Orangutan baby on mother: A definition of AGENCY (poeto-philosophically) 'I do choose to write the muse of bliss unfolding,' Neurophysiology vav MDMA

A definition of AGENCY (poeto-philosophically)

'I do choose to write the muse of bliss unfolding' :

http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2011/01/blueness-of-sky-at-night-i-do-choose-to.html

... ('poetidefinition'? - the poem itself as definition? :)


(... this poem gets me 'there,' to bliss, a little, too :)



Agency:

... individual, (bodymind) choosing,

writing/language to effect choice,

{choosing bliss},

the Grateful Dead's group bliss choice, as individuals-rock musicians, in society & making money,

Jerry's choosing with awareness to jam so musically coming to 'space,'

choosing to analyze and think about this,

choosing to focus on & generate NEW ways / understandings to access this neurophysiology,

choosing to write (beginning) poetry about how to elicit bliss, in the context of music and traveling ...


involving a sense of freedom

(there's freedom at Harbin (http://harbin.org/) - agency ... explored in going there, in the above poem),


(and in the context of pairbonding and troopbonding, and the idea of bodymind - viz. John Money's Concepts of Determinism,

and so many understandings of culture,

and in a loose context of a psychological, philosophical and societal discourse about 'agency')


are some of what I mean by agency,


'poeto-philosophically' ... :)





‎... and by neurophysiology,

I have bodymind chemistry in mind,

which MDMA has an effect on (about 75% of folks, I've heard),

to produce 'affective euphoria,'

and loving bliss, in some ways,

self-experienced and enjoyed,

and potentially scientifically measurable (fMRIs?),

in a way that reflects the individual's experience, and what they might say about this ...


The related 'loving bliss' neurophysiological states I'm interested in, however,

as qualities,

are elicitable naturally

(with music, for example)

... as a beginning definition.



Loving bliss is one of the best experiences in life ...

Let's choose it :)




*

Added new WUaS subject page on Agency (philosophical and sociological) - http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Agency - with links to those subject pages, too (related: http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2011/02/orangutan-baby-on-mother-definition-of.html).








(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2011/02/orangutan-baby-on-mother-definition-of.html - February 13, 2011)

Blue bell tunicate: Friends' Dalton Letter - some progress on 'loving bliss neurophysiology elicitation,' in terms of context

Friends' Dalton Letter ... http://scottmacleod.com/daltonletter.htm ... some progress on 'loving bliss neurophysiology elicitation,' in terms of context :)


*

'I do choose to write the muse of bliss unfolding':
http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2011/01/blueness-of-sky-at-night-i-do-choose-to.html ... added AGENCY to the categories ... more at the poetry category here - http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/search/label/poetry :)


Scott:

A definition of AGENCY (poeto-philosophically) 'I do choose to write the muse of bliss unfolding':
http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2011/01/blueness-of-sky-at-night-i-do-choose-to.html ... (poetidefinition?:)


BB:

Beautiful Scott! Love this phrase:

"while seeking
to generate
a freshet of love."
...
Have you ever listened to @dianearkenstone her music is pure bliss!


*

Celebrate your culture at wiki World Univ & Sch -
http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/ -

e.g. add your lanuguage (3000-8000), teach ART in that language to YouTube & link this teaching to WUAS .

... CELEBRATE your culture by teaching & learning in it at WUaS - like Wikipedia with MIT OCW.


People are doing this anyway ... and WUaS will aggregate these as a wiki-metadirectory ... Wikipedia, by way of comparison is in around 272 languages, as a wiki-encyclopedia ...


*

Happy Birthday, Charles Darwin! Thanks for helping us understand the origin of the species (1868?) and, by extension, the origins of life :)













(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2011/02/blue-bell-tunicate-friends-dalton.html - February 12, 2011)

California flora: Harbin Hot Spring's residents and community; Into the 4th chapter of this actual / virtual Harbin ethnography

Harbin Hot Spring's residents and community




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8yZu6tMB4Q :)



Into the 4th chapter of this actual virtual Harbin ethnography: http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/search/label/Harbin%20ethnography:)














(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2011/02/california-flora-harbin-hot-springs.html - February 12, 2011

Oncidium: FURTHUR :) How might we generate progress in 'loving bliss neurophysiology elicitation,' Grateful Dead, Raga, Ceilidh, Expressions of Love

FURTHUR :) How might we generate progress in 'loving bliss neurophysiology elicitation,' about which we can share ideas in the
Loving Bliss subject ) .

... Music?
http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Grateful_Dead
or your favorite music -

or at the World University Music School,

or, how, in your life?

... It's sweet :) (rock band music metaphor, in terms of presence)? - if not sound ... or touch, as in contact improv - explore 'loving bliss energy group elicitation?' :)


Grateful Dead, Raga, Ceilidh all get there a little and sometimes to loving bliss elicitation - for me ... And for you? ... how might a MDMA-like Ma's cello bow stroke work? WUaS (accessible here:
http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Subjects :)



Here are some expressions of love for me, from my Friends' Dalton Letter:


... inward and outward, indirect and straightforward realizations of love in its best sense - empathy; delight; sympathy; centered caring; tenderness; sensitivity; ineffable ecstasy; incredibly positive - potentially lifelong - feelings of connectedness; sublimity; kindness; “love in the air;” gentleness; an understanding of developing, mutual otherness; friendship; mirthful, playful freedom in mind, words and gestures; thoughtfulness; dating; cuddling/physical intimacy/sensuality (1-2 hours per day); making love (intimate and warm)~coitus; a delightful, “glowing” party; ongoing smile / sincere and charming affection / “flow” experiences (for “flow,” see Csikszentmihalyi’s “Flow: the Psychology of Optimal Experience” - 1993) with a community / network across generations; openness; generosity; coming closely in tune with good friends; fulsome trust; anticipatory, beneficial surprises; sweetness; nurture; receptivity {to love}; sharing; hail gladdening love; non-harming, altruistic engagement; acts of kindness ~ voluntarism; considerateness; cordiality; congeniality; collegiality; flourishing (viz. eudaimonia); warm, radiant fun; sociable, flirtatious, and gleeful inner and outer movement, which some people experience while dancing (e.g. unconditional~free-form dancing, New England contra-dancing, Scottish Country Dancing, Dances of Universal Peace~Sufi dancing, contact improvisational dance jams, etc.); having a ball with you; euphoric merriment; cherishing as well as feeling / being cherished; (love-related) passion; the numinous; a loving bliss economy~loving bliss indices {a way of measuring groups' affective neurophysiology, as a whole, linked with socially conscious, index, mutual funds}; old friends; an unburdened feeling of lightness of being; falling in love; the fun of raising / being with kids; cheeriness; positive psychology (viz. Seligman's “Authentic Happiness”); following your bliss; well-received, intense, salutary interest; the deep, inward release that comes in remarkable / easing moments and which is cultivatable; deeply exuberant, beneficent pleasure with another ~ a partner ~ a love; best friends; understanding; reverie; friendliness; what gives you joy?; imagination to love profoundly, and then to love; wholesomeness; well-being; peace, peace of mind, and at peace-ness; being in love; ahimsa {non-harming}; a good connection; virtue, esp. of transcendent, jubilant love; helpfulness; doing good; loving touch (e.g. a gentle hand, hugs, massage, Watsu*Waterdance {Wassertanz} & more); singing "I love you;" the inspiration for the creation of great, loving art; rich, bountiful inventiveness / imagination in amity; Harbin Hot Springs ~ harbin.org; heart consciousness; harmony; the neurochemistry of romantic love~heightened levels of four neurotrophins, - i.e. NGF, BDNF, NT-3, and NT-4 (Emanuele et al., 2005); loving bliss ~*MMmmm ~ loving bliss and practices for this*~ (naturally, and with many qualities, but ecstasy is a reference experience ~> oxytocins~dopamine); practicing loving bliss vis-à-vis a musical instrument; balance; wonderful, oceanic wholeness; free love; happiness; contentment; the joy / rapport / 'reading' of minds that goes on between two (or more) skillful musicians / listeners, who are improvising; love letters; harmony love fests; love is the answer; loving bliss as friends; the thought, experience, and generation of love; quiet wisdom ~ love of wisdom; and sophisticated, intuitive caritas ...


http://scottmacleod.com/daltonletter.htm















(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2011/02/oncidium-furthur-how-might-we-generate.html - February 11, 2011)

Northern Calif: Once one leaves Middletown, CA, there are about 3 miles of beautiful, relatively untouched land, a kind of wonderland before the gate

Harbin ethnography:



... The clothing-optionalness, the hippie-clothing and the relaxed way of life there, all emerge significantly from the countercultural 1960s, I suggest here, in response to modernity, - particularly in alternative, regenerative and freedom-seeking ways that are rooted in Harbin as place.

“Once one leaves Middletown, California, there are about 3 miles of beautiful, relatively untouched land, a kind of wonderland (for me) before one comes to the Harbin gate, and a welcome transition to a place of ease. And the other land around here especially from the triangle intersection 2.3 miles to the Harbin gate, along the road, is also very beautiful.” (MacLeod, Harbin Field Notes 2007-2008, April 14, 2008). As a kind of landscape-based, moving, musical prelude to the 'world' of Harbin Hot Springs ahead, driving in on this beautiful road is a harbinger of the transition to a different place, a liminal, clothing-optional hot springs' retreat center, which is Heart Consciousness Church (HCC) in 2011.

As place, I sometimes anthropologically interpret Harbin as a kind of countercultural 'system,' or metaphorical, human, cultural 'ecosystem,' in its valley, in the context of a milieu that emerges out of the 1960s. ...













(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2011/02/northern-calif-once-one-leaves.html - February 11, 2011)

Salt Flats Flamingos: The pool area at Harbin is very visual, Nudity, Organic-to-Harbin, and northern California, architecture

Harbin ethnography:


... And you are living anew in Harbin harmony.
(Scott MacLeod – January 2, 2008)


The pool area at Harbin is very visual, - seeing others naked, particularly, seems to have been designed for, and is significant, and, I hypothesize, eases people's minds, and is one important aspect of Harbin which people visit for. This Harbin visuality has informed, even, a kind of organic-to-Harbin and northern California, architecture. Harbin's valley is also very beautiful. With nearly 10 months of sun a year, it seems, visual opportunities, particularly vis-a-vis the pools, are many, heightened, and further 'normalized.' Hippies themselves can dress in very colorful ways, often drawing on clothing and styles from all over the world, often acquired while traveling around the world; Harbin's visitors can wear very colorful clothing and no clothing at all, (and a fair number of men have long hair, these days, too), extending the significance of visuality (and hippie-ness at Harbin. Clothing-optionalness is a kind of music to some, and has been significant to Harbin from at the least 1972, when Ishvara bought the property. The clothing-optionalness, the hippie-clothing and the relaxed way of life there, all emerge significantly from the countercultural 1960s, I suggest here, in response to modernity, - particularly in alternative, regenerative and freedom-seeking ways that are rooted in Harbin as place.

“Once one leaves Middletown, California, there are about 3 miles of beautiful, relatively untouched land, a kind of wonderland (for me) before one comes to the Harbin gate, and a welcome transition to a place of ease. ...













(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2011/02/salt-flats-flamingos-pool-area-at.html - February 10, 2011)

Alaska river web: An eternal golden braid at WUaS? Check out the Goedel, Escher, Bach subject w 3 mini-courses from MIT, Stanford & Michigan, SCORES

Scott:

An eternal golden braid? Check out the Goedel, Escher, Bach subject with 3 mini-courses from MIT, Stanford & Michigan (it's amazing what's out there:):

http://worlduniversit.wikia.com/wiki/Subjects


http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/G%C3%B6del,_Escher,_Bach


Just starting to read GEB ....

A canon (musical) is a theme which is played against itself.

Bach created very beautiful ones.

WUaS as an eternal golden braid which we all can weave?


GEB is a very beautiful idea book ...

Let's weave a lot of ideas together at WUaS, musically & playfully (at the Music School :)



Need to find a copy of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier v-a-v GEB

... I'll bet it's online (from before copyright) & will add, or find, at

http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Piano

or

http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Library_Resources


... GEB was written while Hofstadter was at Stanford (parallel ethoses?) in the late 70s




JDM:

Got that book as a teen, on the advice of my father. WAY over my head back then--I labored mightily to make it halfway through. But the trio of G, E and B practically demands that I take it off the shelf, dust it off, and try again. If you have any advice on the proper mind-set with which I should approach it, Scott, that'd be swell.


Scott:

I'm captivated by the beginning

... and find it actually very accessible (and beautiful & logical)

... see if it engages you

... I learned piano from ages 6-12 so will see if I can add that line of code to my reading (it's 700 pages long) -

GEB starts with Bach

- but I'd like to teach harmony to my kids when they come along and GEB seems like a very beautiful way into this

... shall we compare notes here along the way, as another form of engaging? :)



JDM:

Comparing notes feels right. As I'm away from my "library" for the next few months, I'll visit some Pittsburgh indie bookstores to locate a copy. While a few of my favorite booksellers from years past are gone now, I have come across a some new shops worthy of support. Which is nice to see in any city.



Scott:

Here's the Well-Tempered Clavier by Bach

http://imslp.org/wiki/Editions_-_Bach:_The_Well-Tempered_Clavier_%28BWV_846-893%29,_BV_B_25_%28Busoni,_Ferruccio%29

- for free at the International Music Score Project accessible here at World Univ & Sch in Library Resources -

http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Library_Resources#Musical_Scores











(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2011/02/alaska-braids-eternal-golden-braid-at.html - February 10, 2011)

Elephant seals: In what ways can WUaS cultivate PLAY in online, academic+, knowledge generation, by conversation? New PLAY subject at WUaS

In what ways can WUaS cultivate PLAY in online, academic+, knowledge generation, by conversation, in part, building on the University and in conjunction with MIT OCW+? Highest quality PLAY would bring so many more people into the CONVERSATIONS about IDEAS ... Theater is one example where this happens readily, perhaps: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Theater_Arts (accessible here: http://worlduniversit.wikia.com/wiki/Subjects) ... Add a related subject :)

... and in so many ways ... must explore myself and with friends :)


Roll around on the floor yoga? (http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Yoga)


What do you think? What would you add in your life, or to WUaS?



Created new 'Play' subject -
http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Play - to which I added this:
Breazeal, Cynthia. 2011. [http://www.ted.com/talks/cynthia_breazeal_the_rise_of_personal_robots.html Cynthia Breazeal: The rise of personal robots] TED Talk -

as well as the editable Beings Enjoying Life -
http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Beings_Enjoying_Life

and the Happiness
http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Happiness

subjects :)

Enjoy.


MIT's Cynthia Breazeal's robots' video is significantly about play as well as how robots are becoming personalized - http://www.ted.com/talks/cynthia_breazeal_the_rise_of_personal_robots.html .

It's also here at World Univ & Sch's Robotics' subject:
http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Robotics.











(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2011/02/elephant-seals-in-what-ways-can-wuas.html - February 9, 2011)

Elephant seals in surf: Chapter 4-Place & Time, Visuality & Harbin – The Harbin Valley – Traveling to & from Harbin – Immersion - Presence, Pool Area

Harbin ethnography:



... Lastly I examine questions of immersion in the waters as well as 'oneness,' 'nowness' and 'presence' at Harbin, due to the waters and hippy, New Age ways of thinking, as well as the senses of timeliness there.





Chapter 4: Place and Time

Visuality and Harbin – The Harbin Valley – Traveling to and from Harbin – Immersion - Presence


Visuality and Harbin



Wind along the road from the town to the springs

Wind along the road from the town to the springs,
and you will come to a gate.
Talk to them there and enter.
Wander up the way to the pools where we gather,
to rest in the beauty of the waters.
You and we change, releasing into the waters,
naked and free.
Come home.
Sit in the sun on the deck, talk with friends.
The dragon-back ridge line,
high up away in the close distance,
covered with chaparral, is alive in the light.
And you are living anew in Harbin harmony.

(Scott MacLeod – January 2, 2008)


The pool area at Harbin is very visual, - seeing others naked, particularly, seems to have been designed for, and is significant, and, I hypothesize, eases people's minds and is one important aspect of Harbin which people visit for. ...














(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2011/02/elephant-seals-chapter-4-place-and-time.html - February 9, 2011)

Walrus: Part II: An Ethnography of Harbin as Counterculture Emerging from Modernity, In chapter 4, entitled 'Place and Time,' Harbin valley as Place

Harbin ethnography:



Part II: An Ethnography of Harbin as Counterculture Emerging from Modernity



In chapter 4, entitled 'Place and Time,' I examine ethnographically the significance of geographical place – the Harbin valley, its waters, and northern California – in terms of sociocultural processes there. I characterize, too, the unique buildings such as the Harbin pools, the Harbin Domes, the Conference Center and the Harbin Temple and some of the life that happens there. I then examine the significance of traveling to and from Harbin. Lastly I examine questions of immersion in the waters as well as 'oneness,' 'nowness' and 'presence' at Harbin, due to the waters and hippy, New Age ways of thinking, as well as the senses of timeliness there.





Chapter 4: Place and Time

Visuality and Harbin – The Harbin Valley – Traveling to and from Harbin – Immersion - Presence


Visuality and Harbin



Wind along the road from the town to the springs ...














(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2011/02/walrus-part-ii-ethnography-of-harbin-as.html - February 8, 2011)