Dependent origination as a natural governing law
The Ethical Standpoint, Conclusion & References
12. The Ethical Standpoint
The principle of dependent origination applies to all things: Dhammaniyama the natural law of cause and effect; Utuniyama the natural law pertaining to physical objects (physical laws); Bijaniyama the natural law pertaining to living things and heredity (biological laws); Cittaniyama the natural law governing the workings of the mind; and Kammaniyama the law of karma which is of particular importance in determining human well being and is directly related to behavior from an ethical perspective. According to the Buddha we all have the same mother and father, namely the interconnection of the aggregate which are made up of soil, water, energy, and wind. In this universe everything is a blood relative and we are all born from the same womb of mother earth. If we look at the Gaia hypothesis and dependent origination, (166) we see that ethics from the environmental point of view is about nothing more than survival. Ethics are about how to survive as a human species. The implied ethical argument from dependent origination: Dependent origination is NOT about causality, it is about interdependent relationships. Therefore our sense of ethics comes out of interdependent relationships--i.e., the need to co-exist.
Our ethics is thus conditional to our awareness. Without other entities and this 'knowing' we cannot exist as an identity. The need to co-exist and the need to survive are at the root of all choices. This is coupled with awareness where there are higher order ethics of compassion and humility, which are greater than the self. The meaning of life exists through our inter-connectiveness with those around us, our community and the world. All entities exist because of mutual independent relationships.
Dependent origination highlights the paradox between our free will and our social/cognitive conditioning. There is action, there is consequence. Ethics through a dependent origination framework can be seen more as a process rather than a code or set of rules to follow. This has been confused by some of the paganistic ways Buddhism today is displayed in as a means for good health, prosperity, and success in business, etc. Buddhism has also been overlaid in ritual.
Due to our interconnection with everything and powerlessness to control (not destroy however) requires solutions that work in harmony with the environment. This applies to everything. Our appreciation of scientific knowledge to date has only been to serve our own interests--i.e., our relationship with the environment has been concerned with trying to derive as much resources as possible with little regard for the consequences. From the dependent origination viewpoint, worldly goodness is embedded in the ego and the teaching of morality requires the existence of a person. The existence of a person will have some motivations (ego) and cannot be purely altruistic, i.e., even religion treats blessing afterlife as a motivation. Therefore most people adhere to morality because of habit and lack of intention. Morality is situationally based on ego and the assumption of continuing existence. A person can be ethical but at the same time not be free of suffering and delusion. (167) Morality doesn't necessarily eliminate greed, hatred and delusion. (168)
Morality is an outward expression and doesn't necessary reflect inward on the true person, thus we have morality without spirituality, thus not developing the person. One must have a mind above good and bad, pleasure and pain, merit and demerit. In this way it is possible to eliminate dissatisfaction or suffering. Consequently dependent origination is in no way associated with morality which infers eternalism, which depends upon a theory of existence of the self. (169)
Humans cling to humanity itself and society's beliefs as protection from fear and anxiety. This is where unethical practices develop from, i.e., desire and greed etc. Usually people cling to morality in order to have minds that are peaceful because of the goodness they do. This can last as long as causes and conditions of their goodness do not change - but where change underlying selflessness (annatta) causes suffering (dukkha) because one clings to the action of goodness. Therefore knowledge of morality is not enough to serve as a refuge. Sensual attachment is a powerful force in the world and bonds families and even nations together. (170) Views form through society and religion where we are become attached to rituals, rites and beliefs, etc. Furthermore we are attached to the idea of self where we believe in a separate self. Attachment to opinions requires introspection to detect. For this reason necessary to continually amend our views making them more correct--changing false views into closer views to the truth. This differs from religion which teachers the dominance of man. (171) From the perspective of dependent origination, doing good is not enough. We must be free of desire. (172) This is different to other religions. It requires insight to break from this.
One of the greater causes of karma is the human race's belief in itself which leads to various forms of action and consequences, environmentally, socially, politically, entrepreneurially. Ignorance is connected to so many actions. Many of the models we act upon are deluded in the assumptions they employ leading to consequences like the 2008 economic crisis, the Iraq and Vietnam wars, the First and Second World Wars, and degradation of the environment, etc. From the dependent origination perspective this is at the center of the world's problems. In fact looking from this perspective we see that little human behavior is based upon rational foundations. The power of primal instinctive belief in self is with us from birth and the basis of all our politics. (173)
Descartes and later Locke moved away from the centrality of God in making moral decisions to emphasize the freedom of the individual for managing their own decisions rather than looking for outside guidance. This reflected a person's freedom from bonding to traditional beliefs and superstition. (174) Most great thinkers have relied upon thinking and reasoning to conceive various principles for well being and humanity. All these principles based on speculations which don't help anybody gain insights. Morality became acceptable behavior according to generally accepted social standards during each time and place. As this is a cultural phenomenon acceptable behavior would cause no stress to others and self. People who seek pleasures and power are generally those that have no higher sense of values and can easily disregard community accepted standards.
The phenomenon of operating as a moral hazard to others appears to be becoming more acceptable and even legal in society today. Some institutions may be able to make certain decisions and take actions that escape responsibility and accountability for their behavior, which may be reckless to others. (175) Too many individuals, firms, and institutions are able to manipulate circumstances to their own advantage without transparency, which has been cited as a reason behind the US mortgage crisis of 2008. Many large financial institutions in the United States gave out risky mortgage loans to customers that would provide potential large returns. However the financial institutions didn't have to carry the full burden of their losses as they were bailed out by the US government, (176) which resulted in taxpayers shouldering the burden of risky financial decisions made by faceless people within the financial institutions. (177) As a consequence some argue that the financial system is structured in a way to encourage moral hazard behavior as financial institutions are able to operate with the knowledge that they will get bailed out if necessary. (178)
Today some may argue that corporate management may make reckless decisions because shareholders are unable to observe the actions of management on a daily basis and that management can present the firm in a positive light that is misleading at annual general meetings of stockholders. (179) In addition a manager may be personally protected from the consequences of the poor decisions he or she makes. This can occur through tenure in positions, anonymity, nepotism, or scapegoating. (180) Or where no clear lines of responsibility or accountability exist for given decisions. Overly high remuneration packages of senior corporate executives have been criticized for allowing a moral hazard phenomenon occur because of guaranteed bonus payments free of any performance criteria. (181) The above leaves the situation where managers may act in self interest rather than in the interest of the shareholders. (182) Holding companies that have no assets of their own can make reckless decisions that may aggrieve people. In this case the aggrieved have very little recourse as the company has no assets that can be utilized as compensation. (183) This type of corporate structure is legal, even though it may very easy facilitate a moral hazard phenomenon.
Industry self regulation in many industries since deregulation during the 1980s may have let institutions with opportunities to take advantage and escape accountability. (184) There is also a certain amount of government policy decision making where decisions of national importance have been made without disclosing all the facts to the public. (185)
At the individual level, many people are given credit high card limits that encourage reckless spending without considering the consequences of high personal debt. This contributes to the high personal debt levels of people today. (186)
According to Buddhist Dharma we don't know the true nature of things and thus we follow our ideas or follow the generally accepted ideas of society around us. We tend to act according to the emotions generated when our senses come in contact with objects. To act with wisdom, feeling must not be allowed to brew up and give rise to craving. (187) Dependent origination is more than morality which is relative truth, it is the absolute truth. (188)
The first essence of action is intention and motivation. It is about avoiding arrogance and self importance through understanding that having importance is nothing of real value, not having any contaminating elements within the mind to allow true mental freedom without emotions, likes and dislikes. (189) There is the risk of becoming attached to goodness and thus doing things for the wrong reason. Our karma formation or the mental path of destiny we take depends upon our dominant narrative. (190) 'Goodness' must be transcended to achieve a state of wisdom.
Thus the first action is intention and motivation. We must be motivated by insight rather than any desires. Intuitive wisdom is not rational thinking.
Intuitive wisdom can only be gained by means of a genuine inner realization. Looking with tools and paradigms through their particular epistemologies are limited in what meaning they provide. Thus it is important to be able to think outside these models. Perhaps this concept of wisdom has analogies through the concept of learning organization developed by Peter Senge, "where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together." (191) Such organizations according to Senge will be able to face the rapidly changing environment with flexibility and adaptation, driven by peoples' willingness and capacity to learn at all levels. However current organization structures and form are not conducive to learning and people although having great capacity to learn, do not have the tools needed. (192)
Senge believes that people want to be part of something bigger than themselves to grow and this is where they have opportunities to' re-create' themselves. The prevailing method of learning in organizations is adaptive learning focused on survival, but for a learning organization there must also be generative learning, organizational learning disabilities can be overcome. Generative learning requires a mastering of five disciplines:
* Systems thinking; seeing the world and events as a whole, where forces behind them are related. This helps us to see relationships and helps us to see how to change things effectively with minimum effort, i.e., to find leverage points in the system. This has a lot of similarities with the concepts of dependent origination.
* Personal mastery; the process of continually deepening and enriching our personal visions, the focusing of energies, developing patience and seeing reality objectively. Personal mastery could be considered a product of the 'Eightfold Path'.
* Mental models; are unconscious metaphors of how we see things, which influence how we act. If we can understand how we see things, we are in a better position to see reality more objectively. Mental models are about wisdom and right mindfulness.
* Building shared vision; to develop a shared picture which will create commitment, rather than just compliance by individuals. Building shared vision is about right intention, right action, right effort, and right concentration}93 and
* Team learning; is the ability of the group to rid themselves of their assumptions and begin to think together. This must be done openly without anyone trying to win. Team learning is about the journey that the 'Eightfold path' takes a community.
These disciplines can be focused towards seeing wholes, rather than parts, seeing people as active participants, rather than helpless reactors and to creating the future, rather than reacting to the past. Understanding is a rational reasoning and insight is concentrated introspection. However one must be sure that feeling is not mistaken for intuition. The hierarchy of thinking is shown in figure 5 below.
What is important under the Buddhist Eightfold Path is a coded ethical structure but the ability to apply humility, compassion, and righteousness, the characteristics of a true self to aspects of everyday life, (194) and in this way wisdom is a form of creativity. Wisdom is about interpretation and application rather than the following of specific codes.
Most lower level human thinking is based upon our emotions which originate from our limbic system at the base of the brain. Many of these emotional responses are hardwired into our thinking system and concerned with our primal needs and survival, as well as mateship. We answer specific situations based upon the emotions embedded within out mental schema and upon subsequent appraisal of the situation determine the intensity we will respond to the situation with our emotions. (195) Learned 'core related themes' are believed to influence this automatic appraisal process. (196) Therefore higher order emotions are social constructs. To be angry, disgusted, humiliated and proud are moral positions. (197) These social emotional positions are coded into memory schemata and they become automatic responses. (198) These socially related emotions will also have some relationship to the basic core emotions. (199) Without our specific awareness of the play these emotions make upon our judgments, decision making will tend to be emotionally based. Sometimes this becomes difficult to determine as these basic emotions mix with other emotions to produce very complex social emotions. (200) They become our responses to meaning, which we confuse for meaning itself.
We live in a rational society where the world is run by time, logic, reason, and "objectivity". Everything is measured and designated within the spirit of Weber's rational bureaucracy and Frederick Taylor's scientific management. Our education system is based upon rationalism, promoting specialized disciplines and critical thinking. Therefore people tend to approach problems through the paradigm of reason and rationality. Facts are required before "informed decisions" are made. Facts and knowledge are paramount prerequisites to decision making. Within the rational society, ethics are the based on codified laws and religious dogma with penalties attached to certain types of behaviours as a deterrent. Therefore in the rational society one acts out of fear and "logic" within a heavily socialized and cultural framework. Thus all solutions are "culturally based" solutions and according with the Buddhist point of view, they are of the wrong intention.
To handle the enormous amounts of incoming information and perform the decisions that have to be made requires some form of mechanisms that can 'short-cut' the interpretive and decision processes. (201) Heuristics and biases are a means to achieving this and as a consequence have an influence on our perception and reasoning. Heuristics assist decision making under uncertainty because of insufficient information from the environment. Heuristics and other biases compensate and thus assist people in solving problems, developing new ideas, and seeing potential opportunities that others don't. (202) They also influence how we look at ethical problems ethics and how we develop strategies. (203)
Heuristics are 'short-cuts' , 'rules of thumb' , decision rules or templates that aid quick judgments and decisions. Heuristics become embedded within our belief system. They can also be influenced by our deep motivations and reflect our social conditioning. Heuristics and other biases become intertwined within our knowledge structures and become a factor of influence in the assessments, judgments and decisions we make involving opportunity evaluation. (204) These basic assumptions include views about time, space, human nature, the nature of relationships, and what is the truth. (205) They are part of the decision making process. (206) In effect heuristics are our programmed system of 'common sense '.
Heuristics have the potential to assist the decision making process by cutting down on the person's information load. (207) They allow a person to make quick decisions about problems and opportunities without undertaking formal analysis which would tend to highlight problems, thus preventing its exploitation. (208) Heuristics are important when windows of opportunity are very short. (209) They also help in making quick strategy choices, saving time and adding to flexibility. Heuristics make up for lack of experience (210) and drive intuition, which is independent of inputs from the cognitive perception process. (211) This will trigger off the creativity process by imposing an alternative reality to what is perceived through the senses.
Creativity and in particular creative insights are an extremely important aspect of our thinking styles. Without creativity, very little would develop, and we would have difficulty functioning and making a contribution to the wellbeing of the humanity. The concept of creativity is elusive, as it cannot be observed directly, measured or even acknowledged until sometime after the creative act has taken place. (212) Relatively little research has been undertaken on creativity until the 1960s. (213) However within the last three decades there has been a massive serge in research, new theories and the development of many creative tools.
When a sub-conscious connection between two bits of information fit a problem, a realization that brings a feeling of insight occurs. This illumination is often described as the 'aha' or the 'eureka' moment. This insight may not bring the whole solution of the problem but perhaps provide a key piece of information that enables the problem to be restructured, reorganized, reframed, reconstructed or reconsidered in some now light, where a solution comes forward with relative ease. In hindsight the solution will normally be a simplistic and logical one, ironic given the difficulty in arriving at the insight. A simple block or misplaced assumption that was removed during the incubation and sub-conscious contemplation process made way for the insight to occur. (214) Accepted prior knowledge of a domain and field can sometimes block an insight, especially where knowledge is accepted as a given and not previously questioned.
Insight is the example of a product produced through our brain's self organizing system which begins to associate external information from the environment, our domain and field knowledge and our prior experience held in the long term memory. This may operate in a similar manner to the way we combine words into phrases, phrases into sentences and sentences into ideas and stories to create meaning. Imagination may also play some role in creating vision and imagery and assisting in drawing analogies during this process. (215) The insight is the product of the connection between these bits of information in some sort of semantic, conceptual or visual form, which assists the advancement of the problem solving process. (216) Any meaningful connection of ideas will immediately flash into our conscious memory as an insight previously not considered in regards to the problem.
Recent research has shown when individuals are left undisturbed the brain is not idle, where there is actually increased activity, localized in the pre-frontal cortex. (217) The brain during any resting period is actually quite active. Without any stimulation the mind freely wanders through past recollections, envisioning future plans, and other thoughts and experiences. (218) This phenomenon was termed the 'default network' to describe brain activity at rest. (219) The significance of the 'default network' to the creative insight is that continued underlying processes still occur that are unrelated to conscious thought occur, something described in the incubation process mode of the creativity process. (220) Research has shown that mindfulness can activate the 'default network.'221 The 'default network' activates when an individual is at rest and shuts down when an individual becomes active and is focused on the outside world.
At the top of the thinking hierarchy is wisdom, a thinking process that is only achieved by a small percentage of the population after many years of experiencing life (see figure 6.). A person's awareness or mindfulness transcends the lower emotional influenced thinking, social interpretations, to a level where one thinks about issues and can develop new personal understandings. This comes from our emotional sensitivity which runs across a continuum from mindlessness to mindfulness. (222) Mindlessness numbs individuals' senses to the outside environment and patterns them into seeing situations as absolutes. (223) Whereas mindfulness is a state of psychological freedom without any attachment to any point of view and being attentive to what is occurring at present. (224) Many peoples' emotional sensitivity is inhibited by their past categorizations, rules and routines that cloud the ability to view any current situation with novel distinctions. (225) Therefore the more mindful a person is, the more open to the environment they will be.
Mindfulness allows a person access to environmental perceptions without schema blocking or altering the interpretation of events. The more mindfulness, the better the perception of opportunities, however other facets such as prior knowledge are still vitally important, which without, any individual will not be able to perceive opportunity for new ventures, products, and services. (226) Langer proposed that mindfulness may enhance the ability to perceive and shape new opportunities through five components that have been empirically tested: openness to novelty - the ability to reason with relatively novel forms of stimuli; alertness to distinction - the ability to distinguish minute differences in the details of an object, action, or environment; sensitivity to different contexts - tasks and abilities will differ according to the situational context; awareness of multiple perspectives - the ability to think dialectically, and orientation in the present - paying attention to here and now. (227)
One would assume that the degree of mindfulness an individual possesses will also influence the depth of meaning that can be derived from the environment. New discoveries may occur because of emotional sensitivity and mindfulness described above in what could be called a 'passive search, '228 where an individual is receptive but not engaged in any formal systematic search.
Thich Nhat Hanh stated that every feeling whether good or bad, powerful or light should be paid attention to with mindfulness that can be used as a force to protect the psych. This has two important implications. (229) The first is to be aware of our own biases and distortive tendencies in our perception of objects. The second implication is that we protect ourselves from harmful influences and 'emotionally ' learn. Psychotherapy advocates a healthy ego which requires some 'healthy attachment' like identification in the creation of a sense of self. (230) Das expands on identity as being something we experience spiritually, sexually, sensually, intellectually, economically, philosophically, and so on. (231) Identity is situationally dependent upon the role one plays as a mother, father, worker, student, etc. However from the Buddhist perspective, this can lead to an ego produced out of mistaken identity, based on anxiety and confusion about 'who I am. ' (232)
John Bowlby's seminal work on attachment theory defines attachment as one of the prime motivational systems with its own workings and interfaces with other motivational systems. (233) What may be important is understanding desire as a driver of motivation. (234) Thus some attachment is considered to be a healthy part of a person's psychological make-up, a driver for action. However it should be noted that the motivation behind our actions is usually desire, which unchecked can develop into many abnormal pathologies like depression, anxiety, aggression, etc. (235) It is not the desire that causes the suffering, but what we do with our desire. People need to feel secure and have loving relationships to provide a base for life exploration, which requires some attachment. Michael Porter also recognized that emotional attachment can influence rationality of strategic decision making where one may be committed to a business, have a sense of pride, be concerned about the stigma attached to a decision, identify with the program or venture, etc. (236)
A true understanding of the concept of attachment and detachment from the Buddhist perspective may have been lost in the semantics of translation, especially with the institutionalization of most of Buddhism's doctrinal interpretations. Modern Buddhist and psychology scholars with the benefit of hindsight have added new perspectives by taking more liberal semantic interpretations of translations providing new insights. (237)
Dharma seeks to make us aware of the emotions one is attached and clinging to so that we can be freed from the suffering it produces. We make sense of the world we see through the filters of our own attachments which distort reality. Griffiths used a very useful metaphor of a mirror that cannot reflect light because of dust that has settled upon the surface clouding any clear view. (238) So Buddhism and psychoanalytic-theory may assist in helping one see the manifestations of attachment and their underlying causes. The task is to let go of the distortions of perception created through subconscious attachments. This means understanding illusion from biased judgments, aversion, prejudice and greed in us and seeing the environment for what it really is. Buddhist Psychology provides a non-linear model for seeing a non-linear world. According to Freud, one is "in danger of never finding anything but what he already knows: and if he follows his inclinations he will certainly falsify what he may perceive." (239)
We in adulthood have become a product of our own eyes, prisoners of our own mind, observing things with a construed reality. (240) Our attachment to thoughts, feelings and experiences continually reinforce and strengthen our narratives and rationalizations. In modern Western psychology the tool to remedy distortion is termed cognitive reconstruction. One can learn to recognize weaknesses in beliefs, dysfunctional emotions that produce irrational thinking and resulting behaviors like stress, depression and anxiety, etc. Once these emotions are seen, and the motivations behind them are recognized, one can take responsibility for them. Then one's cognitive streaming can be changed, which will allow one to freely explore their internal and external worlds without the distortions of attachment and clinging. This may require changing cognitive streaming that has developed from early childhood.
The second aspect of wisdom is the ability to apply it to everyday situations. Thought experiments are a tool of wisdom. This requires personal mastery and the mental tools to utilize the creative sensitivity one has. Thought experiments can be used to challenge existing ways of thinking, confirm a way of thinking as a new theory or hypothesis, extrapolate ideas further under varied conditions, explain the past, and assist in foreseeing any consequences of particular courses of action. Thought experiments assist in developing new insights about the nature of events and situations and have been very important in developing many scientific hypothesis by some of the great thinkers including Galileo in conceptualizing gravity and Einstein in conceptualizing the special theory of relativity. There are many different types of thought experiments that can be utilized (241) and usually some specific issue such as the ethical, moral, strategic, or operational issues of a situation is focused upon. Thought experiments rely on our imagination to think through action and consequence, and unbiased thought processes to be able to arrive at potentially useful conclusions. It is the ability of a person to utilize this method of thinking that leads to wisdom in everyday life.
13. Conclusion
Werner Heisenberg and Albert Einstein spent most of their professional lives searching for the possibility of a universal or absolute truth. However they both postulated that the point of observation itself interferes with the view of reality, i.e., from certain vantage points light behaves like a particle, at other vantage points light behaves like a wave. Therefore is light matter or energy? The theory we use determines how we observe of the event. (242) This also occurs when we observe how we organize ourselves. (243)
Usually theories are confirmed through the "law of large numbers", where these approximations are empirically proven. But some causes of laws cannot be seen like gravity, which we can only confirm through experiencing the symptoms, i.e., the discoverers of new planets in other solar systems don't actually see the planets. Many processes are not fully deterministic due to randomness and uncertainty, i.e., tsunamis and earthquakes. To understand some concepts one cannot think about the laws as they are too defined and definite to provide the reality of any situation. Many theories are not positivist or instrumentalist and therefore are not predictive, i.e., we are not sure how to predict earthquakes although we know that in probability when one is due in a particular area or region. So when we talk about the next potential earthquake for San Francisco or Tokyo, our biases set in we think according to our beliefs with distorts any truth. Understanding dependent origination requires a special type of intuition with a flowing imagination that does not rely on language as a "medium of meaning", as language is too restrictive.
Any theory is just a paradigm of reality, a window through which to see the world. Our personal meaning can be attributed to the various levels of our consciousness or self awareness. As emotions are so important to our own identity, we look at the world through the window of our own emotions. This meaning is part of our consciousness of "I" and "me". Thus emotions become our theories of how we derive meaning within the world. This becomes a paradox as our emotions give meaning and our behavior puts that meaning into the environment in a cyclic phenomenon, i.e., our anger from what we perceive influences action within the environment, where reactions of others appear to justify the original perception of meaning the escalation to war, the escalation to divorce, the escalation to hate, the escalation to disappear.
Dependent origination provides structure rather than chaos as a paradigm to understand the environment. Dependent origination is a structured framework to understand the dynamics and interrelationships within the environment. Dependent origination is a way of seeing. We can understand ourselves as a conditioned part of the embodied disposition associated with any phenomenon. The environment imposes presence and defines our path and possible behaviors according to our conditioning and situation. There is a latent potential inherent logic, pattern, or system in place that will support the life-flow within the environment. Understanding this structure is beyond our cognitive abilities and requires imagination without language. We are observer-participants because this inherent logic through culture is also part of us. Without wisdom we are fated to conduct ourselves within this logic without consciously knowing of it. Thus this logic is a barrier to our wisdom. Such an example on a social scale was the US Car industry unable to change strategy with the arrival of the energy crisis in 1974, new competition from Japan in the late 1970s and changing customer environment.
We view the world through our own narratives which hold us back on understanding the environment. Within the doctrine of dependent origination as taught within the Dharma there is no place for such views in gaining awareness of our experiences within the world. (244) This prevents personal mastery and wisdom when one keeps to their personal story of the world.
Our bonding with people, objects, and events is a dualistic one in nature. Everything has a value through our emotions placed upon it, and this becomes the basis of our interaction. For example, we view relationships through a framework of emotions which can unite, separate, and aggravate a person depending upon the sets of emotions associated with the relationship. This implies a deep set of values which are the cornerstone of co-existence and mutual survival. "I love you and you love me" represent strong emotions of affection and mutual union. "You no longer love me" creates emotions of separation, loss and aggravation. "I beg you to come back" represent desperation and a sense of distress and even grieving.
Thus imagination without language may take us to a spatial domain where the environment, life and meaning becomes a broadly painted impressionist canvass, where meaning is represented by brushstrokes, patterns and layers. The picture becomes and emerging one with people, objects, and events appearing and disappearing as the story continues. Shades represent emotions which can be changed continuously. This transient nature of the canvas metaphorically shows that reality is continually changing and there is no room for logic to interpret it. Reality may just be an aspiration which can change immediately upon new brush strokes being added to the picture. The canvass just becomes revised and revised providing new insights upon existence and meaning.
Dependent origination is about creativity and personal mastery. To understand the environment one must be able to pre-existing conditions, what one is doing in relation to these conditions, and the results that come from one's actions. (245) This requires attention, concentration and awareness. (246) This requires reframing the Four Noble Truths to 1. Understand the nature of life, 2. Know how humans behave, 3. Be objective, and 4. Integrate these principles into what we do. The Eightfold Path shows how to attain the right skills, utilize the right knowledge, immerse oneself in the right knowing, where the right view arises. (247) This leads to the right resolve (motivation), to the right speech (narrative), and to the right action. (248)
Dependent origination is not nihilism. Within dependent origination there is the inherent meaning of co-arising or co-dependence of which is the very basis of our existence. There is no permanence, only the effects of arising out of co-existence, developing by virtue of causes, and ceasing with the cessation of these causes. The world is a perpetual flow of natural forces incessantly interacting and changing. (249) There is not emptiness as meaning relies upon relatedness which is the root of all meaning. (250) No phenomenon, no individual form of life can exist independently of others. (251)
Dependent origination provides answers to questions such as what is knowledge? To what extent can knowledge grow? Assuming one accepts the definition of knowledge to be the same as the definition of reality. Our knowledge begins with perception - which is coordinated with our personal reflection on the outside world. How we reflect is of upmost importance to the meaning we derive.
It could be argued Siddhartha Gautama be seen as one of the most profound scientist/philosophers of our humanity rather than a spiritual figure. Siddhartha Gautama not only offered us insight into cognition some 2500 years ago that is now only being appreciated in the relatively new discipline of cognition, but he also offered a paradigm to see the environment that is forming some of the bedrock of how we view various disciplines, environment and social systems today.
The depiction of the pregnant lady within the Wheel of Samsara may actually be providing optimism if the metaphor is interpreted as humanity is open to all sorts of potential and possibilities rather than emptiness. On a final note, this is only the writer's interpretation. The concept of dependent origination is subject many interpretations among the Buddhist scholars. The intention here is to create awareness and future discussion on the concept.
Dependent Origination as a natural governing law, (2012) Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice, Vol. 4, No, 2, pp. 116-177.
Notes and References
(Endnotes)
(1.) Pali Tipitika S.II.28,65
(2.) Also termed as dependent arising, conditioned genesis, dependent co- arising, or interdependent arising.
(3.) The Buddha is a title for the first awakened.
(4.) Blomfield, V. (2011), Gautama Buddha: The Life and Teachings of the Awakened One. London: Quercus, 4.
(5.) Batchelor, S. (1997), Buddhism without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening. New York: Riverhead Books, 5.
(6.) Sangharakshita (2004), Living with Awareness: A Guide to the Satipatthana Suttra. Birmingham: Windhorse, 61.
(7.) DeGraff, G., and Thanissaro Bhikkhu (1996), The Wings of Awakening. Barre, MA, The Dhamma Dana Publication Fund, 21.
(8.) Wienburg, S. (1992), Dreams of a Final Theory. New York: Random House, 51.
(9.) Bhikkhu, Buddhadasa (1992), Paticcasamuppada: Practical Dependent Origination. Bangkok: Vuddhidhamma Fund, 4.
(10.) Capra, F., Steindt-Rast, D., and Makus, F. (1991), Belonging to the Universe: Explorations on the Frontiers of Science and Spirituality. San Francisco, CA: Harpers.
(11.) Chao, Y. S., and Midgley, G. (2007), "Toward a Buddhist Systems Methodology 1 : Comparisons between Buddhism and Systems Theory," Systematic Practice and Action Research 20(3): 167-194.
(12.) DeGraff, G., and Thanissaro Bhikkhu (1996), The Wings of Awakening, Preface, viii.
(13.) Smolin, L. (2006), The Trouble with Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science and What Comes Next. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
(14.) Dawkins, R. (1989), The Selfish Gene. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(15.) Lovelock, J. (1979), GAIA: A New Look at Life on Earth. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(16.) Hunter, M. (2012), Opportunity, Strategy, & Entrepreneurship: A MetaTheory, Vol. 1. Nova: New York, 255.
(17.) Buddhism is concerned more about the conduct of life. The Pali talks about vedic deity which implies the highest and noblest form of life. i.e., "Bramhmacariya" - the conduct of vedic behavior (this also shows the influence of Vedic Hinduism upon Buddhist philosophy).
(18.) Hawking, S., and Mlodinow, L. (2010), The Grand Design: New Answers to the Ultimate Questions of Life. London: Bantam Press.
(19.) Brown, M. (1949), Natural Philosophy of Cause and Chance. New York: Dover Publishers.
(20.) Darwin, C. (1859), The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection on the Preservation of Favoured Species in the Struggle for Life. London: John Murray.
(21.) Even the concept of complexity is relative to the number and nature of actions we are comparing our perceptions with.
(22.) Winnicott, D. W. (1967), The Child, the Family and the Outside World. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
(23.) Even the conditions around our body are experienced through relatedness. For example, if you have been working outside on a hot day and go inside to an air conditioned room, upon returning outside the heat will feel unbearable. Initially the feeling was neutral, but only when one experiences comfortable conditions will the hot conditions outside become a conscious burden. In Buddhism this is important to the concept of suffering or dukkha. Relatedness and comparison as the basis of emotions like greed and envy.
(24.) Taken from Hunter, M. (2009), Essential Oils: Art, Science, Agriculture, Industry & Entrepreneurship: A Focus on the Asia-Pacific Region. New York: Nova Scientific Publishers, 355.
(25.) Feynman, R. (1995), Six Easy Pieces. London: Penguin Books, 110.
(26.) A good example of amplification and suppression might be a company's sales. For example certain factors like population growth, rising per capita incomes, advertising, word of mouth, and more accessible channels to reach the public may amplify a firm's sales growth. However, a situation of decreasing population, loss of spending power though unemployment, increasing competition, and/or the arrival of new technologies may suppress the growth of sales.
(27.) DeGraff, G., and Thanissaro Bhikkhu (1996), The Wings of Awakening, 300.
(28.) Ibid., 301.
(29.) Gharajedaghi, J. (2006), Systems Thinking: Managing Chaos and Complexity: A Platform for Designing Business Architecture. Amsterdam: Elservier, 119.
(30.) Forrester, J. W. (1971), "Counter Intuitive Behavior of Social Systems," Technology Review 73(3): 52-68.
(31.) Wolfram, S. (2002), New Kind of Science. Wolfram Media, Inc., online at: http://www.wolframscience.com/
(32.) The belief that in the beginning there was nothing does not have any foundation in dependent origination. This thinking can be seen as an attachment to concepts as the truth is unknown, and implies the existence of a creator. This view of the world means that humankind cannot seek solutions by wishing or praying to 'the gods '. There is no such thing as luck, there are no aimless accidents as there is a seemingly endless process of evolution going on.
(33.) The Buddha taught the concept of karma in the pretext of human suffering, where emotions like greed, envy, anger, and other psychotic emotions perpetuate one within one of the realms of samsara. See Hunter, M. (2012), Opportunity, Strategy & Entrepreneurship: A Meta-Theory, Vol. 1. New York: Nova Scientific Publishers, 255-266.
(34.) Something like the current potential between the positive and negative nodes of direct current electricity. It takes a wire of something that can conduct electricity to realize the potential connecting the two terminals.
(35.) Time is a relative measure of one point against another.
(36.) Payne, R. (2006), "Individual and Awakening: Romantic Narrative and the Psychological Interpretation of Buddhism and Psychotherapy," in Unno, M. (ed.), Buddhism and Psychotherapy across Cultures: Essays on Theories and Practices. Boston, MA: Wisdom Books, 36.
(37.) Suffering can be seen as clinging to delusions that distort reality, and the craving and desire, i.e., unsatisfied desire for objects in humans that also delude people. Suffering also includes aspirations for wealth, a better life, fame, reputation, and the defense mechanisms or "psychotic thoughts and behavior" used to maintain one's self identity. Aspirations for wealth, fame and a better life may lead to hard work, generosity, where discipline and concentration may be present. There may also be motivating factors like an afterlife in religion, where all these factors lead to unknown and complex outcomes. However according to the teaching of paticcasamuppada these motivating factors are all based on ignorance which cause suffering. See Buddhasa Bhikkhu (2007), Handbook for Mankind: Realizing Your Full Potential as a Human Being. Bangkok: Amarin Publishing (Translated from the Thai edition by Aniyanada Bhikkhu Roderick S. Bucknell), 65.
(38.) The doctrine of paticcasamuppada has been the subject of much debate and interpretation. This explanation of dependent origination is based on Buddhadasa Bhikkhu's interpretation. See Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (1992), "Paticcasamuppada"
(39.) See Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (1992), Paticcasamuppada, Preface.
(40.) These delusions become personality traits. A person may also have difficulty in discriminating between being helpful and helpless, harmless and harmful, and taking sustainable and non-sustainable actions, etc. Some people maintain 'good conduct' due to civil and religious codes. However these actions, although positive are seen in Buddhism to lack inner purity.
(41.) The word 'consciousness' is often confused with 'rebirth consciousness'.
(42.) Tashi Tsering Geshe (2006), Buddhist Psychology: The Foundation of Buddhist Thought, Vol. 3. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 26.
(43.) See: Tejguru Sirshree Tejparkhiji, (2006), Detachment from Attachment Let Bliss Succeed, Let Sorrow Fail. Bombay: Tej Gyan Foundation.
(44.) Cognition, sight, hearing, etc, entail physical properties and mental processes, and these function according to our consciousness, feeling and volitional impulses. Body and mind must function with the relevant senses interacting with the world. These senses operate in accordance with the mind and bodily states of the person. This is influenced through previously acquired experience, which in turn serves the intention of the volitional impulses. For example when thoughts are influenced by anger, the arising perceptions as a result will be correspondingly negative. The stance of the body will follow the emotional stance of the person. Thus body and mind are interdependent. Consequently there are no thoughts divorced of emotions, i.e. seeing and smelling a rose evokes emotions. Objects are thus not independent of feelings. The body follows the disposition of the mind. Intentions alert the state of the senses, i.e., the sportsman is primed to do what has to be done on the field. All events occurring and mental dispositions are important to karma. This is a period where people develop delusional resolve about issues.
(45.) With no knowledge or awareness of the truth, no clear understanding or wise reflection on experiences, the result will be confused thinking based on delusion or imagination based on false beliefs, fears, and accumulated character traits. This conditions how one thinks, speaks and acts. Examples are believing in ghosts, and believing in human control of the environment. We most often mistake the behavior of others with different meanings to what was intended, leading to wrong ascertainments and conclusions.
(46.) For example a coastal foreshore area can be understood as a hinterland of resources by a geologist, a backdrop for a landscape scene by a painter, a potential location for settlement by explorers, a place for children to play, and a romantic place to walk by couples; all deriving meaning through context, need, aspiration, and experience. The environment embodies multiple realities through the conditioning we have where meaning is based upon the context of individual and society.
(47.) One could argue this with the reasons given for US commitment in both the Vietnam and Iraq wars. Much marketing theory is based on this premise. See: Hill, D. (2010), Emotionomics: Leveraging Emotions for Business Success, 2nd edn. London: KogenPage.
(48.) This has many similarities to some of the concepts in Freudian Psychoanalysis. See: Wallin, D. J. (2007), Attachment in Psychotherapy. New York: The Guilford Press, 31.
(49.) Metzner, R. (1997), "The Buddhist Six-worlds of Consciousness and Reality," Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 28(2): 155-166; Engler, J. (1993), "Becoming Somebody and Nobody: Psychoanalysis and Buddhism," in Walsh, R. V. (ed.), Paths beyond Ego: The Transpersonal Vision. New York: G.P. Putman & Sons, 118-121; Engler, J. (2003), "Being Somebody and Nobody: A Reexamination of the Understanding of Self in Psychoanalysis and Buddhism," in Saffran, J. D. (ed.), Psychoanalysis and Buddhism: An Unfolding Dialogue. Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications, 35-86; Epstein, M. (1995), Thoughts without a Thinker: Psychotherapy from a Buddhist Perspective. New York: Basic Books; Epstein, M. (2007), Psychotherapy without the Self- A Buddhist Perspective. London: Yale University Press.
(50.) Welwood, J. (2001), "The Unfolding of Experience: Psychotherapy and Beyond," in Schneider, K. J., Bugental, J. F. T., and Pierson, J. F. (eds.), The Handbook of Humanistic Psychology: Leading Edges in Theory, Research, and Practice. London: Sage; Zimberoff, D., and Hartman, D., (2002), "Attachment, Detachment, Nonattachment: Achieving Synthesis," Journal of Heart Centered Therapies 5(1): 3-94.
(51.) For a discussion on the various types of attachment and delusion see: Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (2007), Handbook for mankind.
(52.) Vajiranana, M. (1962), Buddhist Meditation in Theory and Practice. Colombo: M. D. Gunasena & Co.
(53.) Freud, S. (ed.) (1926), Inhibition, Symptoms and Anxiety. (1964 edition, Vol. 19). London: Hogarth Press.
(54.) Tashi Tsering Geshe (2006), Buddhist Psychology, 54.
(55.) In this case the six realms (5 in Theravada Buddhism) inside the links of Paticcasamuppada can be seen as metaphors for various 'mind-states' one experiences during life. For example, fear could be the state of asura, hunger and yearning the state of peta, stupidity the state of tiryagyone, etc. The depicted realms can be correlated to psychotic pathologies (See: Buddhaghosa, (1991), The Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga), 5th edn. (translated by Bhikku Nanamoli), Kandy, Buddhist Publication Society). Existence in each realm creates a different sense of self (See: Mitchell, R. W. (1993), "Mental Models of Mirror-Self-Recognition: Two Theories," New Ideas in Psychology 3: 295-325) reflecting distorted views of their own ego (See: Moacanin, R. (1986). Jung's Psychology and Tibetan Buddhism: Western and Eastern Paths to the Heart. Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications), leading to certain types of behavior. Unless one can break free of their karma, one is trapped into moving between these different realms or 'mind-states'.
(56.) Even the Buddha used "rebirth" in metaphorical terms.
(57.) Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity: Youth and Crisis. New York: Norton.
(58.) Collin, A. (1990), "Mid-life Career Change Research," in Young, R. A. and Borgen, W. A. (eds.), Methodological Approaches to the Study of Career. New York: Praeger Publishers, 197-220.
(59.) Hunter, M. (2012), Opportunity, Strategy & Entrepreneurship: A MetaTheory, Vol. 1. New York, Nova Scientific Publishers, 336.
(60.) Even some teaching proposes that a soul is a being which floats around or moves through existence, birth, and rebirth. For example, under Mahayama teachings there exists a storehouse consciousness of inborn templates designating how to perceive the world resulting from one's karmic history (bijas). Bijas combine with naman to form an ego or collective consciousness, thus creating conscious illusions of everyday life.
(61.) However it does not stop there. To become a bodhisattva (monk) one must work to assist others to escape the cycle of suffering with pure altruistic aspiration with deeds that lead to the six perfections of giving, ethics, patience, effort, concentration, and wisdom. See: Wright, D. S. (2009), The Six Perfections: Buddhism and the Cultivation of Character. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(62.) Sopa, G., and Hopkins, J. (1976), Practice and Theory of Tibetan Buddhism. New York: Grove.
(63.) There is no "I' or "me" inpaticcasamuppada. Therefore no birth and death takes place, and as a consequence there are no deeds from past lives that influence the present.
(64.) Napper, E. (2003), Dependent Arising and Emptiness: A Tibetan Buddhist Interpretation of Madhyamika Philosophy. Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications, 31.
(65.) Gethin, R. (2008), Sayings of the Buddha According to the Pali Canon. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 210.
(66.) Connelly, C. (2012), "Time Keepers to Introduce Leap Second June 30 to Keep in Synch with Mother Earth," HeraldSun.com, January 6th, http://www.herald sun.com.au/technology/time-keepers-to-introduce-leap-second-june-30-to-keep- insync-with-mother-earth/story-fn7celvh- 1226238221924
(67.) This is similar to the Heraclitus Flux Doctrine where "a man can never stop a river force. The river has changed and it is a different river, and man has changed and he is a different man."
(68.) Dependent origination as taught by the Buddha lacks detail and is extremely superficial. There is no moment by moment analysis of physical phenomena, nothing strong enough to lay as a theoretical template across any discipline.
(69.) Lovelock, J. E. (1979), GAIA: A New Look at Life on Earth. Oxford: Oxford University Press, see Preface.
(70.) Lovelock, J. E. (1972), "Gaia as Seen through the Atmosphere," Atmospheric Environment 6(8): 579-580; Lovelock, J. E., and Margulis, L. (1974), "Atmospheric Homeostasis by and for the Biosphere - the Gaia Hypothesis," Tellus 26(1): 2-10.
(71.) Lovelock, J. E. (2001), Homage to GAIA: The Life of an Independent Scientist. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(72.) Lovelock, J. E. (2005), Gaia: Medicine for an Ailing Planet. London: Gaia Books, 22.
(73.) W. Ford Doolittle and Richard Dawkins criticized the Gaia hypothesis on a number of grounds. Firstly, living organisms cannot act altruistically and work together to regulate the environment. Doolittle added that environmental regulation would require foresight and planning which organisms are incapable of. Dawkins also said that Gaia cannot exist because it cannot reproduce, so there cannot be any natural selection of planetary worlds. See Harding, S. (2006), Aminate Earth: Science, Intuition, and Gaia. White River Junction, Vermont: Chelsea Green Books.
(74.) Benzinger, T. H., Pratt, A. W., and Kitzinger, C. (1961), "The Thermostatic Control of Human Metabolic Heat Production," Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 47(5): 730- 739.
(75.) Watson, A., and Lovelock, J. E. (1983), "Biological Homeostasis of the Global Environment: The Parable of Daisyworld," Tellus 35(4): 286-280.
(76.) The albedo effect refers to the reflective ability of a planet due to its color. The lighter the planet's color, the more reflective it will be and the darker the color the more absorptive it will be. Therefore a black planet reflecting no light will have an albedo ratio of 0.0, and a white planet reflecting all light will have an albedo ratio of 1.0. This directly affects the surface temperature of a planet, i.e., the balance between the heat it receives from the sun and the heat it disperses back into space. On the earth this is much more complex with the presence of an atmosphere and the resulting greenhouse effects. However at polar caps the majority of heat is reflected back and in oceans and forests heat is absorbed and slowly radiated out into the atmosphere.
(77.) Lovelock, J. E. (2000), The Ages of Gaia: A Biography of Living Earth. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(78.) Ricard, M., and Thuan, T. X. (2004), The Quantum and the Lotus: A Journey to the Frontiers where Science and Buddhism Meet. New York: Three Rivers Press; Smetham, G. (2010), Quantum Buddhism: Dancing in Emptiness Reality Revealed at the Interface of Quantum Physics and Buddhist Philosophy. Brihton: Shunyata Press; Wallace, B. A. (2010), Hidden Dimensions: The Unification of Physics and Consciousness. New York: Columbia University Press.
(79.) The solar system was once thought to be of clockwork precision governed by the laws of physics where everything was completely predictable and deterministic. This view was based on Newton's law of motion and gravitation. For a history on the evolution of the Newtonian view of the world see: Dolnick, E., (2012), The Clockwork Universe: Isaac Newton, the Royal Society and the Birth of the Modern World. New York: Harper Perennial.
(80.) The Newtonian order could be described as 1. A separation of consciousness and matter, 2. The universe seen as a motion of objects, 3. The space between objects is empty and flat, 4. There is only one absolute universe, 5. The universe is predictable, and 6. The universe will eventually die as energy depletes and runs out, becoming inert.
(81.) Smith, B. A., and Terrile, R. J. (1984), "A Circumstellar Disk around Beta Pictoris," Science 226(4681): 1321-1424.
(82.) Montmerle, T., Augereau, J.-C., Chaussidon, M., Gounelle, M., Marty, B., and Morbidelli, A. (2006), "Solar System Formation and Early Evolution: The First 100 Million Years," Earth, Moon, and Planets 98(1-1): 39-95.
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(85.) Pudritz, R. E. (2002), "Clustered Star Formation and the Origin of Stellar Masses," Science 295: 68-75.
(86.) Woolfson, M. M. (1993), "Solar System - Its Origin and Evolution," Q.J.R. Astr. Soc. 34: 1-20.
(87.) Montmerle, et al. (2006), "Solar System Formation and Early Evolution".
(88.) Wiichiro, K., and Shigeru, I. (2002), "Formation of Protoplanet Systems and Diversity of Planetary Systems," The Astrophysical Journal 581(1): 666-680.
(89.) Wiichiro, K., and Shigeru, I. (2002), "Formation of Protoplanet Systems".
(90.) Sean, R. N., Quinn, T., and Lunine, J. (2006), "High-resolution Simulations of the Final Assembly of Earth-like Planets, 1: Terrestrial Accretion and Dynamics," Icarus 183(2): 265-282.
(91.) Bottke, W. F., Durda, D. D., Nesvomy, D., Jedicke, R., Morbidelli, A., Vokrouchlicky, D., and Levison, H. F. (2005), "Linking the Collisional History of the Main Asteroid Belt to Its Dynamical Excitation and Depletion," Icarus 179: 63-94.
(92.) Sean, R. N., Quinn, T., and Lunine, J., (2007), "High-resolution Simulations of the Final Assembly of Earth-like Planets 2: Water Delivery and Planetary Habitability," Astrobiology 7(1): 66-84.
(93.) Hoover, R. B. (2011), "Fossils of Cyanobacteria in C11 Carbonaceous Meteorites: Implications to Life on Comets, Europa, and Enceladus," Journal of Cosmology 13, accessed at: http://journalofcosmology.com/ (15th May 2012).
(94.) Montmerle, et al. (2006), "Solar System Formation and Early Evolution".
(95.) Nakamoto, T., and Nakagawa, Y. (1994), "Formation, Early Evolution, and Gravitational Stability of Protoplanetary Disks," The Astrophysical Journal 421: 640-650; Yorke, H. W., and Bodenheimer, P. (1999), "The Formation of Protostellar Disks III: The Influence of Gravitationally Induced Angular Momentum Transport on Disk Structure and Appearance," The Astronomical Journal 525(1): 330-342.
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(97.) Petit, J.-M., and Morbidelli, A. (2001), "The Primordial Excitation and Clearing of the Asteroid Belt," Icarus 153(1): 338-347.
(98.) Accretion is the process of cooled dust and gas within the planetary disk colliding together to form larger bodies.
(99.) Petit, J.-M., and Morbidelli, A. (2001), "The Primordial Excitation and Clearing of the Asteroid Belt".
(100.) Bottke, W. F., et al. (2005), "Linking the Collisional History of the Main Asteroid Belt to Its Dynamical Excitation and Depletion".
(101.) Petit, J-M., and Morbidelli, A. (2001), "The Primordial Excitation and Clearing of the Asteroid Belt".
(102.) Montmerle, et al. (2006), "Solar System Formation and Early Evolution".
(103.) Stanley, S. M. (1986), Earth and Life through Time. New York: W.K. Freeman, 4.
(104.) Kamide, Y. (2001), "Our Life Is Protected by the Earth's Atmosphere and Magnetic Field: What Aurora Research Tells Us," Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy 55: 21-24.
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(106.) Smolin, L. (1997), The Life of the Cosmos. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(107.) However geographical location is a major determinant of resources, markets and prosperity. See: Diamond, J. (2005), Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive. New York: Penguin.
(108.) Paul Krugman in a rewriting of his book The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 written in 1999 recalls the great depression and other crises during the 20th century and points out the lessons that we have not learned. Krugman, P. (2009), The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of2008. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
(109.) Stephen King in his book Losing Control talks of how governments are finding it more difficult to manage and control their economies and that global factors are shifting the balance and shape of the world economy beyond the control of any government. King, S. D. (2011), Losing Control: The Emerging Threats to Western Prosperity. New Haven: Yale University Press.
(110.) Hayek, F. (1989), The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 202.
(111.) Hunter, M. (2012), Opportunity, Strategy, & Entrepreneurship: A MetaTheory, Vol. 1. New York: Nova Scientific Publishers, See: part 1 of chapter 2.
(112.) Trade unions rose in strength and power after the Second World War. The trade union was an important part of the economy with great influence how industry was organized and operated. In the United States this came from the New Deal philosophy that President Roosevelt introduced during the 1930s (see: Schweikart, L., and Doti, L. P. (2010), American Entrepreneur: The Fascinating Stories of the People who Defined Business in the United States. New York: AMACOM, 307.). Trade Unions also grew in post war Europe and Australia with supportive governments, but all began declining in the 1960s and 1970s with many stand-offs with strike actions, leading to the conservative free market philosophies of Thatcherism and Reaganism in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
(113.) See: Sorkin, A. R. (2009), Too Big to Fail. New York: Penguin.
(114.) Hunter, M. (2012), Opportunity, Strategy & Entrepreneurship, Vol. 1, 3.
(115.) Keynes argued that the multiplier effect was important in keeping economies out of recession through activities that raised government spending in the economy in ways that would increase aggregate demand. Keynes stipulated that any increased government spending must not just be substitution for other expenditures but additional expenditure that would stimulate additional demand which would in turn lead to further employment. However if resources in a country where already fully employed, extra government spending would lead to inflation and increased imports. See: Keynes, J. M. (1933), The Means to Prosperity. London: Macmillan, 10.
(116.) Diamond, J. (2005), Collapse, 56-59.
(117.) The Agganna [D.III.80-98] mentioned humans against humans, the Cakkavatti [D.III.58-79] mentioned humans and society, and the Vaseththa (Sn.594-656] mentioned the human environment. See the Agganna as an example of social explanation, the Cakkavatti about the arising of crime and social ills.
(118.) Personality and behavior are derived from the interaction of our cognitive processes and social interaction. Under dependent origination our senses are interconnected to the environment which creates the self through defilements. One is born free of negative forces but through social interaction way of life and reality is created. All good and bad things in the world are created through the mind.
(119.) The relational gap could be considered the difference between who I perceive 'I am' and who 'I want to be'. 'Who I want to be' is influenced by what one perceives in the environment which leads to the incubation of our wishes, desires, and aspirations.
(120.) Kollock, P., and O'Brien J. (1994), The Production of Reality: Essays and Readings in Social Psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 127.
(121.) Lotman, J. (2005), "On the Semiosphere," Sign Systems Studies 33(1): 205-229 (translated by Clark, W.).
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(126.) Foucault, M. (1990), The History of Sexuality 1. An Introduction (translated by Hurley, R.). London: Vintage Books.
(127.) Drummond, G. (1998), "New Theorizing about Organizations: The Emergence of Narrative and Social Theory for Management," Current Topics for Management 3: 104.
(128.) Bourdieu, P., and Wacquant, L. J. D. (1992), An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. Chicago/London: University of Chicago Press, 162.
(129.) Fiet, J. O. (2002), Systematic Search for Entrepreneurial Discoveries. Westport, CT: Quorum Books.
(130.) Shane, S. (2003), A General Theory of Entrepreneurship: The IndividualOpportunity Nexus. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 12.
(131.) D'Espagnat, B. (2006), On Physics and Philosophy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 348.
(132.) Hawking, S., and Mlodinow, L. (2010), The Grand Design, 83.
(133.) Kaufman, M. (2008), "Shining a Light on a Dream: What Is Quantum Physics Fundamentally about?" The Fundamental Questions Institute, February 8th, http://fqxi.org/data/articles/Shining_A_Light_On_A_Dream__RC.pdf, (accessed 20th May 2012).
(134.) Wheeler, J. A. (1978), "The Past and the Delayed-Choice Double-Slit Experiment," in Marlow, A. R. (ed.), Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Theory. Washington, DC: Academic Press, 9-48.
(135.) Rosenblum, B., and Kuttner, F. (2008), Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(136.) Take for example a parent who has aspirations for their children to go onto further education. What are the sub-conscious reasons behind these aspirations? This is not necessarily easy (even for trained psychologists) to determine without time to compare narratives and other signs given at other times by the parent. The potential motivations for the parent's aspiration for their children's higher education could be any one or even mixture of the following: keeping face, an attempt to impress the listener, keeping up with the "Jones" , deny an unhappy family life, a narrative device of optimism, showing off, meeting cultural expectations, or it is the truth. Thus we cannot assume with this simple example that meaning is always easily accessible to us. We can lose meaning through our perceptions, our interpretations, or lack of empathy with the person involved. We create meaning from what we touch, small, hear, see, and taste. Most meanings we create are within social contexts which are up to us to interpret. See: Hunter, M., (2011), "Perpetual Self Conflict: Self awareness as a Key to Our Ethical Drive, Personal Mastery, and Perception of Entrepreneurial Opportunities," Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice 3(2): 118.
(137.) Hawking, S., and Mlodinow, L. (2010), The Grand Design, 140.
(138.) Stapp, H. P. (1995), "Why Classical Mechanics Cannot Naturally Accommodate Consciousness but Quantum Mechanics Can," PSYCHE 2(6), accessed at: http://arxiv.org/pdf/quant-ph/9502012v1.pdf
(139.) Bohm, D. (1980), Wholeness and the Implicate Order. London: Routledge.
(140.) Cagan, J. and Vogel, C. M. (2002), Creating Breakthrough Products: Innovation from Product Planning to Program Approval. Upper Saddle River, NY: Financial Times/Prentice-Hall, 9.
(141.) Shane, S. (2003), A General Theory of Entrepreneurship.
(142.) Senge, P. (2006), The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. (Revised and Updated Edn.). London: Random House, 42.
(143.) Jung proposed the notion of the emergence of experience from a realm of archetypes, which are preexisting modes of potential experience. Jung had conducted a meticulous investigation of the symbolic and mythological material of the world's diverse cultures and as a result he was able to demonstrate that there are recurring themes and motifs which were exemplified in different specifics. This led him to his notion of an archetype: There are as many archetypes as there are typical situations in life. Endless repetition has engraved these experiences into our psychic constitution, not in the representing merely the possibility of a certain type of perception and action. When a situation occurs that corresponds to a given archetype, that archetype becomes activated. Archetypes, therefore, can be thought of as subjective propensities to experience our experience certain ways. Furthermore, archetypes are 'created' through a long chain of repetition of experience; they are the potential forms of possible experience produced by the repeated experience of all sentient beings inhabiting a universe, form of images filled with content, but at first only as forms without content.
(144.) Tashi Tsering Geshe, (2006), Buddhist Psychology.
(145.) The early concept of phenomenology was developed by G.W.L. Hegel, who was interested in exploring the phenomena of conscious experience. These concepts were further developed by Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger, later enlarged upon by numerous philosophers including Franz Brentano, Maurice MerleauPonty, Max Scheler, Edith Stein, Dietrich von Hildebrand and Emmanuel Levinas. Phenomenology looks at the consciousness as a process of experience rather as a static state. Consciousness is seen as a continual process where something is always in view, whether it be a perception of an object, event or fantasy. Therefore to consciousness it is not important whether the object is real or imaginary - the conscious intention exists of the object. In phenomenology the truth is what is intelligible based on one's subjective opinion rather than physical reality. The perceived reality comes from the individual's emotions, which are within the consciousness. The consciousness exists in the lifeworld, which in addition to the physical world includes all life experiences and memories. Some view the world as being completely transparent before the consciousness.
(146.) Attachment in Buddhism is a much wider concept than attachment in psychotherapy where it is primarily concerned about infant/caregiver relationships in early life. Although there are many similarities, the two concepts should not be confused.
(147.) Wisdom in Buddhism can be interpreted as acceptance of Karma and conscious awareness of those actions that will bring us happiness and those that will bring us suffering and the understanding of the concept of non-duality, recognizing that there is no permanence.
(148.) The Four Noble Truths are: 1. Our delusions of self cause our suffering, 2. Suffering is a fact of life resulting from our attachment to what we desire, 3. If we extinguish our attachment, we reduce our suffering, and 4. By following the Eightfold Path and developing wisdom, we can alleviate our suffering.
(149.) The Eightfold path consists of right understanding, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, mindfulness and right concentration. Practice of the Eightfold Path may assist in raising consciousness to a completely non-dualistic view of subject and object.
(150.) Epstein, M. (2001). Going on Being. New York: Broadway Books.
(151.) Watts, A. (1996), Buddhism the Religion of No-Religion: The Edited Transcripts. Boston, MA: Turtle Publishing.
(152.) Trungpa, C. (1975), Glimpses of Abhidharma: From a Seminar on Buddhist Psychology. Boston, M.A., Shambhala Publications; de Silva, P. (1991), "Buddhist Psychology: A Review of Theory and Practice," Current Psychology: Research and Reviews 9(3): 236-254; Claxton, G. (1990), "Meditation in Buddhist Psychology," in West, M. A. (ed.), The Psychology of Meditation. Oxford: Clarendon Press; Epstein, M. (1995), Thoughts without a Thinker: Psychotherapy from a Buddhist Perspective. New York: Basic Books.
(153.) Goleman, D. (2004), Destructive Emotions and How We Can Overcome Them: A Dialogue with the Dalai Lama. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
(154.) Safran, J. D. (2003), "Psychoanalysis and Buddhism as Cultural Institutions," in Safran, J. D. (ed.), Psychoanalysis and Buddhism: An Unfolding Dialogue. Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications, 1 -34.
(155.) Grossman, P. (2004), "Mindfulness Practice: A Unique Clinical Intervention for the Behavioral Sciences," in Heidenreich, T., and Michalak, J. (eds.), Mindfulness and Acceptance in Psychotherapy. Berlin: DVTG Press, 16-18; Safran, J. D. (2003), "Psychoanalysis and Buddhism as Cultural Institutions"; Sherwood, P. M. (2005), "Buddhist Psychology: Marriage of Eastern and Western Psychologies," www.sophiacollege.com/publications/Buudd%20pschoz.pdf, (accessed 20th October 2009).
(156.) Kurak, M. (2003), "Relevance of the Buddhist Theory of Dependent Origination to Cognitive Science," Brain and Mind 4(3): 341 -351.
(157.) Semple, J. J. (2008), The Backward-Flowing Method: The Secret of Life and Death. Bayside, CA: Life Force Books.
(158.) Burke, T. P. (2004), The Major Religions, 2nd edn. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 16.
(159.) There is nothing that exists beyond nature. Nothing can be separated from nature either as a mystical power or divine force that interferes with the processes of nature. All events must proceed within the interrelationships and processes of natural phenomena. There are no accidents or luck, only the causes are obscured from our knowledge. The concepts supernatural or miraculous events are purely events we do not understand.
(160.) See Hunter, M. (2012), Opportunity, Strategy, & Entrepreneurship, Vol. 1, 276-279.
(161.) Nagarjuna, and Garfield, J. L. (1995), The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika. (Garfield, J. L., tr.). New York-Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(162.) Edelman, G. M. (2003), "Naturalizing Consciousness: A Theoretical Framework," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100: 5520-5534.
(163.) From: Hoff, B. (1993), The Te of Piglet. New York: Penguin, 76.
(164.) Kollock, P., and O'Brien, J. (1992), "The Social Construction of Exchange," in Lawler, E., Markovsky, B., Ridgeway, C., and Walker, H. (eds.), Advances in Group Processes, Vol. 9. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
(165.) Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (2007), Handbook for Mankind: Realizing Your Full Potential as a Human Being, Bangkok: Amarin Publishing, 51.
(166.) Lovelock, J. E. (2005), Gaia: Medicine for an Ailing Planet, 18.
(167.) Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (2007), Handbook for Mankind, 43.
(168.) Ibidem.
(169.) Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (1992), Paticcasamuppada, 19.
(170.) Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (2007), Handbook for Mankind, 80.
(171.) Naoki, N. (2006), "A Buddhist Perspective on Death and Compassion: End-of-Life Care in Japanese Pure Land Buddhism," in Unno, M. (ed.), Buddhism and Psychotherapy across Cultures: Essays on Theories and Practices. Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications, 233.
(172.) Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (2007), Handbook for Mankind, 68.
(173.) Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (2007), Handbook for Mankind, 108 & 114.
(174.) Taylor, C. (1989), Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 185-207.
(175.) A moral hazard can be defined as a situation where one takes undue risks in taking a particular line of action where the costs in the event of any failure will not be borne by the risk taker. In such cases an agent may have more information about its actions and consequences about the decisions made than the principals, and the principals will take the negative consequences if anything goes wrong, rather than the agents. The type of situation has a high propensity to occur if principals cannot monitor the actions of the agents, i.e., power is in the hands of the agents without any means of transparency to the principals. See: Krugman, P. (2009), The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of2008.
(176.) Out of nearly 100 banking crises from the 1980s to 2000 all were bailed out by government. See: Boyd, J., Gomis, P., Kwak, S., and Smith, B. D. (2000), A User's Guide to the Banking Crisis. New York: World Bank, available at: http:// www1.worldbank.org/finance/assets/images/depins05.pdf (accessed 15th May 2012).
(177.) Brown, B. (2008), "Uncle Sam as Sugar Daddy - Commentary: The Moral Hazard Problem Must Not Be Ignored," The Wall Street Journal, May 22nd, http:// www.marketwatch.com/story/moral-hazard-uncle-sam-as-sugar-daddy?siteid=rss (accessed 23rd may 2012).
(178.) Simkovic, M. (2011), "Competition and Crisis in Mortgage Securitization," Indiana Law Journal 88: 2013, available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm? abstract_id=1924831
(179.) Dimitrov, V., and Jain, P. C. (2009), "It's Showtime: Do Managers Manipulate Stock Prices before Annual Shareholder Meetings?", presented to the American Accounting Association, 2009 Annual Meeting and Conference on Teaching and Learning in Accounting, New York, 1-5 August, available at: http://aaahq.org/AM 2009/abstract.cfm?submissionID=1511 (accessed 15th may 2012).
(180.) Roberts, J. (1996), "From Discipline to Dialogue: Individualizing and Socializing Forms of Accountability," in Munro, R. and Mouritsen, J. (eds.), Accountancy, Power and Ethos. London: Chapman Hall.
(181.) Saunders, A., Strock, E., and Travlos, N. G. (1990), "Ownership, Structure, Deregulation, and Bank Risk Taking," The Journal of Finance 45(2): 643-654.
(182.) For example manager collaboration with fund managers to manipulate the price of stock was considered an important aspect of the Enron collapse. See: Bratten, R. (2002), "Enron and the Dark Side of Shareholder Value," Tulane Law Review 76(5/6): 1275-1362.
(183.) Barrett, D., and Jaichand, V. (2007), "The Right to Water, Privatized Water and Access to Justice: Tackling United Kingdom Water Companies' Practices in Developing Countries," South African Journal of Human Rights 23(3): 543-562, accessed at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1742340 (15th May 2012).
(184.) Hellimann, T. F., Murdock, K. C., and Stiglitz, J. E. (2000), "Liberalization, Moral Hazard in Banking, and Prudential Regulation: Are Capital Requirements enough?" The American Economic Review 90(1): 147-165; Cole, R. A., McKenzie, J. A., and White, L. J. (1995), "Deregulation Gone Awry: Moral Hazard in the Savings and Loan Industry," Innovations in Financial Markets and Institutions 9: 29-73; Marcus, A. J. (1984), "Deregulation and Bank Financial Policy," Journal of Banking and Finance 8(4): 557-565.
(185.) One example is the issue of weapons of mass destruction in the Iraq invasion decision by the Bush Administration. See: Pollack, K. M. (2004), "Spies, Lies, and Weapons: What Went Wrong," The Atlantic Monthly, January/February, accessed at: http://www.iraqwatch.org/perspectives/atlantic-pollack-0204.pdf.
(186.) Vessio, M. L. (2009), "Beware the Provider of Reckless Credit," Journal of South African Law 137, accessed at: http://137.215.9.22/bitstream/handle/2263/13249 /Vessio_Beware(2009).pdf?sequence=1.
(187.) Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (1992), Paticcasamuppada, 8.
(188.) Absolute morality - there are only independent events which arise for a moment and then pass away. Each of these events is called paticc-samuppamadharma - events which arise because of reason of the law of conditionality and are called paticcasamuppada when they are connected together in a chain or string of events. There is no "I" or "me" in such events, so no one is born or dies and receives the results of their past deeds (as is the theory of eternalism). See: Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (1992), Paticcasamuppada, 19.
(189.) Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (2007), Handbook for mankind, 52.
(190.) Our dominant narrative is a term extended from C. K. Prahalad and Bettis's dominant logic as the way people deal with events and situations in life. Dominant logic consists of a mental map which orientates a person. It can either inhibit or enhance learning, growth, and fulfillment. See: Prahalad, C. K., and Bettis, A. (1986), "The Dominant Logic: A New Linkage between Diversity and Performance," Strategic Management Journal 7(6): 485-501. Thus our awareness and intent with the corresponding actions come out of our karma which is made through our past thoughts and behavior. The events of life shape our dominant narrative, which shapes our future.
(191.) Senge, P. (1990), The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. New York: Doubleday, 3.
(192.) Senge, P. (1990), The Fifth Discipline, Ch. 2.
(193.) Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (2007), Handbook for Mankind, 100.
(194.) Hunter, M., (2011), "Perpetual Self Conflict," 112-113.
(195.) Lazarus, R., and Folkman, S. (1984), Stress, Appraisal and Coping. New York: Springer.
(196.) Smith, C., and Lazarus, R. (1993), "Appraisal Components, Core Relational Themes, and the Emotions," Cognition and Emotion 7: 233-269.
(197.) Harre, R. (1991), Physical Being: A Theory of Corporeal Psychology. Blackwell: Oxford.
(198.) Leventhal, H. (1982), "The Integration of Emotions and Cognition: A View from the Perceptual-motor Theory of Emotion," in Clark, M. S. and Fiske, S. T. (eds.), Affect and Cognition: The 17th Annual Carnegie Symposium on Cognition. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
(199.) Greenberg, L. S., and Safran, J. D. (1989), "Emotion in Psychotherapy," American Psychologist 44(1): 19-29.
(200.) Hunter, M. (2012), Opportunity, Strategy, and Entrepreneurship, Vol. 1, 251.
(201.) Finucane, M. L., Alhakami, A., Slovic, P., and Johnson, S. M. (2000), "The Affect Heuristic in Judgments of Risks and Benefits," Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 13(1): 1-17.
(202.) Gaglio, C. M., and Katz, T. A. (2001), "The Psychological Basis of Opportunity Identification: Entrepreneurial Alertness," Small Business Economics 16(2): 95-111.
(203.) Busenitz, L. W., and Barney, J. B. (1997), "Differences between Entrepreneurs and Managers in Large Organizations," Journal of Business Venturing 12: 9-30; Mitchell, R. K., Smith, J. B., Morse, E. A., Seawright, H. W., Perero, A. M., and Mckenzie, B. (2002), "Are Entrepreneurial Cognitions Universal? Assessing Entrepreneurial Cognition across Cultures," Entrepreneurial Theory and Practice 26(4): 9-32; Alvarez, S. A., and Busenitz, L. W. (2001), "The Entrepreneurship of Resource Based Theory," Journal of Management 27: 755-775.
(204.) Mitchell, R. K., Busenitz, L., Lant, J., McDougall, P. P., Morse, E. A., and Smith, B. (2004), "The Distinctive and Inclusive Domain of Entrepreneurial Cognition Research," Entrepreneurship, Theory and Practice 28(6): 505-518.
(205.) Schein, E. (2010), Organization Culture and Leadership, 4th edn. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. See: Chapters 7, 8, 9.
(206.) Wright, M., Hoskisson, R. E., Busenitiz, L. W., and Dial, J. (2000), "Entrepreneurial Growth through Privatization: The Upside of Management Buyouts," Academy of Management Review 25(3): 591-601.
(207.) Gowda, M. V. R. (1999), "Heuristics, Biases and the Regulation of Risk," Policy Science 32: 59-78.
(208.) This is one area where entrepreneurial thinking may be very different from management thinking. An entrepreneur without perfect information will act on intuition and hunch. Any analysis will be mental rather than through the formal processes which managers in a company situation will tend to follow. Management analysis of new ideas will tend to frame the question; what is wrong with this idea?, why should it not be exploited?, what will be the potential problems?, etc. Thus analysis can become a very negative paradigm in management preventing new ideas emerging into new strategies.
(209.) Tversky, A., and Kahneman, D. (1974), "Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases," Science 185: 251 -284.
(210.) Alvarez, S. A., and Busenitz, L. W. (2001), "The Entrepreneurship of Resource Based Theory".
(211.) Gowda, M. V. R. (1999). "Heuristics, Biases and the Regulation of Risk".
(212.) For example a painting or piece of art may not be recognized by the art community as being creative until many years after it has been created. This leads to the situation where many pieces of art only accumulate value after the artist has passed away and the act of creativity is only realized as such long after the event.
(213.) Sternberg, R. J., and Lubart, T. I. (1996), "Investing in Creativity," American Psychologist 51(7): 677-688.
(214.) Robertson-Riegler, G., and Robertson-Riegler, B. (2008), Cognitive Psychology: Applying the Science of the Mind, 2nd edn. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 472-473.
(215.) Imagination plays a number of roles within our thinking processes. The eight types of imagination that we may use include: 1. "Effectuative Imagination which combines information together to synergize new concepts and ideas"; 2. "Intellectual (or Constructive) Imagination which is utilized when considering and developing hypotheses from different pieces of information or pondering over various issues of meaning say in the areas of philosophy, management, or politics, etc."; 3. "Imaginative Fantasy Imagination which creates and develops stories, pictures, poems, stage-plays, and the building of the esoteric, etc."; 4. "Empathy Imagination which helps a person know emotionally what others are experiencing from their frame and reference"; 5. "Strategic Imagination which is concerned about vision of 'what could be', the ability to recognize and evaluate opportunities by turning them into mental scenarios..."; 6. "Emotional Imagination which is concerned with manifesting emotional dispositions and extending them into emotional scenarios"; 7. "Dreams which are an unconscious form of imagination made up of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur during certain stages of sleep"; and 8. "Memory Reconstruction which is the process of retrieving our memory of people, objects, and events." See: Hunter, M. (2012), "Imagination May Be More Important than Knowledge: The Eight Types of Imagination We Use," Orbus, http://www.orbus.be/info/important _news_april_extra_004.htm.
(216.) There are also a number of creative tools that can enhance the ability to do this.
(217.) Ingvar, G. H. (1974), "Patterns of Brain Activity Revealed by Measurements of Regional Cerebral Blood Flow," Alfred Benzon Symposium VIII, Copenhagen.
(218.) Andreasan, N. C., O'Leary, D. S., Cizacho, T., Arndt, S., and Rezai, K. (1995), "Remembering the Past: Two Facets of Episodic Memory Explored with Position Emission Tomography," American Journal of Psychiatry 152: 1575-1585; Buckner, R., and Carroll, D. C. (2007), "Self-projection and the Brain," Trends Cogn. Sci. 11: 49-57.
(219.) Gusnard, D. A., Akbudak, E., Shulman, G. L., and Raichle, M. E. (2001), "Medial Prefrontal Cortex and Self-referential Mental Activity Relation to a Default Mode of Brain Function," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 98: 4259-4264; Gusnard, D. A., and Raichie, M. E. (2001), "Searching for a Baseline: Functional Imaging and the Resting Human Brain," Nat. Rev. Neuosci 2: 685-694.
(220.) Buckner, R. L., Andrews-Hanna, J. R., and Schacter, D. L. (2008), "The Brains Default Network: Anatomy, Function, and Relevance to Disease," Annals of the New York Academy of Science 1114: 1-38.
(221.) Jang, J. H., Jung, W. H., Kang, D.-H., Byun, M. S., Kwan, D.-H., Choi, C.-H., and Kwan, J. S. (2011), "Increased Default Mode Network Connectivity Associated with Meditation," Neuroscience Letters 487(3): 358-362.
(222.) Mindfulness is a state of open acceptance of one's own perceptions and sensibilities that helps our experience of being calm, relaxed and alert state of mind and be aware of our thoughts without identifying with them Ladner, L. (2005), "Bringing Mindfulness to Your Practice," Psychology Networker July/August: 19.
(223.) Corbett, A. C., and McMullen, J. S. (2007), "Perceiving and Shaping New Venture Opportunities through Mindful Practice," in Zacharakis, A. and Spinelli, S. (eds.), Entrepreneurship: The Engine of Growth, Volume 2: Process. Westport, CT: Praeger Perspectives, 48.
(224.) Martin, J. R. (1997), "Mindfulness: A Proposed Common Factor," Journal of Psychotherapy Integration 7: 291-312; Brown, K. W. and Ryan, R. M. (2003), "The Benefits of Being Present: Mindfulness and Its Role in Psychological Wellbeing," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 84(4): 822-848.
(225.) Langer, E. J., and Moldoveanu, M. (2000), "The Construct of Mindfulness," Journal of Social Issues 56(1): 1-9.
(226.) Corbett, A.C. & McMullen, J.S. (2007), "Perceiving and Shaping New Venture Opportunities through Mindful Practice".
(227.) Langer, E. J. (1997), The Power of Mindful Learning. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley.
(228.) Ardichvili, A., Cardozo, R., and Ray, S. (2003), "A Theory of Entrepreneurial Opportunity Identification and Development," Journal of Business Venturing 18: 105-123.
(229.) Hanh, T. N. (1976), The Miracle of Mindfulness. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 38.
(230.) Winnicott, D. W. (1965), The Maturational Processes and the Facilitating Environment. New York: International University Press; Winnicott, D. W. (1971), Mirror-role of Mother and Family in Child Development. London: Tavistock Publications.
(231.) Das, L. S. (2003). Letting Go of the Person You Used to Be. London: Bantam Books.
(232.) Engler, J. (2003), "Being Somebody and Being Nobody: A Reexamination of the Understanding of Self in Psychoanalysis and Buddhism," in Safran, J. D. (ed.), Psychoanalysis and Buddhism: An Unfolding Dialogue. Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications, 36.
(233.) Bowlby, J. (1980), Attachment and Loss. New York: Basic Books.
(234.) Smith, M. (1987), "The Humean Theory of Motivation," Mind 96(381): 36-61.
(235.) Epstein, M. (2007), Psychotherapy without the Self-A Buddhist Perspective. London: Yale University Press.
(236.) Porter, M. E. (1980), Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors. New York: Free Press, 267.
(237.) King, R. (1994), "Early Yogacara and its Relationship with the Madhyamaka School," Philosophy East & West 44(4): 659-686.
(238.) Griffiths, P. J. (1986), On Being Mindless: Buddhist Meditation and the Mind-Body Problem. La Salle: Open Court.
(239.) Freud, S. (1912), Recommendations to Physicians Practicing Psychoanalysis, Vol. 12. London: Hogarth Press, 112.
(240.) Welwood, J. (1996), "Reflection and Presence: The Dialectic of SelfKnowledge," The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 28(2): 122.
(241.) For example one could be speculative about what possible future outcomes may be, reasoning in the cause and effects, and effects back to causes, or speculate about alternative outcomes if different events arise in the past.
(242.) Kollock, P., and O'Brien J. (1994), The Production of Reality.
(243.) Morgan, G. (2006), Images of Organization. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
(244.) DeGraff, G., and Thanissaro Bhikkhu (1996), The Wings of Awakening, 43.
(245.) Ibid., 22.
(246.) Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (2007), Handbook for Mankind, 100.
(247.) The world usually has two extreme views the world clings to systems with built in dogmas. When a person clearly sets upon a point of view different from others this is called "right view."
(248.) DeGraff, G., and Thanissaro Bhikkhu (1996), The Wings of Awakening, 177.
(249.) Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (2007), Handbook for Mankind, 49.
(250.) When something is perpetually changing and devoid of any permanent unchanging element it can be said to be empty. When we discover that it possesses no stable component whatsoever that could be regarded as self, that is it is simply nature changing and fluctuating in accordance with the laws of nature. Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (2007), Handbook for Mankind, 63.
(251.) Bharucha, F. P. (1992), Buddhist Theory of Causation and Einstein's Theory of Relativity. New Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 68.
