alnner Worlds, Outer Worlds (Documentary): Critical Thinking Response
If you are having trouble responding to the documentary, here are some Optional Questions to guide you. The film can be found in four 30minute sections for free on YouTube. Minimum Written Response: (4) 5-Sentence Paragraphs
Part 1: Akasha 1. Describe in your own words, the concept of Akasha presented in the first part of the documentary? Does it line up with a modern scientific concept that you are aware of? 2. The psychology of Sensation and Perception points out that our senses allow us to experience only a tiny sliver of reality: what’s really there, the quantum underlying complexity, arising and passing out of existence trillions of times per second, which cannot be considered “real,” is patently beyond human comprehension. In fact, we know neuro-psychologically, that our brain is re-constructing the “reality’ we experience: it is a very well-crafted simulation of what we perceive to be there. Considering that many experts agree that most of what we stress about is “perceived,” could it be that in reality, stress is a phenomenon that is as illusory as the fundamental nature of reality: constantly changing? 3. What does the word Logos mean? What does it have to do with the scientific concepts of time, change through entropy, energy, and vibratory processes in the physical world? 4. Why did early human religions avoid descriptions of God, claiming that to describe God is heresy and impossible, because to do so would require an anthropomorphism of God, and reductionism, which may have been considered offensive by the ancient peoples?
Part 2: The Spiral 1. The idea of spin and spirals are perhaps the oldest human ideas/symbols ever discovered. Why do you think our ancient ancestors were so enamored with this idea, to the degree that they have been found at many of the oldest human archaeological sites around the world, predating all known religions? 2. Describe what the ideas of macrocosm and microcosm mean in your own words. 3. What is the Phi Ratio? Why is it so prevalent in the natural world, in both organisms and nonliving systems like DNA, atoms, hurricanes, solar systems, galaxies, flowers, etc.? 4. What was the Ancient Chinese science of Li Patterns? What does it reveal about the geometry of the natural world? 5. Why do you think that the universe’s massive dark energy networks look almost identical to the patterns found in the neurological pathways of the total connectome of the human brain? 6. Why do you think Eastern thought focuses on the Hara (Lower Dantien) in the belly, while Western thought focuses on the head (Upper Dantien) and the brain: the enteric nervous system associated with intuition and no mind, versus the prefrontal cortex, the brain, the thinking mind? 7. What is the Yogic concept of Kundalini?
Part 3: The Lotus and the Serpent 1. Some people have described modern cultures as heralding the “age of overthinking.” We know that indigenous cultures are more focused on intuition (the enteric nervous system) and heart focused. We know that human spirituality involves the trinity of the heart, gut, and brain. What are some things that we can do as modern overthinking and analytical cultures to regain some of the balance of our experience of life (Heart & Gut Brain), and get back to our non-linguistic, body-centric capabilities? 2. What is sacred geometry? What is the sacred geometric pattern referred to as the “Flower of Life,” and where does it occur in nature and in the human body? 3. In what ways do ancient spirituality and modern science agree? In what ways do you think modern science and modern religion disagree? 4. What is a circadian rhythm and what does it have to do with human biology, stress and sleep/wake patterns? 5. Who was Lao Tzu and what was his literary contribution to human wisdom traditions that is considered one of the greatest philosophicaVspiritual texts that is still read widely today? 6. Why was the tetrahedron (Yantra) such an important geometric figure to ancient peoples? 7. How much time do we spend exploring our inner nature (inner world) in modern daily life, in contemplation and silence, exploring ourselves the way we engage the outer- world: why is this the case? 8. What is the criticism to dualism and dualistic thinking that has been directed at modern world views and belief systems: and why?
Part 4: Beyond Thinking 1. What does consumerism, pleasure seeking, comfort seeking, sacrificing our health for capitalist goals, constantly being entertained and constantly thinking rather than experiencing do to our ability to respond to stress effectively? 2. Why is happiness a relativistic concept, and why might some say that happiness can only be found inside, not outside oneself, that it is “the path, not a destinations 3. Are thinking and acting the only two components of the human experience possible? 4. What is the connection between resistance (conflict orientation), and stress and human health? 5. Have we abandoned “know thyself for know what’s “out there,” and what effect does this have on our psychology? 6. If earth is a paradise that we have turned into a dystopia through thinking and logical errors, who is morally culpable for the predicaments we find ourselves in the modern world? 7. What does it mean to be “awake,” in the deeper sense of the word, and what aspect of the concept of consciousness does this idea connect with? 8. Is the concept of Yin & Yang representative of the numbers 1, 2, or 3? 9. Is thought a sense or something else: why did people from ancient cultures believe it was a sense, and one of many aspects of human experience, and certainly not the primary one, or associated with a person’s identity? 10. What does the idea, “what fires together, wires together’ (neuroplasticity) mean for our stress experiences, how we mitigate stress, and what does it have to do with positive psychology? 11. Why do you think one definition of meditation is “to cease measurement?” 12. What is radical acceptance and openness to reality, and how is this different from resistance to and denial of “reality,” as far as how it effects our health and experience of pain and suffering?” 13. What is the connection between change and human adaptation from your perspective, and why did Darwin claim that adaptability is more important than strength or intelligence?
