Cooperation Feels Good

There seems to be a cooperation center in the brain that responds with “feel good” chemicals when the person engages in cooperative behavior that is reciprocated and results in teamwork.

Researchers at Emory University studied people playing the “Prisoner’s Dilemma Game” while the players’ brains were monitored. In this game, for each round of play, the two players must independently choose to be greedy or to cooperate. If they both choose to be greedy, they each win a dollar. If one chooses to be greedy, while the other one chooses cooperation, the greedy player wins three dollars, while the cooperative player wins zero. If both players choose to be cooperative, they each win two dollars. The structure of the game creates an ambiguous situation which the players attempt to define by creating a strategy of choices that signals the opponent of their actual or feigned intentions. Some pairs of players fall into a continually shifting pattern of one cooperating while the other chooses greed, then both choosing greed, then reversing their positions as they each try to make the best of it for themselves. Other players soon learn that being mutually cooperative brings about the most stable reward system, but it requires that they establish trust between them to stabilize their choices.

Brain scans during play revealed that when both players chose cooperation, a pleasure center in the brain was activated. According to a description of this research reported in Research News & Opportunities in Science and Theology, when one player won the largest payoff by choosing greed while the opponent chose cooperation, the greedy person’s brain showed some pleasure, but not as much as when both players chose to cooperate. The researchers believed that there was a tinge of guilt in the greedy player that reduced their pleasure in winning at the other player’s expense.

The major implication of this study, according to the researchers James Rilling and Gregory Berns, who originally published their work in the technical journal Neuron, is that it shows that the brain has a built in preference for cooperation and finds it intrinsically rewarding, even when there is pressure to the contrary.

For further information, contact Research News & Opportunities in Science and Theology, Eastern Nazarene College, 23 East Elm Avenue, Quincy, MA 02170, (617) 745-3931; email: rnews@enc.edu

Prayer Helps Arthritis

People with debilitating arthritis received some relief through receiving prayer support in a study conducted by Dale A. Matthews, M.D, at Georgetown University of Medicine. In this study, patients received various types of prayer, with and without their knowledge, either face to face, or at a distance. The results indicated that face to face prayer had the greatest effect upon the patients’ improved well being. Those who knew they were being prayed for had greater improvement than those who didn’t know they were receiving prayer.

For more information, go to http://awesomepower.net/matthews.htm

Intuition Books Digested Online

There are too many good books on intuition for you to have time to read them all. Now there are freely available online summaries of books on intuition. Written by Atlantic University students, these summaries are located at the site of the webazine, www.intuitive-connections.net, which is sponsored by the Edgar Cayce Institute for Intuitive Studies.

Some of the books summarized and their direct links:

Awakening Intuition, by Mona Lisa Schulz (www.intuitive-connections.net/issue1/bookSchulz.htm)

Intuitive imagery: A resource at work, by John Pehrson & Susan Mehrtens (www.intuitive-connections.net/issue2/bookresource.htm)

The trickster and the paranormal, by George Hansen (www.intuitive-connections.net/issue3/book-trickster.htm)

Edgar Cayce’s ESP, by Kevin Todeschi (www.intuitive-connections.net/2002/book-cayceesp.htm)

Breatkthrough intuition, by Rosemary Ellen Guiley (www.intuitive-connections.net/2002/book-breakthrough.htm)

You will find the directory to all books summarized at www.intuitive-connections.net/contents-books.htm

Dreaming Can be an Art

If you’ve ever had a dream that seemed to surpass your daytime creativity, you can easily believe that many people have created art from their dreams. A special web-site set up in conjunction with the Association for the Study of Dreams displays many examples of art created from dreams, as well as stories involving architects and even seamstresses who invented products based upon their dreams. To see this work, go to www.geocities.com/gr8_dcvr/nightgal.html

Religious Practices Keep Teens Out of Trouble

The more teenagers participate in regular religious activities, the less likely they are to get into trouble. The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, National Study of Youth and Religion found that there was a strong association between religion and a positive lifestyle for those teenagers who attended religious activities at least once a week. Such teenagers were much less likely to be involved in drugs, crime, truancy, other school problems or conflicts with parents. They also found this strong association for those teenagers who stated deeply held spiritual views. Besides staying out of trouble, these teens were also more likely to engage in volunteer activities, sports, and community activities, as well as behaving more safely and having more health-promoting personal habits.

For more information, or a copy of the entire research report, contact Roxann Miller, Director of Communications for the National Study of Youth and Religion at (919) 966-1559. More information is also available at www.youthandreligion.org

Brain Chemistry May Create Synchronicity Experience

Whether you experience a synchronicity or a mere coincidence may depend upon the chemistry of your brain. Seeing patterns and connections between events seems to be affected by the level of dopamine in the brain, according to a report in New Scientist.

When Peter Brugger, a neurologist from the University Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland, compared people who claimed a belief in the paranormal with those who said they were skeptical, he found that the two groups differed on a perceptual task. The task required the viewer to make a quick judgment about something that was flashed on a screen so fast that it was hard to make out what it was. Believers were more likely than skeptics to report seeing things that weren’t there. However, when the researchers gave the participants a drug containing dopamine, the skeptics began to function more like the believers. The believers were less affected by the drug, suggesting their brain was already higher in dopamine. This brain chemical is responsible for the experience of motivation and reward, and may be involved in deciding whether information is relevant or irrelevant.

For more information, go to www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992589

The Sacred Has its Science

One of the essential messages of the Edgar Cayce material is that there is guidance from within. Echoing this assertion is an astrophysicist from Cornell University. Victor Mansfield, in his book, Head and heart: A personal exploration of science and the sacred (Quest Books), shows through the example of his own life how we each have the innate potential to develop “transformative self-knowledge.” He claims that science is not the only way to knowledge, but that knowledge without the aid of science cannot attain to a complete picture of reality or truth. Dreams and synchronicities are prime channels, he argues, for experiencing meaning and understanding that reaches beyond what science can as yet explain.

Almonds Can Lower Cholesterol

Eating almonds, in moderation, can reduce levels of “LDL” or the bad cholesterol, according to a recent Canadian study. In this study, reported in the journal Circulation, participants received either almonds or muffins as snack food and had their blood tested periodically. Those who ate almonds as snacks showed a reduction in cholesterol greater than that shown by those who ate muffins.

For more information, go to http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/106/11/1327?maxtoshow=?eaf

Crow Shows Intentional Problem Solving

In what may be the first observation by scientists of a non-primate animal intentionally making a tool to solve a problem, a New Caledonian crow was observed making a hook from a straight piece of wire to obtain some hard to get food. This event occurred during some research on the behavior of crows making choices. In one experiment, there was some desirable food at the bottom of an upright container. Nearby was a straight wire and a wire with a hook. The research confirmed that the crows chose the hooked wire and used it to retrieve the food. In an unscripted moment, one of the crows stole the hooked wire and kept it to himself. In response, and to the amazement of the onlooking scientists, the other crow in the cage went to the straight wire and used the cage wall as a wedge to help her to bend the wire into a hook, and then went and used the newly fashioned tool to obtain the food. There were no previous experiences bending wire, so the scientists concluded that the crow had intentionally invented a new behavior to solve a problem.

The original report of this observation appeared in the journal Science, and then made its way to various news and media sources. You can watch a video of the crow making the hook at http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/08/0808_020808_crow.html

Does Population Growth Defy Reincarnation?

One criticism of the theory of reincarnation is based upon the fact of population growth. As the number of people living on the planet increases, the population of souls who can reincarnate decreases. A population scientist has recently refuted this argument with a new model of reincarnation.

If it is assumed that souls remain disincarnate for a constant amount of time, then the old argument has validity, claims David Bishai. However, if one assumes that the “dwell time” as a disincarnate varies, then the reincarnation hypothesis can co-exist with population growth. In the mathematical model he developed, “a model of circular migration,” and published in the Journal of Scientific Exploration, a constant number of souls, both incarnated and disincarnate, can remain constant, while the average time spent living on the planet and the average time spent in between lives varies.

For more information, contact David Bishai, Department of Population and Family Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 221205; (410) 955- 7807; email: dbisshai@jhsph.edu. The entire article is available online at www.scientificexploration.org/jse/articles/pdf/bishai.pdf

The History of Remote Viewing Noted

It was in September of 1971 that artist Ingo Swann described to researcher Cleve Backster what he termed “remote viewing” and the two of them began to document this phenomenon. This date was noted as the “start” of remote viewing, according to a history outlined in Aperture: The Newsletter of the International Remote Viewing Association.

In October, 1972, the C.I.A. awards the Stanford Research Institute a $50,000 grant to explore remote viewing. In 1975 the Air Force becomes the primary funder of RV research at S.R.I.

In 1977 Harold Putoff and Russell Targ, of S.R.I. publish their book, Mind Reach. In that year, Stephan Schwartz creates the Mobius Group and begins Operation Deepquest, a submarine RV project.

On November 28, 1995, Ted Koppel’s Nightline reveals the existence of secret government funding of remote viewing. This revelation is followed by several TV documentaries on the government’s research on RV.

Years before the events noted in this history, Edgar Cayce remotely views a bottle of “oil of smoke,” which was hidden behind some other merchandise in the stockroom of a pharmacy. In a previous reading, he had suggested that the client obtain some of that remedy from the pharmacy, but the pharmacist said he had none of that compound.

October 30-November 2, 2003, A.R.E. offers its first conference on remote viewing, hosted by Stephan Schwartz.

Your Name May Affect Your Choices

What’s in a name? Edgar Cayce recommended the study of numerology, which uses the letters in a person’s name as a basis for its analysis. Brett Pelham, a psychologist at the State University of New York, Buffalo, has found another name-related phenomenon, suggesting that our choices may be influenced by subconscious sources.

In one example, reported in the magazine, Popular Science, people named George or Geoffrey are forty per cent more likely than the general population to be a geologist. A person named Dennis is significantly more likely to be a dentist.

Other examples: A person born on March 3 (often written as 3/3) is more likely to live in a town with three in its name, such as “Three Peaks.” Similarly, someone born on June 6 is more likely to live in a town with a name having the word six in it, such as “Six Forks.”

The research was conducted by searching public directories, phone books, the Social Security Death Index and other archives.

What is the Soul’s Religion?

Among the world’s religions, which one would the soul choose? In his book, The soul’s religion: Cultivating a profoundly spiritual way of life (HarperCollins), Thomas Moore (author of the best selling Care of the Soul) suggests that the primary religion of the soul would be spiritual experience itself rather than any particular theology. Spiritual experience would emphasize the sense of connection.

Among other things, the soul’s religion would be characterized by an acceptance of uncertainty, the sense of wonder, and a willingness to move through life without a plan.

He also notes that a positive quest for meaning does not necessarily lead to spiritual experience. Sometimes those experiences come only in times of crisis or failure.

Assess the Health of Your Spirituality

Spirituality and health are becoming increasingly linked in research studies. The connection now has its own web site, which provides several on-line assessment tools for you to determine your strengths and weaknesses in the spiritual health arena.

Among the self-assessment tools:

Gratitude: Learn the six key indicators of healthy gratitude.

Forgiveness: Determine where you are in the journey of healing.

Optimism: Learn how well you can handle adversity.

To see how you fare, go to www.spiritualityhealth.com/newsh/lists/pth_selftest.html

The Power of Partnership Gains Strength

Cooperation is a basic principle within the Edgar Cayce readings, which emphasize that getting to Heaven is essentially not a private matter, but one of collaboration among us all.

Riane Eisler, author of the famed book, The Chalice and the Blade, has a new book, The Power of Partnership: Seven relationships that will change your life (New World Library). What is unique about this self-help book is that the author lays out a plan that integrates personal with social transformation. To prove its point, it summarizes research that shows that a person cannot be helped in isolation from the relationships in which the individual self is embedded.

The seven relationships: Oneself, intimate others, work and community relations, the national community and politics, the international community, nature, and spirit.

For more information on partnership research, go to www.partnershipway.org

911 Tragedy Caused Spiritual Coping

In the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attack, ninety percent of those contacted in a special poll indicated that they used some form of spiritual practice to cope with the stress that resulted from the crisis.

The survey was published in The New England Journal of Medicine and indicated that turning to others was the most frequently used coping strategy, followed by spiritual methods, such as prayer.

According to studies compiled by the International Center for the Integration of Health and Spirituality, the results from the 911 tragedy parallel results found following the Oklahoma City bombings, as well as natural disasters, such as the massive Midwest floodings. Their study noted that “those who turned to God” had less depression symptoms and a better return to an improved quality of life.

For more information, go to the Center’s website at www.nihr.org