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Health & Fitness

World Views of Mind

There are different paradigms in the world that give rise to different notions of what it is to be human and just what constitutes 'something amiss' with one of us. We frequently hear of 'eastern' and/or' western' views. I am loathe to distinguish between an ‘eastern’ view and a ‘western’ view. That distinction excludes the contributions of too many cultural groups. Paradigms have been put forward in all cultural groups to explain and/or describe our ‘nature’ and what might be ‘happening’ when the consensus is that someone is not well.

My favorite is the notion of diagnosis of ‘depletion of sun stores’. Native Americans in the Northwestern United States used to ‘diagnose’ ‘depletion of sun stores’. Upon observing that one of their members had become listless, uninterested in everyday affairs and cheerless, particularly in the winter, they diagnosed ‘a depletion of sun stores’.  A ‘treatment’ followed from the diagnosis; they had a party.

I don’t mean to be flip here, Native Americans had an entire repertoire of dances they prescribed to cure a number of ills. Cultural anthropologists report that these remedies were not without success. The point here is that, upon noting that a member of their tribe seemed to be suffering from a depletion of sun stores, they planned a dance with the express purpose of transferring sun stores from members of the group that were ‘stable’ to the member that seemed ‘unwell’.

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The point of this post is that all over the world, in the countries of Africa, the countries of South America, Southeast Asia, and in Australia, there are paradigms that purport to explain what it is to be human and just what constitutes health (soundness of mind, body and spirit). These are accompanied by different notions of what constitutes 'something amiss' and what to do about it.

We are fortunate. Contemporary science with a big 'C', science informed by quantum theory per theoretical physicist Henry Stapp, allows us to revisit all paradigms including our own with a better understanding of ourselves and our world. Phenomenal Mind is dedicated to doing just that. My task is to refresh psych theory with Contemporary Science and much that is considered 'woo woo' stuff will be necessarily included. I say, if community dances 'cure' depletion of sun stores, let's dance!

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Written by Diane Kern, Owner of Phenomenal Mind Studios. Classes to Unleash Mind Power are begin this Thursday, November 7 at the Elks Club, 1475 Creekside Dr., Walnut Creek. For info visit, www.phenomenalmind.com. Or call 925-279-8704.

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