Touch The Future

James W. Prescott, PhD is causing trouble again (and I’m glad he is.)

Do we have full gender equality? Why not?

At the core of Jim’s research is a mind/body split created by the male dominated intellect constructing images, beliefs, religions moral codes that proclaim the body, its sensations and pleasures, to be evil – resulting in an anti touch, anti sensuality, anti woman campaign perpetuated by men in order to control female sexuality and pleasure. The roots of this Violence Against Women (and children) are deep. Remember the Inquisition and its witch hunts that lasted 300 years?

In a series of blog posts Jim reviews Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality," by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá, an examination of prehistoric sex (pre-agriculture where earliest evidence of agriculture dated to about 8000 BCE) where hunter gatherers/foragers dominated this planet revealed a pattern of sharing and egalitarianism that included multiple sexual relationships. For perspective, the authors observed, “the amount of time our species has spent living in settled agricultural societies represents just 5 percent of our collective experience, at most”. They cited Jared Diamond: “The shift to agriculture is a ‘catastrophe from which we have never recovered’ ”.

It is the intent of this Blog to summarize the statistical cross-cultural data on pre-industrial, tribal cultures that support the theses of Sex At Dawn that sexual monogamy (premarital and extramarital sexuality are punished) is destructive to humanity and that multiple sexual relationships are highly associated with peaceful, non-violent and egalitarian behaviors (which have their roots in high infant/child affectional bonding that begins in the mother-infant child relationship), are necessary for the survival of homo sapiens.

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Sexual Monogamy & Violence Against Women

Like a Bruegel painting (1525- 1569 depicting monumental events that most never see, ‘Landscape with the Fall of Icarus,' is a prime example), the collected works of James W. Prescott, PhD, have gone mostly unrecognized for 50 years. The reason: his research and steady stream of observations cut to the core of the human condition. Political appointees at the highest levels have done their best to erase his more fifteen years of brain-behavior research sponsored by the National institute of Health.

They could not stand the political fallout of his basic conclusions:

Pleasure Bonds – affectionate touch, the rush of positive hormonal states shared by mother and infant during breast feeding, the laughter, sensations and positive emotions experienced during original play shape the brain in ways that lead to empathy, nonviolent male-female equality, peaceful egalitarian relationships, societies and cultures. The absence of these positive sensations and emotional affects shape the brain and its behavior in ways the lead to exploitive male-female relationships, violent individuals, societies and cultures.

One of Touch the Future’s major accomplishments has been to gather Jim’s lifetime research, interviews and publications and compile them into a comprehensive DVD:

The Origins of Love and Violence Sensory Deprivation and the Developing Brain Research and Prevention For a summary of this unique and pioneering research see:http://ttfuture.org/bonding/front

The field of neuroscience is small. All the major players know each other and have for many years. I was introduced to and interviewed Jaak Panksepp, author of Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions and internationally recognized as one of the leaders in researching animal and human emotions last year by Stuart Brown, MD, founder of the National Institute for Play, at a symposium sponsored by Stuart at Stanford University. (Stuart and I are currently working on a DVD summary of this revolutionary gathering - the brain science behind the positive affective states experienced through authentic play.)

Small world! Jim Prescott and Jakk Panksepp have been colleagues for many years. I am nothing short of thrilled to announce that Jim has been invited by Jaak and Darcia Narvaez to present his research and its implications (summarized in our DVD) at their upcoming symposium on positive emotional states at Notre Dame University this October.

Dr. Prescott,
Thank you for the update. Most especially thanks for the notes, links, and for the suggestions for the meeting. I'd like to convey a couple of things.

First, you were the inspiration for my entering the study of early childhood and its effects on moral development. Several years ago I discovered your work online. What a treasure trove!

We are just getting some preliminary data on several studies based on the anthropological identification of the EEA for young children (touch, breastfeeding, responsivity, multiple adult caregivers, free play with multiple ages). Here are a couple of findings:

No surprises here for you, but many people seem to have to be hit over the head with data to believe these things.

Second, I'd like to extend an invitation to you to join us for the symposium. It would be a terrible shame if you, one of the foremost pioneers in this area, were not with us.
You might be interested in making some comments at the symposium, perhaps at the beginning or the end? Showing the video might be part of that.

Thank you for your graciousness and your passion.

Darcia

Jim is an active contributor to our new Forum. Take a look and sign up to follow his posts.

With appreciation – and congratulations Jim.

Michael Mendizza

A true revolutionary, J. Krishnamurti was one of the most influential teachers of the 20th century. He challenged the conditioning that traps the heart and mind in habitual patterns, patterns that inevitably breed personal and global conflict, organized religions, nationalisms, personal and social ideologies with their images. "When thought invents God,’ he says, ‘God is not sacred.’ Krishnamurti views human consciousness as one undivided whole. ‘We are the world,’ he observed, and he meant that literally.

I have known, traveled with, interviewed over 100 individuals who were personally influenced by this man’s unique view of humanity and its place in the world, and directed a number of documentaries on his life and insights. What follows is a conversation that was included in a feature documentary titled The Challenge of Change. In-joy... mm

K: We want order outside in the world, politically, religiously, economically, socially, we want order in our relationship with each other. We want some peace. We want some understanding. If the inward psychological state is not orderly, not conflicting, not contradicting, if that state in consciousness is quiet, steady, clear, then you can bring about order in the world. What we are trying to do is try to bring order legislatively, nationally and so on, order out there in the world, which has been proved over and over again that it totally brings about disorder.

That’s why I am saying that without inward order, in consciousness, which is in a mess, which is in a contradiction, without bringing about order inwardly, psychologically, you cannot possibly have order outwardly. And the crisis is there. We think the crisis is national, economic, social and so on. The crisis is not out there! The crisis is really inward and we’re unwilling to face that.

Read the complete interview

Plus an essay on Krishnamurti and education

Explore this and other points of view at The Forum

A true revolutionary, J. Krishnamurti was one of the most influential teachers of the 20th century. He challenged the conditioning that traps the heart and mind in habitual patterns, patterns that inevitably breed personal and global conflict, organized religions, nationalisms, personal and social ideologies with their images. "When thought invents God,’ he says, ‘God is not sacred.’ Krishnamurti views human consciousness as one undivided whole. ‘We are the world,’ he observed, and he meant that literally.

I have known, traveled with, interviewed over 100 individuals who were personally influenced by this man’s unique view of humanity and its place in the world, and directed a number of documentaries on his life and insights. What follows is a conversation that was included in a feature documentary titled The Challenge of Change.

In-joy... mm

K: We want order outside in the world, politically, religiously, economically, socially, we want order in our relationship with each other. We want some peace. We want some understanding. If the inward psychological state is not orderly, not conflicting, not contradicting, if that state in consciousness is quiet, steady, clear, then you can bring about order in the world. What we are trying to do is try to bring order legislatively, nationally and so on, order out there in the world, which has been proved over and over again that it totally brings about disorder.

That’s why I am saying that without inward order, in consciousness, which is in a mess, which is in a contradiction, without bringing about order inwardly, psychologically, you cannot possibly have order outwardly. And the crisis is there. We think the crisis is national, economic, social and so on. The crisis is not out there! The crisis is really inward and we’re unwilling to face that.

Read the complete interview

Plus an essay on Krishnamurti and education

Explore this and other points of view at The Forum

I received a note today from a lovely woman who has read all of Joseph Chilton Pearce’s books. She wanted to know how he was doing and had a question to ask.

Next week she and YOU will have a place to raise questions, review essays, publications, post comments and connect with Joe, myself, other authors and each other. It is called The Forum. Check it out. When you do - take a look at the new layout - its clean, fresh and more accessible.

(We are not quite finished but I thought you would appreciate a sneak preview of coming events)

Michael

Whole, balanced child development demands that adults continue to grow and develop in ways that parallel the growth and education of children. No one works harder or is more innovative meeting this challenge than Barb Lundgren and her Rethinking Education Conference – now re-titled - Rethinking Everything.

Touch the Future serves as the nonprofit sponsor of this amazing event. Please take a few minutes and visit the information we have about Barb and her magnificent gathering at Touch the Future http://ttfuture.org/education/front.

Then visit her site and if appropriate – get involved. You won’t find anything like it anywhere. I promise – you won’t regret it. www.rethinkingeverything.net

Thanks

Michael Mendizza

A follow up to our

Virtual Reality is Sensory Deprivation
The Emerging Technology Disaster in Early Childhood Education

Commentary by Michael Mendizza
On Fast Companies’ Article - A is for App

see: http://ttfuture.org/files/2/pdf/mm_A%20is%20for%20App.pdf

Former TTF board member passed on this powerful new study on the impact media exposure at 2 ½ has at age 10.

A new study from Canada followed 1,314 children from the age of 5 months to 10 years, looking at their TV viewing at ages 2½ and 4½ years and seeing where they were physically, emotionally and academically at 10 years old. What they found was concerning. For each hour of TV watched at 2½, there were increases in consumption of soft drinks (9 percent) and snacks (10 percent), decreases in physical activities (9 percent) and weekend sports (13 percent) and increases in body mass index (5 percent).There were emotional repercussions, as well – children were 10 percent more likely to be victimized by classmates for each hour of toddler TV.

Finally, 10-year-olds showed a 6 percent decrease in math achievement and 7 percent decrease in classroom engagement for each hour of TV at 2½. While these outcomes are usually attributed to multiple influences, researchers controlled for many known factors and TV viewing still had an independent effect.

Can TV now hurt a baby’s chance of later success in school? by Children's Hospital Boston staff on May 14, 2010

Thank you Karen.
mm

The Emerging Technology Disaster in Early Childhood Education
Commentary by
Michael Mendizza
On Fast Companies’ Article - A is for App
See: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/144 

Please download and review the full essay. It describes how Virtual Reality is Sensory Deprivation and the more the young developing brain interacts with this sensory deprived experience the more mal-nourished, and therefore the less physically, socially, emotionally, and sexually developed that brain becomes. The key point is the way screen based virtual reality is replacing direct full spectrum three dimensional ‘experience’ with the natural 'living' world during the critical early years of brain development – zero to age eleven – and the very long history of technology claiming to be educational and making kids more intelligent. Which is Baloney!! Thanks MM

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Joseph Chilton Pearce
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Real Learning or More Conditioning?
with Joseph Chilton Pearce and Michael Mendizza

Saturday / Sunday, April 10th - 11th
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