What's so special about music? We experience it internally, yet at the same time it is highly social. Music engages our cognitive/affective and sensory systems. We use music to communicate with one another--and even with other species--the things that we cannot express through language. Music is both ancient and ever evolving. Without music, our world is missing something essential. In Reflections on the Musical Mind, Jay Schulkin offers a social and behavioral neuroscientific explanation of why music matters. His aim is not to provide a grand, unifying theory. Instead, the book guides the reader through the relevant scientific evidence that links neuroscience, music, and meaning. Schulkin considers how music evolved in humans and birds, how music is experienced in relation to aesthetics and mathematics, the role of memory in musical expression, the role of music in child and social development, and the embodied experience of music through dance. He concludes with reflections on music and well-being. Reflections on the Musical Mind is a unique and valuable tour through the current research on the neuroscience of music.

The sun is my joy and depression is the eclipse. It pales everything around it with the paint of darkness. It corners one into isolation and deceives those around it...An infant's sleep was of content abandon and peaceful satiety. Infants have no care; no expectations demanded and cast upon them. I longed for this sleep so badly but could not make sense of this ominous longing. Contrary to the bright future that was forecasted for me, I could barely make it through the morning let alone face the day ahead. To think of the day ahead was a challenging enough task to consider executing. I could not think beyond moments, let alone scheduling and having to think about the weeks or months which lay before me. A feeling of dread encircled me like vultures waiting to converge towards a carcass.I felt tightly tied to my bed by invisible ropes composed of demotivation and unfounded, insurmountable exhaustion. I found it impossible to walk and reach the knob of my bedroom door which was a mere two metres away. Bathing was too high a demand and expectation, an impossible goal to accomplish. So I resided myself to lie in bed and not bath for successive days on end, disabled by feelings of defeat and failure due to the inability to achieve simple tasks.Dr Samke J. Ngcobo is a medical doctor who is based in Johannesburg. She is an author, philanthropist, professional speaker, and entrepreneur. She founded a non-profit organisation called Sisters For Mental Health and a company called Vocal Mentality (Pty)Ltd which focuses on psycho-educating the corporate community and community at large about mental illnesses and mental health.

For Paul Ferrini, there was a time when the very thought of Jesus left him cold. Instead of embodying the truth of Jesus' teaching, Christianity seemed to harbor the fearful thoughts and actions of people who were more committed to self-interest than to unconditional love. So when Ferrini felt Jesus' voice inside him saying, "I want you to acknowledge me," he resisted. In time, however, he came to realize that it was not Jesus he was rejecting but the untruths that had become attached to Christian teaching. Responding to the inner voice did not mean merely acknowledging Jesus as some great teacher who lived in the past, but also meant that he was opening himself up to a living presence within his own awareness. Once Ferrini reached this reconciliation, powerful words of spiritual truth began to flow through him. Reflections of the Christ Mind presents the most important teachings the author has received through his spiritual awakening. Here at last is a gospel devoted solely to Jesus' teachings of love, healing, and forgiveness. The teacher readers meet in these pages is both compassionate and open-minded-he is the Jesus Christians know in their hearts. Repudiating religious hypocrisy, intolerance, and spiritual pride, Ferrini rejects the dogmatic position of the Church, offering instead words of hope and healing that form the new gospel for today.

Pioneers in the healing professions offer essays based on personal encounters with Tarthang Tulku.

Triumphant Reflections of the Mind Poems & Essays “To be or not to be? That is the question.” Shakespeare had posed this question which led me to this exploration of existence vs. non-existence. One way to look at existence is by persistence, after being recognized as a non-existent, human being. Persistence is used as a vehicle through which one is transported to a reality that they feel is true. Existence involves the recognized five senses, i.e. feeling, touching, seeing (viewing), tasting, and hearing. When acknowledging these five senses, one is able to function as a evolutionary human being leaning toward an international understanding of the benefits mankind received through God, our Father. However, one can be self-actualizing by using the senses available to one by the moment he needs the senses. If, for some reason all five senses are not available, then compensation is brought to the forefront by making the other senses more intense, thereby allowing for the maximization of a unified body functioning at its fullest. Constantly reviewing, applying, and directing self, to maximize each sense in accordance with his conscience – leads to the betterment of society. This betterment can be seen as either good or excellent. Mediocrity has no place to focus on the purest of quests. At this present writing, it is felt that there are many loopholes in the systems developing a quasi or even a false sense of well being.. is it is the thought process of the brain and its motivation to excel or fail, that might allow for a leaning of the masses to entice honest and demonstrative leadership Leadership that is existing, to allow its citizens the fullest benefit for societal gain, could occur if the masses are led by ethical, persuasive, and pure reasons. For decisions made by a person in power, to allow the consideration of an architectural mind building a peaceful environment in the land to which he rules –– either by a Republic or not. Is one dilemma in mankind’s pursuit of peace. PAX Praise God for our diversity and welcoming new ideas! Jeanne Brohl

Joseph Uemura guides us through six dialogues in an efford to promote a dialectical quest rather than a final resting place.

The author takes the reader on an entertaining journey through military life from the generational perspective of a baby boomer. From dealing with losing his military draft student deferment during the Vietnam War to serving as a bodyguard for the Secretary of Defense, the author provides the reader with a unique, informative and often outrageously hilarious glimpse of military life in the United States Army intelligence and law enforcement communities. Learn about sanpaku, snafu, the Asoh Defense, and other obscure forms of military jargon and acronyms. Get introduced to an ornery barnyard cat, modern day cattle rustlers, clever investigative techniques and the perils of using foreign language translators to determine case facts. Laugh in wonderment at the murky world of lie detection using a polygraph instrument. The colorful and memorable characters described in each chapter, to include the author, are alternatingly frail and courageous, naïve and crafty, cynical and patriotic, but always captivatingly authentic.

Why are gods and idols ubiquitous throughout the ancient world? What is the relationship of consciousness and language? How is it that oracles came to influence entire civilizations such as the ancient Greeks? If consciousness arose far back in human evolution, how can it so easily be altered in hypnosis and "possession"? Is modern schizophrenia a vestige of an earlier mentality? These are just some of the difficult questions addressed by Julian Jaynes's influential theory of the origin of subjective consciousness or the "modern mind." This book includes an in-depth biography of Julian Jaynes, essays by Jaynes, and the discussion and analysis of Jaynes's theory from a variety of perspectives such as clinical psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, anthropology, linguistics, and ancient history.

These 45 essays, previously published as weekly newspaper columns, are an invitation to think and reflect. Written in everyday language for the general public, these essays are of a spiritual, psychological nature. Whatever the topic--heroes and celebrities, loneliness, cleverness versus justice, or the joy of heaven--each is written is written to intrigue the mind, then flow down to the heart.

"We Mind Dwellers live in an endless game of Peekaboo. When there are no signs, and no warm fuzzy feelings, we truly believe that God is not there. We believe that He has checked out and has moved on to bigger and better problems than our own. When we do not see the ducks lined up in a nice, neat row, we fear that God is no longer in control of our lives. We worry, we dread, we dwell, until God, so long-suffering and gracious, reveals Himself to us." Reflections of a Mind Dweller was born out of a desire to reflect upon a personal struggle with worry, anxiety and fear. "Desperate to know if others felt as I felt, I researched. And in my search I found I was not alone. There are others like me - artists, poets, authors, the famous, the infamous, the anonymous - the faceless individuals that, like me, dwell in their minds." Their reflections, as well as the author's are shared in - Reflections of a Mind Dweller.