RECOMMENDED LINKS
Please cite all information taken from this chapter of my website in the following manner:
(Schmid, Gary Bruno (Year): Links. www.mind-body.info (Month). Paragraph Heading, Subsection)
Prologue
One of the most important aspects of consciousness is the context-related linking of separate elements to make an integral whole which, unto itself, can become an element within a still larger context etc..
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Introduction
This selection of links is intended to span the entire spectrum of mind-body-society concerns. The individual links represent my personal preferences and have not been chosen according to any special or objective criteria. The order of presentation is now arbitrary. As time goes on, I may try to categorize the links under MIND, BODY and SOCIETY, and arrange them alphabetically within each category.
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Hypnosis
This selection of links is intended to provide sites dedicated to serious training, therapy and research in the field of hypnosis.
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Death, Voodoo and all that
I have randomly selected here some sites which I find interesting within the context of the theme of psychogenic death.
In 1988, photo-journalist Alberto Venzago crosses West Africa on an aged Vespa. It breaks down in the town of Ouidah, right in front of a Voodoo cloister. A man appears and offers to help. His name is Mahounon. He is one of the most powerful Voodoo priests in Africa.
Intrigued by this man, Venzago plunges into the mysterious world of African Voodoo. Following Mahounon with his camera for almost ten years, he films secret Voodoo ceremonies and sacrificial rituals, as they have never before been captured on film.
Venzago witnesses an extraordinary story, as Mahounon searches for his successor and trains him for his role as leader of the Mawu-Lissa Voodoo Cult. The Voodoo oracle, or Fa, points the way to an eleven year-old boy who, under Mahounon’s instruction, learns the secrets of Voodoo: black and white magic, rituals, ceremonies and the intricate workings of the Fa.
Out of this unique experience comes MOUNTED BY THE GODS. The film illuminates some of the darkest and most fascinating aspects of Voodoo: a culture full of mysteries – secretive, powerful, entrancing.
http://www.mountedbythegods.com/film.html
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People are too willing to accept ideas that make them feel secure, even when there's no evidence for them. New Age beliefs and alternative medicine may be comforting but they can be dangerous if they convince people that crystals or psychic powers can cure diseases.
We all indulge in woolly thinking but in the end, science, which demands that theories are tested, is of more use than blind faith in ideas that can never be proved. Gullibility makes people susceptible to all kinds of fake claims, as this trick of the mind shows.
For this trick of the mind, the "mind artist", Derren Brown, has chosen someone who is convinced by New Age philosophies and alternative medicine. There's nothing wrong in being open-minded about claims that crystals, spells or psychic phenomena have the power to heal, as long as you're prepared to test them. If not, you could find yourself being conned.
Derren Brown starts by establishing an atmosphere which will convince the woman that he has supernatural powers. To do this, he takes her to Epping Forest, a wild and natural place, full of ancient trees. He has a doll, which, he tells her, contains a ring that belongs to her. When he ties up the doll's legs, she finds she cannot move her legs. When he ties up the doll's arms, she can't move her arms. He ties string round the doll's mouth and she finds she cannot speak. This fits in so well with her beliefs about how the world works that she is happy to accept that by putting her ring into the doll, he has given it her soul. As a result, her body mimics what he does to the doll.
In reality, the doll does not contain her ring and Derren Brown has no supernatural powers. When he gives the woman permission to question his powers, she finds she can move and speak.
Through this trick, Derren Brown wanted to illustrate the power of unquestioning belief and show how it can leave people open to being used and manipulated.
http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/M/mindcontrol/trick/doll.html
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… it is necessary to think of death. This thought is the only one which lets us recognize ourselves, which keeps us at one with ourselves, without having us stolen from us by relatives, friends, great masters, by ambition, greed, and other vices and sins, which rob a man from himself, and keep him distracted and dissipated without letting him ever find himself at one with himself. The thought of death has a wonderful effect on us, since death while destroying everything, protects those who think of it, and defends them against all human passions. - Michelangelo Buonarroti
http://freeweb.econophone.ch/martin-frank/meaning.htm & http://freeweb.econophone.ch/martin-frank/main.htm
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Centers for Consciousness Studies & Research
This selection of links provides information about serious centers for consciousness studies and research.
The Center for Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona promotes open, rigorous discussion of all phenomena related to conscious experience.
http://www.consciousness.arizona.edu/
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Philosophical issues surrounding this topic are well addressed by David Chalmers.
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The relationship between human behaviour and psychoneuropharmacology is addressed in
http://www.neurosci.tufts.edu/miczek.html
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The Institute of Neuropsychology and Brain Imaging at the Psychiatric University Clinic in Zürich, Switzerland is dedicated to elucidating the neural bases of drug- and non-drug-induced altered states of consciousness and accompanying mind-brain relationships in health, schizophrenia, and affective disorders.
http://www.dcp.unizh.ch/vollenweider/
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The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine can be found under
http://nccam.nih.gov/
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Mind Science & Global Consciousness Foundations
Research and educational institutions dedicated to the study of the human mind at a more general or global level can be found here.
The Mind Science Foundation is dedicated to solving one of the major questions of modern science - the puzzle of human consciousness - by funding leading-edge scientific research and education focused on the mind/brain.
http://www.mindscience,org/
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The Institute of Noetic Sciences is dedicated to exploring the frontiers of consciousness to advance individual, social, and global transformation.
http://www.noetic.org/
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Another research and educational institution dedicated to the study of global consciousness via global correlations in random data is:
http://noosphere.princeton.edu/
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The Zanvyl Krieger Mind / Brain Institute is a free standing institute at the Johns Hopkins University with strong connections to the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and to the School of Medicine. We are located in Krieger Hall in the center of the Homewood Campus. The institute is dedicated to the study of the neural mechanisms of higher brain functions using modern neurophysiological, anatomical, and computational techniques. We invite you to explore this web site to learn more about the research and academic offerings of the institute.
http://mind-brain.com/
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Quantum Physics and Mind Science
Research and educational sites dedicated to the relationship between quantum physics and phenomena of the human mind can be found under the following URL's.
http://www.decoherence.de/
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Parapsychology
Here I list a few serious sites whose mission it is to cast scientific light into the occult.
The Institute for parapsychology and psychohygenics (Institut für Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene e. V. (IGPP)), was founded in 1950 by Prof. Hans Bender (1907-1991). It's mission is to investigate extra-ordinary human experiences which, in the language of parapsychology, are commonly referred to as telepathy, divination, precognition, psychokinesis, ghost and spook-appearences, out-of-body and near-death experiences etc.. Investigations are carried out via usual methods from the social, cultural and natural sciences (questionnaires, interviews, case and archive studies, model building, laboratory experiments ...). In addition, the IGPP offers, at no cost, counseling and information services for people having such experiences. With more than 20 scientific researchers (mostly psychologists), the IGPP belongs to one of the largest institutions of its kind. It is involved in many scientific cooperations with institutions both in and outside Germany. The IGPP is supported exclusively from grant donations.
http://www.igpp.de/english/welcome.htm
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Religion, Spirituality etc. and Mind Science
Although I, personally, am rather an agnostic skeptic, I do feel that certain research and educational sites dedicated to the relationship of religion, spirituality and all that kind of thing to phenomena of the human mind might be worth looking at. Some such randomly selected sites are listed here. (I have no affiliation whatsoever with any of them!)
A publicly supported foundation dedicated to the scientific research of consciousness and prayer using the experimental test is:
http://home.xnet.com/~spindrif/index.htm
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The Self Knowledge Symposium (SKS) is a resource for students engaged in the spiritual search. Asking the big questions—who am I? Why am I here? What can I do with my life that will be meaningful?—is an essential aspect of the successful college experience. The SKS supports students in their quest for a meaningful life through a network of student organizations, as well as lectures, workshops, retreats, conferences and new residential programs in downtown Raleigh.
http://www.selfknowledge.org/whoweare/whoweare.htm
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The Mind and Life Institute is dedicated to creating a powerful working collaboration and research partnership between modern science and Buddhism as one possible way to help understand the nature of reality by investigating the mind.
http://www.mindandlife.org/
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A site introducing sundry books and thoughts on this subject is:
http://www.levity.com/
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Art & Literature and Mind Science
Here are a few interesting sights which I find inspiring.
The following is simply precious! You must have a look!
http://www.raku-gaki.com/
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This (German) site introduces a society of researchers, artists and collectors interested in the theme of the "dance of death", "danse macabre" or "Totentanz".
http://www.totentanz-online.de/totentanz.htm
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Between Mind Boggles and Mind Science
Here are a few fun sights just to boggle your mind (no comment).
http://homepage.mac.com/fredfarid/Menu5.html
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Literature
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I need your help!
Do you have a home page or know of an internet site relevant to the nature of this site which you feel important enough to share with others? If so, please send me an e-mail describing it in detail! If it's interesting enough, I'll share it with other readers in my Data Bank on this home page and may even publish it in the next version of my book! Thanx!
Send me YOUR MOST RECOMMENDED LINK (in English or German) relevant to the nature of this site to society@mind-body.info with the comment "Recommended Link".
Send me INFORMATION (in English or German) about your own home page where you would like to give me a link or about any other internet site where you think a link to my site might be appropriate to society@mind-body.info with the comment "Link Up".
With each link please include the following information:
- Your name in full
- Your complete home address and e-mail address
- Your telephone number
- The exact URL of the link and any necessary background information which may be important to understanding the relevance of this link to my site
- Your expressed agreement allowing me to give you a link (orally, in print, online etc.).
Your anonymity is guaranteed! (If you would like me to explicitly mention you by name in quoting your link online or in print, please send me per post ("snail mail") a signed statement to this effect at my business address: Trittligasse 2 / CH-8001 Zürich / Switzerland.)
Thank you for your interest and your help!
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(Last revision: 04. December 2005)
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