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Archive for November, 2008

Can Simple Visual Exercises Make You Smarter?

November 24th, 2008 by Admin | 1 Comment | Filed in Uncategorized

New evidence again confirms that the brain can achieve enhanced performance through visual exercises.

The more accurately the brain decodes the impressions of light that are received from the eyes, the smarter – or more functionally able, a person is.

Professor Jocelyn Faubert and postdoctoral student David Tinjust, researchers from the School of Optometry of the Université de Montréal have discovered how to train the brain of athletes to improve their overall athletic performance.

A dozen soccer, tennis and hockey players were put through multiple object-tracking exercises. These athletes ability to grasp a lot of information simultaneously and efficiently respond increased on average by 53 percent.

“It’s like physical training, but for the brain,” says Faubert.

Visual exercises can be simple, and even fun. For instance, in one of these exercises, subjects were asked to follow the increasingly rapid movements of a series of balls and identify those that quickly changed color.

The visual approach to better performance is gaining great popularity among athletes, from star goalie Kim St-Pierre to North American boxing champion Anthonin Décarie.

Other people are finding The Visual Exercises/Experiences new e book by artist-author Judy Rey Wasserman is helping them to see more and live more successfully. The Art Of Seeing The Divine, Book 1- What Do You See ? includes ten (10) different Visual Exercise/Experiences that help the brain by creating enhanced visual memories that the brain can use.

Ninety per cent (90%) of the perception of vision occurs in a normal person’s brain as it decodes the perceptions of light received from the eyes. Purposefully adding visual memories that can be used by the brain during while it decodes visual information allows the individual to have improved information for decision making.

Human beings see what they can decode. Increase the ability to decode by adding more visual information and, while one’s eyeglass prescription does not change how much one actually sees and how that information can be used does improve.

You can join the professional atheletes who are now using visual exercises and techniques to enhance their brain’s functioning, to create more success in life. Train your brain to see more and provide it with enhanced visual data, results in better success in life.  See more at The Art of Seeing The Divine


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Are People Who Use Social Media Happier?

November 20th, 2008 by Admin | 4 Comments | Filed in Uncategorized

The results of a recent study conducted by sociologists seem to point to another conclusion: people who socialize through the Internet’s various social media are happier than people who watch TV instead. The study’s authors, John P. Robinson and Steven Martin analyzed over 30 years worth of national data in a study that concludes that unhappy people watch more TV, while people who describe themselves as very happy spend more time reading and socializing. The study can be found in the December issue of the journal Social Indicators Research .

As reported in an article at Brain Mysteries, the study did not take into account the effects of social media. How could it when the study began in 1975? Yet the conclusions of the study can easily be applied to social media.

The same mental activities employed when socializing and reading a newspaper are also used when a person is engaged in interacting through social media.

Social media, interacting at sites such as Twitter, Face Book, MySpace, Google, Yahoo and AOL groups, and even commenting in a discussion on a blog involve both social interaction and reading. Social interaction is further revved up by sites such as Stumble Upon, Digg and Delicious where people share what they appreciate. These sites add an interactive and socializing aspect to the news that links people to each other around the world. Skype, IMs and other one to one immediate communications all add a component of further socializing.

“TV doesn’t really seem to satisfy people over the long haul the way that social involvement or reading a newspaper does,” says sociologist John P. Robinson, the study co-author who is also a pioneer in time-use studies. “It’s more passive and may provide escape – especially when the news is as depressing as the economy itself. The data suggest to us that the TV habit may offer short-run pleasure at the expense of long-term malaise.”

The people who were in the study were adults in 1975, so the youngest are baby boomers. Statistically, although boomers have embraced the internet, older Americans have been slower to use social media beyond email until the last several years. The time period of the study indicate that it could barely have included Internet social interaction, especially through social media, especially by people younger than baby boomers.

Yet the findings of the study are relevant and can be applied.

The two University of Maryland sociologists conducted the study to discover what activities contributed to happiness in people’s lives. They analyzed two sets of data spanning nearly 30 years (1975-2006) gathered from nearly 30,000 adults:

  • A series of time-use studies that asked people to fill out diaries for a 24-hour period and to indicate how pleasurable they found each activity;
  • General Social Survey attitude studies, which Robinson calls the national premier source for monitoring changes in public attitudes – in-depth surveys that over the years consistently asked subjects how happy they feel, how they spend their time among a number of other questions.

Robinson and Martin found that the two sets of data largely coincided for most activities – with the exception of television.

From the General Social Survey, the researchers found that self-described happy people were more socially active, attended more religious services, voted more and read more newspapers. By contrast, unhappy people watched significantly more television in their spare time.

The findings of the study point to the validity for involvement in social sites and web interfacing as these activities involve human connection and focused mental activity, especially involving sight as reading.

The early adopters of Internet social interaction were teens and twenty-somethings. At the time the study was completing baby boomers and younger adults had moved beyond email and shopping to interact in social media sites. That migration continues as new groups and sites develop or expand to encompass niche interests.

Interacting through social media involves socializing, concentrated reading, decision making and focused visual perception, which watching television does not. People watch TV fairly passively taking in the overall picture, but not actively looking to spot visual details. Socializing develops a feeling of community and belonging, including through the web. There is little community developed by watching TV alone.

When people socialize they are actively looking for visual clues about the other person’s feelings and intent, facial expressions, body movements, gestures are seen as significant. Where to focus one’s attention needs to be consciously decided for best results.

When watching TV the camera does the deciding for the viewer. This occurs in every type of show, but may be best illustrated by the difference between attending and watching a sports event or watching it on TV.

The study’s basic research and findings could not include the effects of social media itself on a person’s level of happiness. Yet when the when the findings are distilled to the underlying meanings and activities they can be applied to new activities, such as social media. Socializing and newspaper reading both point to information gathering, intense communication from other individuals about current concerns, decision making, and concentrated focus of vision. These activities are all a part of interacting through social media.

Social media is new and developing as this article is being written. It is too new for any valid study to have had the time conduct meaningful research, which takes time. However the results of the study conducted by sociologists John P. Robinson and Steven Martin at the University of Maryland seem to strong point to the idea that people who are active in social media are happier than people who instead watch television in their spare time.

Is social media contributing to your happiness?  How? Comments are welcomed!

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Can Vision Control Feelings?

November 18th, 2008 by Admin | 2 Comments | Filed in Uncategorized

The average person’s perception of sight can possibly be credited or blamed for many of their moods and feelings as they move through their days.

How a person actually sees can help create a happy and fulfilled life – or the opposite.

Recent scientific findings indicate that for the average person ninety(90%) percent of the perception of vision takes place in the brain. Average refers to people who have near normal vision with or without corrective lenses and normally healthy brains.

The remaining ten percent (10 %) of the process of vision occurs through the eyes. happens in the eyes, which receive perceptions of light that they send to the brain.

People have been rendered blind, or blind in specific ways by damage to their brains. For instance, one brain injured man can see, but is not able to recognize any faces.

The majority of the complex processes that we call vision happens as the brain decodes the perceptions of light received from the eyes. It does this by comparing and contrasting the perceptions to visual memories it has of prior perceptions.

The more visual memories a person has of different sights, including people, places and things, the more perceptive a person is, especially in relation to what has been seen previously. These memories are stored variously in a person’s brain and can be interconnected or cross referenced.

Some of this information was discovered when medical breakthroughs for a few conditions allowed surgeons to restore the eyesight of adults who had been blind since birth or early childhood. While the procedures were a success, the patients were completely unable to see how many fingers were held up, recognize faces or see anything more than impressions of light.

The newly “healed” patients were effectively blind as they lacked any visual memories. Newborns lack visual memories, which is why they seem to see, but do not respond to visual information at first. Over time, with increased visual experience, the patients created visual memories. Eventually, much in the way that children do, they learned to see and understand complexities of color, space, form, density, etc.

When an average adult sees something, the brain decodes the impressions of light sent by the eyes to make it usable and relevant. The similar memories that the brain uses may have additional meanings and understandings that are irrelevant decode the impressions of light, but are understood as relevant by the brain.

When the brain decodes impressions of light, it is decoding impressions of energy and pre-matter or basic particles. This is what light is. So, to the brain, data memories that are similar to the impressions received are relevant, and if those memories include more data of energy and basic particles it could be relevant, too.

Actually, the brain is bringing up many, many memories seemingly simultaneously, and even from different areas of the brain to decode a complex image that contains a lot of data that involves unfamiliar people and things. These memories can include emotion, which is energy and basic particles and like all memories is stored as such.

If I person has a history of being upbeat or happy, beginning with a comfortable, supportive and healthy childhood and continuing into adulthood, any emotional energy attached to the visual memories used for decoding are likely to be happy or at least neutral. These emotions may seem relevant to the brain as a part of the visual data since they offer additional information of energy and basic particles. Or, they can simply be brought up as part of the memory package.

However, people who have childhoods and/or adult lives filled with stress, trauma and unwanted emotion are unconsciously reminded of emotions and unresolved memories as the brain decodes current impressions of light of people places and things that should be easy to encounter and non- threatening.

The memories used as the decoding data are not usually brought to consciousness, but emotions, being emotions, can be felt.

People who have a tendency to be sad, angry, fearful, guilty, or any other unwanted emotion, may be experiencing these emotions on an ongoing and constant basis as their brains decode the impressions sent by their eyes. This is why going away, to someplace new and strange can seem so uplifting—no memories to re-stimulate.

Thoughts are things – or more precisely energy and pre-particles (matter). Memories are thoughts that are stored. Emotions, which are usually produced by thought, whether conscious or unconscious, are energy and pre-particles, too. Both can be seen and measured through brain imaging.

If the brain is taught to visually recognize emotional energy as just energy when it decodes perceptual impressions, emotional subconscious re-stimulation would abate for most people.

For example, when decoding a light impression of a cup that is similar to a cup used by an abusive older relative in one’s youth, the brain would select visual memories of the original cup to use in the visual decoding process. Like post it notes attached to a memo, negative and unwanted but experienced energies and pre-particles of the emotions of fear, anger, sadness, etc, would all fleet by unconsciously as attachments to the memory. These could be experienced, and even then misunderstood as a part of the individual’s personality.

Ironically, we refer to people’s positive or negative, glass half-full or half-empty world views as their “outlooks”. This could be literally correct.

If the brain uses the same memories, but learns to “view” the energies of the emotions as just energies and particles (without adding or attaching the significances of fear, anger, sadness, etc.), which are irrelevant to decoding visual information, the emotional information is not felt, even unconsciously.

This may seem impossible but it is already being accomplished by scientists through brain imaging. The brain’s emotional centers, and even specific thoughts are being seen as energy. However the scientists and doctors have lack knowledge of the actual specific content of the thoughts – but they can see the energy of the thoughts in brains.

It is also being accomplished through a new form of art, Post Conceptual UnGraven Image, founded by artist and author Judy Rey Wasserman. The brain can be taught to see more energy through specific visual images that purposefully use strokes to symbolize energy, which form pictures, just as traditional artists form imagery. This gives the brain a way to create and accumulate visual memories with information it previously lacked, but which human eyes are capable of perceiving.

Intense exposure and looking at these works of Post Conceptual UnGraven Image Art and through various Visual Exercises/Techniques that use the images in a new e book, The Art of Seeing The Divine , seem to be able to change the way an individual actually sees the world.

Simply, thanks to the new visual memories more energy is seen everywhere. After this is established the brain seems to understand emotions that are attached to memories it uses for visual decoding as simply energy and particles. The emotional significance of that energy is now irrelevant. Thus, fewer unwanted emotions are experienced.

Since sixty percent (60%) of the average person’s brain is allocated to the perception of sight, lowering the amount of ongoing memories of negative or unwanted emotions offers a great deal of relief!

Ironically, one of the unheralded benefits of most meditative practices happened when the practitioner closes his or her eyes. This effectively ceases any and all visual stimulation or decoding, and therefore no emotional memories are brought into the experience this way. Of course a person may remember images or envision at will, but once a person’s eyes are closed any outside visual stimulation ceases.

Visual perception is a basic and effective way to navigate the world. We rely on our sight so much that it is the only sense that must be “turned off” in order to sleep. It is also the sense we have the most control over, simply because we can and do close our eyes. We cannot as easily shut out any other sense. We are just beginning to discover the benefits of additional conscious control through purposefully adding visual memories.

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The Blessings of Unanswered Prayers and Unsuccessful Affirmations

November 13th, 2008 by Admin | No Comments | Filed in Uncategorized

Looking back I am glad for all the prayers and affirmations that were “unanswered” — actually they were answered, “No!” If I had received what I wanted I would not be where I am today. I would not like that!

There is an old saying that goes, “Be careful what you pray for, you might get your request.”

Guidance from “The Divine” (please substitute the name or term that is most appropriate for you) can be experienced though prayer requests that are met and unmet. Prayer is defined as, “is the act of attempting to communicate with a deity or spirit.” Positive thinking, affirmations, visualization, etc., can also be understood as kinds of prayer requests.

There have been many ferverent prayers and requests in my life that seemed to go unanswered. Actually they were answered. The answer was: “No!”

Now that I look back, with perspective on many of those unfulfilled requests, I am so glad I did not get my way! I would not be who I am today and doing what I am doing had some of the requests come true.

What I am now doing is basically what I described as a teenager, only back then I could see no way of ever accomplishing my purposes. For one thing the smallest known particle was an electron, and until string and M theory were created, I had no way to paint symbolically showing the essential energies or pre-matter of the universe.

I have found that my heartfelt prayers are always somehow answered. These are the requests that well up from my spirit, that have little to do with my comfort, any ego expression or getting me out of a jam I managed to get into all by my self.

Almost all of my interests, training and experience basically came together and are necessary for me to found and create Post Conceptual UnGraven Image Art theory, and now also The Art of Seeing The Divine books, which are like empowering and inspirational seminars in book format. That my life has been leading to this is a blessing of answered prayer that amazes me everyday. And it only gets better.

Creative people, artists, writers, composers, above the line professionals in film and theatre all experience inspiration or guidance. This is the mythological “bringing the fire down from heaven”. Athletes refer to this immediate inspiration as being in the flow. We find it easiest to become inspired, intuitively take the best action and be in the flow in the areas where our unique talents lie. We all have unique talents.

Yet someone (like me!) who can be inspired and in the flow in one endeavor can only a few minutes later be almost wretchedly on one’s own when the task involved is one outside of one’s gifts and expertise. In some ways, this may be The Divine keeping us humble, and it also means that as human beings we need each other. We all have gifts and talents to contribute.

Although prayer is not officially allowed in public schools and colleges, our educational system that insists that all students master a variety of subjects towards creating a well rounded individual has resulted in much prayer. Students pray for good grades in areas where they lack talent.

I had a difficult time with foreign languages; especially speaking them as I am so visually oriented. As I look back walking into French class was like entering an intense prayer service for me.

In my senior year of high school the only subject I studied every day at outside of the classroom with intensity and for any length of time was French. I studied as if my life depended on it, but fortunately it only seemed to. If effort and determination counted I would have received an “A” but by the end of the semester my grade was a “58”.

Part of the problem was my teacher, whose name I remember well but will not mention. Today, she would be dismissed, but things were different then and she had tenure.

I was tall, blonde, buxom and quite pretty, which meant more to her than it did to me. Outside of French class I was quite bright and had good grades. I was more focused on art, intellectual pursuits, volunteering and politics, as were my best friends.

That teacher disliked me from day one. Now as an adult who does not personalize other’s problems much, I understand that the short and stubby teacher, who was gaining on the other side of middle age, with badly bleached close cropped hair much like a man’s, was probably well suited for different work, which was closed to her due to the fact she was female. She was deeply angry, frustrated and jealous. She had a reputation for her behavior in the school and the only students who liked her were her few pets who were always short girls.

She publicly berated and ridiculed me whenever she could, picking on my posture, my appearance, and when – there was no if– I made a mistake, she yelled and screamed at me. I remember she even purposefully kicked my leg once as she walked in the aisle. When I did manage to get a question right, she would ignore that and soon find something to criticize. That she behaved this way to many other students did not console me.

The minute the teacher would call upon me, I went totally blank. To add to my fear, I needed to pass French to meet my language requirements for an academic diploma and graduate. This one class was bringing down my otherwise straight A average. I was studying, praying, wishing and a hoping but nothing was helping me.

I had given up all my lunchtimes to work in the guidance office so that I could have Mr. Bertram Katz for every art class he taught that I could take. Of course I had also prayed to be able to make up a schedule that included the classes I wanted that were taught by Mr. Katz.

When I went to make up my schedule for the spring semester of my senior year the only way I could take art with Mr. Katz was to take French honors, and I definitely was ineligible. I had already “lucked out” in that this year it was determined that students failing in a language class could move on to the next semester and their grade average for the full year would count.

The guidance teacher I worked for took me to see Mrs. Henrietta Rattiner, who headed up the French department and taught the French honors class. He asked for special permission for me to take French honors so that I could have the schedule for art classes with Mr. Katz. Mostly, I recall looking at Mrs. Rattiner as I sobbed with tears of fear and grief. No one in the school had ever seen me cry before. I would have agreed to anything, but was only asked to promise to study hard and accept being tutored, which was arranged with a college student.

As if it happened this morning, I remember the first time when Mrs.Rattiner called on me in honors French class. As was the custom, I stood up. She said something to me in French, but I was already blank and trying hard to look calm and stand steady. There was an uneasy pause. The rest of the class, all honors students (as I was in all my other classes) stared at me, which made things worse.

Then Mrs. Rattiner did something different. She smiled at me and slowly walked towards me saying encouragingly, “You know the answer. I know you do. Let’s try it again.” Then she repeated her question in French, and I did know the answer!

Granted, once I realized I knew the answer, I also knew it was a fairly simple question. Yet, Mrs. Rattiner then praised me, smiled some more and I sat down, wide eyed that for the first time in a long time I actually was not nauseous in French class.

Mrs. Rattiner continued to encourage me and let me know that she believed in me throughout the semester. I worked very hard, the tutor also helped a lot because I heard and spoke more of the language. As she encouraged me, I began to have more confidence outside of the areas of my talents. Learned that I could achieve more than I or the “authorities” in my life ever expected.

In Mrs. Rattiner’s class my average was in the low nineties. Since the final performance was weighted, my final grade in French for the year was in the low eighties. So, I could graduate with an academic diploma with honors.

If I had earned good grades despite the awful teacher in the first semester of French, I would have missed one of the most valuable lessons of my life that I learned from Mrs. Rattiner: believing in myself and encouraging others. Speaking some French has not come in anywhere near as useful.

Many years later, the experience helped teach me an even more important lesson about the blessings of unanswered prayers.

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Do We Need Religious Art?

November 10th, 2008 by Admin | 12 Comments | Filed in Inspirational Stuff

Is religious art relevant in Contemporary Art? Do we need it? Does it do more harm than good?

There is a lively discussion on religion and art over at Art News Blog , one of the blog sites I frequent for news of the art world.

Essentially, Carol, the intrepid blogger-journalist went on a self professed rant, more about problems that seem to stem from organized religion, like wars, and questioned whether artists should promote religious views, or moreover dogma.

To be fair, Carol then backtracked as many of the Western World’s greatest artworks are religious.

This was posted on Sunday and by the time I checked in on Monday, the comments were flying back and forth, again more dealing with religion than art.

As far as I know, I am the only founder from the USA with an original theory of religious art, Post Conceptual UnGraven Image . Being uniquely American, although Judeo-Christian based the theory is fully inclusive of most of the world’s religions and paths (see the manifesto). So of course I chimed in with a comment, adding to the original post and the comments up to that point.

It is a topic that deserves many posts, comments and dialogue. A polite discussion is healthy. It may seem corny, but communication really does build understanding, and that includes the special visual communication of art.

One of the problems with any of the current discussions about religion is simply defining the term, “religion”. People who line up against organized religion are more against the abuses that have occurred by leaders and followers who have twisted the message or been two faced for their own gain.

When a person gets an egotistic benefit, such as thinking they are superior to others, by belonging to a group or following a spiritual path that is a perversion of the intended purpose of the path. This kind of abuse, whether it happens on a one-to-one personal level or on a large scale (war), is always a perversion. It is no better than common prejudice or its extreme of ethnic cleansing.

The purpose of a spiritual or religious path is to assist a person to be closer to The Divine (my catch-all acceptable term, please substitute the name you prefer for the One). Being closer to The Divine is transformative as coincidentally this means becoming more of one’s essential self. As just about every religion, certainly the major ones teaches, we are spiritual beings who have physical forms (bodies), thus being more of who we are means being more spiritual.

Proverbs 31 – Woman of Valor Rose Bud

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When artists portray that spiritual aspect of humankind – or one specific human being, we recognize the work as great art. Many of the Western World’s greatest artists such as Michaelangelo , Rembrandt and Da Vinci were masters of this. These three noted artists also painted religious work but never fully followed the dogma of their time and controversy dogged them for that.

Fine artists were the shaman, the religious leaders of the early tribes and groups. Most great artists have always spiritually led through their work. Towards the end of his life, Andy Warhol began a series somewhat based on Da Vinci’s Last Supper, in which commercial logos were substituted for religious components. For instance, the Dove Soap logo symbolized the Holy Spirit. Having brought art into the supermarket with Campbell ‘s Soup cans and Brillo boxes, Warhol flipped the Pop focus to bring religion into the commercial world, too. The profane becomes holy, the holy profane.

Warhol predated the selling of religion that we have seen through the media. Depending on the message sold and how the power and profits earned are used, as individuals we approve or not. It was an artist to point out the then current links between business as religion and religion as business.

Personally, I would not wish to live in a world without the religious art that has been so meaningful to my own spiritual quest.

Van Gogh, a former preacher who considered himself to be a religious painter, has inspired me with his energy that presents a dance of dichotomies; pain, suffering, fury swirling with joy, lust and glory. What could be more religious?

Rembrandt, whose figures some out of the darkness into golden light to reverently take responsibility for their acts and omissions and seek or accept forgiveness.

Pissarro and Monet, the Jew and the Catholic (among others) who knew they were painting, “Let there be light…” Chagall, with his enchanting mystic villages of simple tradition and love overcoming life’s trials

Dali, who investigates the spirituality of time and quest inspiring unexpected insights.

My list it too long. I have just begun.

But notice that none of the artists were actually promoting one group over another, and that even when a specific theology is presented, such as in Da Vinci’s, Warhol’s and Dali’s Last Supper works, the theology is universally transcended by what the artist conveys.

Psalm 22 Rembrandt by Judy Rey Wassermanm an essence portrait

Psalm 22 (Rembrandt)

Being an artist is a responsibility, as much as a gift. My appreciation of the gift I have been given to be a religious artist is equaled or surpassed by my appreciation of the gifts I have received from seeing the works of those artists previously mentioned along with so many others.

And since we can all learn much from a discussion – please comment!

Dock Less Traveled

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Can a Book Help You Change How You Actually See The World?

November 9th, 2008 by Admin | 1 Comment | Filed in Uncategorized

The Art of Seeing the Divine — Book 1: What Do You See? by Judy Rey Wasserman offers an inspirational visual way to change the way one sees the world by using a series of easy and fun Visual Experiences to create memories the brain can then use to more accurately decode and recognize the images of light received from the eyes. See more energy – the essence of the universe, which for many are the inspirational and empowering Words of The Creator according to Genesis 1.

How is this possible?

Recent scientific discoveries reveal that ninety percent (90%) of vision occurs in the brain as it decodes the impressions of light received by the eyes. You can actually enhance how you see the world by specifically and consciously adding visual memories of images that will allow the brain to recognize and decode more of the data received.

As your brain begins to use the new memories of images to decode the impressions of light received from your eyes you will see the essences that are everywhere always, which for many people are the words of the Creator. Actually, your eyes have been seeing this and do even now, but your brain had no data to use to decode these impressions previously. For many people these energies are or represent the words of the Creator.

The images used are special. They are from the new Post Conceptual UnGraven Image artworks that use the only alpha-numeric, phonic and binary symbol set in the world for each and every stroke. These symbol-strokes elegantly represent the energy, or strings of elementary physics, as they tally in behavior (sound/written= energy/pre-matter), number, and they are even binary. These amazing symbols are the Torah font letters of from original Bible texts.Thus the images artistically embody and present the concept.

However, the visual Exercise/Experiences are more than just looking at art. You become visually involved with the art and close-ups of the art in different and interesting ways. New concepts are introduced that help understand the theory and process. Plus, you learn to see art and look in ways that are new for most people.

Seeing the energies is inspiring and empowering. The world, including problems, concerns, obstacles (real or considered) seem less solid and impassable when one is experiencing the universe as energy and the words of the Divine.

How Can This Image Help You Change The Way You See The World?

Judy Rey Wasserman

Psalm 69 (Seagull)

Text used for strokes : Psalm 69

Seeing in this new way also encourages better results from answered prayer, visualization, positive thinking, affirmations and the Law of Attraction

This occurs for several reasons. First, becoming aware of the energy helps you pull yourself out of negative thought patterns and emotions, that can seem very “true” and real at the time. Viewing the energy (words of the Divine) offers an immediate challenge to the actual validity or truth of negative thoughts and emotions.

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As you consciously, and probably for the first time in your life focus on consciously creating visual memories simply for the sake of having them (not to learn something else) you are simultaneously purposefully working your brain. Rather than just going along with the thoughts and feelings your brain send you, you are practicing being consciously in charge. Meditation is another way of taking charge of one’s focus, but this is different. This is consciously focusing, adding and creating more of the way you want your mind to work.

The Art of Seeing The Divine — Book 1, includes encouraging, inspirational and informative articles as well as ten (10) Visual/Exercise/Experiences that include illustrations. Most people enjoy the Visual/Exercise/Experiences as they are fun, interesting and impossible to fail but designed for continual improvement a a person’s own rate. Thus the book is kind of a personal seminar in book format. Start today!

Get The Book. Do The Book. See More. Share The Vision.

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Does Your Mind Use You?

November 7th, 2008 by Admin | 1 Comment | Filed in Uncategorized

Many people believe that the thoughts and ideas that come to them are somehow authentic and relevant. Thoughts and ideas kind of pop-up into their minds and are accepted as though they were chosen experiences. Most of the ideas that a person has is relevant to what they are actually experiencing, especially seeing, Yet, there are often tag-along ideas and emotions revived and sent by the brain that are not relevant at that instant. They may even be harmful.

On a moment to moment basis we are flooded (and that is an understatement!) with memories as the brain uses to decode the impressions it receives through the senses of smell, touch, taste, and sight. By far and away, the most important and consequential sense for the average person is the sense of sight.

Sixty percent of the normal person’s brain is dedicated to the perception of sight. This leaves the reaming forty percent (40%) of the brain to the other four senses, running the body and other tasks. Clearly indicates that sight is a normal person’s most important method of perception.

Scientists, including medical doctors have discovered that ninety percent (90%) of the perception of sight happens in the brain as it decodes the impressions of light that is received from the eyes. The brain does this by comparing the impressions of light to memories of previous impressions of light.

A baby’s eyes do perceive after birth, however it takes a couple of weeks of the baby gaining visual memories before the brain begins to have enough memories to decode the impressions . After about two weeks the baby can recognize the basic caregiver visually to a degree.

As the child grows more visual memories are gained. Learning to read means being able to distinguish shapes, so the letters can be discerned. It takes many visual memories of seeing something new before enough memories accumulate that it can always be decoded.

If you can read this text yourself you have many, many visual memories stored that help you to accomplish the task. When you see something new, a new gadget, person, place, etc., you have so many memories of things, people and places that you easily decode much of the image. Yet new images, mean gaining more visual memory.

Gaining visual memory, seeing new things is something that most people enjoy. This is why we watch the special commercials during the super bowl, like to change fashions, want new gadgets – especially those with screens, etc. New visual experiences are usually at least interesting.

When the brain receives impressions of light from the eyes it almost instantaneously calls up previous memories that contain similar data to decode the impressions. However memories that contain visual data can contain more than visual data. Memories can be like holograms of a moment that include perceptions of vision, sound, taste, touch, smell, thoughts and emotions. So as we move through the day, from moment to moment we are constantly reminded of all kinds of memories. Mainly, we are not conscious of this.

However, if you have ever seen a thing, person or place and though or remarked, That reminds me of… you consciously experienced the process.

Usually this occurs as the brain is not too sure if what is being experienced at the moment is the thing, person or place, so it includes a kind of wake up call or question. This kind of “wake up call” is also used when the brain perceives something that could mean danger, such as when the vehicle directly in front of one slams on its brakes.

Tag-along thoughts and emotions can be misunderstood by a person to be relevant or to somehow belong to them at the moment. This is a mistake that can have many repercussions, especially if the thoughts or emotions have negative content.

For example:

On a warm spring day Jane goes for a walk. On the way she passes various stores and shops. One shop has especially interesting objects that draw Jane to its window. In the corner of the display she sees an antique cup that is much like the one often used at the home of a much disliked great aunt who was verbally abusive, telling Jane that she is incompetent, too sensitive and not as pretty as her own granddaughter. This great aunt even cane when no one was looking.

However at the moment that Jane sees the antique cup she is distracted by the loud honk of a car and squealing brakes of a car as it swerves out of the way. Jane turns to look.

As Jane continues to walk down the street she blames her less happy mood on being startled by the honking and squealing brakes. Jane thinks to herself that she is too sensitive. She feels that old sense of worthlessness again, which she knows is untrue, but somehow she feel it. Jane accepts these thoughts as relevant to the moment, rather than recognizing that these thoughts are just memories that were re-stimulated as the brain decoded the vision of the antique cup in the window.

The above example of how thoughts and emotions may just seem to occur is one most everyone can relate to. We have all been reminded of emotions and thoughts that we then experienced and even continued to experience because we assumed they were relevant. Some people continue to experience thoughts and emotions that are unwanted because they do not know how to let go of them.

The primary source of memories, including emotions, is the perception of vision.

To gain more control of visual memory, discover how you can consciously create visual memory. Learn more at: The Art of Seeing The Divine.com

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Seeking to be Normal is Madness

November 6th, 2008 by Admin | 4 Comments | Filed in Uncategorized

Apparently, according to psychologists, intelligence and the ability to accomplish a goal despite a minor obstacle is not only abnormal, but worth studying.  This is especially true if the person being studied is gifted or highly intelligent.

It is fascinating when second tier minds delve into top tier or genius minds under the guise of scientific research , while assigning syndromes and abnormalities, in other words problem behavior, to superior intelligence and genius.

If the goal truly is to help people lead more normal lives, you can count me out. I am absolutely positive that I do not wish to be normal. I want to be smarter than normal, happier, more fulfilled, more successful, enjoy better relationships, and so forth. I am not aiming at normal but as outstanding.

Who aims at normal?

Is being normal even possible, since everyone has different talents?

It should be noted that whenever someone attempts to criticize me by that cutting comment, “You’re not normal”, which usually means the speaker wants his or her own way, I usually reply heartily, “Thank you!”

Wanting to be normal is a phase that preteens and teens of the human species go thought, although for them “normal” seems to mean fitting in with one’s peer group. After that age it would seem that seeking to be normal would be a sure sign of immaturity.

Boing Boing has a recent blog that comes from a post at Psychology Today about a study conducted by Edouard Machery on people who supposedly have Asperger’s Syndrome.

Asberger’s Syndrome is largely the latest attempt by psychologists to attack people who are geniuses or are in the upper 25 of intelligence for the population by determining that these folks are not normal. Who needs a “scientist” to inform then that people like Einstein and Newton were not normal? Doe not the term “genius” imply that?

So many people who are super smart and gifted are now being diagnosed or suspected as having Asperger’s, which is considered to be within the autistic spectrum.

Spectrum? As in colors? Wow! How fancy! As an artist, I like spectrums. Does this mean autism comes in colors? Apparently the use of the word spectrum is just a clever way to lump everyone who is not within the decided range of “normal” into a problematical range.

According to the study a man who has been running and is dehydrated goes into a Smoothie shop and asks the clerk for the largest smoothie available. The clerk replies int comes with a free special cup and asks if the runner wants that. The runner simply says give me the largest smoothie and so gets the smoothie is the cup.

The next instance includes the same initial variables. The runner asks for a smoothie. This time the clerk says that the largest smoothie is a dollar ($1) extra. The runner repeats the order for the largest smoothie available.

Now, from this study it seems that normal people think that in the first instance obtain the special cup was not intentional. But in the second instance paying the extra dollar is seen as intentional and as a decision. People who have been determined to have Asperger’s syndrome think that neither obtaining the cup or paying the extra dollar was intentional, just part of the process to =obtaining the goal of the largest smoothie.

There is a hot discussion of comments over at Psychology Today, and one is mine.

If the goal is to obtain something — in the case of the study the largest smoothie– then accomplishing the goal despite small obstacles is a mark of intelligence.

The choice (intention) is whether or not to accomplish the goal.
Since the special “free” cup is basically a gift, that has no bearing on accomplishing the goal whatsoever. It does not present any obstacle.

The extra dollar is a small obstacle possibly, but clearly price was not a factor considering the original request to the clerk was for the largest smoothie, not how much is the largest smoothie?

To begin with, the clerk has a mental problem of his own, since he even mentions the extra dollar, which could be an obstacle to the greater sale, when the sale is actually already made. This is akin to a Lexus salesman who has a buyer ready to sign offering suddenly reminding the buyer that for far less money he could buy a top of the line Toyota.

Next, a “normal” person who allows himself to be deflected from a goal due to a small inconvenience, which is paying an extra dollar — not even a good tip for anything nowadays — seems to me to be the person with the problem.

If the situation was set up differently, so that the largest smoothie cost say $20.00 extra, an exorbitant amount of money for any smoothie, then perhaps the test might be valid and make some sense. Deciding whether to pay a recognized over the top amount for a common item, change goals or go somewhere else would be involved. The chiice would be more intentional.

It also should be noted that Asperger’s syndrome people are all highly intelligent and even rational. Decisions are not usually made based on emotions but facts and reality.

Why is this considered to be a problem or a syndrome? It seems that this is because it is not “normal”. Normal people can behave irrationally based on emotions and unconscious beliefs, decisions and memories. They give more weight when making a decision to their feelings, including those of anger, upset, sadness, jealousy, etc.

The study needs to focus on the decision making processes of the so called scientists and psychologists who study Asperger’s Syndrome as an abnormality, rather than as a new “normal” for intelligence and decision making that humankind can hope to attain.

Here is my comment: If the goal is to obtain something — in the case of the study the largest smoothie– then accomplishing the goad despite small obstacles is a mark of intelligence.

The choice (intention) is whether or not to accomplish the goal.
Since the special “free” cup is basically a gift, that has no bearing on accomplishing the goal whatsoever. It does not present any obstacle.

The extra dollar is a small obstacle possibly, but clearly price was not a factor considering the original request to the clerk was for the largest smoothie, not how much is the largest smoothie?

To begin with, the clerk has a mental problem of his own, since he even mentions the extra dollar, which could be an obstacle to the greater sale, when the sale is actually already made. This is akin to a Lexus salesman who has a buyer ready to sign offering suddenly reminding the buyer that for far less money he could buy a top of the line Toyota.

Next, a “normal” person who allows himself to be deflected from a goal due to a small inconvenience, which is paying an extra dollar — not even a good tip for anything nowadays — seems to me to be the person with the problem.

If the situation was set up differently, so that the largest smoothie cost say $20.00 extra, an exorbitant amount of money for any smoothie, then perhaps the test might be valid and make some sense. Deciding whether to pay a recognized over the top amount for a common item, change goals or go somewhere else would be involved. The choice would be more intentional.

It also should be noted that Asperger’s syndrome people are all highly intelligent and even rational. Decisions are not usually made based on emotions but facts and reality.

Why is this considered to be a problem or a syndrome? It seems that this is because it is not “normal”. Normal people can behave irrationally based on emotions and unconscious beliefs, decisions and memories. They give more weight when making a decision to their feelings, including those of anger, upset, sadness, jealousy, etc.

In normal relationships emotional reactions (as opposed to conscious emotional responses) are understood as valid reasons for making a decision. By extension all phobias would be normal and valid as they are fueled by emotional reactions, especially the emotion of fear.

Asperger’s Syndrome as an abnormality, rather than as a new “normal” for intelligence and decision making that humankind can hope to attain.

Again, why aim at normal? Why not aim at extraordinary success, in life through increase intelligence, more control of ones mind (including one’s thoughts and emotions) and success?

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Mindful Vision

November 3rd, 2008 by Admin | No Comments | Filed in Uncategorized

We can choose our focus.

I have learned to see actually in a whole new way that helps me be more positive, by seeing more energy. Seeing and recognizing the physical universe as essentially energy means my world, including my problems and what would have seemed before to be impassable obstacles to my goals are now seen as presentations of energy, movable and flowing in nature.

Since the perception we have the most control cover is vision I must choose to keep my eyes open and remain aware of this new vision. If I become less mindful of it, by focusing on my problems, negative thoughts or by just being preoccupied by what I am doing, it can take a while before I notice the energy again. That awakens and revitalizes me, even calms me.

We all move through familiar places this way, when we move from one room of our house or place of work purposefully towards another we do not really see the art on the walls, the furniture, or the decor unless something is really out of place or missing. We can visually take the familiar for granted.

Our brains are “wired” to alert us to potential danger and opportunity, not what is decidedly safe and familiar. One of the reasons more accidents happen in the home, and more traffic accidents happen when a person is near their home is they are less alert to their surroundings. Their brains recognize the surroundings as safe and familiar.

Energy is the stuff of the physical universe, as mass is just energy that is condensed. On a personal level one of the things I have experienced with the new way of seeing that I enjoy is that it is a lot like art in that it seems to have no other purpose in my life than to be what it is. It is just always there.

Like art, seeing the energies adds a lot of meaning to my experience of life, in a way like seeing the car ahead of mine suddenly slamming on its brakes does. Seeing both bring me into the present moment of now.

The moment I notice the energies I see I am instantly snapped out of my ongoing thoughts and into the possibilities, inspiration and power of the moment of now. Now is the only moment when we can actually be inspired, are empowered and can take action.

Seeing the energies has me more in a state that the Buddhists refer to as mindfulness and the Christians speak of as being in the world but not of it. It is much richer and frankly more fun than my just seeing the way I did before.

The new way of seeing learned through the Art of Seeing The Divine experiences can be called mindful vision.


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