'Theories of Ideology' by Jan Rehmann Jan Rehmann
Theories of Ideology: The Powers of Alienation and Subjection
Haymarket Books, Chicago, 2014. 350pp., $28 pb
ISBN 9781608464081

Reviewed by Lucas Miranda

About the reviewer

Lucas Miranda

 Lucas Miranda has a Masters in Political Science at Florida International University. He aspires to be a PhD candidate in political theory in order to keep exploring the concepts of anomie and individuality in the modern age, which he portrays as an epochal conjunction of late capitalism and postmodernism.

In Theories of Ideology: The Powers of Alienation and Subjection, Jan Rehmann provides a well-elaborated exposition of the most important schools and theoretical perspectives that have been, in some way or another, influential on the development of theories of ideology. The central argument of this book is that theories of ideology ought to be re-visited and redefined to analyze neoliberalism in the current epoch of high tech capitalism. The importance and central place which ideology holds in Marx’s writings has, understandably, never been a matter of contentious dispute among Marxist scholars. However, analyses and interpretations of the actual content of the ‘ideological component’ (and how it relates to other classical Marxist propositions) have varied tremendously both within and beyond Marxism. Theories of ideology marked a turn in Marxist research as they started to reflect more seriously upon what has been perceived as the materiality of ideology and the efficacy of its unconscious effects in shaping social patterns of everyday life. This is the core premise of a Marxist structuralist approach to ideology (known mostly through the theories of Louis Althusser and Antonio Gramsci). Thus, when discussing theories of ideology we are at bottom discussing a debate which has become a sine qua non of all social sciences: the subject or individual agency as opposed to the alienating societal structures which diminish individuals’ autonomy.

Rehmann provides a well conceived framework which includes, but is not limited to, academic fields such as Critical Theory (Frankfurt School), psychoanalysis (focusing on the unconscious functioning of ideology in practice), (post)structuralism, and postmodernism. Indeed, one of the major features of this book is how Rehmann’s analysis encompasses virtually the whole scope of contemporary political thought. Ideology is viewed differently by these fields and thus each has its own take on its social meaning; namely, on the relation (and formation) of ideological subjects vis-à-vis structural constellations of hegemonic powers.

Rehmann starts with a terrific exegesis of the most fundamental formulations and concepts constituting the underpinnings of classical Marxism. This is the most introductory chapter of the book and yet it presents a very thorough synopsis of Marxism. The reason why Rehmann takes his time to go more in depth with this chapter is that even a superficial understanding of thinkers like Adorno or Althusser still requires more than a superficial understanding of Marxism. Most importantly, Rehmann dispels the notion that Marx believed in some sort of material determinism. Instead of isolating ideological forms from practical life, Marx and Engels argued that ‘consciousness could only be understood as an integral part of life-process’ (25). I wish, however, that Rehmann had mentioned (mostly for reference purposes) Engels’ letters [ss1] on Historical Materialism where Engels himself elaborates upon this misconception and makes a very good case arguing that Marx never denied the dialectical relation between ‘base’ and ‘superstructure’.

Rehmann then moves to explain how it is rather Lenin who is to be blamed for the ‘opposition of ‘material’ and ‘ideological’ relations [which] led to the identification of ideology as ‘ideas’ and therefore overlooked the materiality of the ideological’ (9). Lenin still perceive the realm of superstructure (i.e., ideology) as mere disembodied ideas or ‘false consciousness’. In the next couple chapters, Rehmann discusses how the Marxist concept of ideology was employed and/or interpreted by important thinkers who extended Marx’s criticism of capitalism to the political and cultural conditions of the mid twentieth century (e.g., Lukács, Adorno, and Wolfgang Fritz Haug).

The next chapters cover the central themes of the book: first, how ideologies function through social practices, collective patterns, or daily individual habits; and second, the contradictory development from Marxism to Postmodernism. Contrary to classical Marxism’s formulation that ‘life determines consciousness’, these studies have recognized the resilience and active nature of ‘the ideological’ over social and political realities. Discussing Gramsci, Rehmann focuses on explaining that ‘the concept of ideology represented for Gramsci a transition to the elaboration of the more specific categories of hegemony” (134). Then, moving to Althusser, Rehmann presents different accounts of how ideological apparatuses perform by already inducing the perpetuating means of their own conditions of possibility. By laying down these two arguments, Rehmann can now shed light on his ultimate concern (shared by these thinkers): how the material dimension of ideology furthers the means of domination employed by hegemonic structures to ensure the present political order, and secures the present relations of power (and their apparent legitimacy): thus perpetuating the hegemony of neoliberalism.

Added to that, his most poignant criticism is ultimately directed at poststructuralism and postmodernism. Rehmann argues that both have ‘become an ideological component of neoliberalism’ (10), i.e., ‘counterrevolutionary forces’ to use Marcuse’s words. Postmodernism, Rehmann argues, has abandoned the traditional and normative political concern with the concept of ideology and thus ‘focused almost entirely on texts, detached from the material-ideological settings and practices in which they are embedded’ (218). The problem is that when any sort of structuralism (‘post’ or not) employs the concepts of discourse, knowledge, or power in place of ideology, they offer no analytical tool to critically examine which political factors or interests are at play in the conflict of classes, i.e., in the struggle for hegemony. Rehmann aims his criticism mostly at Foucault’s and Butler’s de-materialization and de-naturalization of social life. These serve as examples for Rehmann to explain how postmodernism reduces all social phenomena to the symbolic realm of texts and arbitrary shifts of signification. Rehmann’s critical take on these issues should indeed be open for larger discussions serving both the intellectual health of political theory and the political health of social life.

It is particularly commendable that Rehmann, coming from a relatively far-left position, goes over these sensitive issues (such as gender-theories) in such a strong critical way. Any Butler fan, however, would have to be very disingenuous to deny or completely dismiss Rehmann’s claim that these postmodern projects are indeed prompting the de-materialization of social life, neglecting the ideological, and ultimately obscuring actual political agendas. Moreover, it becomes clear that Rehmann’s focus on the materiality of ideology and criticism of poststructuralism converge on how they contribute to the perpetuation of neoliberalism and, by the same token, how they undermine and/or suppress alternatives of resistance from below. After all, Rehmann’s central concern is to understand ‘people’s voluntary subjection to alienated forms of domination, the consent to conditions restricting their capacities to act’ (5). Hence the themes of ‘alienation’ and ‘subjection’ are rightfully in the subtitle since these are the major ideological processes (embodying the conditioning mechanisms) of any agent-structure dynamic.

In this light, we can see why the main challenge of all theories of ideology must be to not allow their concept of subjection to develop into an anti-humanist reductionist argument portraying individuals as ‘mere effects of social structures and ideological apparatuses’ (221). Rehmann’s insight is to discern how this problem also arises outside the postmodern camp. Hence, Rehmann’s criticism of Althusser’s theory. Althusser perceives agents as always already subjected to an omnihistorical concept of ideology as ‘the universal element of history’ (162). Focusing on this controversial and totalizing view of ideology, Rehmann leads his analysis to the fundamental question of “how Althusser can explain resistance and struggles if he considers human beings as completely entangled in, and formed by, ideological practices’ (153).

Rehmann’s challenge, therefore, to future ideology theories is how a critical analysis of the perpetuity of hegemonic structures can address ideological conditioning processes (e.g., alienation and subjection) without undermining the agency of individuals. Marxist studies cannot forget that social praxis require individuals ‘who must intervene into the ideological forms of existing class-societies’ despite being “necessarily co-determined by them’ (145). This is why such individuals need ‘a strong ideology-critical philosophy of praxis that helps to think through what it is doing and to historicize its own ideological involvements’ (145). Gramsci, for instance, presents dialectical concepts such as ‘common sense’ to represent ‘a battlefield of contradictory tendencies’ as being part of social realm (127).

It is imperative that every Marxist project understand this contradiction in order to execute a political plan according to the dialectics of its theory. But most importantly, as Rehmann points out, ‘to obscure or to neglect a theoretical understanding of this contradiction would only lead to a passive dialectics that produces endless splits and defeats’ (127). However, he does not elaborate much further on this issue, and I believe it is crucial to do so. Marxist political projects that have anti-dialectical tendencies prove not to be Marxist at all. For in not being critical of their own praxis and not historicizing their own ideological conditioning, they betray their revolutionary disposition and turn their ideals into the basis of a new oppressive hegemony.

In chapter 8, Rehmann introduces the greatest surprise of the book and, arguably, one of its best chapters: Pierre Bourdieu. Rehmann posits that not only Gramsci but also Bourdieu’s sociology can remedy the pitfalls of Althusser’s ideology-theory model. In Bourdieu, ‘we find what we missed in Althusser’s approach, namely a dialectical relationship between ideological fields and habitualised dispositions of everyday life’ (236). In other words, Bourdieu’s concepts of ‘habitus’ and ‘field’ rescue the agency of political actors and give some autonomy to their political activities. Habitus is to be understood as a ‘dynamic process of creation by the subjects themselves … an “art of inventing” that produces an infinite number of practices that are relatively unpredictable’ (237). As Rehmann discusses Bourdieu by revisiting Gramsci and Althusser, this chapter crystalizes the book’s central point: ‘ideology takes hold in everyday life … ideology is continuously supported by habitualised everyday patterns’ (239). In my view, Bourdieu expands the horizon of the theory of ideology in a conciliatory way by bringing together the humanist ideology of young Marx and the historical-materialistic science of his later writings. Bourdieu’s framework truly recognizes the crux of any Marxist project: individuals will always be subjects determined by their historical circumstances as well as determining agents of their own history. Only by understanding and acting upon this, can Marxist ideologies overcome their own ‘false perception of reality’ and enable the political conditions for a true hegemonic shift of power.

To conclude, Theories of Ideology is an excellent book for anyone who wants to get immersed in contemporary political theory. But it is also a very important book for reflection upon the intellectual health of political theory and the political health of social life which always accompany one another. Rehmann’s work is not simply a survey of theories of ideology but— most fundamentally—he is elaborating a critical argument concerned with the present political predicament of capitalism and how scholars (particularly Marxists) should theorize upon it (while understanding that this very endeavor exemplifies ‘ideology in practice’ ‘through social practice’). Rehmann exhorts scholars to reinterpret how the ideological and the political ought to be theorized through a structural lens and in a postmodern age. Rehmann makes the timely and astute observation that in a world marked by transformative forces such as cyberspace and globalization, ‘a renewed critical theory of ideology has a dual task that is both deconstructive and reconstructive’ (219); then, Rehmann completes his thought with a sentence which I believe encapsulates the entire theme of this work: ideology-theories ‘should re-interpret the productive insights of postmodernism in the framework of a historical-materialist theory of hegemony and ideology’ (219). We must stay vigilant for any political theory that may be complicit with oppressive hegemonic structures. In fact, it is by doing so that we assert ourselves more as conscious-political animals than interpolated-ideological subjects.

[another review of this work is at: http://marxandphilosophy.org.uk/reviewofbooks/reviews/2014/1016]

30 November 2016

Review information

Source: Marx and Philosophy Review of Books. Accessed 19 October 2017
URL: http://www.marxandphilosophy.org.uk/reviewofbooks/reviews/2016/2544

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106 Movies Saying And Quotes By Famous Author

— alexander ludwig

Compared with other Indian film composers, I only write about six movies a year. Others write up to 60.
— a r rahman

— aaron eckhart

— aaron paul

The Emmys is great, but the Golden Globes, you have the stars of television and the stars of movies in one place.
— allison williams

Luck, I never looked to make difficult movies on purpose. You make the films you can make.
— alain resnais

I think movies are good for getting into dream states or exploring weird alternate states of thinking.
— alex winter

I always enjoyed movies and in hindsight I realise how captivating they were to me.
— adam brody

So one of the most unique things on screen in American movies today is everyday behavior.
— alan rudolph

I hate to go to movies or watch a TV show and know the ending within 15 minutes.
— amaury nolasco

I do not make movies to send any message, but my treatment makes my viewers think on the subject.
— anurag kashyap

There are many kinds of movies in Hong Kong. Some are commercial and others are more artistic.
— andy lau

— angela carter

Having a life outside of movies is like pure oxygen. It makes the work more precious and informed.
— annette bening

— ashton kutcher

My attention span is very limited, and I watch just one or two movies a year.
— ashwin sanghi

I did three movies in a row, and that was horrible. It was a horrible experience for me.
— andie macdowell

— andre leon talley

To make personal movies that you are the author of, is quite a difficult thing. It takes a lot of stamina. Roman Coppola
— author

— avan jogia

There are some movies that I would like to forget, for the rest of my life. But even those movies teach me things.
— antonio banderas

I want to put elements from movies into TV to raise the quality of TV.
— andrew lau

I prefer watching movies on the sofa rather than sitting next to Bob Geldof at a premiere and wanting to kill yourself. Keeley Hawes
— bob

— becky g

It has been a great experience to act in Hollywood movies with actors like Ben Kingsley. Navi Rawat
— ben affleck

— barry goldwater

Sometimes I think that I understand my movies after I make them. Really. I go very often off of instinct.
— bernardo bertolucci

— bas rutten

We watched a lot of Hong Kong action movies in my house when I was growing up.
— benedict wong

One of my gripes about movies is that people take them so seriously, and the moneymaking aspects are so brutal.
— bill murray

— clint eastwood

— carter burwell

Before that, they thought talking movies might eliminate radio as well. But radio just keeps getting stronger.
— casey kasem

I love watching movies with happy endings or anything with Steve Martin or stuff like that.
— bonnie tyler

— cameron monaghan

Without naming names, I think other movies look more realistic but they feel less real.
— brad bird

I do like escapism. I like going to the movies on a Friday night and seeing something fun.
— charlie kaufman

I love people who just started making movies – first-timers, second-timers. They take chances.
— chazz palminteri

We need Hollywood to make movies and television shows about sexy female engineers.
— chelsea clinton

— bud abbott

You make the money in movies and TV so you can do theater. I do a play a year… somewhere.
— charles durning

— chiaki kuriyama

People go to movies or listen to music because they want to be inspired.
— daphne zuniga

— daphne zuniga

All the PG-13 superhero movies are depriving me of the gore that I need.
— clark gregg

— chris klein

The people who do the scoring and the music for movies are very talented, really special people.
— claudia christian

— chris weitz

— david a r white

— clive barker

Architecture has a strong link with the movies in terms of time progression, sequencing, framing, all of that.
— christian de portzamparc

— damien chazelle

I go to the movies at least five times a week, and after a while everything becomes a blur to me.
— david sedaris

The movies I made early on may not have been great, but they were all commercially successful.
— christina ricci

— colin cunningham

— colin trevorrow

— colin trevorrow

— christoph waltz

— colson whitehead

I wanted to do different movies. I wanted to do deeper movies. More human movies based on human feelings.
— christopher lambert

— david fincher

I would rather not know about how one gets parts in movies these days.
— christopher plummer

— david hunt

— denis lavant

It would be a dream come true to appear on Turner Classic Movies with Robert Osborne, who is one of my heroes.
— dennis christopher

— danny aiello

One of my goals is definitely break into film, and I want to do action movies as well.
— derek theler

I love Westerns. I really love John Wayne. Frank Capra, any of his movies I love. Rob Zombie
— frank lloyd wright

— frank zappa

— dylan mcdermott

— edward burns

Does Hollywood do movies about terrorism? Yeah. And why do they do that? Because it sells.
— faran tahir

I used to watch movies – silent movies – and stock companies and theater whenever I could.
— e g marshall

For true downtime, I enjoy going for light runs, having drinks with friends and going to the movies with my husband.
— emily giffin

— emily giffin

Your mind can do wonders, so scary movies are not the healthiest for me because it does freak me out.
— diora baird

— edward norton

— frankie avalon

— emma stone

— don delillo

— fiona shaw

I think ever since I was preteen I wanted to direct movies and tell stories.
— fred durst

The movies that will truly be successful will feel different than the movies of the year before.
— ehren kruger

The stories that I like to tell and the movies I like are always grounded in the emotional arc of the characters.
— eric balfour

I remember working on movies like Gettysburg and feeling that Jeff Daniels was kind of a mentor.
— donal logue

Fair or not, it always sucks when everyone wanders back from Sundance talking about how bad the movies were.
— donal logue

— francis ford coppola

— francis ford coppola

— elizabeth daily

— gemma arterton

I am a huge zombie fan. I have probably seen the George Romero movies 100 times each, without exaggeration. J. Michael Straczynski
— george foreman

I have a sneaking suspicion that if there were a way to make movies without actors, George Lucas would do it. Mark Hamill
— george foreman

— george harrison

— george harrison

— george lucas

— hugh grant

Plays close, movies wrap and TV series eventually get cancelled, and we were cancelled in three season.
— george takei

We are suffering from a glut of too many 3-D movies and not enough screens.
— henry selick

— harrison ford

Movies I liked growing up were like Francis Ford Coppolla movies and Scorsese movies. Owen Wilson
— harrison ford

— gia coppola

I am a keen observer of my own films; I also try to discover myself through the movies I make.
— imtiaz ali

I specialize in cool inside movie news. Specifically, the news from movies that excite us fans.
— harry knowles

I want there to be tons and tons and tons and tons of movies starring women.
— gillian jacobs

Dan Harmon has this idea that characters on TV are allowed to talk about their favorite movies and TV shows and songs.
— gillian jacobs

There are so many books and movies I like; I never mention specific ones.
— hideo kojima

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The freakiness of melodic minor

My last post on minor keys covered the three scales you need for most situations in rock, pop, and film scores: natural minor, harmonic minor, and Dorian mode. There’s also the blues scale, which sounds good in any key, major or minor. For musical Jedi masters, there’s one more valuable minor scale. It’s called the melodic minor scale, and if you want to push your playing or writing in a more adventurous, exotic and challenging direction, it’s a good one to have in your musical toolbox.

C melodic minor scale

Note that the scale is symmetrical along a line drawn through D-flat and G. The scale has the same symmetry if you write it on the circle of fifths too.

Melodic minor looks innocent enough on paper. It’s just the major scale with a flat third. However, the chords and scales you get from it are exceptionally dark and peculiar.

Melodic minor scale chords

The tonic chord in C is Cm(maj7), sometimes called the major-minor chord:

C  Eb  G  B

You can hear this chord in the first four bars 0f “Chelsea Bridge” by Billy Strayhorn:

The weirdness of melodic minor comes from the way it lives simultaneously in the minor and major key worlds. There’s a constant conflict between the bottom half of the scale and the top.

C  D  Eb  F  G -- sounds minor
G  A  B  C -- sounds major

Melodic minor also has more internal dissonance than the major scale and its modes. Major scale contains one tritone, between its fourth and seventh notes. Melodic minor has two tritones, between its fourth and seventh notes, and also between its third and sixth. In C melodic minor, the tritones are between F and B, and between E-flat and A.

Playing melodic minor on guitar

Unfortunately, melodic minor is extremely annoying to play on guitar. All of the fingerings require pinkie stretches and/or position shifts. The only way to make it easier is to not use all six strings. A quick Google search will reveal many fingerings. All of them are hard. On the bright side, grappling with them will really help you learn the fretboard.

Melodic minor modes

Just like the major scale, melodic minor has modes, new scales you get by starting and ending on notes other than the root. All of these scales are just as weird as their parent, with daunting technical names to match. Two of the melodic minor modes are worth the effort, because they produce amazing sounds that work great for jazz and other harmonically adventurous music.

Lydian dominant

The fourth mode of C melodic minor is like F Lydian mode with a flat (dominant) seventh. Alternatively, you can think of it as being like F Mixolydian with a raised fourth.

F  G  A  B  C  D  Eb

This scale sounds awesome on dominant seventh chords. It also has a special relationship to fundamental physics. Lydian dominant is sometimes called the acoustic scale because its constituent pitches are close to the ones arising from the natural overtone series.

Eastern European folk music uses a lot of Lydian dominant. Modern jazz and the artsier forms of rock and metal do too. Björk memorably uses it on her terrifying song “Pluto.”

Altered scale

The other crucial melodic minor mode is the seventh one, the altered scale. (You also sometimes see it called the Super Locrian or diminished whole-tone scale.) Altered scale is a crucial part of the vocabulary of jazz from the fifties onwards, especially for the more intellectual players like John Coltrane and Herbie Hancock. Here’s the B altered scale, the seventh mode of C melodic minor:

B  C  D  Eb  F  G  A

Altered scale is a tough one to remember. A good mnemonic is to take the major scale a half step below the root, and raise its root a half step. To get B altered, just take the B-flat major scale and raise the root to B natural.

The chord that you get from the B altered scale is B7 with a flat fifth (F), sharp fifth (G), flat ninth (C), and sharp ninth (D.) The full chord symbol is:

B7(b5 #5 b9 #9)

That’s a godawful thing to encounter on a lead sheet. Because the chord is B7 with all the possible alterations to its fifth and ninth, it’s easier to just write:

B7 alt is good for making the key of E major or E minor sound way more hip. The conventional scale to play on a B7 chord in E major is B Mixolydian mode, the fifth mode of the E major scale:

B  C#  D#  E  F#  G#  A#

The conventional scale for B7 in E minor is the Phrygian dominant scale, the fifth mode of the E harmonic minor scale:

B  C  D#  E  F#  G  A

You can substitute B altered for either one, it’ll sound amazing:

B  C  D  Eb  F  G  A

Gil Evans makes heavy use of altered scale in the arrangement of Porgy And Bess he did with Miles Davis. Listen at 0:19.

The track “Gone” is based around this same altered scale lick, but with an uptempo feel and awesome drumming by Philly Joe Jones.

The lick also appears in “There’s A Boat That’s Leaving Soon For New York.” Really, the whole Porgy and Bess album is worth a spin.

Tritone substitution and melodic minor modes

In jazz you frequently encounter the ii-V-I chord progression. Here it is in the key of C:

Dm7  G7  Cmaj7

This is a nice sound, but it’s bland. Starting in the bebop era, jazz musicians adopted the practice of replacing V chords with the dominant chord whose root is a tritone away. So in the progression above, you’d replace G7 with D♭7. This makes the bassline satisfyingly chromatic:

Dm7  Db7 Cmaj7

The tritone substitution isn’t as music-theoretically crazy as it sounds. The active ingredient in G7 is the tritone between the third (B) and the seventh (F). The active ingredient in D♭7 is the tritone between the third (F) and the seventh (B). Because they have their defining tritone in common, G7 and D♭7 are functionally the “same” chord.

Here’s where the real fun begins. The maximally hip voicing of G7 in this context is G7alt. The scale that goes with G7alt is the G altered scale, the seventh mode of A-flat melodic minor:

G  Ab  Bb  B  Db  Eb  F

For the tritone substitution, you want to use D♭7(♯11). The scale that fits this chord is D-flat Lydian dominant, the fourth mode of A-flat melodic minor:

Db  Eb  F  G  Ab  Bb  B

G altered and D-flat Lydian dominant are the same scale, just starting on different notes. The same A-flat melodic minor scale sounds equally awesome over each chord. Try it!

13 thoughts on “The freakiness of melodic minor

  1. Is this the scale that ‘this is music’ by Ahmed Jamal is based on? I’ve never been able to work it out but sounds similar to the Billy Strayton example

  2. The key to Melodic Minor modes is to think in tetrachords…
    ALT = diminished tetracord followed by a by a whole tone tetrachord starting a whole tone up on the b5.
    LYD DOM = whole tone tetrachord followed by a dorian tetrachord starting a half step up
    The 3rd really useful is the 6th mode, or Locrian Raised 2, which is really nice over the m7b5 in a minor II-V-I
    It is a minor tetrachord followed by a whole tone tetrachord starting a half step up.

    What’s really nice is that the tetrachord approach is easier to visualize on stringed instruments, particularly violin and mandolin, but also on guitar.

  3. “A good mnemonic is to take the major scale a half step below the root, and raise its root a half step.” – Hi, don’t you mean take the major scale a whole step below the root?

  4. Very interesting post, I could follow it easily even though my music theory knowledge is slowly developing. Also since you mentioned the difficulty of these shapes on guitar, the melodic minor scale is no cakewalk on my electric bass–I can’t imagine what it would be like on an upright, sheesh!

  5. your lessons are of exactly the level of difficulty i was looking for, so i read further. the reading is smooth and absorbing, and you delve into entire chord charts for modes of the describes scales. good for the more advanced readers. i was able to make good sense of loose information from online references with this structured approach. nice blog, best of luck

  6. Pingback: What scale sounds the most "Jazzy"? - Quora

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Tag Archives: Roleplaying

Writing Prompt: Dungeons & Dragons

D&D Books

If you are a writer then you have inevitably run into the dreaded writer’s block. You have probably scoured the internet for writing prompts that might just yield something. You may have even dived back into your own favorite stories in the hopes that something will inspire you. Well, I’m here to provide you with one more tool to combat this unwelcome guest.

Play Dungeons & Dragons.

Aside from the fact that geek chic is apparently “in” at the moment, renewed interest in this classic table-top game seems to be growing. Perhaps this is because it was featured prominently in Stranger Things, or maybe the 5th edition release made it easier for new players to join and became more accessible. Either way, it shouldn’t be too hard to find a group of willing victims to play with you while you battle your own personal writer’s block demon. Here’s some of the intricacies and how it can help you with your own writing:

Start with character development: Build your own character
Having a tough time creating characters that are likable? Untrustworthy? Or just down right evil? D&D can absolutely help with this. To even start playing, you need to build character on your “character sheet.” This includes picking a race, class, backstory, and alignment. (Actually, it includes quite a bit more than this, but these elements help you write a story for your character.) If one were to purchase the 5th edition Player’s Handbook for D&D, one is provided with extensive race and class break-downs that also give you some insight as to the kind of character you would create, should you choose those prompts. For instance, elves have three different sub-races with drastically different characteristics. High elves, as one might imagine, are often arrogant, but incredibly noble. They are wicked intelligent and are often interested in their own self-preservation. Wood elves, on the other hand, are a bit more mischievous, sometimes to the detriment of themselves or their team. Dark elves, known in the game as Drow, are dark and mysterious beings, and at times very dangerous. There are many other races and sub-races within the game to choose from, each with general strengths and weaknesses to play on. Selecting a class also adds some characterization. Druids are keenly and primarily concerned with nature and gravitate to the more natural elements of the world. They can even transform into animals, and some druids even prefer that form over their human one. Clerics are a bit more complicated, but incredibly fun to create. You can have your standard, holy cleric driven by a divine deity aimed towards healing the weak and innocent. Or you can create a trickster cleric that does best when they deceive and talk their way out of confrontations. Your deity could be, oh I don’t know, Loki? Characters are so customizable in this game that creating something as contradictory as that actually works!

Next, you work on the backstory, but perhaps that writer’s block is just too darn heavy to push, even for this. Do not fret, you can turn to the backstory chapter in the Handbook and roll for it. That’s right, roll the dice and leave it to chance. What are one of your ideals? Roll a 2: To protect myself first. What is a weakness you have? Roll a 4: I am incredibly clumsy. Now how would a character constantly worried about their own self-being be able to survive in the world by being a klutz? You get to act that out. Lastly, your character alignment helps make your character more complex. You have probably seen those memes floating around on social media where they place characters from popular television shows into an alignment chart, starting with lawful good and ending with chaotic evil. While these are fun to look at, they actually go a bit more in-depth. One character I currently play is chaotic good. This means that she is drawn to freedom and kindness, but has little use for laws and regulations. She performs good acts to help others achieve their own freedom as well. The way this is enacted in play is by keeping my actions in check and making sure I stay true to my character. Killing someone out of spite would have negative affects on my character, whereas showing mercy would be more in line with her views. Dungeon Masters will also help with this by giving you real in-game consequences if you stray. It is possible you can change your alignment, but that requires cooperation with your DM, which leads me to my next point.


Workers and other people who are disabled or vulnerable can find it impossible or difficult to quickly evacuate from a building to a place of safety in the event of a fire or other emergency.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (RRO) requires employers to prepare a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP) for each of these people (whether a worker or a visitor) to protect them in the event of a fire. For those people who need assistance the plan must provide all the necessary information that will enable them and the people assisting them, to quickly get out of a building or to manage their escape to a place of relative safety. It must also give managers and others sufficient information to ensure that the correct level of assistance is always available.

The safety of people occupying premises is always paramount. It is always the responsibility of employers to plan for and manage the evacuation of personnel from a building in the event of an emergency. It is never the responsibility of the Fire and Rescue Service.

A PEEP is a plan for escape in exceptional circumstances, in the event of an emergency. It has nothing to do with normal daily access and egress.

1. For this purpose a person is disabled or vulnerable if they have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial adverse effect on their ability to perform normal day-to-day activities. A pregnant worker will become a vulnerable person if pregnancy affects their mobility- particularly as they come towards the end of their term.

See also: Fire Safety; Fire Risk Assessment.


Back Pain in Martial Arts and How to Recover

I am sharing this knowledge from my own experience and from research I have done over the past nine years in an attempt to help beginner and experienced martial artists avoid the pain many people eventually suffer. I suffered minor back pain as a young teen from too many hours slouching in my classroom seat, not knowing the damage I was doing to my back. Eventually, at the age of 21 I strained my lower back from training. If I had known what I do now, I could have healed my back within weeks instead of years. Many people think it is one event, and usually a minor one that causes the back to “give-out”, but the truth is, there was a series of mistakes that led up to the back “giving-out”.  Your back is like a rubber band, and each time you make one of these mistakes, it is like pulling the rubber band a little too hard; after enough times the rubber band snaps without warning.

The first mistake I made in trying to rehabilitate my back was not to let it rest.  Instead, I tried to “stretch-it- out”, and “work-it-out”, but of course that made the pain worse.  Most people out there would say that is obvious, but I include this in the article so that the “gung-ho” people like me at the time, will learn from my mistake.  I should have taken two weeks off from training martial arts, iced my back every night, and stayed in bed as much as possible.  I truly believe if I had followed these steps my back would have healed and I would not have experienced the back pain that plagued me for the next four years of my life.

My back pain started at a four on a pain scale from one to ten, ten being the highest.  It quickly became an unbearable ten, which left me unable to do much at all.  I could not sit or stand for more than thirty minutes, and even lying down only reduced the pain to a bearable six or seven.  I had to kneel to tie my shoes, and if I tried to do toe touches, I could not reach past mid thigh.  In order to endure the pain through my college lectures, I was taking six to eight ibuprofen pills a day, something no one should do, due to the stomach ulcers that could occur.  Over the course of the next year I sought professional help from chiropractors, physical therapists, massage therapists, and surgeons.  They all gave me advice that worked, but not independently of each other.  The chiropractor and massage therapist talked about loosening the muscles through manipulation and allowing blood flow back into the area, the physical therapist talked about posture and rehabilitating the muscles through stretching and strength exercises, and the surgeon recommend injections and surgery as a last resort.  Luckily I never decided on surgery.  I believe my career as a martial artist would have ended the day they put me on the table.

My healing process took over four years, and even though I do not suffer from a pain of ten, I still get days where it is a four or five.  Luckily, this is a rare occurrence.  What I realized first was, I had to stretch, but much more than what the physical therapist taught me.  I had to stretch each muscle in and around the area of pain.  All your muscles are connected and when one gets tight, it pulls on another, which pulls on another.  Eventually your whole body is rigid and the compound effect of so many muscles pulling on each other causes the area of pain to magnify.  I began stretching my hamstrings, quads, calves, lower back, upper back, hip-flexors, groin, and abdomen.  Each muscle group was stretched with at least three different types of stretches that would hit the muscles from different angles.  I did this religiously three to four times a day, throughout the day for five to ten minutes at a time, holding each stretch for thirty seconds.  Next I worked on my posture.  I made sure I stood, sat, and even laid down correctly at all times.

I noticed a slow reduction in pain as the months went by, but I stuck to my regiment of stretching and made sure my posture was correct at all times.  It took almost two years before I felt little to no pain in my back.  The added benefit of all the stretching I did over the two years was a flexibility I did not have before I was injured.  I recommend supplementing the stretching and posture with monthly chiropractic visits, deep tissue massages, and core strengthening exercises.  If anyone is interested, I will make a video of the exact stretches I use to loosen my back and post it to my YouTube channel at  Below are some stretches I recommend for back pain.  This is not a comprehensive list and you should do your own research to find stretches that work for you.  If you have a tear in your back, seek medical attention and allow the muscle to heal before starting a stretching regimen.  My pain was due to bulging disks in my L4 and L5 lumbar region which caused severe nerve pain in my lower back and down both my legs, also known as sciatica.  I have torn or “pulled” a muscle in my lower back a couple of times, and the pain usually goes away after the muscle has been given sufficient time to heal.  I usually ice the region, rest, and gently stretch the muscles at and around the injury once it has begun to heal.  I hope this post has been informative.  Leave questions and comments below.

By Kevin Le


Image 1 of 1
Pilgrims take their turn to bathe in the Shipra River during the Kumbh Mela festival, Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India. (From the book What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets.) The Kumbh Mela festival is a sacred Hindu pilgrimage held 4 times every 12 years, cycling between the cities of Allahabad, Nasik, Ujjain and Haridwar.  Participants of the Mela gather to cleanse themselves spiritually by bathing in the waters of India's sacred rivers.  Hindus believe that the rivers in the Indian cities of Allahabad, Haridwar, Nasik, and Ujjain are sacred, and that bathing in those rivers during the religious festival Kumbh Mela will release them from past sins and mistakes and liberate them from the cycle of birth and death. Auspicious bathing days are determined by the position of the sun and the moon, and on these days more than a million pilgrims might descend for a dip. In Ujjain, thousands of police control the crowds at the Shipra River with whistles, poles, and batons to prevent stampedes and drownings, and bathing time is kept to 12 minutes per group. Kumbh Mela is one of the largest religious festivals on earth, attracting millions from all over India and the world.  Past Melas have attracted up to 70 million visitors. The festival attracts more pilgrims than any other religious gathering on the planet, including Islam's Hajj.


Politics of Justice: Equality & Equity

The worldview and praxis of Equality and Equity advocate for the end of hierarchy. Fundamentally, this is the goal of any revolution to topple structures of elitism and classism that cause societal divides. While equality aims to ensure that everyone gets a fair opportunity in order to have a full life, equity involves trying and empowering people with what they need and not what others think they need. It is while understanding and addressing the causes of inequity that the need to engage the power is realized.

The interplay of Equality and Equity invariably gives rise to contextual notions of justice and fairness, which, in turn raises, the need for affirmative action. The next step is making a qualitative shift from the polarizing politics of rights to a unifying politics of justice.

So the praxis of Equality and Equity is a powerful and revolutionary force toward becoming fully human, including full equality and equity of all humans. The recognition and application of this full humanity, as well as full equality and equity of all people is essential for us to experience a shared humanity.

For too long the powers have labeled and categorized humankind as a means to divide and rule over them. These labels and categorizations actually are at the root of perpetuating conflict through our language, as they regiment our thinking, attitudes and behavior. They define our understanding of the world around us and create expectations and assumptions on questions of status, privilege and power in society that shape our reality. It is these misleading and prejudiced labels that create images of the other, to fear the other and to look down on the other and to assert power over the other in different forms.

The praxis of Equality and Equity clashes with all forms of power including institutionalized power. In direct terms, it critically questions who defines power, who holds power, how power is exercised and for what purposes and towards what end.

Today, we Nagas need to reflect on how we are going about addressing differences and competing interests. In order to realize our full potential, we need to be grounded in what it means to be in relationship with one another and the world around us.

In reality this will depend on our individual inner work, as much as on what we can do in the world around us. It depends on how we go about listening and embracing all the diverse stories, knowledge and aspirations and synthesizing a pathway to our future.

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Simon Blackwood Fine Arts

Picture Restoration Scotland

The Deposition – removing the carpet tacks

This painting had previously been restored and re-lined due to weakened canvas and surface damage, probably in Italy before it came to this country. This is quite normal for a painting of such an age.

Since arriving in Scotland it had again suffered extensive deterioration to the "new" canvas lining that had begun to shrink and rot, causing warping to the original canvas support and more loss of pigment and ground primer.

At some point in its history this had caused the whole painting to begin to fall from its stretcher and so apparently drastic measures were taken to save it. The entire painting was nailed from the front, through the paint and canvas with numerous carpet tacks fixing it to the stretcher outer edges and in the shape of a cross following the line of the inner stretcher bars!

First the areas immediately around the nail heads had to be faced with glued tissue to protect the adjacent pigment and original canvas. Then a facing was applied to the entire surface.

The carpet tacks were individually sawn from the stretcher beneath the old lining canvas using a micro hacksaw. Each nail head had then to be lifted from the front. There were over 60 tacks, some very close to each other.

The re-lining process

Simon Blackwood Fine Arts, The Studio, Wells Old Lodge
Bedrule, Near Hawick, Roxburgh, Scotland TD9 8TD.
Telephone: 01450 870870 E-mail:


A different take on life purpose

Over the past few years there's been a big increase in people wanting to find their life purpose.

We assume there must be a reason for our existence, and there comes a point for many of us, myself included, where we'll search high and low to find it.

So what is this verb 'purpose' that we treat like a noun... an end point... a fixed dot on the horizon?

What happens if and when you reach your life's purpose? What then?

Can you really complete a life’s work and box it into a word like purpose?

These questions point to the existential nature of our existence. That we are thrust into the world like a blip at a particular moment in time with an unknown number of years to live.

What is a meaning-seeking human being meant to do with this kind of uncertainty?

None of us really know what we're doing on this vast, magnificent planet, spinning in space, surrounded by trillions of different life forms, with human beings behaving as if they are in charge of it all.

For me it comes down to this...

If you are alive, you are living your purpose. Your life is your purpose.

The next layer of it is if you've always assumed that one day you'll find your purpose and live your dream life without ever doing anything differently, that day will remain fixed in an imaginary future.

Your life is an invitation to cultivate awareness, to experience, to feel, to love, to share and to take action. Now. And grow from it.

So whilst I love the idea of having a life purpose, perhaps it's more realistic and helpful to use 'life purpose' as a reminder that your life is far too short and precious to take for granted.

The only moment you can ever be sure of is this one.

Ultimately, it's up to you and only you to consciously craft a life and relationships that will bring you the meaning you seek. It's terrifying to have so much responsibility. Or exhilarating.

You choose.


Vaishno Devi Tourists Service Tax insult to entire Hindu fraternity

Vaishno Devi Bhavan

Vaishno Devi Bhavan

Prof.Bhim Singh, Chief Patron of National Panthers Party in a statement condemned the Service Tax of Hindu pilgrims travelling by helicopter for darshan of Mata Vaishno Devi and described it as much worst than ‘Jajia’ imposed by the Mughals on the Hindus during their rule. NPP Supremo said that India is a secular country and the minorities are treated with utmost respect and dignity. Even Constitution of India has guaranteed them fundamental rights to practice any religion. There could be no discrimination on the basis of religion. He said that this is a great tragedy that RSS became ruling partners in J&K for the first and last time. This ‘Jajia’ (Service Tax) could not have been imposed on the Hindu pilgrims without consent of the BJP (RSS) ministers in J&K.

NPP Supremo said that all the tourists including pilgrims have to pay all kind of taxes like Sale Tax, Purchase Tax and even Service Tax while purchasing tickets by Airlines or helicopters. Imposing Service Tax on the Vaishno Devi pilgrims travelling by helicopters within J&K is highly deplorable and cannot be accepted in a secular state. He asked Prime Minister Modi to explain it the country men why his government has insulted the Hindu pilgrims when the Hindus all over India voted for Modi for his ‘Hindutva’. Modi was given highly emotional reception by the Hindu citizens in USA, Kerala and all other countries wherever he went.

NPP Supremo asked Prime Minister Modi, Is it your response to your Hindu voters?  Is it not insult to the entire Hindu fraternity in India and abroad? Can Mr. Modi justify this ‘Jajiya’ on Vaishno Devi pilgrims? Prof.Bhim Singh further added that India’s secularism is demonstrated by the fact that our Muslim fraternity travelling by air from J&K to Mecca are given subsidy on the expenses of their travels including air tickets, which is a great gesture of secular India but he asked Prime Minister how could you justify this obnoxious tax (Jajiya) on Hindu travellers to Mata Vaishno Devi in J&K.

He called on the Panthers Party activists and the leaders to take up this movement to its logical end.

Creation of Jammu Pradesh & Kashmir Valley is the only way out to end six decades internal conflict

Addressing a press conference in Goverdhan (Mathura, U.P.) late last evening, Prof.Bhim Singh, Supremo of NPP declared that reorganization of J&K on the patron of Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Bihar is essential to end internal conflict and political chaos in J&K. J&K was created in 1846 by Treaty of Amritsar between Maharaja of J&K, Gulab Singh and the East India Company through a heterogeneous Union of Gilgit, Ladakh, Baltistan, Jammu and Kashmir Valley under political compulsions existing at that time. He said that the situation stands changed and it is highly essential under the present combination and permutation in the sub-continent that the people of these regions are given benefit of modern history in the light of the distinct geographical, anthropological, political, cultural and historic background and situation. Ladakh and Gilgit-Baltistan formed a distinct cultural unit having different geographical map as compared to the Kashmir Valley and Jammu Pradesh. He said that Dogra Pahari-Gujjar cultural identity has to be recognized on its merit and so should be the case with the cultural, linguistic and historical identity of the people living in the Kashmir Valley. In other words, Prof.Bhim Singh argued strongly, that the State needs to be reorganized with the formation of Jammu Pradesh, Kashmir Valley and Ladakh-Baltistan.

Prof.Bhim Singh described the present State-Centre relations as a part of the tragedy which people of J&K have been experiencing after the promulgation of the Constitution of India on 26thJanuary, 1950. J&K was kept out of the preview (jurisdiction) of Constitution of India. J&K continued as a Monarchy under Maharaja Hari Singh till his status was abolished by a simple resolution on 20th August, 1952 by a nominated Constituent Assembly under Sheikh Abdullah’s leadership. What is the status of J&K after the Monarchy was removed? What is the relevance of Article 370 after the Maharaja himself was fired? What was the necessity to continue with a draconian Article 370 in the Indian Constitution? He questioned the Parliament as to why the Parliament has abdicated its authority to legislate on J&K? When every citizen of India got freedom and has been enjoying the fundamental rights under Chapter-III of the Indian Constitution, why there is no chapter on Human Rights in the so-called Constitution of J&K? Why J&K has separate flag and the constitution when it forms integral part of India?

            Prof.Bhim Singh said that as long as J&K is not reorganized and fundamental rights granted to every Indian citizen residing in J&K, there could be no peace and no harmony. He demanded uniform Constitution in the country and introduction of fundamental rights to the people residing in J&K. He also demanded reorganization of J&K as it has been done in case of other states.

Prof.Bhim Singh was invited to Goverdhan (Mathura) Conference by the Shankeracharya of Puri. He was accompanied by Rajiv Jolly Khosla and others.

Communal division to caste torn polls BJP’s poll graph declining fast

BJP has no reason to beat drums in Maharashtra when it has lost its percentage of polls from recently held Lok Sabha election. BJP had secured 31% of votes in Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra whereas its percentage came down to 27.8 in the Assembly election. The BJP, in spite of its wholehearted efforts to communalize the electoral environment failed miserably to catch Maratha votes in Maharashtra. The Maratha votes got divided in three segments, Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP (19.3 + 18.0 + 17.2). This makes 54.5% of the total votes besides the votes polled by other smaller parties and independent. The BJP has nothing to celebrate with just 27.8% of votes which is secured by spending tones of money, false promises and horrors of caste and communal division.” This was the political analysis worked out by Prof.Bhim Singh, Chief Patron of National Panthers Party and Member of National Integration Council. He said that BJP could not secure even 1/3rd of the total votes polled in the election. 36% of the total voters in the state were absent. The BJP could hardly reach 15% of the total number of voters in Maharashtra, mostly non-Marathas. After effects of Maharashtra Assembly polls, 2014 may give rise to polarization between locals and non-locals and Marathas and non-Marathas. This is the Modi contribution which shall not be good for the future of the largest democracy in the world.

Prof.Bhim Singh commenting on Haryana Assembly results shared the views of those who believe that the BJP election campaign or strategy to alienate Jats from the rest of the community shall prove counter productive and weakened the national integrity in the north. He said that, though, BJP got 47/90 Assembly seats for the first time but it secured only just 1/3rd of the total votes polled (33.2%) and less than ¼th of the total electorates in Haryana. This was disgusting, Prof.Bhim Singh remarked that the BJP tried to demonize the Jats community in the election just for timely gain leaving the bad taste between the Jats and non-Jats in the state. In spite of all this INLD, INC, IND & BSP (24.1 + 20.6 + 10.6 + 4.4) together managed to secure 59.1% of votes which is an extraordinary strength in democracy.

Prof.Bhim Singh recollected that Acharya Vinoba Bhave ji had asked him a question when he (Bhim Singh) met him in his (Acharya) Ashram, Wardha in 1979 that as long as the puzzle in parliamentary democracy is not resolved which makes 51 absolute and 49 non-existent, democracy can’t be harmonized. What he meant was that a political party which secures even 51% of the total number of seats in a legislature takes over full command of the government leaving 49% as helpless creatures. Prof.Bhim Singh said that this question of Vinoba ji needs an open debate to resolve a serious lacuna in our parliamentary system in India. Prof.Bhim Singh said that the present system has to be reworked to ensure involvement of all political parties in the process of national building. There are number of seats in the legislature shall have to be worked out on the basis of percentage of votes. He said that the political corruption/individual corruption by the candidates can also be checked. Proportional representation with some scientific amendments needs to be introduced with bold face and no hesitation.

Prof.Bhim Singh said that the research work conducted by some freelancers has indicated that Rs.5 to 10 crores were spent in one Assembly constituency by the candidates of the bigger parties both in Maharashtra and in Haryana. This money menace and political corruption may destroy the very roots of democracy if not checked in time.


Police are trying to trace a missing Newcastle man.

At the time of his disappearance he was last seen wearing dark jeans, a grey tracksuit top and a cap. He is around 5ft 10ins tall and of thin build.


Eccles' Model of the Self Controlling Its Brain:

The Irrelevance of Dualist-Interactionism

Donald E. Watson, MD
Director, James Clerk Maxwell Project
Human Energy Systems Laboratory
 University of Arizona

Bernard O. Williams, PhD
Professor and Chair
Energy Medicine Program
Greenwich University
Norfolk Island, Australia

Sir John Eccles wrote that Descartes' dualist-interactionism guided his scientific career, yet his scientific work reached far beyond the bounds of this or any other philosophical proposition. Indeed, the untestable, metaphysical foundation of dualism in all its forms conflict with scientific thinking. Thus, if Eccles had concentrated on spirit as distinct from matter, he would have positioned himself to discover a scientific theory of the self. To illustrate how this is possible, we compare such a theory—the Theory of Enformed Systems—with dualist-interactionism.

As a young medical student, Sir John Eccles could not accept the "irreligious philosophy of monist-materialism." He turned to Descartes' dualism because separating res extensa and res cogitans "gave a secure status to the human soul or self." Though Eccles was motivated partly from his religious beliefs, it is clear from context that his concept of spirit was not confined to any particular religious or philosophical doctrine. That is, he equated the terms spiritual and nonmaterial, which disengaged his thinking from Cartesian dualism and placed it in the path of modern science. Given this insight, if he had not persistently returned to dualist-interactionism or any other philosophical model of mind, he would have been free to develop a scientific theory of the self and its relation to the brain.

Of course, given the lack of knowledge about the brain in the seventeenth century, Eccles rejected Descartes's proposal that the mind and brain interact at the pineal. Beyond that, his readings in philosophy had shown him that philosophers in general are pervasively ignorant of the "brain at the subtle level at which it could relate to conscious experiences." Thus he decided to contribute to the philosophy of mind by making his career in neuroscience, in which his "dualist-interactionist philosophy was like a beacon light guiding my way through the complexities of my neuroscientific studies." (1994)

As it turned out, however, this beacon was irrelevant to his scientific work . In the preface to his book, How the Self Controls its Brain, he wrote, "A most important programme for this book is to challenge and negate materialism and to reinstate the spiritual self as the controller of the brain." Yet this isn't a single program. It is two separate programs in two radically diverse disciplines, philosophy and science.

Although Eccles proclaimed himself a dualist-interactionist, his scientific work proclaims otherwise. In 1963, he received the Nobel Prize for his comprehensive pioneering work on synaptic neurophysiology. That work and his subsequent theory of psychons and quantum-based exocytosis result from scientific thinking, firmly grounded in the empirical method. These works neither follow nor precede the philosophic doctrine of dualist-interactionism. Nor do they reflect or support dualism's currently popular alternative, material monism. Dualism and monism, progeny of introspective, anthropocentric philosophy, are not relevant to the science of the brain, the self, and consciousness.

Although no scientific theory of the mind or self was available to Eccles, he remained true to the empirical method. Thus, if we follow his science, we can be propelled into the future of noetic science. But if we follow his philosophy, we find ourselves at a scientific dead end, looking backward into the metaphysics, knowledge, and religious beliefs of the seventeenth century.

The term dualism originated with Thomas Hyde around the end of the seventeenth century to label a metaphysical theory that paralleled the theological doctrine that the world consists of elements made of pairs of complementary but incommensurable components such as good and evil, light and dark, spirit and body. Whereas the popular rendering of dualism holds that incongruous entities such as mind and body cannot interact, Descartes posited that they do. The term dualist-interactionism indicates Descartes's view.

Dualist-interactionism could not guide Eccles to accomplish his scientific program for two key reasons: The term mind was not well defined, and "dualist-interactionism" was not delimited in ways that it could generate hypotheses for empirical testing. Because dualist-interactionism can't be tested, it is a scientific dead-end. Forcing it to mate with scientific thought yields a mulea hybrid that can live its own life but cannot reproduce, much less evolve.

Eccles' implicit criticism of Descartes' dualist-interactionism indicates that he was aware of the weakness of the philosophical proposition. Though he accepted the "dualist" part of dualist-interactionism "that the mind and brain are independent entities," he amended the "interactionism" part by generalizing: "There is interaction of two distinct entities, the spiritual self (World 2) and the material brain (World 1), as defined by Popper and Eccles (1977)." Note that here he refers explicitly to self, not mind.

Eccles also rejected Descartes' concept that mind is a substance:

The concept of substance leads to a materialist aspect of the mind. I speak instead of the spiritual existence of the self without mentioning any 'substance' properties. The great problem is 'how the self controls its brain'. This is dualistic, but not in terms of two substances. Instead it relates to the two worlds of Popper. (1995)

That Popper's two categories, World 1 and World 2, are presumed to be parallel and co-existent is crucial to understanding the impediments that dualist-interactionism placed in the way of Eccles' thinking. When he considered mind and body as entities, his thinking was constrained to the notion that each of them requires the existence and operations of the other. That's why he anchored his concept of self to brain operations, namely the ultra-microphysiology of synapses. This parallel-dualism perspective precluded his developing a theory of nonmaterial systems that are operationally independent of material systems. As shown below, without such a model, there can be no scientific theory of survival of the self after death of the bodya phenomenon in which Eccles firmly believed.

Despite his dissatisfaction with dualist-interactionism, Eccles relied on it because he had no scientific theory of spirit to guide him. If the Theory of Enformed Systems (TES) (Watson, et al, 1999) had been available to him, he would have found that the notion of "mind" is superfluous. Under TES, which is empirically testable, the self performs all the operations attributed to mind.

Evidently Descartes agreed with the idea that it is the self that exhibits mental operations when he wrote his famous statement, "I think, therefore I am." He did not say, "My mind thinks, therefore my mind is." This statement evokes the question, "What is the referent for 'my?'"

With Friedrich Beck, Eccles applied quantum theory to explain the synaptic exocytosis of neurotransmitters. Though this provided at least a hint of "spirit-matter" interaction, it did not solve the binding problem (Damasio, 1989). If TES had been available to him, Eccles would have avoided this perennial problem of neuroscience. That is, because TES is a theory of wholes—as opposed to collections of partshe could have come much closer to realizing his objective than he did in trying to conform his interpretations to dualist-interactionism.

Eccles' approach to the binding problem is found in his concept of mental units:

The hypothesis has been proposed (Eccles, 1990) that all mental events and experiences, in fact the whole of the outer and inner sensory experiences, are a composite of elemental or unitary mental experiences at all levels of intensity. Each of these mental units is reciprocally linked in some unitary manner to a dendron [a bundle of dendrites]. . . . Appropriately we name these proposed mental units 'psychons.' Psychons are not perceptual paths to experiences. They are the experiences in all their diversity and uniqueness. There could be millions of psychons each linked uniquely to the millions of dendrons. It is hypothesized that it is the very nature of psychons to link together in providing a unified experience. (1994)

Though rudimentary, Eccles' notion of psychons linking together is consistent with one of the fundamental behaviors of SELFs under TES: cohering in space-time. The difference is in his considering psychons themselves as "experiences," not entities. Under TES, SELFs (acronym for Singular, Enformed, Living Fields) are the entities that contain experiences; i.e., SELFs are containers, not contents. We believe Eccles would agree with this view, because it's tortuous to think that experiences themselves form the "intentions" necessary for neurotransmitter exocytosis under his theory.

The enduring "mind-body problem" is an artefact of philosophical reasoning. The premise of parallel dualism, together with the premise that spirit and matter can't interact, foster interminable arguments that can only reflect back to the premises—hence, the problem. That is, if one begins with these premises and remains faithful to their implications, one can only find results that mirror the premises. This is not science, because it is impossible to apply these premises to formulate a testable hypothesis of mind-body interaction. The only way around the mind-body problem is to generate dissimilar, competing propositions.

The "psychophysical identity" proposition is today's most popular model for working around the classical mind-body problem. It replaces dualism with material monism. Under the psychophysical identity proposition, mind is an unnecessary concept because mind states are actually brain states. Noting that Popper (Popper and Eccles, 1977) characterizes the psychophysical identity model as "promissory materialism," Eccles attacked this proposition thus:

Eccles didn't need to stop with characterizing promissory materialism as dogma. He could have used a scientific argument. Unlike the parallel-dualism premise, material monism implies a testable hypothesis, namely that local brain operations are necessary for all mental events. Had Eccles included nonlocal parapsychological findings among our "wonderful mental phenomena," he could have shown that material monism's essential implication has been falsified. The brain is not necessary for valid empirical data pointing to what Dossey labeled the "nonlocal mind" (1997), including telepathy (Bem and Honorton, 1994), psychokinesis (Jahn, et al, 1987), remote viewing (Targ, 1996), and many other nonlocal parapsychological phenomena (Radin, 1997).

Although Eccles didn't seize the opportunity to attack the basic premise of material monism with empirical evidence of nonlocality, he applied other aspects of quantum theory to address the long-held belief that the conservation laws preclude mind-body interaction:

The materialist critics argue that insuperable difficulties are encountered by the hypothesis that immaterial mental events can act in any way on material structures such as neurons. Such a presumed action is alleged to be incompatible with the conservation laws of physics, in particular of the first law of thermodynamics. This objection would certainly be sustained by nineteenth century physicists, and by neuroscientists and philosophers who are still ideologically in the physics of the nineteenth century, not recognizing the revolution wrought by quantum physicists in the twentieth century. (1994)

Of course, not all nineteenth century physicists were ideologically identical. James Clerk Maxwell, who laid the foundation for modern physics, foresaw the solution to mind-matter interactions in his thought experiment that became known as "Maxwell's demon." The metaphoric demon segregates fast (high-energy) molecules in a gas from slow ones, thereby creating an energy gradient in apparent violation of the first and second laws of thermodynamics. That the violation is only apparent is found in realizing that the demon organizes matter; it does not create or destroy energy. In other words, organizing an ensemble of material elements is the key to extracting usable energy from non-usable energy. Organizing, in this frame of reference, consists of derandomizing otherwise random events.

Szilard (1929) and Brillouin (1950) showed that Maxwell's demon can't operate under the prevailing renditions of physics and information theory. Yet Szilard, educated not only in physics, but in biology and biophysics, circumspectly acknowledged, "Presently, of course, we do not know whether we commit an error by not including the intervening man into the system and by disregarding his biological phenomena." This is a critical caveat because the disregarded biological phenomena are the keys to this issue. Derandomization in opposition to the entropy law is necessary, not only for Maxwell's demon, but for life itself. We show below that the theoretical quantity, enformy, is the key to allowing derandomization.

With Beck, Eccles used the idea of derandomization in their model of synaptic neurotransmitter release (exocytosis) based on the statistics of quantum physics. Briefly, a quantum probability field associated with "intention" increases the likelihood for transmitter exocytosis and hence, an excitatory post-synaptic potential (EPSP). If a sufficient number of EPSPs sum within a time sufficiently brief that the neuron's threshold depolarization is reached, an action potential will ensue. This ultimately produces communication with other neurons or muscle fibers, the latter resulting in motor activity. Even so, as Chalmers (1995) points out, such a "whir of information-processing" does not explain subjective experience. Ultimately, Chalmers' "hard problem" is the object of Eccles' work.

Eccles interpreted the quantum exocytosis model in terms of dualist-interactionism, but this explanation is neither necessary nor helpful. Quantum physics—and hence the theory of Eccles and Beck—does not depend on any philosophic concept of dualism.

Although the contributions of Eccles can't be fully elaborated in the context of "dualist-interactionism," his findings and thoughts can be appreciated when they are cast in the framework of the Theory of Enformed Systems (Watson, 1997a, Watson, et al, 1998; Schwartz, et al, 1998). Eccles found the rudiments of this theory intriguing (Watson, 1998).

TES is not induced from introspection or observation. It was developed by the hypothetico-deductive method advocated by Eccles:

Induction was shown to be untenable as a scientific method by Popper in The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1959). Instead, advances in scientific understanding come ideally from hypothetico-deductivism: firstly, development of a hypothesis in relation to a problem situation, and secondly, its testing in relation to all relevant knowledge and furthermore by its great explanatory power. (1994)

The conceptual origin of TES is the posit that there exists a fundamental, conserved capacity to organize, denoted by the term enformy (Watson, 1993). Opposing the disorganizing operations implied by the second law of thermodynamics, enformy organizes and sustains four-dimensional fields of nonrandomness (termed enformation). These fields (domains of influence) are named SELF to indicate they are unique (Singular), sustained by enformy (Enformed), and capable of reproducing and evolving (Living). Not coincidentally, the SELF corresponds to the "self" as described by Eccles:

[The word "self"] will be used to connote an experienced unity that derives from a linking by memory of conscious states that are experienced at widely different times—spread over a lifetime. Thus, in order that a 'self' may exist there must be some continuity of mental experiences and, particularly, continuity bridging gaps of unconsciousness. For example, the continuity of our "self" is resumed after sleep, anaesthesia, and the temporary amnesias of concussion and convulsions.

Under TES, SELFs are not limited to humans. They correspond to the organization inherent in all coherent, whole systems ranging in complexity from photons to humans and beyond. Because they are continuous in space-time, but discontinuous in three-space, their fundamental behaviors account for the nonlocal phenomena apparent in quantum physics (e.g., quantum entanglement) and parapsychology (e.g., telepathy).

SELFs exhibit three fundamental behaviors: (1) state-conforming—conforming to the SELF's own states; and (2) self-conforming—conforming to these states as the SELF's own, distinguishing them from states external to the SELF; and (3) cohering in space-time. Humans experience state-conforming and self-conforming as the rudiments of perception and self-awareness respectively. Cohering in space-time accounts for telepathy, remote viewing, precognition, and psychokinesis. As seen above, this is the aspect of TES that is consistent with Eccles' notion of psychons linking together.

SELFs are entities, but they do not necessarily co-exist with material entities. Instead, SELFs are prephysical—i.e., pre-existing and fundamental to physical systems. Yet their operations on physical systems are profound: Enformy enforms (organizes) elements of matter and energy/mass to conform to the enformation implicit in SELFs. In this way, SELFs act as maps for organizing physical systems in time and space, which is the basis of morphogenesis and the origin of life itself. Thus TES answers the question posed by Bertalanffy (1968): "What's the difference between a living body and a dead one?" A body that is enformed to conform to a SELF is living; a body that is not enformed in this way is dead. And because SELFs exist independently of any physical system, the question of their survival after death of the organism vanishes. The survival-of-SELF aspect of TES implies testable hypotheses concerning mediumship, i.e., telepathically communicating with the SELFs of deceased persons (e.g., Schwartz, 2002).

Because SELFs contain enformation that is continuously modified, augmented, and extinguished by conforming (Watson, et al, 1998), they contain the memory that provides the "continuity of mental experiences" to which Eccles referred. The brain, in other words, is not necessary for memory content—which explains why searching for it in the brain has proven futile (Schacter, 1996). Moreover, operations of the SELF form the basis of all so-called "mind-brain interactions:" SELFs and ensembles of neurons concomitantly conform to one another, which requires conceptualizing SELF-body systems as wholes, rather than the sum of their parts.

In short, under TES, neither "mind" nor "body" is a primary topic of interest, yet the theory inheres a comprehensive theory of consciousness. That is, by explaining the organization of all holistic systems—including their fundamental properties and behaviors—TES explains, not only all the elements traditionally attributed to "mind" and "body," but life itself, quantum mechanics, and parapsychology. It thereby avoids both Damasio's binding problem and the mind-body problem (Watson, 1993, 1997b).

Eccles' concept of psychons is partially consistent with two other theories of nonmaterial fields. Sheldrake's "morphic field" applies to biological systems in general, including mentality—though for species, not individuals. Sheldrake defines it as:

a field within and around a morphic unit which organizes its characteristic structure and pattern of activity. . . . Morphic fields are shaped and stabilized by morphic resonance from previous similar morphic units, which were under the influence of fields of the same kind. They consequently contain a kind of cumulative memory and tend to become increasingly habitual. (1995, p. 371)

Eccles' psychon theory appears to be a special case of the Egon Theory of Christy and Josties (1998), who apply their concept of egons, not only to biological and psychological phenomena, but to nonliving systems. Egon theory regards "all of the identities in nature as minds and their properties as communications of those minds. With this simple conceptual structure, Physics can be understood intuitively as a hierarchy of consciousness, and nature then consists of nothing but conscious experience."

As Sheldrake points out, conceptualizing morphic fields as habits creates the "mystery of creativity;" i.e., no new forms can arise solely from habits. Sheldrake suggests that, consistent with the Platonic theory of creativity, all possible morphic fields exist timelessly, awaiting their expression in physical systems. Not only is this theory untestable, it presupposes that morphic fields are conserved—an implication that also applies to psychons and egons. Yet the notion that fields are conserved is counter to our experience with other types of fields. For example, electromagnetic fields are not themselves conserved, but sustained by energy.

TES, in contrast, does not presuppose that fields are conserved. Instead, SELFs and the enformation they contain are created and sustained by enformy, which, like energy, is conserved. If this distinction is taken into account, psychons, egons, and morphic fields can be construed to share the same theoretical foundation in TES, as shown by comparing predictions of TES with Eccles' postulate of psychons linking together to resolve the binding problem. Under TES, a fundamental behavior of SELFs and their subsets is to cohere in space-time to create new SELFs. These, in turn, are the enformational maps to which enformy conforms new individuals, new ideas, and occasionally, new species. They also account for telepathy, remote viewing, psychokinesis—and neurophysiological binding. Thus the psychons of Eccles, the egons of Christy and Josties, and the morphic fields of Sheldrake are recast as elemental SELFs that cohere ("link together") to produce unitary experience—and create new ideas and physical entities.

Eccles realized that asymmetry is implicit in his quantum psychon-exocytosis hypothesis. Noting that his theory explains only psychons acting on dendrons, not sensory input to psychons, he speculated that a two-stage process occurs: Psychons must be in the process of exciting dendrons when "some perceptual input" arrives. This input, in turn, influences the probability of the psychon's success in producing exocytosis. This model is asymmetrical because it requires that the psychon-dendrite link is sequential and unidirectional. To account for the reverse interaction—the effects of sensory neurons on psychons—Eccles was required to propose that "each of these psychons is reciprocally linked in some unitary manner to a dendron." (1994) Consistent with parallel dualist-interactionism, this reciprocity connotes parallel one-way interactions.

TES, in contrast, directly predicts symmetry between sensory experiences and motor expressions of SELFs. Moreover, the following three aspects of TES liberate thinking, not only from dualism, but from materialism: (1) Concomitancy, not reciprocity, is the key concept, i.e., SELFs and their associated physical structures ("bodies") are concomitants; (2) because SELFs are prephysical entities, they are ontologically fundamental to physical structures; and (3) because SELFs are concomitants of ensembles of neurons (or dendrons), not individual elements, neither psychon-dendron nor dendron-psychon interaction is necessary. These aspects of TES imply, not only symmetrical "mind-brain" operations, but nonlocal quantum and parapsychological phenomena.

Because Eccles grounded his scientific thinking on empirical observation, the brilliance of his life work is not diminished by his tenacious attention to the notion of dualist-interactionism. Yet parallel-dualism impeded his thinking in certain ways. We imagine that, if this scientific giant had ignored the obsolete, ambiguous, inbred, often self-contradictory philosophical progeny of Descartes, he would have carried his work even further to address the data produced by parapsychological research in the last few decades. In doing so, he would have positioned himself to answer the fundamental question that fosters many religions: "Does the self survive death?" The Theory of Enformed Systems predicts that Sir John's discarnate SELF has now answered that question empirically, i.e., from his own experience.

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Chalmers, D. (1995). Facing up to the problem of consciousness. The Journal of Consciousness Studies 2 (3), 200-219.

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Collecting Chinese Jade San Diego

What Is Chinese Jade?

While it may not be as well known as emeralds or diamonds, jade is a versatile mineral with a value equal to a number of gemstones if presented properly. Jade comes in a number of grades and colors, and can be found in various parts of the world. Since its accidental discovery by prehistoric man thousands of years ago, jade has been used for everything from axe blades to jewelry to coffin decorations around the globe.

But one part of the world has become synonymous with ornamental and exquisite jade items that include jewelry, masks, and statues. Some of the most desirable types of jade have been located in what are now the present day countries of mainland China, Myanmar (Burma), and India. The jade type known as nephrite has been mined from locations in these countries since 6000 B.C.. Jade can range in color from white to lavender. Jade was considered for thousands of years to have both medicinal and supernatural properties in Chinese culture, and was believed to be more valuable than either gold or silver.

In Europe, its most valuable hue has been considered green. This hue is produced by a jade type known as jaderite. Green jaderite hues range from translucent to very dark, and it was the preferred color for many artists working in Europe for generations. However in China itself, the prized jade strain for most artisans was nephrite. Described as “white mutton fat” in its unworked appearance, this pale jade has been a Chinese favorite since probably Neolithic times. Chinese jade art historically has been done in many other hues as well, including the famous “jade green”.

Historic Jade

In addition to working with a wider range of hues than European craftsmen using jade, Chinese artists produced distinctive pieces for a much longer historical period.

Neolithic Period (3rd Millennium, B.C.)

Chinese jade pieces from this period tend to be very unelaborate. Two examples would be the bi and the cong. The bi was a circular disk with a hole in the center, and the cong was a vase or jar that was square in appearance on the outside, with a circular interior. Both examples were quite unadorned in their earliest forms, but were increasingly decorated as this period progressed. Other examples of surviving Chinese jade work from this period include outsized axe and knife blades. Since these pieces serve no practical purpose, it’s believed that they were used for ritual events.

Han, Zhou, Shang Dynasties (1046-1500 B.C)

As reigns came and went, simple jade objects like the bi remained in use, but more practical items came into use as well, such as attachable jade belt hooks. Jade artisans began adding more and more animal and plant images to their work. And artists began using jade itself as a kind of canvas, carving scenery and portraits into them. Jade has always been considered to have healing properties. And beginning in the Han Dynasty, members of the royal family were buried in suits made of jade, held together with gold thread.

Liu Song, Tang Dynasties (5-9 A.D.)

Elaborately drawn and carved dragon motifs are making an appearance during these periods, and that includes jade. Still surviving in a number of collections are carved dragon belt loops and belt plaques (buckles). Other jade figurines with purely ornamental purposes were found in royal tombs.

Yuan, Ming Dynasties (12-16 A.D.)

While jade remained a valuable stone, more practical uses for it emerged. Flowers (especially peonies) became increasingly popular on jade objects, and pieces found in collections include cups, hair ornaments, and brush holders.

The Decline Of Jade

Great upheavals beginning in the Han Dynasty meant the start of the end of large quantities of jade objects being produced. While jade still had significant importance in Chinese culture, it began to be supplanted by gold, silver, and other materials introduced with exposure to Western societies.

How An Antique Chinese Jade San Diego Buyer Can Help With A Chinese Jade Collection

The price of jade has again surged in the last few years, with Chinese middle class buyers being especially interested in acquiring pieces as an investment. While jade prices can vary widely due to age and quality and hue of stone, an antique Chinese jade San Diego buyer can help those desiring to sell collections by:

Authenticating Collections

After Chinese/United States relations were reestablished in the 1970s, many “priceless” jade collections flooded the U.S.. Many of these “antiques” were actually glass. Expert antique buyers can help sellers determine authenticity quickly and know what features to look for to get the best prices.

Establishing Provenance

Even small pieces from foreign collections are now coming under increasing international scrutiny as to ownership. Antique buyers can help sellers with research to avoid conflict and ascertain ownership before sales are made.

The timeless beauty and artistry of antique Chinese jade means that it has value both as a collection and a sales item. Talk to a antique Chinese jade San Diego buyer to see how to get the most from your investment.

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