2. The deception of perception: Is the full moon really magnified at moon rise as Aristotle believed?

        As we watch a movie, emotions can sometimes fly high-if its a suspense thriller for example or a well-directed comedy that makes you laugh. And yet if we pause to consider for a moment-what are we really laughing at-mere projections of light and sound patterns on the screen and speaker-diaphragms? There is no actor, no action, no motion actually happening on the screen, and yet the mind can perceive it as being there-and if it is in say IMAX 3D-you may even get jolted by a drop coming right at you in a snap!

What we perceive as being an object out there-what is it really? Every school boy can tell you today that yes it is a bunch of atoms and molecules-but what does that really mean? As you touch your smart phone screen,  just a light tap is enough to send thousands of signals scurrying around and waves up and down the interweb to get you the information that you call for-perhaps thats how you landed up on this page in the first place.

Yet, what you are reading on this page-these shapes, are they really present? At each instant there are thousands of light rays/photons being scattered of long polymers twisted around in different patterns-none of them knowing anything about how the others are oriented and yet all of them at once appear to give the illusion of a font or a smiley or a depiction of NYC skyline for example- yet in reality you are just looking at a bunch of liquid crystals contorting in different shapes.

 And then take the fascinating physics of color-something that is not really perceived fully in the eye but only post processed by the brain using the rods and cones in the eyes. In the figure here, there are as many as a million colors that the human eye can distinguish and yet color is just a subjective sensation in the human brain. Ofcourse there are hoards of visual illusions out there to re-inforce the fact that the world that we perceive out there may not be as colourful or even "just as colorful" as it may seem.

Take sunlight for example-what is the color of sunlight-yellow? But it is the same sunlight that gives the rainbows after fresh rains if the angles are right-and if you see a very tiny section of sunlight it appears to hold a wide spectrum of wavelengths corresponding to different colors. Why does it then appear to be yellow? Because our eyes are most sensitive to detecting yellow and if all colors are equally present - it fixates on the yellow! So the color of the sun is not what it seems!

Or take the apparent size of the sun or moon at sunrise or sunset-in case of moon, it actually is smaller in its perceptual optical size, even though it seems to be magnified. Aristotle taught his students that this was due to refraction by the earth's atmosphere-however only now with the sophisticated photography equipment have we figured out that the moon is NOT magnified by the earth's atmosphere and in fact is apparently smaller at horizon. What makes it look bigger then? There are several possible explanations however it is evident that it is a post-synthesis perception in the brain that is responsible for this illusion, just as several others like the Ebbinghaus illusion-which of the two central circles is bigger?

What is the point? The point is-what appears may be far from what actually is! It is important to pause and wonder foe a moment-that thought, tht worry, that scenario which seems real enough to be paralyzing-could it not be just one of the myriad illusions of the mind owing to the way it has been conditioned? 

There is a joy in this recognition. A joy that has been immortalized by the phrase Eureka for example! A joy that belongs to knowing, to a glimpse of truth, of the nature of nature and illusoriness of illusion! This joy of realisation, of humble witnessing of what goes on beneath the veils of the illusion-the so called Maya is what drives the physicist or for that matter any seeker of natural science to toil day and night in the lab!

As Sage Ashtavakra, an enlightened yogi from seven thousand year ago says in his discourse to King Janaka,
yatra visvam idam bhati kalpitam rajju-sarpavat
ananda-paramanandah sa  bodhas tvam sukham cara ..(1.10)
 Just as twilight makes rope appear to be snake
such  is the apparition of this world and its space-time attributes,
Recognize the illusion, repose in the wonder of you, move blissfully!

1. Dreams of Reality, wonder of physics and Yoga

Morpheus: Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world? - from the movie Matrix 1999

One way you can ensure that you are awake is by checking that the world around you behaves as expected-when you throw something up it comes down, when you fall it hurts as if the ground is hitting you with the same force as you hitting the ground, etc! 

In a dream the constrains of physical world are no longer valid so things can move as they please and there is no place for a rational or logical connection between events-they can be completely contrary to our day-to-day perceptions.

Yet what we perceive is necessarily plagued with inaccuracies like the seeming flatness of earth or the daily extinguishment of the source of life on earth-our dear star, the sun! Perception without acknowledgement of limitations of the instruments of it often leads one to world views different from the actual reality of how things are! A careful investigation to account for and correct the nature of errors of perception by careful observation and experimentation however can revolutionize our worldview and awaken us to a new reality!

As the Bhagavad Gita propounds (2.69): what is pitch dark of the night to the civilians, to that the yogi is wide awake and what is bright and clear as daylight to the civilians escapes the yogi as if covered by night!  Such was the story of Galileo who discovered that the world view held by Aristotle and his mentees for nearly two thousand years was incorrect, such was the story of Newton when he recognized that the moon was driven not by a force different from what ties us to the earth and such was the story of Einstein and Heisenberg who awakened to a deeper, quantum depiction of reality in which the Newtonian world view had to be discarded!  These are our modern yogis, who push the limits  for human thought and enquiry! 

The elation one feels at the glimpse of such cognition, the flash of insight while solving a problem for example  is like a movie preview for the bliss that yogis experience over meditative samadhi states! This humbling joy and deep sense of wonder which easily makes one forget the transient vagaries of our day to day world is  what, perhaps,  drives the physicist to engage in mind bending inquiry into Nature! 

It is said, in an ancient sanskrit text called Shiva Sutras that wonder is the very basis on which a state of yoga emerges.  ( Vismayo-yoga bhumika)

There is a cute anecdote of Einstein's interaction with an educator Rowe that highlights the role of the same wonder in driving the pursuit of scientific investigation!

 Early one morning, on her school's annual visit to Princeton University's scientists and labs, a teen-aged Mary Budd Rowe came across Albert Einstein. He was gazing at a fountain, "tilting his head this way and that and sometimes moving his hands rapidly up and down."

"I stood beside him, puzzled," Rowe recalls. "He said nothing for quite some time. Then he turned to me and said, 'Can you do it? Can you stop the water enough to see the individual drops of water?'"

Einstein showed Rowe how to move her hands until she, too, could create a strobe effect that appeared to slow the stream to individual drops. They experimented a bit to get the best effect.

Then they turned and walked on.

"Never forget that science is just that kind of exploring and fun," he told her.

***************

Welcome to the wonderland-the Yoga of Physics!!

Price Tag on Happiness?

Does money corrupt the mind?

New research reveals that reminders of wealth impair our capacity to savor life's little pleasures.

American families who make over $300,000 a year donate to charity a mere 4 percent of their incomes. The statistic should not be surprising, as studies by University of Minnesota psychologist Kathleen Vohs and her collaborators have shown that merely glimpsing dollar bills makes people less generous and approachable, and more egocentric.

Now come a new set of studies that reveal yet another toll that money takes. An international team of researchers led by Jordi Quoidbach report in the August 2010 issue of Psychological Science that, although wealth may grant us opportunities to purchase many things, it simultaneously impairs our ability to enjoy those things.
~Excerpt from an article in Scientific American by Prof. Sonja Lyubomirsky, author of "How of Happiness"

From a talk by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Human life has two purposes. One is how much you take, and second is how much you give.

What is that you can take in the world? You cannot take all the money out of this world. You may earn millions of dollars, but you will have to leave it here. It cannot go with you. The millions of dollars or euros you earn come to help to take care of your food, clothing, a little comfortable bed and room to sleep, and travel a bit here and there. That is all. It cannot bring happiness.

We should not expect money to bring us happiness. If we do it, we are not intelligent. If we think money is going to bring us happiness, it is like saying, “I can eat coins and get rid of my hunger”. You need edible food to get out of your hunger, and not Euros or coins. That is all. It cannot bring happiness. You should not expect money to bring you happiness.

Become aware of your goals, ideas, dreams and at
the same time know that money cannot be the final
goal. I'm not saying that you shouldn't accumulate money. Do it, but
don't be obsessed with it. Don't do it for one-upmanship over
others.

Ultimately, happiness cannot be bought by money. We must know this very well. So, get all this comfort in life. But what is it you should get? Comfort is a small thing. But what is it that you can take with you? What can go with you is knowledge. What gets imprinted in the consciousness is knowledge. So, how much knowledge have you gained? Knowledge is not what you read in a book, but it is awareness. How much awareness you have gained? How much broadness in your mind has come up? And in giving, how much love have you given back to the world.

So, how much love have you given?

And how much knowledge have you taken?

These are the only two things that will be asked, and that makes life more fruitful. So, as long as we grow in knowledge and are useful to others we are all on the right track.


A short conversation of some wealthy enterprenuers with Sri Sri is here


Does happiness have a price tag?

Researchers from Stanford and Wharton Business Schools report on CBS's moneywatch on how money is related to people's minds. They also give tips on how to handle financially induced stress.

As people age they react more calmly to economic downturns, younger people tend to be emotionally more volatile to financial matters.

Money creates a false sense of independence
The Times of India, 30th September, 2009

H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Money gives one a sense of freedom and ownership. We believe that with money we can own anything, that we can put a price tag on anybody's services.

Ownership of something means total control of its existence. When we buy a piece of land, we feel that we own it, although the land continues to exist even after the owner is no more. How can we own something that outlives us?

Money also gives the idea that we are powerful and independent, blinding us to the fact that we live in a world of interdependence. We depend on farmers, cooks, drivers and the services of so many people around us. Even an expert surgeon cannot operate by herself. She depends on others. Because we pay for their services, we overlook the fact that we depend on them.

If we look at why most people with money are arrogant we will find it is because of the feeling of independence that money brings. The awareness of dependence on the other hand makes one humble. The basic human quality of humility is taken away by a false feeling of independence.

Can money really reflect the worth of a person? We cannot put a value to human life. Wealth can be attained through one's skills, abilities, inheritance, or through corrupt means. The means of attaining wealth brings its own consequences. The very motive for corruption is peace and happiness. Yet peace and happiness remain elusive when the means are corrupt.

As possession of money creates the illusion of independence, money is often referred to as maya. A Sanskrit phrase sums it up: Miyate anaya iti maya - That which can be measured is maya.

On the other hand, some people blame money for all the ills in society. There are others who even consider it an evil. Just as possessing money brings arrogance, rejecting it too makes one arrogant. Some people who renounce money take pride in their poverty to draw attention and sympathy.

However, ancient sages honoured money or maya as a part of the divine and transcended the grip of its illusion. They knew that when we reject or hate something, we can never transcend it.

They honoured wealth as Goddess Lakshmi, the consort of Narayana. She is born out of yoga. It is yoga that transforms the bad karma and brings out latent skills and talents. It also brings up ashtasiddhis, the eight perfections and nav nidhis, the nine wealths.

Yoga helps one move from arrogance to self-confidence, meekness to humility, dependence to interdependence, from craving for freedom to the recognition of unboundedness and from a limited ownership to oneness with the whole.

When people lack faith in the Divine or in their own abilities or in the goodness of society they suffer from a deep sense of insecurity. As a result all that appears to provide security is money. They rely on something that is not certain, and end up getting upset. Uncertainty causes craving for stability.

The world is of change; the Self is of non-change. We have to rely on the non-change and accept the change. This is like perceiving the real as unreal and unreal as real. In fact, all miseries are unreal. A wise man knows that happiness is real, as it is our very nature. Unhappiness is unreal because it is inflicted by memory. When we see everything as a dream, then we abide in our true nature - love, joy and peace. We then understand that money is not all-important. Values, sense of belonging, love and care are more important.

Love, Jealousy, Wisdom

Q: Could you please comment a little bit on your concept of love. Love for parents, spouse, children, surroundings, friends etc.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I tell you, love..you are made up of love. You are made up of a substance called love. Your spirit is all love. And there are various types of love. Parental love, love of the siblings. Then love for the children, love for the spouse. They are little flavors. Different, but underneath that, I don’t see love as only an emotion, it is our very existence. Because all the atoms in your body love each other and that’s why you are a human being. That’s why there is a bond. You know the moment the love that is the binding force between the atoms is gone, our body disintegrates. So, I see love more as the very existence not just as an emotion. I would say Love with wisdom leads you to bliss.

Love without wisdom or with ignorance leads you to jealousy, greed, anger, frustration and everything else. All these negative emotions are just an offspring of love. See you can’t be jealous of somebody if there is no love. Right? Greed is because you love certain things more than people, that is called greed. You love somebody more than you should and that is called possessiveness. And you love perfection so much that you can’t stand imperfection, and you show it as anger. Right? Love needs to be harnessed with a little wisdom.






The narrow line between love and jealousy
November 12, 2009

A new study carried out at the University of Haifa has found that the hormone oxytocin, the "love hormone", which affects behaviors such as trust, empathy and generosity, also affects opposite behaviors, such as jealousy and gloating. "Subsequent to these findings, we assume that the hormone is an overall trigger for social sentiments: when the person's association is positive, oxytocin bolsters pro-social behaviors; when the association is negative, the hormone increases negative sentiments," explains Simone Shamay-Tsoory who carried out the research.
(Biological Psychiatry
Volume 66, Issue 9, 1 November 2009, Pages 864-870 )
http://www.physorg.com/news177245481.html

Neural correlates of Wisdom

"Defining wisdom is rather subjective, though there are many similarities in definition across time and cultures. However, our research suggests that there may be a basis in neurobiology for wisdom's most universal traits," study author Dr. Dilip V. Jeste of the department of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, said in the news release.

Jeste and his colleague, Dr. Thomas W. Meeks, studied existing articles, publications and other documents for the six attributes most commonly associated with wisdom and for the brain circuitry associated with those attributes.

They found that these six traits are associated with heightened activity in several different areas of the brain. It appears that the neurobiology of wisdom involves an "optimal balance" between more primitive brain systems (the limbic system) and the more developed areas of the brain, the researchers said.

"Understanding the neurobiology of wisdom may have considerable clinical significance, for example, in studying how certain disorders or traumatic brain injuries can affect traits related to wisdom," Jeste said.

The study appears in the April 6 issue of the journal Archives of General Psychiatry.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=is-wisdom-in-the-brain-2009-04-06

Success in the long term comes by giving up pleasure in the short term

Q: How do we know what to do in life?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: First know what not to do. It’s easier. Purpose of life is not to be miserable and make others miserable. It is a gut feeling. Choose that which gives you long term happiness even if it gives short term misery. Choosing that which gives you long term misery and short term joy is not wise.

There was a famous experiment in 1989 , well known now as the “Marshmallow experiment”. Performed by Walter Mischel at Stanford University this experiment showed an amazing thing, that testing a child’s self-control at 4yrs could predict academic success later in life.

The numerous experiments actually entailed in this study started with the same basic premise. Children were told that they could obtain a small reward immediately or could hold out for a more valuable reward later. The rewards were carefully calibrated to produce conflict in the child over whether to go for the immediate reward or wait for the larger reward (eg one marshmallow vs two, hence the name of the experiment). The experimenter would then leave the child alone and return a short (although not for the child) time later, typically about 15 minutes. The child could ring a bell at any time to recall the experimenter and receive their lesser reward.

In a follow-up to these experiments children from the original studies were then looked at more than ten years later to see if the ability to delay self gratification had effects later in life. They authors predicted that differences in the ability of children to delay when they had been given no strategies to help them (eg hiding the rewards) would perform better later in life than those who had the rewards removed from sight. This prediction turned out to be upheld, those students who could had been able to delay their own satisfaction without external help had higher test scores and were described by their parents as, to quote the study:

“more verbally fluent and able to express ideas; they used and responded to reason, were attentive and able to concentrate, to plan, and to think ahead, and were competent and skillful. Likewise they were perceived as able to cope and deal with stress more maturely and seemed more self assured.”

In conclusion, those who could avoid the impulse of instant gratification were more able and prepared to succeed in the long run.

Researchers find delayed gratification led to greater success in growing children


http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/244/4907/933
http://sciblogs.co.nz/skepticon/2010/08/10/delayed-gratification-success/