The pitch for Transcendental Meditation that we heard over the Memorial Day Weekend came heavy from the science side of things. Not a bad pitch for us Westerners. The Director of the Maharishi Univeristy, John Hagelin is a Quantum Physicist, and much of his rap about the Unified Field not only referred to the Upanishads but also the Big Bang, Super-Strings, Quantum particles and wave-forms, illustrated by a couple mathematical equations that made my head hurt. Some people need a Shaman to guide them, some of us need a Physicist. Hagelin actually seems a little of both.
One of the other presentations was about the brain and Neuroplasticity, the idea that our brains are malleable, and they can be molded by the things we think and the things we do. That's what we call "mind over matter."
So let's say you take up juggling, the act of juggling changes the brain, the act actually changes the connections in that mysterious globby hunk of matter. New areas of the brain "wake up." This happens even if you just imagine juggling.
I really latched onto this idea (I mean, I guess for many people this isn't news, but the idea slapped me upside the head and I had kind of an "aha" moment!). Meditate - change your brain. Play guitar - change your brain. Learn a monologue - change your brain. The things we do, changes our brains and by changing our brains we change our world. For some reason, I thought this was the best news I have heard in a long time. Our future is in our hands, in our heads, in our acts, in our thoughts. No time to brood Bunky --- as that old Nike ad encouraged us - "just do it." And in the doing you are remolding your brain, your world. Ain't it the truth.