In your journey to understanding what it means to be human on this planet at this time, it came become quite overwhelming to think of the many ways of comprehending the nature of reality. What is life all about? How do we create well-being in our individual and collective lives? How do we stay aware of what is happening in a complex world, yet not lose hope?
For my own journey, as a scientist and physician, as a psychotherapist and educator, I have found a process of weaving various disciplines of pursuing knowledge into one framework which we call “interpersonal neurobiology” or IPNB. We look for the overlapping findings from independent pursuits of knowledge in a process E.O. Wilson has called, “consilience.” For example, we draw from mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology (including medicine, neuroscience, evolution, and genetics), psychology, linguistics, sociology, and anthropology. As time went on, the fields of contemplation, education, organizational functioning, parenting, and psychotherapy all became a part of what we explore.
Summarized in a range of publications, including the first book on IPNB, The Developing Mind, one of the fundamental principles that emerges in this search for consilience is the notion that the mind, though rarely defined, may include four facets: 1) subjective, first-person experience; 2) Consciousness; 3) Information Processing; and 4) Self-organization. This latter facet enables a definition of mind that can be expressed this way:
[For more on this story by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., go to https://www.garrisoninstitute....journey-to-thriving/]
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