The neural basis for the self, as I see it, resides with the continuous reactivation of at least two sets of representations. One set concerns representations of key events in an individual's autobiography, on the basis of which a notion of identity can be reconstructed repeatedly, by partial activation in topologically organized sensory maps. ... In brief, the endless reactivation of updated images about our identity (a combination of memories of the past and of the planned future) constitutes a sizable part of the state of self as I understand it.The second set of representations underlying the neural self consists of the primordial representations of an individual's body ... Of necessity, this encompasses background body states and emotional states. The collective representation of the body constitute the basis for a "concept" of self, much as a collection of representations of shape, size, color, texture, and taste can constitute the basis for the concept of orange.

With school turning out more runners, jumpers, racers, tinkerers, grabbers, snatchers, fliers, and swimmers instead of examiners, critics, knowers, and imaginative creators, the word 'intellectual,' of course, became the swear word it deserved to be. You always dread the unfamiliar. Surely you remember the boy in your own school class who was exceptionally ‘bright,’ did most of the reciting and answering while the others sat like so many leaden idols, hating him. And wasn’t it this bright boy you selected and tortured after hours? Of course it was. We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves again. So! A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon. Breach man's mind. Who knows who might be the target of the well-read man? Me?

God helps them that help themselves.” When you begin to help yourself, which means to make the best of what is in yourself, you begin to attract to yourself more and more of those helpful things that may exist all about you. In other words, constructive forces attract constructive forces; positive forces attract positive forces. A growing mind attracts elements and forces that help to promote growth, and people who are determined to make more and more of themselves, are drawn more and more into circumstances through which they will find the opportunity to make more of themselves. And this law works not only in connection with the external world, but also the internal world. When you begin to make a positive determined use of those powers in yourself that are already in positive action, you draw forth into action powers within you that have been dormant, and as this process continues, you will find that you will accumulate volume, capacity and power in your mental world, until you finally become a mental giant.

So, what role does memory play in the understanding and treatment of trauma? There is a form of implicit memory that is profoundly unconscious and forms the basis for the imprint trauma leaves on the body/mind. The type of memory utilized in learning most physical activities (walking, riding a bike, skiing, etc.) is a form of implicit memory called procedural memory. Procedural or "body memories" are learned sequences of coordinated "motor acts" chained together into meaningful actions. You may not remember explicitly how and when you learned them, but, at the appropriate moment, they are (implicitly) "recalled" and mobilized (acted out) simultaneously. These memories (action patterns) are formed and orchestrated largely by involuntary structures in the cerebellum and basal ganglia.When a person is exposed to overwhelming stress, threat or injury, they develop a procedural memory. Trauma occurs when these implicit procedures are not neutralized. The failure to restore homeostasis is at the basis for the maladaptive and debilitating symptoms of trauma.

The real difference is this: the Christian says that he has knowledge; the Agnostic admits that he has none; and yet the Christian accuses the Agnostic of arrogance, and asks him how he has the impudence to admit the limitations of his mind. To the Agnostic every fact is a torch, and by this light, and this light only, he walks.The Agnostic knows that the testimony of man is not sufficient to establish what is known as the miraculous. We would not believe to-day the testimony of millions to the effect that the dead had been raised. The church itself would be the first to attack such testimony. If we cannot believe those whom we know, why should we believe witnesses who have been dead thousands of years, and about whom we know nothing?The Agnostic takes the ground that human experience is the basis of morality. Consequently, it is of no importance who wrote the gospels, or who vouched or vouches for the genuineness of the miracles. In his scheme of life these things are utterly unimportant. He is satisfied that “the miraculous” is the impossible. He knows that the witnesses were wholly incapable of examining the questions involved, that credulity had possession of their minds, that 'the miraculous' was expected, that it was their daily food.

When a fine old carpet is eaten by mice, the colors and patterns of what's left behind do not change,' wrote my neighbor and friend, the poet Jane Hirschfield, after she visited an old friend suffering from Alzheimer's disease in a nursing home. And so it was with my father. His mind did not melt evenly into undistinguishable lumps, like a dissolving sand castle. It was ravaged selectively, like Tintern Abbey, the Cistercian monastery in northern Wales suppressed in 1531 by King Henry VIII in his split with the Church of Rome. Tintern was turned over to a nobleman, its stained-glass windows smashed, its roof tiles taken up and relaid in village houses. Holy artifacts were sold to passing tourists. Religious statues turned up in nearby gardens. At least one interior wall was dismantled to build a pigsty.I've seen photographs of the remains that inspired Wordsworth: a Gothic skeleton, soaring and roofless, in a green hilly landscape. Grass grows in the transept. The vanished roof lets in light. The delicate stone tracery of its slim, arched quatrefoil windows opens onto green pastures where black-and-white cows graze. Its shape is beautiful, formal, and mysterious. After he developed dementia, my father was no longer useful to anybody. But in the shelter of his broken walls, my mother learned to balance her checkbook, and my heart melted and opened. Never would I wish upon my father the misery of his final years. But he was sacred in his ruin, and I took from it the shards that still sustain me.

أجهدت مريمه عقلها لتجد مسلك تسلكه بين سبب ونتيجة. يعجز عقلها فيداهمها شعور بأنها ضيعت طريق الفهم. فلا شئ يعقل و لا شئ مفهوم. هل أتي أجدادنا جرما تعاقبنا نحن علية، أم أنك خلقت الكون للبشر بخيرهم و شرهم يسيرونة على هواهم كيفما يكون؟ و لماذا تتركهم ما دمت تعرف هواهم هكذا، شرس و لعين؟

As always when he worked with this much concentration he began to feel a sense of introverting pressure. There was no way out once he was in, no genuine rest, no one to talk to who was capable of understanding the complexity (simplicity) of the problem or the approaches to a tentative solution. There came a time in every prolonged effort when he had a moment of near panic, or "terror in a lonely place," the original semantic content of the word. The lonely place was his own mind. As a mathematician he was free from subjection to reality, free to impose his ideas and designs on his own test environment. The only valid standard for his work, its critical point (zero or infinity), was the beauty it possessed, the deft strength of his mathematical reasoning. THe work's ultimate value was simply what it revealed about the nature of his intellect. What was at stake, in effect, was his own principle of intelligence or individual consciousness; his identity, in short. This was the infalling trap, the source of art's private involvement with obsession and despair, neither more nor less than the artist's self-containment, a mental state that led to storms of overwork and extended stretches of depression, that brought on indifference to life and at times the need to regurgitate it, to seek the level of expelled matter. Of course, the sense at the end of a serious effort, if the end is reached successfully, is one of lyrical exhilaration. There is air to breathe and a place to stand. The work gradually reveals its attachment to the charged particles of other minds, men now historical, the rediscovered dead; to the main structure of mathematical thought; perhaps even to reality itself, the so-called sum of things. It is possible to stand in time's pinewood dust and admire one's own veronicas and pavanes.

دع إنساناً يغير اتجاه أفكاره، وسوف تتملكه الدهشة لسرعة التحوّل الذي يحدثه هذا التغير في جوانب حياته المتعددة. إن القدرة الإلهية التي تكيف مصايرنا مودعة في أنفسنا، بل هي أنفسنا ذاتها!!وكل ما يصنعه المرء هو نتيجة مباشرة لما يدور في فكره، فكما أن المرء ينهض على قدميه وينشط وينتج بدافع من أفكاره كذلك يمرض ويشقى بدافع من أفكاره أيضأ.

បញ្ញាគំនិត និង បញ្ញាចិត្ត ៖ ជាទូទៅយើងតែងយល់ថាបញ្ញាជារឿងតែមួយបែប។ តែលុះពេលយើងពិនិត្យទៅលើបុគ្គលខ្លះដែលរៀនបានខ្ពង់ខ្ពស់តែអន់ចរិត គ្មានសីលធម៌ ទើបយើងងាកមកពិចារណារអំពីបញ្ញានេះសាជាថ្មី។បញ្ញាគំនិត ៖ គឺភាពឆ្លាតវៃផ្នែកការគិត មានទិន្នន័យចំណេះដឹង មានឯកទេសេលីកិច្ចការផ្សេងៗ ហើយយកការគិតនោះមកប្រតិបត្តិទ្រទ្រង់ជីវិត និងប្រកបអាជីពផ្សេងៗ។បញ្ញាចិត្ត ៖ គឺភាពឆ្លាតវៃខាងផ្លូវចិត្តនិងអារម្មណ៍ ភាពឆ្លាតវៃផ្នែកប្រាស្រ័យទាក់ទងខាងផ្លូវចិត្តនិងអារម្មណ៍ ភាពឆ្លាតវៃក្នុងការតបស្នងផ្លូវចិត្តនិងអារម្មណ៍ ដើម្បីឲ្យដំណើរផ្លូវចិត្តរបស់ខ្លួនឯងនិងបុគ្គលជាប់ទាក់ទងមានភាពរលូនប្រកបដោយក្តីស្ងប់សុខក្នុងចិត្តុ។ ជាទូទៅពីក្មេងតូចមក បញ្ញាចិត្តកើតឡើងដោយសភាវគតិ មនុស្សចេះស្រឡាញ់ ចេះស្អប់ សប្បាយ កើតទុក្ខ ច្រណែននិន្ទាទៅតាមធម្មជាតិ តែអ្វីទាំងនេះបើយើងមិនបានអភិវឌ្ឍវាទេ មនុស្សនឹងមិនអាចមានភាពចាស់ទុំបានទេ។ ហេតុនេះពេលមនុស្សបានរៀនសូត្រ ចេះគិតពិចារណាប្រៀបធៀបរវាងចិត្តនិងអារម្មណ៍ ខ្លួនឯងនិងអ្នកដទៃហើយ ទើបអាចរកឃើញផលវិបាកនៃការតបស្នងផ្លូវចិត្តណាដែលមិនត្រឹមត្រូវ ហើយព្យាយាមហ្វឹកហាត់ពត់ចិត្ត កែលម្អឲ្យសមស្របបន្តិចម្តងៗ។ ចិត្តដែលបានកែលម្អនោះនឹងប្រកបដោយក្តីស្រឡាញ់ ក្តីមេត្តាករុណា ថយចុះនូវអត្តា មានការគោរពចំពោះអ្នកដទៃជាដើម ហើយវាកើតឡើងដោយសុទ្ធចិត្ត ពុំមែនជាការសម្តែងទេ។ បញ្ញាគំនិតអាចរៀនសូត្របានឆាប់រហ័ស ដូចជាយើងរៀនអក្សរ រៀនលេខជាដើម តែបញ្ញាចិត្តត្រូវការពេលបណ្តុះយូរណាស់ ព្រោះចិត្តមនុស្សមិនអាចមើលឃើញ ហើយប្រែប្រួលលឿនណាស់ មិនអាចដឹងតែម្តងឬអានគម្ពីរចេះហើយមនុស្សអាចអនុវត្តបានភ្លាមៗនោះទេ វាតម្រូវឲ្យមានការស្វែងយល់និងហ្វឹកហាត់ជាប្រចាំរៀងរាល់ថ្ងៃ ព្រោះបើមើលគម្ពីរតែម្តងអាចធ្វើបាន លើលោកនេះប្រហែលគ្មានមនុស្សអាក្រក់ទេ។