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Autism represents a pervasive cascade of developmental (psychological) failures. Therefore the primary deficit in autism, the necessary and sufficient cause, should be a very early psychological failure. Genes and other biological factors linked to autism are neither necessary nor sufficient to cause autism. Nor could biological factors have changed quickly enough to account for recent changes in the incidence of autism. Biological factors must work indirectly, by increasing the probability of the primary deficit. Brain differences may be secondary to early social deprivation. The personality, like all other dynamic systems, must self-organize from a few simple components. I summarize in this paper some of the evidence that a very early step in the self-organization of the personality is the internalization of the image of the mother's eyes. I propose that failure to internalize that image is the primary deficit in autism. Recent dramatic increases in the incidence of autism coincide with dramatic increases in the very early use of non-maternal child care including TV, video and computer games. Reduced exposure to the mother's gaze would mitigate against internalizing the image of the mother's eyes. My hypothesis predicts that autism is statistically linked to early non-maternal child care. This prediction has implications for preventing autism. It should be confirmed or refuted by the current Norwegian-American study, The Autism Birth Cohort.

The implications of Warren McCulloch's 1945 concept of heterarchy are analyzed in terms of human value and motivational systems. The results demonstrate the near-impossibility of predicting behavior on the basis of any hierarchical scheme, or even which among a set of hierarchical schemes will be selected as the basis of a behavioral choice. Thus, for example, people regularly say one thing and do another. KEYWORDS: Heterarchy, hierarchy, motivation, values, Warren McCulloch.

This article explores some experiential implications of Laszlo's Akashic Field hypothesis as well as similar information-rich field models such as those suggested by Bohm and Sheldrake. It examines the implications of such models for both ordinary and anomalous human experience, and proposes the idea that these models allow for the possibility of alternative experiential worlds as real as ordinary 'material' reality. Such alternative realities are posited by many, if not all, major mythic and religious systems, and are said to be directly experienced in certain contemplative and shamanic traditions as well as during postmortem and near-death experiences. We note that information-rich holographic fields may be able to store concentrated non-overlapping quantities of information that can be selectively activated by distinct eliciting stimuli. Individual human consciousness itself might constitute just such a stimulus, thus accounting for the individual and cultural variations on commonly shared motifs in shamanic, near death, and other experiences of alternative realities. KEYWORDS: Akashic Field, alternative reality, anomalous experience, bardo, consciousness, experience, holographic field, information, lifeworlds, planes, realms.

The vast majority of people living today understand that human life on the Earth is in grave danger of undergoing major redefinitions during the coming decades if not sooner. Issues of unsustainable growth, ecological depletion, consumerism and market instability, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, diseases, water shortages, etc., all make this clear. It is optimistic but unlikely that the major world powers will take this situation seriously enough to forcefully deal with it until it has become overwhelming. Nevertheless, informed and thoughtful voices may be able to bring about an effective widening of awareness sooner, and offer creative suggestions for engaging the coming crises. Indeed, many people and groups throughout the world are now exploring creative solutions to the problems that plague our times. For the most part, however, they are not heard and often do not know of each other's existence because the dominant lines of communication, and the institutions that support them, are dedicated to stability rather than seeking creative resilience in a very rapidly changing world. Such people and groups are also isolated by their own separate issues and'languages', so that they often do not recognize the fact that they are partners in seeking solutions for a world that has moved beyond 20th century values, agendas, and goals. Even so, a broad new set of values is coming into wide acceptance among many people in many countries of the world, regardless of differences in social class, political influence, and economic privilege. These values aspire to cooperation and synergy between individuals, ethnic groups, social classes, political institutions, businesses and economic organizations, between species, and between nature and human civilization. The growing presence of these creative persons and groups is a source of considerable optimism. Their greatest potential, however, can come through the sharing of ideas and plans in conversations that connect individuals into groups, groups into larger meta-groups, and ultimately create spreading networks of shared values and efforts which themselves connect together. This emergent coming together of shared dialogue and planning has the potential of breaking through the surface of conventional institutions and media, while at the same time taking on a powerful self-organizing dynamic of its own. This dynamic could bring vast numbers of people together in what is our best hope for preserving that which is most valuable from the past, while at the same time midwifing the emergence of a life affirming third millennia civilization. KEYWORDS: conversation, cooperation, sustainability, cultural creatives, world problematique

Carl Gustav Jung envisioned the human personality as a system with vertical and horizontal dimensions. The former had to do with depth, while the latter can be understood as a coordinate system with four quadrants, or functions, each representing both a psychological process and a personality type in which it is dominant. These functions are termed sensation, thinking, feeling and intuition. Several investigators have found that pairs of these functions are useful to describe four typical types of social scientists. These are termed the sensing-thinking or Analytical Scientist, the intuition-thinking or Conceptual Theorist, the intuition-feeling or Conceptual Humanist, and the sensing-feeling or the Particular Humanist. Each is described using examples of scientists from the fields of creativity and consciousness studies, and suggestions are offered for the implementation of this model. [C] 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Keywords Jung; personality; typology; systems; creativity; scientists, INTRODUCTION A system tan be characterized as a pattern of elements in mutual interaction, where the boundaries that delimit it are dependent on the activity under consideration. There are many [...]

The evolution of consciousness is seen in the context of energy driven evolution in general in which energy and information, or the in-forming of complex structure, are seen as two sides of the same coin. From this perspective consciousness is viewed as an ecological system in which streams of cognitive, perceptual, and emotional information form a rich complex of interactions, analogous to the interactive metabolism of a living cell. The result is an organic, self-generating, or autopoietic, system, continuously in the act of creating itself. Evidence suggests that this process is chaotic, or at least chaotic-like, and capable of assuming a number of distinct states best understood as chaotic attractors. Such systems do not exist in isolation, but function most normally in hypercomplex attractor patterns termed societies. KEYWORDS: autopoiesis, energy, morphogenesis, life, consciousness, evolution

The mind is viewed as a complex autopoietic system comprised of a wealth of mutually interacting cognitive, perceptual, and emotional processes, all undergirded by similarly complex neurological events, many of which fire reasonably characterized as chaotic attractors. From this perspective it is argued that both the mind and the brain are systems at the edge of chaos. Such systems, though globally stable, can be highly sensitive to weak biasing influences. The latter might include subtle connections between individuals that extend beyond ordinary causality, including the possibility of resonance effects from the vacuum scalar spectrum as suggested by Ervin Laszlo and computed by Attila Grandpierre. KEYWORDS: autopoiesis, brain, chaos, consciousness, scalar waves, system.

Many non-materialistic human nature conceptions draw more enquiry than traditional reductionistic models. Aside from being broader in scope, they also create a scientific intellectual climate that has become more conducive to nonreductionistic enquiry. While epistemology can influence scientific content and direction, ontological construction can create basic ideas that may lead to entire research lines.

The nasal cycle is a chaotic ultradian rhythm with a period ranging from about 75 to 200 minutes. It has been shown to correlate highly with EEG amplitude in the contralateral hemisphere at virtually all frequencies, suggesting a connection between this rhythm and laterality of brain function. During a three-week period, five participants estimated airflow from both nostrils every 30 minutes during waking hours. Estimates were recorded on Likert scales and analyzed in three distinct phases: (1) reconstructing two-dimensional attractors by lagging and embedding; (2) computing Fourier frequency analyses; and (3) estimating fractal dimensions. Attractor reconstructions demonstrate noticeable order when compared to Monte Carlo reconstructions of the same data sets, and dimension estimates are in the fractal range. The attractor reconstructions, in combination with the frequency analyses, show distinct individual differences in the structure of the nasal cycle. The advantages of chaotic systems analyses over traditional behavioral statistics are discussed. KEY WORDS: chaos, chaotic systems, nonlinear dynamics, ultradian rhythms, nasal cycle TYPE OF ARTICLE: chaos theory application DIMENSIONS AND UNITS: Likert scale

A dynamical systems theory of transpersonal growth/evolution is sketched out, based on The Grand Evolutionary Synthesis.

Michael Winkelman Shamanism: The Neural Ecology of Consciousness and Healing Westport, Conn.: Bergin & Garvey, 2000. Hardcover, $65. Michael Winkelman, a senior lecturer in the department of anthropology at Arizona [...]

The article presents fractal Topology of Transcendent Experience. Topics discu8ssed include this present essay explores boundaries at the edge of consciousness during transcendent experiences; unique characteristics of transcendent experience are compared to those found in other natural boundary conditions. Analogous patterns are identified that suggest farfrom-equilibrium conditions are present during such subjective experiences that spontaneously reorder boundaries of consciousness.

The contributions and life of Walter Freeman III are celebrated through an understanding of the neurodynamics of the dreaming brain. Beginning with a brief review of the universal dynamics of self-organizing systems, this paper turns to an exploration of dreaming through the application of concepts from chaos theory to brain activity during REM-state dreaming. Recent studies of the electrophysiology of the brain during REM state dreaming are reviewed, such as the active inhibition of sensory stimulation and, especially in REM sleep, alterations in the brain's dominant neuromodulatory systems, bombardment of the visual cortex with bursts of PGO activity, increased limbic system activity, and a reduction of activity in the brain's prefrontal regions. The paper briefly examines these findings in terms of the experience of dreaming itself as revealed by dream reports. The results suggest a reconciliation of brain-based and content-based attempts to understand the nature of dreaming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay concerns the question of whether evolutionary theories provide a useful approach to understanding the highest potentials of human consciousness and spiritual growth. Finding one-dimensional models overly simplistic, we have proposed a three-level model in which 'states of mind' (level 1), 'states of consciousness' (level 2), and 'structures of consciousness' (level 3) share a hierarchical relationship. States of consciousness (waking states, dream states, etc.) contextualize various states of mind (e.g., sadness, joy, anticipation), and structures of consciousness (mythical, magical, etc.) contextualize states of consciousness. Our model draws upon the grand evolutionary synthesis, a phrase used in some approaches to systems inquiry and complexity theory, and utilizes chaos theory terminology as well, rather than other evolutionary concepts (e.g., biological evolution or historical evolution). KEYWORDS: consciousness, complexity, grand evolutionary synthesis, states of consciousness, states of mind, structures of consciousness, self-organization

A father explores the nature of consciousness in dialogue with his daughter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]