed to us with absolute clarity the startling truth that all of the unhappiness that we’ve experienced in our own lives is a direct result of our intentional decisions to cause unhappiness to others.<br /><br />Imagine the great wave of transformation that would sweep the globe if it could be conclusively proven that the beliefs we hold about what will bring us happiness are misguided and will actually bring us unhappiness if they lead us to bring harm to others.<br /><br />Imagine what would happen to all of the selfishness and cruelty in this world.<br /><br />Picture people everywhere always striving to do unto others as they would have done unto themselves.<br /><br />What would become of the various ways in which our inferiority complexes drive us to find happiness by placing ourselves above others and to take pleasure in making them feel inferior to us?<br /><br />What would become of all of the hierarchical power structures we build and the power struggles that we fight?<br /><br />What would become of the various ways in which our fear leads us to impose our will on our fellow human beings without regard to their feelings?<br /><br />What would become of the desire to find happiness by taking instead of giving?<br /><br />What would become of all of the tribes we form to war amongst ourselves?<br /><br />What would become of the mindset of “us” and “them”?<br /><br />Imagine if the next time that someone caused you harm and you felt the strong urge to hurt them back that you were able to catch yourself and remember your absolute conviction that all beings are the owners of their own karma and that those who caused the harm will suffer in proportion to the suffering that they have intentionally caused – even if you cannot see any evidence of this. <br /><br />Imagine if at such a moment you could recall your absolute conviction that if you lashed out at them that you would only be hurting yourself by doing so.<br /><br />Imagine how an absolute conviction in the “natural justice” of karma could stay our hand and prevent the initiation or escalation of all conflicts when we feel that we have been wronged.<br /><br />If karma can be proved to be inviolable, what would become of crime, violence and war?<br /><br />Imagine how our world could be completely transformed if this single belief were to rise to the level of a conviction amongst the population at large.<br /><br />Imagine if people truly believed that any attempt to experience joy by taking joy from others was 100% doomed to fail and would actually result in a net loss of joy for themselves in the long term.<br /><br />Imagine if people truly believed with all of their heart that the only way to experience enduring joy themselves was to give joy to others.<br /><br />Imagine if the scarcity mentality was abandoned by everyone everywhere and we all gave freely of ourselves without fear of being taken advantage of.<br /><br />Imagine the flowering of loving-kindness that will befall our world when the age of barbarism is brought to an end.<br /><br />Imagine what 6 billion minds set free might be capable of accomplishing.<br /><br /><h1>3 The methodology</h1><br /><br />I’ll begin this proof of the inviolability of karma by first asking you to recall the strongest evidence that you have that would appear to contradict it and then illustrate to you why you should consider the possibility that the label of “injustice” you’ve applied to this evidence may be based on misperception. <br /><br />In “Law enforcement 101” I will introduce you to the enforcer of the law of karma and illustrate how this force is omnipresent, relentless, and undefeatable.<br /><br />In “Law enforcement 201” I will reveal to you the means by the law enforcer ensures that we receive “in kind” to what we give.<br /><br />In “Law enforcement 301” I will reveal to you the means by the law enforcer ensures that we receive both “in kind” and “in proportion” to what we give.<br /><br />In “Law enforcement 401” I will analyze the nature of the inner civil war that we fight when we try to hide from the fate that we have earned and illustrate how such resistance serves only to increase our bad karma.<br /><br />In “Law enforcement 501” I will eliminate all remaining doubt, by illustrating with hard science exactly why we all receive exactly the amount of happiness or unhappiness that we have earned and that it is absolutely impossible to subvert this.<br /><br /><br /> <br /><br /><h1>4 The illusion of injustice</h1><br /><br />If you are like most people your life experiences have led you to believe that for some strange reason that you don’t completely understand it tends to be true that “what goes around comes around”. However, there are at least a few really big exceptions which prevent you from believing in this totally.<br /><br />The fact that the word “injustice” is in our language and is commonly used is a testament to this fact.<br /><br />What is the biggest *injustice* in your life?<br /><br />By any chance is righting this wrong the passion that drives you?<br /> <br />Is it something deeply personal?<br /><br />Have you spent a large portion of your life ruminating about it?<br /><br />Somebody or some group of people did something to you or someone that you care about that hurt you so deeply that at times you may not have been able to stop thinking about it. <br /><br />Have you re-lived the trauma over and over in your mind and asked yourself questions like …<br />“Why?”<br />“How could they do this to me?”<br />“How can they get away with this?”<br /><br />Perhaps this trauma has had a transformational affect on your life? <br /><br />If you look carefully at the important life decisions that you have made since the event do you find that this injustice has been a guiding force influencing them all and has led you to where you are today? <br /><br />This *injustice* would tend to counter your belief that life is fair, and that people always get what they deserve would it not?<br /><br />If you believe that injustice exists then you believe that those who perpetrated the injustice have gotten away with something do you not?<br /><br />Does this lack of faith in karma move you to want to punish them?<br /><br />I’m going to prove to you now something that might be hard for you to accept.<br /><br />I’m going to prove to you that the person or persons who you think “got away with” an injustice, in fact, have not!<br /><br />None of them ever have and none of them ever will! <br /><br />If karma is real then all perceptions of injustice are misperceptions.<br /><br />If karma is real then the very term “injustice” must be re-defined to be a synonym for “misperception”.<br /><br />You may have mixed feelings about this.<br /><br />Part of you may be gratified to know that those who have hurt you will suffer in proportion to their intention to do so.<br /><br />But there may be a part of you that fears it.<br /><br />Changing a core belief can be a very scary thing. Many of us have held onto our pain and anger for such things for so long that they have become a part of our very identity and we might wonder what we would become if we were to let go of them.<br /><br />But, perhaps a stronger motivator is the fear of having to face our own demons.<br /><br />Who among us has not done things that we are not proud of? Who has not deeply wounded another human being and fears facing their shame?<br /><br />If we feel that we have not already atoned for our misdeeds we may wish to cling to the hope that we will not have to do so.<br /><br />Despite these fears, however, I am absolutely certain that there is a part of you that desperately wants to believe that justice will always prevail and that karma is real. I am certain of it because this desire for justice has a biological origin which is key to proving the inviolability of karma itself.<br /><br /><h2>4.1 Misperceptions of intention</h2><br /><br />Isn’t it true that it is not the deed that injures us but rather our perceptions of the intention behind the deed?<br /><br />Who among us has not had the experience of making a negative judgment of another’s intentions and acting on that judgment to hurt them back, only to later discover that we had misjudged their true intentions? Recall how that felt.<br /><br />Our view of an event can be completely transformed if we understand the true intentions, motivations and feelings behind it. <br /><br />If those who cause harm do so inadvertently out of genuine ignorance and are sincerely and consistently remorseful when they discover that that they have done so, do we not tend to be forgiving of them? Do we not tend to believe that they should not be hurt in retaliation? <br /><br />Do we tend to punish ourselves severely when the hurt that we cause is truly unintentional or do we tend to be forgiving of ourselves?<br /> <br />Conversely, if somebody makes a conscious choice to derive happiness by causing or being indifferent to the suffering of others, do we not view the situation differently? Do we not tend to believe that the person deserves to suffer in proportion to the suffering that they intentionally inflicted. <br /><br />Do we tend to easily forgive ourselves when the hurt that we cause is truly intentional or do we tend to believe that we deserve to be punished? <br /><br />Isn’t it true then that the intensity of our desire for justice stems from the perceived intentions of the individuals to be indifferent to or even derive pleasure from the suffering of the person or people that we care about? <br /><br />Karma is not about the deed.<br />Karma is about the “intention” behind the deed.<br /><br />How certain are you of the true intentions of those who caused your injustice? <br /><br />Is there even a remote possibility that you might not being 100% accurate about the perceived maliciousness of their intent?<br /><br /><h2>4.2 Misperceptions of remorse</h2><br /><br />Isn’t it true that behind our anger is hurt? Hurt that comes from our perception that we or someone we care about was harmed and that the offender refuses to show remorse?<br /><br />Isn’t it true that what we really want from those who caused the harm that we have labeled “injustice” is to show some genuine and enduring remorse and to take responsibility for healing the harm they have caused?<br /><br />Is there not some part of us that wants them to feel a connection with those they have harmed and to feel their pain as if it were their own?<br /><br />Is not the desire for revenge really an admission of defeat in our quest to get those who caused the pain to show remorse and seek to atone for their wrong-doing? <br /><br />When we make the decision to “give up” are we not implicitly adopting the belief that they are without conscience and cannot be reached?<br /><br />Is it possible that they really do have a conscience?<br /><br />Is it possible that they really do feel remorseful but cannot allow themselves to show it?<br /><br />Is it possible that as strong as the pain of the guilt is there is a stronger pain that is preventing them from asking for forgiveness? Perhaps they fear that they can’t handle facing their shame? Perhaps they fear appearing weak and vulnerable?<br /><br />Is it possible that their apparent lack of remorse is actually an act to goad you into lashing out at them because doing so would help them to alleviate the pain of their guilt by making it easier for them to see themselves as the victim instead of the victimizer?<br /><br />Is it possible that their sense of powerlessness is so overwhelming that the only way they can feel in control of their lives is to hurt other people?<br /><br />Perhaps they perceive your desire for them to show remorse as an attempt to control them?<br /><br />Is it possible that their fear leads them to misinterpret your good intention to elicit compassion as a malicious passive-aggressive intention to cause them pain?<br /><br />If behind your anger is hurt, isn’t it possible that the same is true for them?<br /><br />Have you personally ever felt anger that was not rooted in pain? <br /><br />Is it possible that even if their intention was malicious that behind their anger and seeming remorselessness is an excruciating and unrelenting pain which is so intense that it overwhelms the pain of guilt?<br /><br />Do you have it within yourself to identify with that pain and feel compassion for them?<br /><br />How certain are you of the true feelings of remorse of those who caused your injustice?<br /><br />Do you remain unconvinced?<br /><br />Do you believe that some people really don’t have a conscience?<br /><br />I will prove to you that, despite appearances, all human beings – without exception - have a conscience.<br /><br />We should never give up on our belief in the potential for goodness in others.<br /><br /><h2>4.3 Misperceptions of the cause of suffering</h2><br /><br />Have you ever known anyone who continued to obsess about a traumatic event long after it had occurred?<br /><br />Have you ever known anyone for whom this continuous focus on trauma was debilitating?<br /><br />Did you get the sense that the cause of this person’s suffering was not so much the trauma itself as their continuous focus on it?<br /><br />But isn’t this what we all do?<br /><br />Picture in your mind the image you most associate with the pain of your own great injustice and feel now as you did then.<br /><br />Consider the possibility that our tendency to ruminate obsessively on traumatic events is an innate trait that is hard-wired into the circuitry of our brain and serves the purpose of forcing us to learn the correct lessons from an experience so that we don’t subject ourselves to danger again.<br /><br />Consider the possibility that the vast majority of the suffering that we experience from a traumatic event is not caused by the event itself, but rather by (1) our decision to craft a story of the experience that places ourselves in the role of the victim and (2) our decision to tell ourselves this story obsessively. <br /><br />Is it possible that if we make a decision to change our disempowering victimhood story to an empowering one that places ourselves in the role of the hero that we would feel differently? <br /><br />Is it possible that no one can really hurt us without our consent and active participation?<br /><br />Is it possible that no one can really hurt us but ourselves?<br /><br />Is it even remotely possible that all non-physical pain is entirely self-inflicted and that the mind can be trained to be less masochistic?<br /><br />Is it possible that when we blame other people for our pain that we are not only making a mistake but we are actually dis-empowering ourselves?<br /><br />How certain are you that the people who caused your injustice are responsible for your suffering?<br /><br /><a href="http://cerebral-dominance.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-of-inviolability-of-karma-part-2.html"><br />Part 2: Law enforcement 101: the enforcer</a><br/><br/><br/>The Beasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04009206503900045740noreply@blogger.com0