I love these thoughts.

Very interesting study. I’ve seen different things over the years that show we get a measurable, often high level, of positive biofeedback from giving. And here’s another study. This is great. Thanks.

What’s you’re feeling about what this means in relation to giving as a whole? (sorry so wordy)

Thanks so much for your kind words!

All:
I happened to see this summary of an interesting study that seemed to have some bearing on this conversation. Note especially the researcher;s summary comments at the end…

Giving found to activate pleasure centers in brain

“Philanthropists, take note: the warm glow that often accompanies giving may have a physiological basis, according to recent research. Scientists at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, in Bethesda, Maryland, have identified two separate areas of the brain that are activated when individuals choose to contribute money to a worthy cause. The findings were based on magnetic resonance imaging of subjects who made the decision to give away money to charity. Giving was found to stimulate the mesolimbic area of the brain, stimulating the release of dopamine, which causes pleasurable or euphoric sensations. Also affected was the subgenual region of the brain, associated with the release of the hormone oxytocin, which plays a key role in increasing trust and cooperation in humans.

“Something in our brains shaped by evolution allows us to feel joy when we do good things,” observed Dr. Jorge Moll, the neurologist leading the research. “It is a biological force and we should not ignore it in promoting social welfare.” (Economist, October 12 2006)

Karen

Yeah, I know about HeartMath. Great research. I’ve given consideration to taking some of their training. Some of their finding fit right in with my own spiritual beliefs.

Sean,

You’re covering a lot of ground. Thanks for keeping the conversation going.

Firt thing…there is no such thing as an objective reality – so we agree on that point. Objectivity is reserved for beings without preferences – an no human is without preferences.

I think the bottom line statement for me is that every human being is searching for meaning in their lives – whether they’re conscious of it or not. It’s somehow stitched into the fabric of our beings. I don’t know you too well, but it would be hard for me to believe you’re not motivated by a search for meaning in your life, your marriage, your work, your own inner reality. I’ve yet to meet someone who isn’t – even that search leads them down some pretty dark places.

So for me, the debate isn’t in whether we search for meaning or not – I’m clear we all are. But how do we search and for what meaning – that’s the individualized piece in the debate. That’s where subjectivity takes over. And any one with a half their consciousness awake knows that there is no one way – no right and wrong. There is only every way.

Sure, we make purpose in our lives. But why? My position is because it’s part of our life. In Sufism we speak of fitrah. Fitrah is like a primordial, uncorrupted nature that exists in all people, regardless of what they express externally. Fitrah is that ‘force’ that makes us feel uneasy inside when we’re not living to our highest spiritual potential. It’s there as a reminder of the meaning we search for and a compass pointing the way.

Sure, I look at this through the eyes of ten years of study and twenty years of searching inside myself for meaning. I’m bias – no doubt. But only in the cosmology I use to view creation. And in my cosmology, I make no other cosmology wrong. In fact, often there are similarities between Sufism and other, deeply rooted, spiritual paths.

So no way is one way – all ways are one way leading from multiplicity to oneness.

Stuart,

The question, in my opinion, is ‘why are you here?’

Sean, I agree that feedback does help define our relationship with purpose. And doing for others can sometimes really be its own reward. I think that the motto “If it feels good, do it” can apply here. Giving and doing for others can FEEL very good even if we don’t think about it at all, and that feeling can lead us to want to repeat the experience again and again.

Stuart Baker
http://www.consciouscooperation.com

Purpose is built around belief. Our own belief. e.g. Our belief that we have to make life better for others, before ourselves. Or for ourselves, before others.

But nothing works in isolation.

If you were to keep doing stuff for others and got zero-feedback, your sense of purpose would dissipate. What if we went further and you actually got abused for doing good stuff. Then you’d come to associate your purpose with something that’s negative. Our sense of purpose is largely driven by feedback.

Positive feedback, mostly.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’ve done the numbers. I know that purpose makes me happy. I know that it makes others happy. I know that it also works extremely well from a business perspective. In fact (without boasting), you’d be hard-pressed to find another ‘marketer’ giving away as much free and comprehensive information as we do at Psychotactics.

But that doesn’t prove or disprove anything. It only proves that there is ‘your way, and my way.’ There is no ‘the way. The way, the purpose, the feedback is all changeable.

And that’s because it’s probably harder for people to live without purpose than with purpose. Try going through the next thirty minutes with no purpose and you’ll know what I mean.

As humans, we have to intellectualise everything. Or it drives us crazy.

Does purpose exist? OR do we make it up? That’s like asking which came first–the chicken or the egg.

And you feel free to talk as much as you like about the heart’s brain — there is also some interesting research about the heart-brain and intuition and how that gets shared with the head-brain.

For a quick version, feel free to take a peek at The Heart of Neurofeedback on my blog – it gives a quick taste of the really cool research on the heart and intuition.

For more — head over to the HeartMath Institute at http://www.HeartMath.org

And thanks so much for your encouragement and support for Positive Politics — I really do appreciate it – from my heart.

Karen

Karen

So you’re late. You’re contribution is incredible. I may write a post about it.

I understand what you’re saying about the heart actually being a brain itself. I had thought that’s how I read it some time ago, but couldn’t remember where so I chose to err on the side of caution. Since you’re a brain specialist, I can proceed to make countless references to our heart’s thinking.

I would love to see Positive Politics take off. The bit of time you and I have spent talking about it, the concept sounds amazing. And, oh, the work you could do for humanity. Obviously something that has great meaning.

Thanks so much for sharing.

I had so many thoughts and reactions reading all the discussion, but a couple of things jumped out at me…

Sean said: “The truth is that meaning is man-made.”

Actually, our brains are hard-wired to create meaning. That’s what all the brain activity is about — it’s not *just* categorizing and sorting and labeling, it’s also trying to make sense out of events and relationships and experiences — i.e., to make meaning.

And Dawud – it’s not just that the heart is made of similar tissues as the brain. It IS a brain, all in itself, and uses the same neurochemical messengers as the head brain and the gut brain. AND the head and heart exchange information regularly — most of that exchange going from heart to head, rather than the reverse as many people would guess.

Sean also said: “And therefore, yes it’s important to create happiness and peace in our lives first, and then help others achieve the same.”

There are an increasing whack of studies to suggest that the opposite order is the more powerful one — that by helping to create happiness (insert any other positive feeling or meaning-making here)in others, we create happiness in ourselves.

Then onto my own sense of meaning. As some of you know, I am currently working to expand my neurofeedback practice to include working with women wanting to be involved in the political system. (self-plug here: http://PositivePolitics.wordpress.com if you’d like to visit

In working with this group, I think, like many of you, I am somehow interested in addressing all 3 of Guy’s areas of meaning.

1. Quality of Life: I believe by supporting women (hey, and men too to thrive in politics I am working to address the quality of life of the individual politicians themselves as well as the constituents they are working for. Politics is traditionally a stressful, competitive, and personally alienating place to be – and politicians, especially women, often describe ending up feeling disconnected from themselves, their families, their energy, motivations, and gifts. By trying to help them connect to their own courage and live from their sense of inner integrity, they can create and maintain honest and authentic connections with themselves and others. This creates greater and greater meaning in their own lives and *that* leads to the emergence of more meaningful and adpative ways of being together in the world.

2. Right a wrong: There seem to be lots of “wrongs” in politics: the disempowerment of minorities (e.g., women, the disabled, the poor, etc.,etc.); the fractionating of people into “parties” (e.g., political parties, lobby groups, advocacy groups, liberals, conservatives, red/blue states in the U.S., etc. etc.). I want my work to contribute to the (re-)discovering of working together in a more collaborative and connective way in order to bring us together to create the kind of world we want.

3. Preventing the end of something good:
I sincerely believe that many, if not most politicians go into politics to make a positive difference. I want to be able to support them to keep their vision and energy alive — and maybe even to re-energize the political process into something that can again be respected and valued and honoured.

Thanks for giving me the space to join in so late — and to get my thoughts clarified around some of this. Great post!

Karen

Exactly. What I know in my heart is that every human being is chasing something pure inside themselves. If we stay on the course of that chase we’ll end up making meaning in our lives, our families, our businesses. When we skew away from that chase, things get cloudy, confusing and even in success will often lead us to suffering.

This is why I have affiliate business, but I try to make it in a way that might be helpful to people, not just clone of what exist already.

Ditto.

And, yes Dawud, I agree with your thoughts:

[quote comment="3328"]… that working for money alone leads to emptiness and often to only temporary success. But working for what is a deeper place from inside leads to a life and business of caring and meaning.[/quote]

Since starting my own business years ago, even in my poorest moments, I’ve had a sense of deep and abiding contentment that I never, never experienced in any other job I’ve had.

I love that quote. And I’ve found that the more I have given in my life, the richer my life is – in every way.

“A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.”

(Henry Ford)

I think we all could take a page from Adam’s book.

Mark,

It’s interesting to me that the heart, as an organ, is 55-65% neuro tissue. Meaning, almost two-thirds of the heart is made from the same tissues as the brain. Just thought I’d throw that factoid in the mix.

Adam,

I think you’re right on with your assessment. A good friend once told me that you shouldn’t use spiritual language to describe material things just as you shouldn’t use material language to describe spiritual things. He called this, “mixing your drinks.” Sounds like we’ve got a little drink mixing going on.

The important thing that I was trying to get across in this post is my own, personal thoughts and feelings that working for money alone leads to emptiness and often to only temporary success. But working for what is a deeper place from inside leads to a life and business of caring and meaning. I’d still like to talk about that point – instead of which side of the fence people are on.

Any takers?