The Bias of the Brain

The above bottom images are those of a brain on the psychedelic, LSD, compared to the normal brain on a placebo. Almost the entire brain is activated on LSD, while specific connections are shut off. The normal regulatory central control point is bypassed when the hallucinogenic takes effect and alternate connections are activated. The psychological results are many, one of them being a loss of fear and negativity and a feeling of euphoric emotions, in a good number of cases. 

It's common knowledge among those who study consciousness that the human brain is wired for negativity. Negativity bias it is called, which can be seen in society's primary expressions. They are negative because people want that information. They prefer it. The negative has more allure and impact.

"The amygdala is the emotion centre of the brain. Psilocybin reduces amygdala reactivity to negative emotional stimuli, and has been found to induce an increase in positive mood."
SOURCE: CARHART-HARRIS RL, ERRITZOE D & WILLIAMS T. PNAS 2011;109:2138–2143

Theories suggest that negativity dominates perception in order to keep humans alert to danger so they can successfully survive on earth with all its threats, many of them unexpected. Prior negative encounters teach people how to handle the new ones. LSD and other such substances shut off connections to the brain centers responsible for storing these memories. Hallucinogenics in a therapeutic setting have been found to wipe out habits and cure addictions and other psychiatric disorders very quickly.

It could be that survival mode is suspended briefly on LSD, so the normal negative perceptions are not needed. Or maybe that amount of brain enlightenment is too much for ordinary existence.

But what clues are available here? Is it an evolutionary factor? It might be that the source of positivity lies in wait, to be accessed occasionally or in small amounts as circumstance indicates. The flood of joy, beauty, divine grace, and perception of benevolence in the universe stands by while primitive fears and survival instincts dominate.
It would be a stretch of great magnitude to view the trait of positivity as a tool in anticipation of a future time when life is less threatening. Whether or not evolution leads in that direction, or any direction, perhaps the individual can consciously construct a life with a fair amount of threat and space for expansion of positive experience. The brain is highly plastic as these studies prove. Or maybe there is an innate positivity quotient for each individual's requirements. Each to his own.

Pisces Welcomes Jupiter

Hey Joop! What's up? It's been twelve years. 

J...It's good to be in Pisces again. Sort of. We are squared off after all, Sagittarius wise. I like all the religious frick frack, and I know you've lost interest in that sort of thing. You've found infinite amorphous consciousness. I understand. 

I'm an anthropomorphic kind of guy, so I like those kings, goddesses, beasts, half human creatures, and so on with their outrageous stories. I still study the universe with my newfound higher mind.

P...Well I lost my mind and gained my consciousness. Or lost my consciousness and entered into some nebulous unidentified substance. It's a trip.

J...It sounds like something I could be interested in, much as I like new adventures. Will you show me around? I'll tell you stories of the world that might amuse you. You might even be glad you're not there.

P...Sounds good. Come on in.

To Each His Own

I have some kinky neighbors. Meet Bartholomew, Rose, Bertha, Milly, and Fred. They are rather old and sometimes older people develop odd behaviors. They sometimes lose their inhibitions and do things they always dreamed of doing when younger and more restrained. They all agree that shedding their cumbersome clothes is a great pleasure. They are not ashamed even though the cakes add a little fat to their aging rolls. They are unconcerned. Living the rest of their sweet lives to the fullest is their mutual desire.

And so they do. This lively bunch meets regularly for tea, cakes, gossip, and to discuss current events. They exchange tales of times past and the quintet has led spicy lives, although not as spicy as the current one. They all have strong opinions and the conversations do get animated.

At first the neighbors wondered if the get togethers were appropriate, but due to their overwhelming charm, the five oddballs have won the neighbors' hearts. They are viewed as eccentric oldsters just passing time innocently. Live and let live is the neighborhood motto. It's the easiest way. Bart and the gang do just what they please. They've earned the right.

Some of the neighbors have even thought about loosening up themselves. Relaxing and enjoying one another's company is catching on.

Elimination, Regeneration, and the Pluto Return

"Pluto is approximately of the fourteenth stellar magnitude, which means that it is around one sixteenth-hundredth  as bright as the faintest star visible to the naked eye. This minute level of brightness, together with its small size, are two factors that are quite deceptive, for the power represented by Pluto surpasses its physical attribute. Anything connected with Pluto cannot accurately be understood by mere observation of surface characteristics.".... Stephen Arroyo

The United States of America is essentially in her return of Pluto to its position in the birth chart. It's time for the country to experience the end of Pluto's first revolution. Thing are not what they appear to be. Pluto removes surface pretensions in uncovering what's often called essential honesty. 

The route to this so called truth involves surfacing of hidden impediments and then their elimination. Left alone, decay would overwhelm the entire system possibly leading to its demise. 

Pluto in Capricorn is reflecting authoritarian behavior in governments worldwide, but it is especially important to America because of the natal placement. Some fear the perceived destruction of the nation's constitutional origin which is based on the protection of personal liberty, one of the country's greatest assets.

The path to preservation of this asset is through acknowledgement of the obstacles to freedom in the national psyche and a subsequent removal of them if need be. There appears to be a destructive frenzy in motion but this is required in order to encourage regeneration. The roots of the country's fundamental governing system are likely intact. Some decay is useful in order to provide fertile ground for new growth in the opposite sign, Taurus. Destruction of this kind has purpose. It has use.

It's smart to remember that the rulers and ruled are one. The spectrum of power, one over the other, is only on the surface.

Sometimes people feel they are victims of wrong-doing, but it's the individual's own psyche that creates the entanglement for reasons as varied as the world's populations. Human societies need a wide range of outside controls. A helpful restriction to one is oppression to another.  Those who cannot govern themselves rely on dictatorship. Those who are more adept at dispersion of power create democracies. Comprehending America's need regarding authority and Pluto in Capricorn is a long endeavor. Two hundred and fifty years is a healthy start.

Cancer, represented by four planets in America's chart, lies opposite Capricorn completing the parent-child axis. Of course, the immature side of Cancer cries with protest as the country strives to grow up in Capricorn. Freedom requires responsibility to maintain, so it's said. Ultimately it comes down to citizens creating and following their own ethical codes, however they structure them. Education, religion, inherent altruism, social consciousness, and the like are but some of the ways. When that happens, leaders reflect it.

So healthy societies grow organically from experience and evolution. They are an adjustment to circumstance. No one person or faction determines collective outcome. Nor do perceived omnipotent powers. Living societies adjust perpetually on their own.

"Seen in the light of the laws of karma, Transiting Pluto has the effect of eliminating old psychological patterns, seen as residues from past thoughts and actions. The transits of Pluto seem to wipe out much of this karmic residue, allowing a greater possibility of expressing the self as a psychologically free agent." ....  Stephen Arroyo

The USA seems to have a karmic memory of strong authoritarianism and oppression of freedom shown by the Pluto in Capricorn placement. She cast it off once that's known. The transit of Pluto provides a return to that memory, a renewal of liberty to be developed further on in Aquarius, and possibly a grain of honesty in government. 

The Promised Land

In our modern world which elevates secularism above religion, the biblical promised land does not exist. But oddly, utopian political paradise does, so it's said. Is that not similar, if not the same?

There is something in the super intelligent DNA sequence, or in the cortex of the convoluted brain, which leads humans to believe there is a better world someplace else. It seems to be fictitious, be it a traditional heaven or a more perfect world on earth. A perfect world made in the image of man?
Hmmm .... . .. .....  maybe so. Maybe the perfect world is this one.

Promised by whom or what is another question.

Man appears to be inept at creating expanded paradise, not for lack of imagination. But the seed is planted in the human mind. Maybe paradise is simply a matter of contrast and timing. Maybe travel is not required.

Each to his own I say. Conceive, cultivate, harvest, and enjoy the fruits of the promised land to your pleasure, just in case this world is the perfect one, with pockets of paradise, a patch here, a patch there.