Post-Colonialism: Definition, Development and Examples from India
This speech deals with the phenomenon of post-colonialism. It presents general definitions of the
post-colonial theory and provides some information about its development as well as illustrating
background knowledge about basic landmarks of India's colonial past. It then concentrates on
the post-colonial development of India which was a British colony until 1947.
1. Post-colonialism in general
1.1 Definition
Post-colonialism is an intellectual direction (sometimes also called an “era” or the “post-colonial
theory”) that exists since around the middle of the 20th century. It developed from and mainly
refers to the time after colonialism. The post-colonial direction was created as colonial countries
became independent. Nowadays, aspects of post-colonialism can be found not only in sciences
concerning history, literature and politics, but also in approach to culture and identity of both the
countries that were colonised and the former colonial powers. However, post-colonialism can
take the colonial time as well as the time after colonialism into consideration.
1.2 Development
The term “decolonisation” seems to be of particular importance while talking about postcolonialism.
In this case it means an intellectual process that persistently transfers the
independence of former-colonial countries into people’s minds. The basic idea of this process is
the deconstruction of old-fashioned perceptions and attitudes of power and oppression that were
adopted during the time of colonialism.
First attempts to put this long-term policy of “decolonising the minds” into practice could be
regarded in the Indian population after India became independent from the British Empire in
1947.
However, post-colonialism has increasingly become an object of scientific examination since
1950 when Western intellectuals began to get interested in the “Third World countries”. In the
seventies, this interest lead to an integration of discussions about post-colonialism in various
study courses at American Universities. Nowadays it also plays a remarkable role at European
Universities.
A major aspect of post-colonialism is the rather violent-like, unbuffered contact or clash of
cultures as an inevitable result of former colonial times; the relationship of the colonial power to
the (formerly) colonised country, its population and culture and vice versa seems extremely
ambiguous and contradictory.
This contradiction of two clashing cultures and the wide scale of problems resulting from it must
be regarded as a major theme in post-colonialism: For centuries the colonial suppressor often had
been forcing his civilised values on the natives. But when the native population finally gained
independence, the colonial relicts were still omnipresent, deeply integrated in the natives’ minds
and were supposed to be removed.
So decolonisation is a process of change, destruction and, in the first place, an attempt to regain
and lose power. While natives had to learn how to put independence into practice, colonial
powers had to accept the loss of power over foreign countries. However, both sides have to deal
with their past as suppressor and suppressed.
This complicated relationship mainly developed from the Eurocentric perspective from which
the former colonial powers saw themselves: Their colonial policy was often criticised as
arrogant, ignorant, brutal and simply naïve. Their final colonial failure and the total
independence of the once suppressed made the process of decolonisation rather tense and
emotional.
Post-colonialism also deals with conflicts of identity and cultural belonging. Colonial powers
came to foreign states and destroyed main parts of native tradition and culture; furthermore, they
continuously replaced them with their own ones. This often lead to conflicts when countries
became independent and suddenly faced the challenge of developing a new nationwide identity
and self-confidence.
As generations had lived under the power of colonial rulers, they had more or less adopted their
Western tradition and culture. The challenge for these countries was to find an individual way of
proceeding to call their own. They could not get rid of the Western way of life from one day to
the other; they could not manage to create a completely new one either.
On the other hand, former colonial powers had to change their self-assessment. This paradox
identification process seems to be what decolonisation is all about, while post-colonialism is the
intellectual direction that deals with it and maintains a steady analysis from both points of view.
So how is this difficult process of decolonisation being done? By the power of language, even
more than by the use of military violence. Language is the intellectual means by which postcolonial
communication and reflection takes place. This is particularly important as most
colonial powers tried to integrate their language, the major aspect of their civilised culture, in
foreign societies.
A lot of Indian books that can be attached to the era of post-colonialism, for instance, are written
in English. The cross-border exchange of thoughts from both parties of the post-colonial conflict
is supported by the use of a shared language.
To give a conclusion of it all, one might say that post-colonialism is a vivid discussion about
what happened with the colonial thinking at the end of the colonial era. What legacy arouse from
this era? What social, cultural and economical consequences could be seen and are still visible
today? In these contexts, one examines alternating experiences of suppression, resistance,
gender, migration and so forth. While doing so, both the colonising and colonised side are taken
into consideration and related to each other. The main target of post-colonialism remains the
same: To review and to deconstruct one-sided, worn-out attitudes in a lively discussion of
colonisation.
2. The post-colonial experience in India
2.1 History of Indian colonialism
In the 16th century, European powers began to conquer small outposts along the Indian coast.
Portugal, the Netherlands and France ruled different regions in India before the “British East
India Company” was founded in 1756.
The British colonialists managed to control most parts of India while ruling the key cities
Calcutta, Madras and Bombay as the main British bases. However, there still remained a few
independent regions (Kashmir among others) whose lords were loyal to the British Empire.
In 1857, the first big rebellion took place in the north of India. The incident is also named “First
war of Indian Independence”, the “Sepoy Rebellion” or the “Indian Mutiny”, depending on the
individual perspective. This was the first time Indians rebelled in massive numbers against the
presence and the rule of the British in South Asia. The rebellion failed and the British colonialists
continued their rule.
In 1885, the “National Indian Congress” (popularly called “Congress”) was founded. It
demanded that the Indians should have their proper legitimate share in the government. From
then on, the Congress developed into the main body of opposition against British colonial rule.
Besides, a Muslim anti-colonial organisation was founded in 1906, called the “Muslim League”.
While most parts of the Indian population remained loyal to the British colonial power during the
First World War, more and more Muslim people joined the Indian independence movement since
they were angry about the division of the Ottoman Empire by the British.
The non-violent resistance against British colonial rule, mainly initiated and organised by
Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, finally lead to independence in 1947.
At the same time, the huge British colony was split into two nations: The secular Indian Union
and the smaller Muslim state of Pakistan. The Muslim League had demanded for an independent
Muslim state with a majority of Muslims.
India became a member of the British Commonwealth after 1947.
2.2 Post-colonial development in India
The Partition of India (also called the “Great Divide”) lead to huge movements and an ethnic
conflict across the Indian-Pakistani border. While around 10 million Hindus und Sikhs were
expelled from Pakistan, about 7 million Muslims crossed the border to from India to Pakistan.
Hundreds of thousands of people died in this conflict. Ever since these incidents, there have been
tensions between India and Pakistan which lead to different wars particularly in the Kashmir
region.
For decades the Congress Party ruled the democratic country which had become a republic with
its own constitution in 1950. In 1977 the opposition gained the majority of votes. In 1984, after
the Congress Party had regained the majority, conflicts with the cultural minority of the Sikhs
lead to the assassination of the Indian prime minister Indira Ghandi.
Today, apart from the significant economic progress, India is still facing its old problems:
Poverty, overpopulation, environmental pollution as well as ethnic and religious conflicts
between Hindus and Muslims. Additionally, the Kashmir conflict has not come to an end yet,
while both Pakistan and Indian are threatening each other with their arsenals of atomic weapons.
Concerning post-colonial literature, Edward Said’s book “Orientalism” (published in 1978) is
regarded as the beginning of post-colonial studies. In this book the author analyses how
European states initiated colonialism as a result of what they called their own racial superiority.
The religious-ethnic conflicts between different groups of people play an important role in the
early years of post-colonialism. Eye-witnesses from both sides of the Indian-Pakistani conflict
wrote about their feelings and experience during genocide, being confronted to blind and
irrational violence and hatred. The Partition is often described as an Indian trauma.
One example for a post-colonial scriptwriter who wrote about this conflict is Saddat Hasan
Manto (1912 – 1955). He was forced to leave Bombay and to settle in Lahore, Pakistan. He
published a collection of stories and sketches (“Mottled Dawn”) that deal with this dark era of
Indian history and its immense social consequences and uncountable tragedies.
Furthermore, there are many different approaches to the topic of intercultural exchange between
the British and the Indian population. Uncountable essays and novels deal with the ambiguous
relationship between these two nations. One particularly interesting phenomenon is that authors
from both sides try to write from different angles and perspectives and in that way to show
empathy with their cultural counterpart.
The most famous novelist who wrote about these social and cultural exchanges is Salman
Rushdie. Rushdie, who won the booker prize among various others, was born in India, but
studied in England and started writing books about India and the British in the early eighties. His
funny, brave, metaphoric and sometimes even ironical way of writing offers a multi-perspective
approach to the post-colonial complex. This can be also seen in his book “Midnight’s Children”.
In the past, Salman Rushdie was also repeatedly threatened by Irani fundamentalists because of
his critical writing about Muslim extremism in the Middle East.
Another famous post-colonial novel is “Heat and Dust” (published in 1975) by Ruth Prawer
Jhabvala that contains two plot set in different times: One about a British lady starting an affair
with a local Indian prince in the 1920s, the other one set in the 1970s, featuring young Europeans
on a “hippie trail” who claim they have left behind Western civilisation and are trying to some
spiritual home among Indian gurus.
“Bollywood” has become a notorious synonym for the uprising Indian film industry in recent
years. Young Indian scriptwriters have discovered post-colonial issues as themes for their movies
and as a way of dealing with the changeful past of their country.
Concerning the integration of Western values in the Indian population and culture, one can say
that the British influence is still omnipresent in the Asian subcontinent. The reason for this can be
also found in the persistence of the English language.
Many Indians are conversant with the English language, because the British colonialists intended
to export their values and culture by teaching the Indian population their language. This was
regarded as the basic fundament for further education.
What about the relationship between India and the United Kingdom today? It is a special one,
and of course still not without tensions between these two nations that refer to the time of
colonialism which from our retro perspective is not at all so far away.
India has managed to become an independent state with its own political system and is still
working to find its own identity. The longer the process of decolonisation lasts, the more we get
the impression that only a middle course between the acceptance of British legacies and the
creation of a new unique Indian self-confidence will be the right way to go for India.
http://www.nilsole.net/index.php?title=postcolonialism_india&more=1&c=1&tb=
1&pb=1
Friday, March 26, 2010
RANDOM FACTS 10
Some cool facts
In the 1400's a law was set forth that a man was not allowed to beat
his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have "the
rule of thumb".
Many years ago in Scotland, a new game was invented. It was
ruled "Gentlemen Only...Ladies Forbidden"...and thus the word GOLF
entered into the English language.
It is impossible to lick your elbow.
Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king in
history:
Spades - King David
Hearts - Charlemagne
Clubs -Alexander, the Great
Diamonds - Julius Caesar
111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go
until you would find the letter "A"?
A. One thousand
Q. What do bullet-proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and
laser printers all have in common?
A. All invented by women.
Q. What is the only food that doesn't spoil?
A. Honey
In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by
ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making
the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase......... "goodnight,
sleep tight."
It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a
month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-inlaw
with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and
because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the
honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon.
In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old
England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at
them "Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down." It's where we get
the phrase "mind your P's and Q's"
Don't delete the following just because it looks weird. Believe it or
not, you can read it..........
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was
rdgnieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid aoccdrnig to
rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr
the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist
and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses
and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm Tihs is bcuseae the huamn
mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Amazing huh?
~~~~~~~~~~~AND FINALLY~~~~~~~~~~~~
At least 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow
In the 1400's a law was set forth that a man was not allowed to beat
his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have "the
rule of thumb".
Many years ago in Scotland, a new game was invented. It was
ruled "Gentlemen Only...Ladies Forbidden"...and thus the word GOLF
entered into the English language.
It is impossible to lick your elbow.
Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king in
history:
Spades - King David
Hearts - Charlemagne
Clubs -Alexander, the Great
Diamonds - Julius Caesar
111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go
until you would find the letter "A"?
A. One thousand
Q. What do bullet-proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and
laser printers all have in common?
A. All invented by women.
Q. What is the only food that doesn't spoil?
A. Honey
In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by
ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making
the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase......... "goodnight,
sleep tight."
It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a
month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-inlaw
with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and
because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the
honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon.
In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old
England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at
them "Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down." It's where we get
the phrase "mind your P's and Q's"
Don't delete the following just because it looks weird. Believe it or
not, you can read it..........
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was
rdgnieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid aoccdrnig to
rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr
the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist
and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses
and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm Tihs is bcuseae the huamn
mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Amazing huh?
~~~~~~~~~~~AND FINALLY~~~~~~~~~~~~
At least 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow
COW FACTS
COW
OR
MOTHER?
DR.
SHRINIWAS
KASHALIKAR
Once; someone ridiculed the idea of consuming cow urine;
as a therapeutic agent.
I had not studied Ayurveda in those days and was not sure
whether the cow products such as ghee, curd, milk, urine
and dung, of cow are really beneficial for health and if so
in what way and how. So I argued that it was not fair to
ridicule the ideas without proper study and research,
merely on the basis of some unfounded prejudices and
delusions. Cow and many other animal products can be
useful medicinally.
Having said that; it must be realized; that mere utilitarian
view point can be counter productive. It is important to
acquire and practice holistic perspective and holistic
rectification of our concepts and our actions in every field,
which is possible only through the individual and global
blossoming, through NAMASMARAN i.e. remembering
your true self. (You can get more explanation about
NAMASMARAN in my articles and books).
Presently we are being governed by superficiality,
pettiness, dullness, lassitude, parasitism, ethnocentricity,
individualistic obsessions, and many perverted elements
(which we justify and feel proud of) at the cost of other
living and nonliving elements in the nature, hence we
come across such statements.
At that time I was not in retaliatory mood, so I did not
point out that every person who consumes meat in one
form or another actually consumes dead bodies of animals
(can be called some kind of necrophagia) and also
consumes the urine and the dung of that animal (can be
called some kind of urophagia and coprophagia)!
Even as we uphold the principle of nonviolence we are
slaves of our cruel obsession to keep on practicing not
merely violence per se, but viciously perverted violence in
killing and eating dead animals and glorifying and
glamorizing it as if it is the ultimate pleasure in life! The
shameless hype of all this leads to perpetuation of the
perversion into the next generations far and wide in the
world!
I do not want to blame any one but only to appeal to find
out if we are in inner harmony through all this or we are
simply delirious!
Such introspection is possible through universally
acceptable and practical process of NAMASMARAN!
NAMASMARAN is like a process of oxygenation of the
dying organism! We urgently need it!
Through such introspection what I have realized is, eating
animals is a matter of slavery to one’s own cravings,
which are aggravated by media hype, promotion,
glamorization, glorification of such slavish trends; upheld
by many slaves in the positions of leadership (political,
economic, cultural, scientific etc.)!
I have begun to understand that:
1. Considering cow as a mother is far more
evolved and cultured than killing and eating her.
2. Considering rivers as mothers is far more
evolved and cultured than simply treating them as
utility of life.
3. Treating plants as goddesses such as holy basil
i.e. ocimum sanctum and ceremoniously
worshipping them, is far more evolved and
cultured than treating it is as a living element low
in the scale of evolution.
4. This applies to the earth also. Considering earth
as mother viz. DHARANI MATA is far more
evolved and cultured than treating it as obvious
element on which we live!
5. In short, it is a far more advanced culture, in
which the nature around is worshipped with festive
spirit and never exploited.
6. The cruelty, exploitativeness, ungratefulness
are (even if they are glamorized, glorified, hyped
and promoted as superior) counterproductive and
cast detrimental influence on others; thus
throttling, suffocating and thwarting the
blossoming process of individuals and universe!
OR
MOTHER?
DR.
SHRINIWAS
KASHALIKAR
Once; someone ridiculed the idea of consuming cow urine;
as a therapeutic agent.
I had not studied Ayurveda in those days and was not sure
whether the cow products such as ghee, curd, milk, urine
and dung, of cow are really beneficial for health and if so
in what way and how. So I argued that it was not fair to
ridicule the ideas without proper study and research,
merely on the basis of some unfounded prejudices and
delusions. Cow and many other animal products can be
useful medicinally.
Having said that; it must be realized; that mere utilitarian
view point can be counter productive. It is important to
acquire and practice holistic perspective and holistic
rectification of our concepts and our actions in every field,
which is possible only through the individual and global
blossoming, through NAMASMARAN i.e. remembering
your true self. (You can get more explanation about
NAMASMARAN in my articles and books).
Presently we are being governed by superficiality,
pettiness, dullness, lassitude, parasitism, ethnocentricity,
individualistic obsessions, and many perverted elements
(which we justify and feel proud of) at the cost of other
living and nonliving elements in the nature, hence we
come across such statements.
At that time I was not in retaliatory mood, so I did not
point out that every person who consumes meat in one
form or another actually consumes dead bodies of animals
(can be called some kind of necrophagia) and also
consumes the urine and the dung of that animal (can be
called some kind of urophagia and coprophagia)!
Even as we uphold the principle of nonviolence we are
slaves of our cruel obsession to keep on practicing not
merely violence per se, but viciously perverted violence in
killing and eating dead animals and glorifying and
glamorizing it as if it is the ultimate pleasure in life! The
shameless hype of all this leads to perpetuation of the
perversion into the next generations far and wide in the
world!
I do not want to blame any one but only to appeal to find
out if we are in inner harmony through all this or we are
simply delirious!
Such introspection is possible through universally
acceptable and practical process of NAMASMARAN!
NAMASMARAN is like a process of oxygenation of the
dying organism! We urgently need it!
Through such introspection what I have realized is, eating
animals is a matter of slavery to one’s own cravings,
which are aggravated by media hype, promotion,
glamorization, glorification of such slavish trends; upheld
by many slaves in the positions of leadership (political,
economic, cultural, scientific etc.)!
I have begun to understand that:
1. Considering cow as a mother is far more
evolved and cultured than killing and eating her.
2. Considering rivers as mothers is far more
evolved and cultured than simply treating them as
utility of life.
3. Treating plants as goddesses such as holy basil
i.e. ocimum sanctum and ceremoniously
worshipping them, is far more evolved and
cultured than treating it is as a living element low
in the scale of evolution.
4. This applies to the earth also. Considering earth
as mother viz. DHARANI MATA is far more
evolved and cultured than treating it as obvious
element on which we live!
5. In short, it is a far more advanced culture, in
which the nature around is worshipped with festive
spirit and never exploited.
6. The cruelty, exploitativeness, ungratefulness
are (even if they are glamorized, glorified, hyped
and promoted as superior) counterproductive and
cast detrimental influence on others; thus
throttling, suffocating and thwarting the
blossoming process of individuals and universe!
CANCER FACTS
SOME CANCER FACTS
1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in
the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion.
When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their
bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer
cells because they have not reached the detectable size.
2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's lifetime.
3. When the person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed
and prevented from multiplying and forming tumours.
4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional
deficiencies. These could be due to genetic,environmental,food and lifestyle
factors.
5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including
supplements will strengthen the immune system.
6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also
destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastro-intestinal tract
etc, and can cause organ damage,like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.
7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy
cells, tissues and organs.
8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumour size.
However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more
tumour destruction.
9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the
immune system is either compromised or destroyed,hence the person can
succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.
10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become
resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread
to other sites.
11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it
with the foods it need to multiply.
a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important
food supply to the cancer cells.
Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful etc are made with
Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka
honey or molasses - but only in very small amounts.
b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastrointestinal
tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and
substituting with unsweetened soya milk cancer cells are being starved.
Milo, ovaltine, Horlicks are made with milk and best avoided.
c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic
and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork.
Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones, parasites, etc
which are all harmful to people with cancer.
d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds,
nuts and a little fruits helps put the body into an alkaline environment.
About 20% can be from cooked food including beans.
Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed
and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and
enhance growth of healthy cells. Enzymes are destroyed at
temperatures above 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).
e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have caffeine. Green tea is a
better alternative and has cancer-fighting properties.
12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes.
Undigested meat remaining in the intestines become putrefied and leads to
more toxic buildup.
13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating
less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and
allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.
14. Some supplements build up the immune system , (Essiac, anti-oxidants,
vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc) to enable the body's own killer cells to destroy
cancer cells.
Other supplements are known to cause cancer cells apoptosis, that is induce
cancer cells to commit suicide.
15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit
will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, unforgiveness and bitterness
put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and
forgiving spirit. Learn to relax, enjoy and trust God for healing.
16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily and
deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen
therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.
17. Cancer can be reversed with nutrition, supplements and clinically proven
complementary and alternative therapies.
18. Cancer can be healed by divine intervention of God the Healer.
SUMMARY OF IMPORTANT INFO:
1. Sugar is a cancer feeder. Avoid sugar. Sugar substitutes like Equal, Spoonful,
NutraSweet are made with Aspartame, a chemical that is harmful to the body.
A better natural alternative is Manuka honey in small amounts.
2. Milk causes the body to produce mucus. Cancer thrives on mucus. A better
calcium alternative is unsweetened soya milk. Milo, Horlicks, Ovaltine are all
milk-based, so it is best to avoid.
3. Green tea has anti-cancer properties. It is a better substitute for coffee and tea,
which have caffeine, bad for people with cancer.
4. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in colour. Better alternative is
Bragg's aminos or sea salt.
5. Meat like pork, beef, chicken contain livestock antibiotics, growth hormones,
parasites, etc which are all harmful for people with cancer.
It is better to eat fish, or eat a little free-range chicken.
Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes.
Undigested meat remaining in the intestines become putrefied and leads to
more toxic buildup.
6. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating
less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and
allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.
7. Water - best to drink purified water, filtered or distilled, to avoid known toxins
and heavy metals in tap water.
8. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable
juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2
or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40
degreesC).
RECIPES - CANCER FIGHTING FOODS
SOUPS - It is not necessary to add sauce as there is natural sweetness and flavour
from the ingredients.
Most of these involve cutting the ingredients into bite-sized portions before adding to
boiling water.
Measure water (filtered or purified) to use with small soup bowls, depending on how
many persons are eating. (Pots - use glassware, stainless steel, ceramic or clay)
1. Watercress and carrot soup
2. Radish and carrot soup
3. Lotus root and red dates soup
4. Hipprocrates soup - leek, celery, big onion, potato, tomato
5. Fresh corn and soya beans soup (presoak the soya beans for 3 hours. Discard
water. Boil beans in hot water. Fresh corn can be added when the beans are
softer).
6. Black beans, white beans and small onions (shallots) soup. Presoak black beans
about an hour. Discard water. Boil the black beans first. Cut small onions into
thick slices. Then add small onions and white beans.
7. Potato, carrot and onion soup
8. Winter melon, carrot and red dates soup
VEGETABLES - Vegetable dishes - most of these taste nice with just garlic and
Bragg's aminos or organic miso. Avoid using non-stick pan as the chemical coating
can come off into the food. Instead of heating the pan and adding oil first, we use
water to fry the vegetables. This is to avoid letting the oil reach high temperatures,
which can be carcinogenic.
Method: Heat pan with a little water. Add minced garlic and cook a while. Add
vegetables and a little oil and more water as needed. Cover and let it steam cook.
Turn off fire and add Bragg's aminos or organic miso.
1. Bean sprouts with carrot strips. Cook the carrot first before adding the bean
sprouts.
2. Bean sprouts with tau gua. Cut tau gua into small pieces. Cook in water. Remove
tau gua. Add some water to pan and add minced garlic. Add bean sprouts. When
almost done, add in tau gua, and Bragg's aminos. You may add spring onions or
parsley for more flavour.
3. French beans with tau gau (same as for 2)
4. French beans with garlic
5. French beans with carrot
6. Bitter gourd with garlic
7. Long beans with garlic
8. Chye Sim with garlic, or with fresh fish cake cut into slices
9. Spinach with garlic (not to often as it has oxalates)
10. Spinach (puay leng) with garlic and mushrooms
11. Xiao bai chai with garlic
12. Jie Lan with garlic, or with garlic and carrot
13. Angled loofah - cooked with garlic and an egg
14. Tau gua and tau pok in black sauce and garlic
15. Tau gua, gau gee (bean curd sheet) in black sauce and garlic
16. Tau hu with garlic and seaweed
17. Many vegetables can be eaten raw without salad dressing - cabbage, cauliflower,
green pepper, celery, cucumber, carrot, asparagus spears, corn on cob, etc or a
little olive, and Braggs
FISH (twice a week is sufficient) - steamed or cooked with water, garlic, ginger,
spring onions, tomatoes, parsley and a little Bragg's aminos.
PORRIDGE - Use brown rice, unpolished rice or mixed with some white rice.
1. Sweet potato, unpolished and white rice
2. Shredded carrot with unpolished and white rice
3. White bait (fresh or dried), shredded carrot, ginger, unpolished and white rice
RICE - use brown rice or unpolished rice or mixed with some white rice. unpolished
rice takes longer to cook, so cook unpolished rice first before adding white rice.
RAW FOODS - Almonds (presoak 10 almonds in some water and keep in the fridge
for 24 hours. Peel and discard skin before eating.) Walnuts, cashew nuts, pumpkin
seeds, sesame seeds, nori seaweed (tear into small pieces to eat with some raw
vegetables)
FRUITS - require different digestive enzymes from other foods. It is best to eat fruits
either one hour before any meal or two hours after a meal.
If fruits are eaten after a meal they will ferment in the stomach together with the other
food and the nutrients would not be fully absorbed.
It is good to eat papayas and pineapples for the enzymes papain and bromelain to
digest protein. Apples and apple juice are also good.
It is helpful to drink half a glass of warm water with some lemon juice first thing in the
morning on waking.
BREAKFAST - rolled oats, wholemeal bread, miso vegetable soul, porridge etc.
Bread spreads - almond butter or organic fruit jam are preferred to margarine.
Margarine is hydrogenated fat, which is harmful. Avoid all hydrogenated fats.
REFERENCES:
1. A Cancer Battle Plan by Anne & David Frahm
2. A Cancer Battle Plan Sourcebook by David Frahm (N.D.)
3. Beating Cancer with Nutrition by Dr Patrick Quillin
4. Immunopower by Dr Patrick Quillin, PhD, RD, CNS
5. Alive and Well by Dr Philip Binzel, Jr., M.D.
6. Stop the Medicine by Dr Cynthia Foster, M.D.
7. The Bible Cure by Dr Reginald Cherry, M.D.
8. The Doctor and The Word by Dr Reginald Cherry, M.D.
9. Prescription for Nutritional Healing by J Balch, M.D.
10. Alternatives in Cancer Therapy by R Pelton, PhD & L Overholser
11. God's Way to Ultimate Health by Rev George Malkmus
12. You Don't Have to be Sick by Rev George Malkmus
13. Why Christians Get Sick by Rev George Malkmus
14. How I Conquered Cancer Naturally by Eydie Mae
15. Healed of Cancer by Dodie Osteen
16. Fit for Life by Harvey & Marilyn Diamond
17. Fit for Life II : Living Health by Harvey & Marilyn Diamond
18. Green Leaves of Barley by Dr Mary Ruth Swope
19. Dr Jensen's Juicing Therapy by Bernard Jensen, D.C., Ph.D.
20. Nature's Cancer-Fighting Foods by Verne Verona
21. The Hippocrates Diet and Health Program by Ann Wigmore
22. An Alternative Medicine Definitive Guide to Cancer by John Diamond, M.D., Lee
Cowden, M.D. with Burton Goldberg
23. The Cure for all Cancers by Hulda Clark, Ph.D., N.D.
24. The Cure for all Advanced Cancers by H. Clark, Ph.D., N.D.
25. Cancer Therapy - The Independent Consumer's Guide to Non-Toxic Treatment &
Prevention by Ralph Moss, Ph.D.
26. The Cancer Industry by Ralph Moss, Ph.D.
27. Questioning Chemotherapy by Ralph Moss, Ph.D.
28. Cancer-Why We're Still Dying to know the Truth by Phillip Day
29. The Safe Shopper's Bible by D. Steinman & S. Epstein, M.D.
30. How to fight Prostate Cancer and Win by Ron Gellatley, N.D.
31. Miracle Cures by Jean Carper
32. Healthy Habits by David & Anne Frahm
33. How to Longer and Feel Better by Dr. Linus Pauling
34. The Optimum Nutrition Bible by Patrick Holford
35. Health & Wellness by Dr. Ted Morter, Jr., M.A.
36. Cleansing the Body and the Colon for a Happier and Healthier You using Herbal
Fiberblend by Teresa Schumacher
37. The Choice is Clear by Dr. Allen Banik
38. The New SuperNutrition by Richard Passwater, Ph.D.
39. Liver Detox Plan by Xandria Williams, MSc, DIC, ARCS, ND
40. Super Power Breathing by Paul & Patricia Bragg, N.D., PhD.
41. Walking in Divine Health by Don Colbert, M.D.
42. World Without Cancer by G. Edward Griffin
43. Information from Dr Lorraine Day's website: www.drday.com <
http://www.drday.com>
44. Information from Rev George Malkmus' website: www.hacres.com <
http://www.hacres.com>
45. Information from David Frahm's website: www.healthquarters.org <
http://www.healthquarters.org>
46. Information from Dr Joseph Mercola's website: www.mercola.com <
http://www.mercola.com>
47. Information from Matiake's website: www.maitake.com http://www.maitake.com>
48. Information from Essiac's website: www.essiacinfo.org <
http://www.essiacinfo.org>
49. Information from Flor-Essence's website: www.florahealth.com <
http://www.florahealth.com>
50. Information from Ralph Moss' website: www.ralphmoss.com <
http://www.ralphmoss.com>
1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in
the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion.
When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their
bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer
cells because they have not reached the detectable size.
2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's lifetime.
3. When the person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed
and prevented from multiplying and forming tumours.
4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional
deficiencies. These could be due to genetic,environmental,food and lifestyle
factors.
5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including
supplements will strengthen the immune system.
6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also
destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastro-intestinal tract
etc, and can cause organ damage,like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.
7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy
cells, tissues and organs.
8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumour size.
However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more
tumour destruction.
9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the
immune system is either compromised or destroyed,hence the person can
succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.
10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become
resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread
to other sites.
11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it
with the foods it need to multiply.
a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important
food supply to the cancer cells.
Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful etc are made with
Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka
honey or molasses - but only in very small amounts.
b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastrointestinal
tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and
substituting with unsweetened soya milk cancer cells are being starved.
Milo, ovaltine, Horlicks are made with milk and best avoided.
c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic
and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork.
Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones, parasites, etc
which are all harmful to people with cancer.
d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds,
nuts and a little fruits helps put the body into an alkaline environment.
About 20% can be from cooked food including beans.
Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed
and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and
enhance growth of healthy cells. Enzymes are destroyed at
temperatures above 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).
e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have caffeine. Green tea is a
better alternative and has cancer-fighting properties.
12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes.
Undigested meat remaining in the intestines become putrefied and leads to
more toxic buildup.
13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating
less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and
allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.
14. Some supplements build up the immune system , (Essiac, anti-oxidants,
vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc) to enable the body's own killer cells to destroy
cancer cells.
Other supplements are known to cause cancer cells apoptosis, that is induce
cancer cells to commit suicide.
15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit
will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, unforgiveness and bitterness
put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and
forgiving spirit. Learn to relax, enjoy and trust God for healing.
16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily and
deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen
therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.
17. Cancer can be reversed with nutrition, supplements and clinically proven
complementary and alternative therapies.
18. Cancer can be healed by divine intervention of God the Healer.
SUMMARY OF IMPORTANT INFO:
1. Sugar is a cancer feeder. Avoid sugar. Sugar substitutes like Equal, Spoonful,
NutraSweet are made with Aspartame, a chemical that is harmful to the body.
A better natural alternative is Manuka honey in small amounts.
2. Milk causes the body to produce mucus. Cancer thrives on mucus. A better
calcium alternative is unsweetened soya milk. Milo, Horlicks, Ovaltine are all
milk-based, so it is best to avoid.
3. Green tea has anti-cancer properties. It is a better substitute for coffee and tea,
which have caffeine, bad for people with cancer.
4. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in colour. Better alternative is
Bragg's aminos or sea salt.
5. Meat like pork, beef, chicken contain livestock antibiotics, growth hormones,
parasites, etc which are all harmful for people with cancer.
It is better to eat fish, or eat a little free-range chicken.
Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes.
Undigested meat remaining in the intestines become putrefied and leads to
more toxic buildup.
6. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating
less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and
allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.
7. Water - best to drink purified water, filtered or distilled, to avoid known toxins
and heavy metals in tap water.
8. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable
juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2
or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40
degreesC).
RECIPES - CANCER FIGHTING FOODS
SOUPS - It is not necessary to add sauce as there is natural sweetness and flavour
from the ingredients.
Most of these involve cutting the ingredients into bite-sized portions before adding to
boiling water.
Measure water (filtered or purified) to use with small soup bowls, depending on how
many persons are eating. (Pots - use glassware, stainless steel, ceramic or clay)
1. Watercress and carrot soup
2. Radish and carrot soup
3. Lotus root and red dates soup
4. Hipprocrates soup - leek, celery, big onion, potato, tomato
5. Fresh corn and soya beans soup (presoak the soya beans for 3 hours. Discard
water. Boil beans in hot water. Fresh corn can be added when the beans are
softer).
6. Black beans, white beans and small onions (shallots) soup. Presoak black beans
about an hour. Discard water. Boil the black beans first. Cut small onions into
thick slices. Then add small onions and white beans.
7. Potato, carrot and onion soup
8. Winter melon, carrot and red dates soup
VEGETABLES - Vegetable dishes - most of these taste nice with just garlic and
Bragg's aminos or organic miso. Avoid using non-stick pan as the chemical coating
can come off into the food. Instead of heating the pan and adding oil first, we use
water to fry the vegetables. This is to avoid letting the oil reach high temperatures,
which can be carcinogenic.
Method: Heat pan with a little water. Add minced garlic and cook a while. Add
vegetables and a little oil and more water as needed. Cover and let it steam cook.
Turn off fire and add Bragg's aminos or organic miso.
1. Bean sprouts with carrot strips. Cook the carrot first before adding the bean
sprouts.
2. Bean sprouts with tau gua. Cut tau gua into small pieces. Cook in water. Remove
tau gua. Add some water to pan and add minced garlic. Add bean sprouts. When
almost done, add in tau gua, and Bragg's aminos. You may add spring onions or
parsley for more flavour.
3. French beans with tau gau (same as for 2)
4. French beans with garlic
5. French beans with carrot
6. Bitter gourd with garlic
7. Long beans with garlic
8. Chye Sim with garlic, or with fresh fish cake cut into slices
9. Spinach with garlic (not to often as it has oxalates)
10. Spinach (puay leng) with garlic and mushrooms
11. Xiao bai chai with garlic
12. Jie Lan with garlic, or with garlic and carrot
13. Angled loofah - cooked with garlic and an egg
14. Tau gua and tau pok in black sauce and garlic
15. Tau gua, gau gee (bean curd sheet) in black sauce and garlic
16. Tau hu with garlic and seaweed
17. Many vegetables can be eaten raw without salad dressing - cabbage, cauliflower,
green pepper, celery, cucumber, carrot, asparagus spears, corn on cob, etc or a
little olive, and Braggs
FISH (twice a week is sufficient) - steamed or cooked with water, garlic, ginger,
spring onions, tomatoes, parsley and a little Bragg's aminos.
PORRIDGE - Use brown rice, unpolished rice or mixed with some white rice.
1. Sweet potato, unpolished and white rice
2. Shredded carrot with unpolished and white rice
3. White bait (fresh or dried), shredded carrot, ginger, unpolished and white rice
RICE - use brown rice or unpolished rice or mixed with some white rice. unpolished
rice takes longer to cook, so cook unpolished rice first before adding white rice.
RAW FOODS - Almonds (presoak 10 almonds in some water and keep in the fridge
for 24 hours. Peel and discard skin before eating.) Walnuts, cashew nuts, pumpkin
seeds, sesame seeds, nori seaweed (tear into small pieces to eat with some raw
vegetables)
FRUITS - require different digestive enzymes from other foods. It is best to eat fruits
either one hour before any meal or two hours after a meal.
If fruits are eaten after a meal they will ferment in the stomach together with the other
food and the nutrients would not be fully absorbed.
It is good to eat papayas and pineapples for the enzymes papain and bromelain to
digest protein. Apples and apple juice are also good.
It is helpful to drink half a glass of warm water with some lemon juice first thing in the
morning on waking.
BREAKFAST - rolled oats, wholemeal bread, miso vegetable soul, porridge etc.
Bread spreads - almond butter or organic fruit jam are preferred to margarine.
Margarine is hydrogenated fat, which is harmful. Avoid all hydrogenated fats.
REFERENCES:
1. A Cancer Battle Plan by Anne & David Frahm
2. A Cancer Battle Plan Sourcebook by David Frahm (N.D.)
3. Beating Cancer with Nutrition by Dr Patrick Quillin
4. Immunopower by Dr Patrick Quillin, PhD, RD, CNS
5. Alive and Well by Dr Philip Binzel, Jr., M.D.
6. Stop the Medicine by Dr Cynthia Foster, M.D.
7. The Bible Cure by Dr Reginald Cherry, M.D.
8. The Doctor and The Word by Dr Reginald Cherry, M.D.
9. Prescription for Nutritional Healing by J Balch, M.D.
10. Alternatives in Cancer Therapy by R Pelton, PhD & L Overholser
11. God's Way to Ultimate Health by Rev George Malkmus
12. You Don't Have to be Sick by Rev George Malkmus
13. Why Christians Get Sick by Rev George Malkmus
14. How I Conquered Cancer Naturally by Eydie Mae
15. Healed of Cancer by Dodie Osteen
16. Fit for Life by Harvey & Marilyn Diamond
17. Fit for Life II : Living Health by Harvey & Marilyn Diamond
18. Green Leaves of Barley by Dr Mary Ruth Swope
19. Dr Jensen's Juicing Therapy by Bernard Jensen, D.C., Ph.D.
20. Nature's Cancer-Fighting Foods by Verne Verona
21. The Hippocrates Diet and Health Program by Ann Wigmore
22. An Alternative Medicine Definitive Guide to Cancer by John Diamond, M.D., Lee
Cowden, M.D. with Burton Goldberg
23. The Cure for all Cancers by Hulda Clark, Ph.D., N.D.
24. The Cure for all Advanced Cancers by H. Clark, Ph.D., N.D.
25. Cancer Therapy - The Independent Consumer's Guide to Non-Toxic Treatment &
Prevention by Ralph Moss, Ph.D.
26. The Cancer Industry by Ralph Moss, Ph.D.
27. Questioning Chemotherapy by Ralph Moss, Ph.D.
28. Cancer-Why We're Still Dying to know the Truth by Phillip Day
29. The Safe Shopper's Bible by D. Steinman & S. Epstein, M.D.
30. How to fight Prostate Cancer and Win by Ron Gellatley, N.D.
31. Miracle Cures by Jean Carper
32. Healthy Habits by David & Anne Frahm
33. How to Longer and Feel Better by Dr. Linus Pauling
34. The Optimum Nutrition Bible by Patrick Holford
35. Health & Wellness by Dr. Ted Morter, Jr., M.A.
36. Cleansing the Body and the Colon for a Happier and Healthier You using Herbal
Fiberblend by Teresa Schumacher
37. The Choice is Clear by Dr. Allen Banik
38. The New SuperNutrition by Richard Passwater, Ph.D.
39. Liver Detox Plan by Xandria Williams, MSc, DIC, ARCS, ND
40. Super Power Breathing by Paul & Patricia Bragg, N.D., PhD.
41. Walking in Divine Health by Don Colbert, M.D.
42. World Without Cancer by G. Edward Griffin
43. Information from Dr Lorraine Day's website: www.drday.com <
http://www.drday.com>
44. Information from Rev George Malkmus' website: www.hacres.com <
http://www.hacres.com>
45. Information from David Frahm's website: www.healthquarters.org <
http://www.healthquarters.org>
46. Information from Dr Joseph Mercola's website: www.mercola.com <
http://www.mercola.com>
47. Information from Matiake's website: www.maitake.com http://www.maitake.com>
48. Information from Essiac's website: www.essiacinfo.org <
http://www.essiacinfo.org>
49. Information from Flor-Essence's website: www.florahealth.com <
http://www.florahealth.com>
50. Information from Ralph Moss' website: www.ralphmoss.com <
http://www.ralphmoss.com>
LOVE AND BRAIN
-1ARTICLE
Love Deactivates Brain Areas For Fear, Planning, Critical Social Assessment
June 17, 2004 02:39 AM
FuturePundit: Brain Love Archives
Brain Articles: By Randall Parker
Source : http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/002183.html
Accessed : Feb. 10, 2010
Love Deactivates Brain Areas For Fear, Planning, Critical Social Assessment
Andreas Bartels and Semir Zeki of the Welcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience,
University College London have found using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
(fMRI) that love turns down activity in some areas of the brain in part so that we will not
see flaws in the object of our affections.
However the key result was that it's not just that certain shared areas of the brain are
reliably activated in both romantic and maternal love, but also particular locations are
deactivated and it's the deactivation which is perhaps most revealing about love.
Among other areas, parts of the pre-frontal cortex – a bit of the brain towards the front
and implicated in social judgment – seems to get switched off when we are in love and
when we love our children, as do areas linked with the experience of negative emotions
such as aggression and fear as well as planning. The parts of the brain deactivated form a
network which are implicated in the evaluation of trustworthiness of others and basically
critical social assessment.
The scientists recruited mothers and used pictures of their children as well as pictures of
other people and watched how the women responded to the pictures. The researchers also
reanalysed data they had previously collected for previously published research involving
women in love.
We are fools for love because love disables our ability to do critical social assessment.
He said: "Our research enables us to conclude that human attachment employs a pushpull
mechanism that overcomes social distance by deactivating networks used for critical
social assessment and negative emotions, while it bonds individuals through the
involvement of the reward circuitry explaining the power of love to motivate and
exhilarate."
Bartels has the full text of the research paper on his web site. When we fall in love we
become blinded to faults and at the very same time we become flooded with rewarding
feelings.(PDF format)
Romantic and maternal love are highly rewarding experiences. Both are linked to the
perpetuation of the species and therefore have a closely linked biological function of
crucial evolutionary importance. Yet almost nothing is known about their neural
correlates in the human. We therefore used fMRI to measure brain activity in mothers
while they viewed pictures of their own and of acquainted children, and of their best
friend and of acquainted adults as additional controls. The activity specific to maternal
attachment was compared to that associated to romantic love described in our earlier
study and to the distribution of attachment-mediating neurohormones established by other
studies. Both types of attachment activated regions specific to each, as well as
overlapping regions in the brain’s reward system that coincide with areas rich in oxytocin
and vasopressin receptors. Both deactivated a common set of regions associated with
negative emotions, social judgment and ‘mentalizing’, that is, the assessment of other
people’s intentions and emotions. We conclude that human attachment employs a push–
pull mechanism that overcomes social distance by deactivating networks used for critical
social assessment and negative emotions, while it bonds individuals through the
involvement of the reward circuitry, explaining the power of love to motivate and
exhilarate.
Maternal and romantic love share a common and crucial evolutionary purpose, namely
the maintenance and perpetuation of the species. Both ensure the formation of firm bonds
between individuals, by making this behavior a rewarding experience. They therefore
share a similar evolutionary origin and serve a similar biological function. It is likely that
they also share at least a core of common neural mechanisms. Neuro-endocrine, cellular
and behavioral studies of various mammalian species ranging from rodents to primates
show that the neurohormones vasopressin and oxytocin are involved in the formation and
main-tenance of attachment between individuals, and suggest a tight coupling between
attachment processes and the neural systems for reward (Carter, 1998; Insel and Young,
2001; Kendrick, 2000; Pedersen and Prange, 1979). This is confirmed by lesion, gene
expression and behavioral studies in mammals (Numan and Shee-han)
Perhaps it is not a coincidence that many lovers call each other "babe" and there is a great
deal of overlap between the brain's feelings of romantic and maternal love.
Note that regions rich with vasopressin receptors are involved in maternal and romantic
love. This brings us to another recent report where scientists have found that gene therapy
to deliver vasopressin receptor genes into the ventral pallidum part of the brain made
male meadow voles become uncharacteristically monogamous.
ATLANTA -- Researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center of Emory
University and Atlanta's Center for Behavioral Neuroscience (CBN) have found
transferring a single gene, the vasopressin receptor, into the brain's reward center makes a
promiscuous male meadow vole monogamous. This finding, which appears in the June
17 issue of Nature, may help better explain the neurobiology of romantic love as well as
disorders of the ability to form social bonds, such as autism. In addition, the finding
supports previous research linking social bond formation with drug addiction, also
associated with the reward center of the brain.
In their study, Yerkes and CBN post-doctoral fellow Miranda M. Lim, PhD, and Yerkes
researcher Larry J. Young, PhD, of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
at Emory University's School of Medicine and the CBN, attempted to determine whether
differences in vasopressin receptor levels between prairie and meadow voles could
explain their opposite mating behaviors. Previous studies of monogamous male prairie
voles, which form lifelong social or pair bonds with a single mate, determined the
animals' brains contain high levels of vasopressin receptors in one of the brain's principal
reward regions, the ventral pallidum. The comparative species of vole, the promiscuous
meadow vole, which frequently mates with multiple partners, lacks vasopressin receptors
in the ventral pallidum.
The scientists used a harmless virus to transfer the vasopressin receptor gene from prairie
voles into the ventral pallidum of meadow voles, which increased vasopressin receptors
in the meadow vole to prairie-like levels. The researchers discovered, just like prairie
voles, the formerly promiscuous meadow voles then displayed a strong preference for
their current partners rather than new females. Young acknowledges many genes are
likely involved in regulating lifelong pair bonds between humans. "Our study, however,
provides evidence, in a comparatively simple animal model, that changes in the activity
of a single gene profoundly can change a fundamental social behavior of animals within a
species."
According to previous research, vasopressin receptors also may play a role in disorders of
the ability to form social bonds, such as in autism. "It is intriguing," says Young, "to
consider that individual differences in vasopressin receptors in humans might play a role
in how differently people form relationships."
And, Lim adds, past research in humans has shown the same neural pathways involved in
the formation of romantic relationships are involved in drug addiction. "The brain process
of bonding with one's partner may be similar to becoming addicted to drugs: both activate
reward circuits in the brain."
The researchers' next step is to determine why there is extensive variability in behaviors
among individuals within a species in order to better understand the evolution of social
behavior.
Well, consider the possibilities. Want to solve the soaring divorce rate problem?
Bioengineer a virus to infect the population to deliver the vasopressin gene into the
ventral pallidum at the base of the brain. After years of ineffective moralizing and
countless social science studies the problem of disintegrating marriages would be solved.
Another possibility would be the use of such a gene therapy by someone who is in love to
make the object of their affections primed to fall in love. Of course, the lover
surreptiously treated with emotional brain engineering genetic therapy might fall in love
with the next person they accidentally bump into in the supermarket. So such a gene
therapy would not be foolproof once it becomes feasible.
But since love causes brain changes that have some similarities to what addictive drugs
do to the brain an argument can be made for the proposition that love is just another form
of addiction for which humans need an effective treatment that will end the craving.
Oxytocin and vasopression receptors show up only in the reward areas of the brain.
In their research, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, Larry Young, PhD.,
associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University School of
Medicine and an affiliate scientist at Yerkes National Primate Research Center; graduate
student Miranda Lim; and Anne Murphy, PhD., associate professor of biology at Georgia
State University, examined the distribution of two brain receptors in the ventral forebrain
of monogamous prairie voles that have been previously tied to pair bond formation:
oxytocin (OTR) and vasopressin V1a receptor (V1aR). Using receptor audiographic
techniques, the scientists found that these receptors are confined to two of the brain's
reward centers, the nucleus accumbens and the ventral pallidum. V1aR receptors, which
are thought to be activated in the male vole brain during pair bond formation, were
confined largely to the ventral pallidum. OTR receptors, which play a crucial role in pair
bond formation in females, were found mainly in the nucleus accumbens.
Perhaps a person with more oxytocin and vasopressin receptors finds life to be more
rewarding in general. But are they more or less prone to drug addiction?
By Randall Parker at 2004 June 17 02:39 AM Brain Love
ARTICLE #2
Romantic Love Seen As Motivation Or Drive Rather Than Emotional State
May 31, 2005 11:29 AM
FuturePundit: Brain Love Archives
Brain Articles: By Randall Parker
Source : http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/002802.html
Accessed : Feb. 10, 2010
Romantic Love Seen As Motivation Or Drive Rather Than Emotional State
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) brain scans of people in the early stages
of romantic love show romantic love is less about emotions and more about rewards and
the parts of the brain that control motivation.
BETHESDA, Md. (May 31, 2005) – You just can't tell where you might find love these
days. A team led by a neuroscientist, an anthropologist and a social psychologist found
love-related neurophysiological systems inside a magnetic resonance imaging machine.
They detected quantifiable love responses in the brains of 17 young men and women who
each described themselves as being newly and madly in love.
The multidisciplinary team found that early, intense romantic love may have more to do
with motivation, reward and "drive" aspects of human behavior than with the emotions or
sex drive. Brain systems were activated that humans share with other mammals. So the
researchers think "early-stage romantic love is possibly a developed form of a
mammalian drive to pursue preferred mates, and that it has an important influence on
social behaviors that have reproductive and genetic consequences."
People in romantic love showed no consistent pattern of emotional activation in areas of
the brain known to govern emotions. But they did show consistent activation of brain
areas associated with motivation and goal-seeking mental states.
"Most of the participants in our study clearly showed emotional responses," noted Arthur
Aron of the State University of New York-Stony Brook, "but we found no consistent
emotional pattern. Instead, all of our subjects showed activity in reward and motivation
regions. To emotion researchers like me, this is pretty exciting because it's the first
physiological data to confirm a connection between romantic love and motivation
networks in the brain.
"As it turns out, romantic love is probably best characterized as a motivation or goaloriented
state that leads to various specific emotions, such as euphoria or anxiety," Aron
noted. "With this view, it becomes clearer why the lover expresses such an imperative to
pursue his or her beloved and protect the relationship."
Romantic love happens in the basal ganglia region of the brain.
Aron reported that, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and other
measurements, he and his colleagues found support for their two major predictions: (1)
early stage, intense romantic love is associated with subcortical reward regions rich with
dopamine; and (2) romantic love engages brain systems associated with motivation to
acquire a reward.
Brown explains some of these findings, commenting that "when our participants looked
at a photo of his/her beloved, specific activation occurred in the right ventral tegmental
area (VTA) and dorsal caudate body. These regions were significant compared to two
control conditions, providing strong evidence that these brain areas, which are associated
with the motivation to win rewards, are central to the experience of being in love."
Brown noted that "an important concept is that the caudate probably integrates huge
amounts of information, everything from early personal memories to one's personal
notions of beauty. Then, this brain region (and related regions of the basal ganglia) helps
to direct one's actions toward attaining one's goals. For neuroscientists," she said, "these
findings about the diverse regional functions of the basal ganglia in humans have
remarkable implications."
Romantic love happens on the right side of the brain while facial attraction happens on
the left side.
Another important discovery, Brown said, was that "to our surprise, the activation regions
associated with intense romantic love were mostly on the right side of the brain, while the
activation regions associated with facial attractiveness were mostly on the left.
"We didn't predict such a striking lateralization," Brown reported. "It is well known that
speech is largely a left-sided cortical function. But our data indicate that lateralization
also occurs in lower parts of the brain. Moreover, different kinds of rewards (in this case,
the "rush" of romantic love, compared with the pleasing experience of looking at a pretty
or handsome face) is also lateralized. These results give us a lot to think about how the
normal human brain learns and remembers and functions in general," Brown added.
Humans form attachments to each other using the same part of the brain that prairie voles
use for pair-bonding.
Another breakthrough, Brown noted, was that "we found several brain areas where the
strength of neural activity changed with the length of the romance. Everyone knows that
relationships are dynamic over time, but we are beginning to track what happens in the
brain as a love relationship matures."
Helen E. Fisher, a research anthropologist at Rutgers University, New Jersey, noted that
not only did the brain change as romantic love endured, but that some of these changes
were in regions associated with pair-bonding in prairie voles. The fMRI images showed
more activity in the ventral pallidum portion of the basal ganglia in people with longer
romantic relationships. It's in this region where receptors for the hormone vasopressin are
critical for vole pair-bonding, or attachment.
"Humans have evolved three distinct but interrelated brain systems for mating and
reproduction – the sex drive, romantic love, and attachment to a long term partner,"
Fisher said, "and our results suggest how feelings of romantic love might change into
feelings of attachment. Our results support what people have always assumed – that
romantic love is one of the most powerful of all human experiences. It is definitely more
powerful than the sex drive."
People consider rejection in love as more important than rejection for sex.
For instance, Fisher point out, "If someone rejects your sexual overtures, you don't harm
yourself or the other person. But rejected men and women in societies around the world
sometimes kill themselves or someone else. In fact, studies indicate that some 40% of
people who are rejected in love slip into clinical depression. Our study may also suggest
some of the underlying physiology of stalking behavior," she added.
Fisher sees love as a product of natural selection.
"Darwin and many of his intellectual descendants have studied the myriad physiological
ornaments that one sex of a species have evolved to attract members of the opposite sex,
like the peacock's fancy tail feathers that attract the peahen," Fisher noted. "But no one
has studied what happened in the brain of the viewer, the individual that becomes
attracted to these traits. Our study indicates what happens in the brain of the viewer as he
or she becomes physiologically attracted to these traits."
She added, "This brain system probably evolved for an important reason – to drive our
forebears to focus their courtship energy on specific individuals, thereby conserving
precious mating time and energy. Perhaps," she hypothesized, "even love-at-first-sight is
a basic mammalian response that developed in other animals and our ancestors inherited
in order to speed up the mating process."
What does the future hold for love? Greater knowledge of a phenomenon very often
brings with it the ability to manipulate and control it. I expect the development of drugs
and other treatments that cause people to fall in and out of love and to recover more
easily from lost love.
Some people will choose to immunize themselves from love by using treatments that
prevent the love process from developing in the first place. A person with history of heart
breaks might decide that the possibility of a new love is just too painful to bear. Or
someone who wants to devote their time to career might decide to innoculate themselves
from the risk of romantic distractions. Still others of a more cerebral sort will decide that
love is just a costly cognition distorting evolutionary vestige that they are best off
without.
The ability to manipulate love medically will inevitably lead to misuse via surreptious
reprogramming of the love state of others. Someone who wants to ditch their mate will be
tempted to surreptitiously deliver medicine that will cause the mate to fall out of love. Or
imagine the case where a suitor is rejected because the object of their love is in love with
someone else. Inevitably some suitors will look for ways to surreptiously deliver a
medical treatment that will cause the object of their love to fall out of love with someone
else and thereby open up the possibility of forming a new love bond with them.
Motives also exist to cause people to fall in love with each other. This might be done by
someone who has unrequited love for another. One can also very easily imagine members
of couples (married or otherwise) using love potions to revive flagging marriages by
returning their partner to an earlier state of love. But one can also imagine third parties
(e.g. parents wanting to form a dynastic alliance of some sort) deciding to secretly do this
as well.
The ability to surreptitiously cause people to fall in and out of love will inevitably lead to
suspicions by those falling in and out of love. Can they trust their feelings as legitimate?
Is pharmaceutically induced love less legitimate than natural love? If so, why? Will it be
possible to develop technologies that check for unnaturally induced feelings of love?
By Randall Parker 2005 May 31 11:29 AM Brain Love
Love Deactivates Brain Areas For Fear, Planning, Critical Social Assessment
June 17, 2004 02:39 AM
FuturePundit: Brain Love Archives
Brain Articles: By Randall Parker
Source : http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/002183.html
Accessed : Feb. 10, 2010
Love Deactivates Brain Areas For Fear, Planning, Critical Social Assessment
Andreas Bartels and Semir Zeki of the Welcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience,
University College London have found using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
(fMRI) that love turns down activity in some areas of the brain in part so that we will not
see flaws in the object of our affections.
However the key result was that it's not just that certain shared areas of the brain are
reliably activated in both romantic and maternal love, but also particular locations are
deactivated and it's the deactivation which is perhaps most revealing about love.
Among other areas, parts of the pre-frontal cortex – a bit of the brain towards the front
and implicated in social judgment – seems to get switched off when we are in love and
when we love our children, as do areas linked with the experience of negative emotions
such as aggression and fear as well as planning. The parts of the brain deactivated form a
network which are implicated in the evaluation of trustworthiness of others and basically
critical social assessment.
The scientists recruited mothers and used pictures of their children as well as pictures of
other people and watched how the women responded to the pictures. The researchers also
reanalysed data they had previously collected for previously published research involving
women in love.
We are fools for love because love disables our ability to do critical social assessment.
He said: "Our research enables us to conclude that human attachment employs a pushpull
mechanism that overcomes social distance by deactivating networks used for critical
social assessment and negative emotions, while it bonds individuals through the
involvement of the reward circuitry explaining the power of love to motivate and
exhilarate."
Bartels has the full text of the research paper on his web site. When we fall in love we
become blinded to faults and at the very same time we become flooded with rewarding
feelings.
Romantic and maternal love are highly rewarding experiences. Both are linked to the
perpetuation of the species and therefore have a closely linked biological function of
crucial evolutionary importance. Yet almost nothing is known about their neural
correlates in the human. We therefore used fMRI to measure brain activity in mothers
while they viewed pictures of their own and of acquainted children, and of their best
friend and of acquainted adults as additional controls. The activity specific to maternal
attachment was compared to that associated to romantic love described in our earlier
study and to the distribution of attachment-mediating neurohormones established by other
studies. Both types of attachment activated regions specific to each, as well as
overlapping regions in the brain’s reward system that coincide with areas rich in oxytocin
and vasopressin receptors. Both deactivated a common set of regions associated with
negative emotions, social judgment and ‘mentalizing’, that is, the assessment of other
people’s intentions and emotions. We conclude that human attachment employs a push–
pull mechanism that overcomes social distance by deactivating networks used for critical
social assessment and negative emotions, while it bonds individuals through the
involvement of the reward circuitry, explaining the power of love to motivate and
exhilarate.
Maternal and romantic love share a common and crucial evolutionary purpose, namely
the maintenance and perpetuation of the species. Both ensure the formation of firm bonds
between individuals, by making this behavior a rewarding experience. They therefore
share a similar evolutionary origin and serve a similar biological function. It is likely that
they also share at least a core of common neural mechanisms. Neuro-endocrine, cellular
and behavioral studies of various mammalian species ranging from rodents to primates
show that the neurohormones vasopressin and oxytocin are involved in the formation and
main-tenance of attachment between individuals, and suggest a tight coupling between
attachment processes and the neural systems for reward (Carter, 1998; Insel and Young,
2001; Kendrick, 2000; Pedersen and Prange, 1979). This is confirmed by lesion, gene
expression and behavioral studies in mammals (Numan and Shee-han)
Perhaps it is not a coincidence that many lovers call each other "babe" and there is a great
deal of overlap between the brain's feelings of romantic and maternal love.
Note that regions rich with vasopressin receptors are involved in maternal and romantic
love. This brings us to another recent report where scientists have found that gene therapy
to deliver vasopressin receptor genes into the ventral pallidum part of the brain made
male meadow voles become uncharacteristically monogamous.
ATLANTA -- Researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center of Emory
University and Atlanta's Center for Behavioral Neuroscience (CBN) have found
transferring a single gene, the vasopressin receptor, into the brain's reward center makes a
promiscuous male meadow vole monogamous. This finding, which appears in the June
17 issue of Nature, may help better explain the neurobiology of romantic love as well as
disorders of the ability to form social bonds, such as autism. In addition, the finding
supports previous research linking social bond formation with drug addiction, also
associated with the reward center of the brain.
In their study, Yerkes and CBN post-doctoral fellow Miranda M. Lim, PhD, and Yerkes
researcher Larry J. Young, PhD, of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
at Emory University's School of Medicine and the CBN, attempted to determine whether
differences in vasopressin receptor levels between prairie and meadow voles could
explain their opposite mating behaviors. Previous studies of monogamous male prairie
voles, which form lifelong social or pair bonds with a single mate, determined the
animals' brains contain high levels of vasopressin receptors in one of the brain's principal
reward regions, the ventral pallidum. The comparative species of vole, the promiscuous
meadow vole, which frequently mates with multiple partners, lacks vasopressin receptors
in the ventral pallidum.
The scientists used a harmless virus to transfer the vasopressin receptor gene from prairie
voles into the ventral pallidum of meadow voles, which increased vasopressin receptors
in the meadow vole to prairie-like levels. The researchers discovered, just like prairie
voles, the formerly promiscuous meadow voles then displayed a strong preference for
their current partners rather than new females. Young acknowledges many genes are
likely involved in regulating lifelong pair bonds between humans. "Our study, however,
provides evidence, in a comparatively simple animal model, that changes in the activity
of a single gene profoundly can change a fundamental social behavior of animals within a
species."
According to previous research, vasopressin receptors also may play a role in disorders of
the ability to form social bonds, such as in autism. "It is intriguing," says Young, "to
consider that individual differences in vasopressin receptors in humans might play a role
in how differently people form relationships."
And, Lim adds, past research in humans has shown the same neural pathways involved in
the formation of romantic relationships are involved in drug addiction. "The brain process
of bonding with one's partner may be similar to becoming addicted to drugs: both activate
reward circuits in the brain."
The researchers' next step is to determine why there is extensive variability in behaviors
among individuals within a species in order to better understand the evolution of social
behavior.
Well, consider the possibilities. Want to solve the soaring divorce rate problem?
Bioengineer a virus to infect the population to deliver the vasopressin gene into the
ventral pallidum at the base of the brain. After years of ineffective moralizing and
countless social science studies the problem of disintegrating marriages would be solved.
Another possibility would be the use of such a gene therapy by someone who is in love to
make the object of their affections primed to fall in love. Of course, the lover
surreptiously treated with emotional brain engineering genetic therapy might fall in love
with the next person they accidentally bump into in the supermarket. So such a gene
therapy would not be foolproof once it becomes feasible.
But since love causes brain changes that have some similarities to what addictive drugs
do to the brain an argument can be made for the proposition that love is just another form
of addiction for which humans need an effective treatment that will end the craving.
Oxytocin and vasopression receptors show up only in the reward areas of the brain.
In their research, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, Larry Young, PhD.,
associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University School of
Medicine and an affiliate scientist at Yerkes National Primate Research Center; graduate
student Miranda Lim; and Anne Murphy, PhD., associate professor of biology at Georgia
State University, examined the distribution of two brain receptors in the ventral forebrain
of monogamous prairie voles that have been previously tied to pair bond formation:
oxytocin (OTR) and vasopressin V1a receptor (V1aR). Using receptor audiographic
techniques, the scientists found that these receptors are confined to two of the brain's
reward centers, the nucleus accumbens and the ventral pallidum. V1aR receptors, which
are thought to be activated in the male vole brain during pair bond formation, were
confined largely to the ventral pallidum. OTR receptors, which play a crucial role in pair
bond formation in females, were found mainly in the nucleus accumbens.
Perhaps a person with more oxytocin and vasopressin receptors finds life to be more
rewarding in general. But are they more or less prone to drug addiction?
By Randall Parker at 2004 June 17 02:39 AM Brain Love
ARTICLE #2
Romantic Love Seen As Motivation Or Drive Rather Than Emotional State
May 31, 2005 11:29 AM
FuturePundit: Brain Love Archives
Brain Articles: By Randall Parker
Source : http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/002802.html
Accessed : Feb. 10, 2010
Romantic Love Seen As Motivation Or Drive Rather Than Emotional State
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) brain scans of people in the early stages
of romantic love show romantic love is less about emotions and more about rewards and
the parts of the brain that control motivation.
BETHESDA, Md. (May 31, 2005) – You just can't tell where you might find love these
days. A team led by a neuroscientist, an anthropologist and a social psychologist found
love-related neurophysiological systems inside a magnetic resonance imaging machine.
They detected quantifiable love responses in the brains of 17 young men and women who
each described themselves as being newly and madly in love.
The multidisciplinary team found that early, intense romantic love may have more to do
with motivation, reward and "drive" aspects of human behavior than with the emotions or
sex drive. Brain systems were activated that humans share with other mammals. So the
researchers think "early-stage romantic love is possibly a developed form of a
mammalian drive to pursue preferred mates, and that it has an important influence on
social behaviors that have reproductive and genetic consequences."
People in romantic love showed no consistent pattern of emotional activation in areas of
the brain known to govern emotions. But they did show consistent activation of brain
areas associated with motivation and goal-seeking mental states.
"Most of the participants in our study clearly showed emotional responses," noted Arthur
Aron of the State University of New York-Stony Brook, "but we found no consistent
emotional pattern. Instead, all of our subjects showed activity in reward and motivation
regions. To emotion researchers like me, this is pretty exciting because it's the first
physiological data to confirm a connection between romantic love and motivation
networks in the brain.
"As it turns out, romantic love is probably best characterized as a motivation or goaloriented
state that leads to various specific emotions, such as euphoria or anxiety," Aron
noted. "With this view, it becomes clearer why the lover expresses such an imperative to
pursue his or her beloved and protect the relationship."
Romantic love happens in the basal ganglia region of the brain.
Aron reported that, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and other
measurements, he and his colleagues found support for their two major predictions: (1)
early stage, intense romantic love is associated with subcortical reward regions rich with
dopamine; and (2) romantic love engages brain systems associated with motivation to
acquire a reward.
Brown explains some of these findings, commenting that "when our participants looked
at a photo of his/her beloved, specific activation occurred in the right ventral tegmental
area (VTA) and dorsal caudate body. These regions were significant compared to two
control conditions, providing strong evidence that these brain areas, which are associated
with the motivation to win rewards, are central to the experience of being in love."
Brown noted that "an important concept is that the caudate probably integrates huge
amounts of information, everything from early personal memories to one's personal
notions of beauty. Then, this brain region (and related regions of the basal ganglia) helps
to direct one's actions toward attaining one's goals. For neuroscientists," she said, "these
findings about the diverse regional functions of the basal ganglia in humans have
remarkable implications."
Romantic love happens on the right side of the brain while facial attraction happens on
the left side.
Another important discovery, Brown said, was that "to our surprise, the activation regions
associated with intense romantic love were mostly on the right side of the brain, while the
activation regions associated with facial attractiveness were mostly on the left.
"We didn't predict such a striking lateralization," Brown reported. "It is well known that
speech is largely a left-sided cortical function. But our data indicate that lateralization
also occurs in lower parts of the brain. Moreover, different kinds of rewards (in this case,
the "rush" of romantic love, compared with the pleasing experience of looking at a pretty
or handsome face) is also lateralized. These results give us a lot to think about how the
normal human brain learns and remembers and functions in general," Brown added.
Humans form attachments to each other using the same part of the brain that prairie voles
use for pair-bonding.
Another breakthrough, Brown noted, was that "we found several brain areas where the
strength of neural activity changed with the length of the romance. Everyone knows that
relationships are dynamic over time, but we are beginning to track what happens in the
brain as a love relationship matures."
Helen E. Fisher, a research anthropologist at Rutgers University, New Jersey, noted that
not only did the brain change as romantic love endured, but that some of these changes
were in regions associated with pair-bonding in prairie voles. The fMRI images showed
more activity in the ventral pallidum portion of the basal ganglia in people with longer
romantic relationships. It's in this region where receptors for the hormone vasopressin are
critical for vole pair-bonding, or attachment.
"Humans have evolved three distinct but interrelated brain systems for mating and
reproduction – the sex drive, romantic love, and attachment to a long term partner,"
Fisher said, "and our results suggest how feelings of romantic love might change into
feelings of attachment. Our results support what people have always assumed – that
romantic love is one of the most powerful of all human experiences. It is definitely more
powerful than the sex drive."
People consider rejection in love as more important than rejection for sex.
For instance, Fisher point out, "If someone rejects your sexual overtures, you don't harm
yourself or the other person. But rejected men and women in societies around the world
sometimes kill themselves or someone else. In fact, studies indicate that some 40% of
people who are rejected in love slip into clinical depression. Our study may also suggest
some of the underlying physiology of stalking behavior," she added.
Fisher sees love as a product of natural selection.
"Darwin and many of his intellectual descendants have studied the myriad physiological
ornaments that one sex of a species have evolved to attract members of the opposite sex,
like the peacock's fancy tail feathers that attract the peahen," Fisher noted. "But no one
has studied what happened in the brain of the viewer, the individual that becomes
attracted to these traits. Our study indicates what happens in the brain of the viewer as he
or she becomes physiologically attracted to these traits."
She added, "This brain system probably evolved for an important reason – to drive our
forebears to focus their courtship energy on specific individuals, thereby conserving
precious mating time and energy. Perhaps," she hypothesized, "even love-at-first-sight is
a basic mammalian response that developed in other animals and our ancestors inherited
in order to speed up the mating process."
What does the future hold for love? Greater knowledge of a phenomenon very often
brings with it the ability to manipulate and control it. I expect the development of drugs
and other treatments that cause people to fall in and out of love and to recover more
easily from lost love.
Some people will choose to immunize themselves from love by using treatments that
prevent the love process from developing in the first place. A person with history of heart
breaks might decide that the possibility of a new love is just too painful to bear. Or
someone who wants to devote their time to career might decide to innoculate themselves
from the risk of romantic distractions. Still others of a more cerebral sort will decide that
love is just a costly cognition distorting evolutionary vestige that they are best off
without.
The ability to manipulate love medically will inevitably lead to misuse via surreptious
reprogramming of the love state of others. Someone who wants to ditch their mate will be
tempted to surreptitiously deliver medicine that will cause the mate to fall out of love. Or
imagine the case where a suitor is rejected because the object of their love is in love with
someone else. Inevitably some suitors will look for ways to surreptiously deliver a
medical treatment that will cause the object of their love to fall out of love with someone
else and thereby open up the possibility of forming a new love bond with them.
Motives also exist to cause people to fall in love with each other. This might be done by
someone who has unrequited love for another. One can also very easily imagine members
of couples (married or otherwise) using love potions to revive flagging marriages by
returning their partner to an earlier state of love. But one can also imagine third parties
(e.g. parents wanting to form a dynastic alliance of some sort) deciding to secretly do this
as well.
The ability to surreptitiously cause people to fall in and out of love will inevitably lead to
suspicions by those falling in and out of love. Can they trust their feelings as legitimate?
Is pharmaceutically induced love less legitimate than natural love? If so, why? Will it be
possible to develop technologies that check for unnaturally induced feelings of love?
By Randall Parker 2005 May 31 11:29 AM Brain Love
BRAIN DAMAGING FACTS
Top 10 Brain Damaging Habits
1. No Breakfast
People who do not take breakfast are going to have a lower
blood sugar level.
This leads to an insufficient supply of nutrients to the brain
causing brain degeneration.
2. Overeating
It causes hardening of the brain arteries, leading to a decrease
in mental power.
3. Smoking
It causes multiple brain shrinkage and may lead to Alzheimer
disease.
4. High Sugar consumption
Too much sugar will interrupt the absorption of proteins and
nutrients causing
Malnutrition and may interfere with brain development.
5. Air Pollution
The brain is the largest oxygen consumer in our body. Inhaling
polluted air
Decreases the supply of oxygen to the brain, bringing about a
decrease in brain
Efficiency.
6. Sleep Deprivation
Sleep allows our brain to rest. Long term deprivation from
sleep will accelerate the
Death of brain cells.
7.. Head covered while sleeping
Sleeping with the head covered, increases the concentration of
carbon dioxide and
Decrease concentration of oxygen that may lead to brain
damaging effects.
8. Working your brain during illness
Working hard or studying with sickness may lead to a decrease
in effectiveness of
The brain as well as damage the brain.
9. Lacking in stimulating thoughts
Thinking is the best way to train our brain, lacking in brain
stimulation thoughts may
Cause brain shrinkage.
10. Talking Rarely
Intellectual conversations will promote the efficiency of the
brain.
1. No Breakfast
People who do not take breakfast are going to have a lower
blood sugar level.
This leads to an insufficient supply of nutrients to the brain
causing brain degeneration.
2. Overeating
It causes hardening of the brain arteries, leading to a decrease
in mental power.
3. Smoking
It causes multiple brain shrinkage and may lead to Alzheimer
disease.
4. High Sugar consumption
Too much sugar will interrupt the absorption of proteins and
nutrients causing
Malnutrition and may interfere with brain development.
5. Air Pollution
The brain is the largest oxygen consumer in our body. Inhaling
polluted air
Decreases the supply of oxygen to the brain, bringing about a
decrease in brain
Efficiency.
6. Sleep Deprivation
Sleep allows our brain to rest. Long term deprivation from
sleep will accelerate the
Death of brain cells.
7.. Head covered while sleeping
Sleeping with the head covered, increases the concentration of
carbon dioxide and
Decrease concentration of oxygen that may lead to brain
damaging effects.
8. Working your brain during illness
Working hard or studying with sickness may lead to a decrease
in effectiveness of
The brain as well as damage the brain.
9. Lacking in stimulating thoughts
Thinking is the best way to train our brain, lacking in brain
stimulation thoughts may
Cause brain shrinkage.
10. Talking Rarely
Intellectual conversations will promote the efficiency of the
brain.
CONSCIOUSNESS-DALAI LAMA
The following is an excerpt from: All You Ever Wanted to Know from
His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Happiness, Life, Living, and Much
More, published by Hay House. Originally published by No Limits as
HTML only.
Conversations with Rajiv Mehrotra
Consciousness continues to be a complex phenomenon for the
modern mind, whether we approach it through science or
spirituality. Your Holiness, could you clarify how Buddhism defines
consciousness?
HH: Consciousness is generally divided into two: sensory consciousness
and mental consciousness. The arising of sensory consciousness such
as eye-consciousness depends on certain conditions—for instance, the
objective condition or the internal condition that is the empowering
condition. On the basis of these two, the sense organ also requires
another factor—that is, the preceding moment of the consciousness itself.
Let us talk on the basis of this flower, the eye-consciousness that sees
the flower. The function of the objective condition, which is the flower, is
that it can produce the eye-consciousness that brings forth awareness of
the different aspects of the flower.
Vaibhasika, one of the Buddhist schools, does not accept the theory of
aspect. It says eye-consciousness has direct contact with the object itself.
This is very difficult to explain. It says that things are perceived without
aspect but by direct contact. Other schools say that things do have
aspects through which the consciousness perceives the object.
The theory of modern scientists, which accepts the aspect of the object
through which it is perceived, seems to have a more logical background.
The eye-consciousness perceives a form, and not a sound, that is the
imprint of the sense organ on which it depends. What is the cause that
produces such an eye-consciousness in the nature of clarity and
knowing? That is the product of the preceding moment of the
consciousness that gives rise to the eye-consciousness.
Although we talk about states in which gross levels of mind are dissolved,
and we talk of consciousness states and so on, the subtle consciousness
always retains its continuity. If one of the conditions—for example, the
preceding moment of the consciousness—is not complete, even when
the sense organ and the object meet, they will not be able to produce the
eye-consciousness that sees it.
Mental consciousness is very different, and the ways in which the
sensory and mental consciousnesses perceive an object are also very
different. Because sensory consciousness is non-conceptual, it perceives
all the qualities—all the attributes of the object—collectively.
When we talk about mental consciousness, it is mainly conceptual. It
perceives an object through an image. It apprehends an object by
excluding what it is not. One has really to think deeply about the question
of whether consciousnesses are created or produced from chemical
particles of the brain mechanism.
As a spiritual leader you have taken unprecedented initiative in
involving the scientific community in testing, analyzing, and
validating spiritual phenomena. Yet the mind and the brain are as far
as scientists are willing to explore. What is their stand on
consciousness, and how does it differ from yours?
HH: In recent years, I met scientists in the fields of nuclear physics as
well as neurology and psychology. Very interesting. We have to learn
certain things from their experiments, from their latest findings; and,
equally, they show a keen interest to know more about Buddhist
explanations of consciousness and mind.
I have raised this question with many people but have never found a
satisfactory answer. For example, if we adhere to a position that
consciousness is nothing other than a product of the interaction of
particles within the brain, we have to say that each consciousness is
produced from particles in the brain.
In that case, take the possible experiences in relation to a rose. One
person might have the view that this is a plastic rose—that is a mistaken
consciousness. Later, he might doubt it, thinking that it might not be a
plastic rose, so the mistaken consciousness now turns into a wavering
doubt. Then he presumes that it is a natural flower—this is still only a
presumption. Finally, through some circumstances, such as touching it or
smelling it, he finds that it is a natural rose.
During all these stages, his consciousness is directed toward one single
object, but he is passing through these different stages of consciousness:
from the mistaken view to doubt, then presumption, and finally from valid
cognition to valid perception. He is experiencing different stages of
consciousness. But how does one explain that the chemical particles
change during these stages?
Another example: We see a person and think he is our friend. But that
person is not our friend. We mistake him, and the consciousness is
mistaken. When we saw that person, we had an erroneous
consciousness. But the moment someone told us that he was not our
friend, hearing this sound caused a change from that mistaken perception
of the person to a valid perception.
What about the experiences of great meditators? When a practitioner
enters a very deep state of meditation, both breathing and heartbeat stop.
Some of my friends who practice these things remain without heartbeat
and breathing for a few minutes, I think. If someone remains in such a
state for a few hours, what is the function of the brain during that time?
On the basis of all this, I am trying to argue that there exists one
phenomenon, called consciousness, that has its own entity apart from the
brain cells. Although the gross level of consciousness is very closely
related to the physical body, it is also naturally related to the brain. But
the consciousness of its own nature is something distinct. The subtler
consciousness becomes more independent of the physical particles.
That is how the physical functions of a meditator stop when he reaches a
deep state of consciousness; yet consciousness is there. At that moment,
because the physical functions have stopped, the gross level of
consciousness is no more and the subtle level of consciousness
becomes obvious.
His Holiness,
The Dalai Lama
His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Happiness, Life, Living, and Much
More, published by Hay House. Originally published by No Limits as
HTML only.
Conversations with Rajiv Mehrotra
Consciousness continues to be a complex phenomenon for the
modern mind, whether we approach it through science or
spirituality. Your Holiness, could you clarify how Buddhism defines
consciousness?
HH: Consciousness is generally divided into two: sensory consciousness
and mental consciousness. The arising of sensory consciousness such
as eye-consciousness depends on certain conditions—for instance, the
objective condition or the internal condition that is the empowering
condition. On the basis of these two, the sense organ also requires
another factor—that is, the preceding moment of the consciousness itself.
Let us talk on the basis of this flower, the eye-consciousness that sees
the flower. The function of the objective condition, which is the flower, is
that it can produce the eye-consciousness that brings forth awareness of
the different aspects of the flower.
Vaibhasika, one of the Buddhist schools, does not accept the theory of
aspect. It says eye-consciousness has direct contact with the object itself.
This is very difficult to explain. It says that things are perceived without
aspect but by direct contact. Other schools say that things do have
aspects through which the consciousness perceives the object.
The theory of modern scientists, which accepts the aspect of the object
through which it is perceived, seems to have a more logical background.
The eye-consciousness perceives a form, and not a sound, that is the
imprint of the sense organ on which it depends. What is the cause that
produces such an eye-consciousness in the nature of clarity and
knowing? That is the product of the preceding moment of the
consciousness that gives rise to the eye-consciousness.
Although we talk about states in which gross levels of mind are dissolved,
and we talk of consciousness states and so on, the subtle consciousness
always retains its continuity. If one of the conditions—for example, the
preceding moment of the consciousness—is not complete, even when
the sense organ and the object meet, they will not be able to produce the
eye-consciousness that sees it.
Mental consciousness is very different, and the ways in which the
sensory and mental consciousnesses perceive an object are also very
different. Because sensory consciousness is non-conceptual, it perceives
all the qualities—all the attributes of the object—collectively.
When we talk about mental consciousness, it is mainly conceptual. It
perceives an object through an image. It apprehends an object by
excluding what it is not. One has really to think deeply about the question
of whether consciousnesses are created or produced from chemical
particles of the brain mechanism.
As a spiritual leader you have taken unprecedented initiative in
involving the scientific community in testing, analyzing, and
validating spiritual phenomena. Yet the mind and the brain are as far
as scientists are willing to explore. What is their stand on
consciousness, and how does it differ from yours?
HH: In recent years, I met scientists in the fields of nuclear physics as
well as neurology and psychology. Very interesting. We have to learn
certain things from their experiments, from their latest findings; and,
equally, they show a keen interest to know more about Buddhist
explanations of consciousness and mind.
I have raised this question with many people but have never found a
satisfactory answer. For example, if we adhere to a position that
consciousness is nothing other than a product of the interaction of
particles within the brain, we have to say that each consciousness is
produced from particles in the brain.
In that case, take the possible experiences in relation to a rose. One
person might have the view that this is a plastic rose—that is a mistaken
consciousness. Later, he might doubt it, thinking that it might not be a
plastic rose, so the mistaken consciousness now turns into a wavering
doubt. Then he presumes that it is a natural flower—this is still only a
presumption. Finally, through some circumstances, such as touching it or
smelling it, he finds that it is a natural rose.
During all these stages, his consciousness is directed toward one single
object, but he is passing through these different stages of consciousness:
from the mistaken view to doubt, then presumption, and finally from valid
cognition to valid perception. He is experiencing different stages of
consciousness. But how does one explain that the chemical particles
change during these stages?
Another example: We see a person and think he is our friend. But that
person is not our friend. We mistake him, and the consciousness is
mistaken. When we saw that person, we had an erroneous
consciousness. But the moment someone told us that he was not our
friend, hearing this sound caused a change from that mistaken perception
of the person to a valid perception.
What about the experiences of great meditators? When a practitioner
enters a very deep state of meditation, both breathing and heartbeat stop.
Some of my friends who practice these things remain without heartbeat
and breathing for a few minutes, I think. If someone remains in such a
state for a few hours, what is the function of the brain during that time?
On the basis of all this, I am trying to argue that there exists one
phenomenon, called consciousness, that has its own entity apart from the
brain cells. Although the gross level of consciousness is very closely
related to the physical body, it is also naturally related to the brain. But
the consciousness of its own nature is something distinct. The subtler
consciousness becomes more independent of the physical particles.
That is how the physical functions of a meditator stop when he reaches a
deep state of consciousness; yet consciousness is there. At that moment,
because the physical functions have stopped, the gross level of
consciousness is no more and the subtle level of consciousness
becomes obvious.
His Holiness,
The Dalai Lama
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