Short Notes on Brain Physics!

I thought you’d appreciate reading my brief response to a colleague’s feedback to “The Neuroscience of Leader Development”. He stated:

“I believe it is the ability of the leader to become aware of his own ‘awareness’”.

In short, yes! However, I think it prudent to briefly explore the “why?” that this is true.

Philosophically we were introduced nearly four centuries ago to the notion that “Cogito ergo sum” (I think therefore I am) (see expanded discussion in Hospers, 1967). Such a sense of self, I suggest, is what Wilber (1999), relative to integral psychology, speaks to when he describes the “proximate self” navigating through development. At an higher, more immediately practical level this is what Goleman (1995) speaks to relative to emotional intelligence when he says that is important that “self-awareness recognizes a feeling as it happens… (p. 43).

So, at least philosophically we recognize self-awareness as important to leader development.

But, why is it so important?

Let’s briefly turn from philosophy to physics.

The physics undergirding the mechanism of action in brain change (which is the fundamental action level in development) is well established (see, e.g., Stapp, 1993). Harnessing this is what some refer to as “directed neuroplasticity” (Schwartz & Begley, 2002). Both Stapp and Schwartz pay homage to James (1997) for his recognition of the necessity of attention in development. But, why is attention so powerful, so necessary for leader development?

My theory is that it is an integral element of the “quantum zeno effect” (for expanded discussion see Chapter 6 of Stapp, 2007). One necessarily has to hold attention in the process of collapsing the probability wave that exists at the synaptic gap (for a physics treatment of the topic see Heisenberg, 1949; for a philosophical treatment of the topic see Heisenberg, 1958).

So, yes, I appreciate your suggestion that “… start cultivating this process of raising awareness through tools like introspection very early through our education system and not wait for the adulthood.” This is a critical element in my ongoing research (Quantum Mechanical Theory of Adult Cognitive Development Pedagogy: The Neuroscience of Educational Practice).

References

Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam Books.

Heisenberg, W. (1949). The Physical Principles of the Quantum Theory. New York: Dover Publications.

Heisenberg, W. (1958). Physics and Philosophy: The Revolution in Modern Science. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Hospers, J. (1967). An Introduction to Philosophical Analysis (Second ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

James, W. (1997). William James: Selected Writings. New York, NY: Book-of-the-Month Club.

Schwartz, J. M., & Begley, S. (2002). The Mind and The Brain, Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force. New York: ReganBooks.

Stapp, H. P. (1993). Mind, Matter, and Quantum Mechanics. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag.

Stapp, H. P. (2007). The Mindful Universe: Quantum Mechanics and the Participating Observer. New York, NY: Springer.

Wilber, K. (1999). The Collected Works of Ken Wilber (Vol. Four). Boston, MA: Shambhala.