There are several reasons for starting a blog. First, as a scientist, I want to share ideas and observations as they relate to brain and mind. Second, I want to share my writing, which to date involves an autobiography, books of poetry, and a prescriptive nonfiction book on the anxious, monkey mind. Organizing my life on paper to complete the autobiography was satisfying, for the process allowed me to detect patterns in a life, which like all lives make a messy set of data points. Searching for patterns in this immense array of events is why I went into scientific research as a career. Second, as a teacher, I want to help others. I see in my writing an opportunity to share the personal, scientific, and spiritual lessons learned over a lifetime. I hope you enjoy these offerings.
Hello World!
I am Professor of Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, and Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego. I retired from academic work in 2018. For 28 years, I directed the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory where I explored the relationship between mind and brain. I am the author of many widely cited papers in animal and human cognitive and systems neuroscience. But I am more than an academic. I have been interested in spiritual matters for over twenty years and have been writing poetry for a good part of my life. Here is my greeting to the world:
May you be attuned to life. May you find it in the silence and stillness of your being. There is no need to move, for you are already there. There is no need to create, for it already exists. There is no need to do, except for the joy of being.