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Mind
Power News
Issue
No. 160 / Friday,
February 23, 2007
www.MindPowerNews.com
In
this issue:
8 BRAIN DISEASES THAT GIVE SUPERHUMAN POWERS: This article
describes various medical conditions that give their sufferers
strange and unusual mind powers.
WHAT
COLOR IS PI? The young Englishman set a European record
in 2004 by publicly reciting the first 22,514 digits of
pi from memory. To prove he can learn foreign tongues rapidly,
he conversed in Icelandic with a TV interviewer after just
a week of exposure to the language.
THE
HI-TECH BODY OF TOMORROW: The advances in medical science
like brain chips that enable us to control machines with
our thoughts; design the child of your dreams, kidneys and
lungs built to order in the lab; pills to make you smarter
and more creative and an implant that gives you a tan and
protects against skin cancer may well lead to more-than-human
abilities.
THE
HAPPIEST MAN IN THE WORLD? "The mind is malleable...
Our life can be greatly transformed by even a minimal change
in how we manage our thoughts and perceive and interpret
the world. Happiness is a skill. It requires effort and
time."
HOW
TO CREATE ENERGY FROM NOTHING: A lot of people feel
"tired", and blame it on not getting enough sleep
or on other external factors. Basically, the fact that they're
tired is always "out of control." What they don't
know is that there's a reason for feeling "tired",
and that there's a simple method to change "tired"
to "energized" in a heartbeat....
8
Brain Diseases That Give Superhuman Mind Powers
1.
Photographic Memory
We have all heard of people with so called "photographic
memories". Usually we use it when referring to someone
who has an above average ability to recall information about
the past or about their surroundings. True photographic
memory of the kind exhibited by Stephen Wiltshire is truly
a rare but amazing gift. Mr. Wiltshire is an autistic savant
and those that know him call him "the living camera".
When he was 11 years old he drew a perfect representation
of the aerial view of London after a single helicopter ride,
down to the correct number of windows on the major buildings
of the city. This is perhaps one of the coolest feats of
the human brain I have ever seen.
2. Tertiary Neurosyphilis
Tertiary neurosyphilis, is the most interesting form of
syphilis from a cultural point of view. Just before the
onset of paralysis, the sufferer is beset with delusions
of grandeur, a sense of understanding everything, a sense
that he is on the verge of some monumental discovery which
will forever change the course of history, as well as a
sense that some divine electricity is coursing through his
veins.
Since
in this preliminary stage of tertiary syphilis, powers of
expression are not impaired, a syphilitic who is also an
artist may well produce a work of art that reflects this
state of mind or, rather, this state of brain. Bob Summers
felt that “King of Tetch” was just this kind of
work. Wilhelm Reich felt that he had unlocked the secrets
of the universe with the discovery of orgone energy, something
that could now be accumulated in his orgone boxes, which
would make power stations unnecessary. Hayden feels that
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was composed under these
circumstances, after syphilis had destroyed Beethoven’s
hearing and was in the process of destroying his brain as
well. “Seid umschlungen Millionen!” The grandiosity
of Schiller’s poem is matched by the grandiosity of
Beethoven’s musical score, which, at least in terms
of the Ode to Joy chorus, is based on a moronic melody (melody
was never Beethoven’s strong suit anyway), as the film
Dearly Beloved makes clear. The brain of the syphilitic
approaching general paralysis of the insane is like the
light bulb that grows brighter just before it burns out
completely. The syphilitic experiences, in Hayden’s
words,
"episodes
of creative euphoria, electrified, joyous energy when
grandiosity led to a new vision. The heightened perception,
dazzling insights, and almost mystical knowledge experienced
during this time were expressed while precision of form
of expression was still possible. At the end of the 19th
century, it was believed that, in rare instances, syphilis
could produce genius."
Read
the full story here...
What
Color Is Pi?
Ask
Savant Who Memorized It to 22,514th Place
By
Jeffrey Tannenbaum
Source: Bloomberg.com
Daniel Tammet has peculiar skills. He
sees numerals and words as "shapes,
colors, textures and motions," and
that ability makes him a whiz at doing
arithmetic and memorizing numbers and
phrases.
The
young Englishman -- he's 28 now -- set
a European record in 2004 by publicly
reciting the first 22,514 digits of pi
from memory. To prove he can learn foreign
tongues rapidly, he conversed in Icelandic
with a TV interviewer after just a week
of exposure to the language.
But,
as Tammet makes clear in his memoir "Born
on a Blue Day,"' there's a tradeoff
for these skills: His differently wired
brain also makes him awkward in social
settings and obsessive about following
routines. He uses an electronic scale
to make sure he eats exactly 45 grams
of porridge each morning -- a gram too
much or too little would ruin his day.
People
like him used to be called idiot savants,
though the medical community of today
uses "savant syndrome" for this
rare combination of disability and genius.
Tammet, who calls himself an autistic
savant, has a neurological condition known
as synesthesia, meaning that his senses
of color and shape are triggered by numbers
and words.
Given
the public's fascination with extrasensory
perception, it's important to note that
Tammet's talents have been proved. He
isn't a crackpot plugging the paranormal;
he has been studied by brain scientists
at Cambridge University and elsewhere.
Read
the full story here...
The
Hi-Tech Body of Tomorrow
By SS Verma,
Source: Central Chronicle
Science and technology is progressing with a great
pace and thus revolutionising medical science
in particular. We are entering a century in which
medical science will go beyond treating disease
to create enhancements that will make us "better
than well".
The
advances in medical science like brain chips that
enable us to control machines with our thoughts;
design the child of your dreams, kidneys and lungs
built to order in the lab; pills to make you smarter
and more creative and an implant that gives you
a tan and protects against skin cancer may well
lead to more-than-human abilities.
Genetics,
materials science, tissue engineering and nanotechnology
are already yielding products to help the sick
and injured, including a Band-Aid-like heart patch
and the C-leg prosthesis for amputees.
All
these innovations are in development; some are
already being tested on human subjects. The next
technological frontier will be our own bodies.
Following this trend far enough, and we reach
the augmented human.
Here
are highlighted the breakthroughs that will make
it possible to manipulate the body in novel (and
sometimes disturbing) ways.
Read
the full story here...
Amazing Enhanced Human Perception Abilities Are
Emerging
By
Steve Hammons
Source:
AlienSeekerNews.com
The emerging awareness in many segments of society
about what is sometimes called "anomalous
cognition" is an interesting development
that seems to hold much promise.
In
fact, knowledge about this topic seems to be
spreading throughout the U.S. and around the
world.
Anomalous
cognition is a term that refers to various kinds
of human perception, which can be highly effective
and useful in a wide range of endeavors and
activities.
Included
under this umbrella term are several human perceptual
abilities and skills. These include, but are
not limited to:
-
Enhanced intuition and instincts
-
Increased awareness of one's surroundings
and environment
-
Improved insight into challenges and solutions
-
Acquisition of information and understanding
about remote situations
Read
the full story here...
The
Happiest Man in the World?
By Anthony Barnes
Source:
The
Independent UK
To
scientists, he is the world's happiest man.
His level of mind control is astonishing and
the upbeat impulses in his brain are off the
scale.
Now
Matthieu Ricard, 60, a French academic-turned-Buddhist
monk, is to share his secrets to make the world
a happier place. The trick, he reckons, is to
put some effort into it. In essence, happiness
is a "skill" to be learned.
His
advice could not be more timely as tomorrow
Britain will reach what, according to a scientific
formula, is the most miserable day of the year.
Tattered new year resolutions, the faded buzz
of Christmas, debt, a lack of motivation and
the winter weather conspire to create a peak
of misery and gloom.
But
studies have shown that the mind can rise above
it all to increase almost everyone's happiness.
Mr
Ricard, who is the French interpreter for Tibet's
spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, took part
in trials to show that brain training in the
form of meditation can cause an overwhelming
change in levels of happiness.
MRI
scans showed that he and other long-term meditators
- who had completed more than 10,000 hours each
- experienced a huge level of "positive
emotions" in the left pre-frontal cortex
of the brain, which is associated with happiness.
The right-hand side, which handles negative
thoughts, is suppressed.
Further
studies have shown that even novices who have
done only a little meditation have increased
levels of happiness. But Mr Ricard's abilities
were head and shoulders above the others involved
in the trials.
"The
mind is malleable," Mr Ricard told The
Independent on Sunday yesterday. "Our life
can be greatly transformed by even a minimal
change in how we manage our thoughts and perceive
and interpret the world. Happiness is a skill.
It requires effort and time."
Mr
Ricard was brought up among Paris's intellectual
elite in the 1960s, but after working for a
PhD in biochemsitry he abandoned his distinguished
academic career to study Tibetan Buddhism in
the Himalayas.
Matthieu
Ricard's latest book is called Happiness:
A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important
Skill.
How
to Create Energy from Nothing
By
Kacper Postawski
Creator of Powerful
Sleep
A lot of people feel "tired", and blame
it on not getting enough sleep or on other external
factors. Basically, the fact that they're tired is
always "out of control." What they don't
know is that there's a reason for feeling "tired",
and that there's a simple method to change "tired"
to "energized" in a heartbeat....
Most of us feel tired during one of the following
four situations:
1) After waking up in the morning.
2) After intense physical activity or long hours of
work.
3) After sitting in one place for a long period of
time.
4) During the evening, or in the late evening hours.
What do all these four situations have in common?
There's one very common process that happens in our
bodies in all four cases. During all of these we all
experience very similar "symptoms" of tiredness.
These include yawning, rubbing our eyes, feeling sllooowww,
and having the urge to just get into bed and sleep.
Read
the full story here...
Stop
Smoking With Online Hypnosis
"FreshStart
literally switches off your desire
to smoke. In effect, it gives you
the mindset of a non smoker. And
as non-smokers don’t feel tempted
by cigarettes, the likelihood of
relapsing is remote." Read
more here...
More
news at the Mind Power Blog
- Is
Intelligence Necessary for Success?
Research
conducted in the United States shows that a "positive
mind-set," rather than intelligence, is the most
essential element of success. Read
more here...
- Brain
Scan Reads Your Mind
German, British and Japanese scientists were able
to "read minds" using sophisticated functional
magnetic imaging (fMRI) and computer programs. Read
more here...
- Top
10 Mysteries of the Mind
Much
of what we don't understand about being human is simply
in our heads. The brain is a befuddling organ, as are
the very questions of life and death, consciousness,
sleep, and much more. Here's a heads-up on what's known
and what's not understood about your noggin.
Read
more here...
- Is
the Universe Dreaming Itself?
When
you begin to awaken to the dream-like nature of things
you realize that waking reality doesn't exist in the
way you thought it did, as something separate from you.
Saying it is a dream, your own projection, reflection,
etc. is the same thing as saying it is nothing other
than your own mind appearing in a convincing, externalized
display. Read
more here...
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