We live in a physical World whose properties are familiar, and, it is around us all the time. We cherish our own space. If you would have your son or daughter to walk honorably through the World, you must not attempt to clear the stones from his or her path, but tech your children to walk firmly over them—not insist upon leading a child by the hand, but let your child learn to go alone. Artists as reporters represent their World, and they even expect their work to have an impact on the World, to reveal hidden or universal truths. The work is about knowing and appreciating the beautiful, and that is how we can make the World a better place. Each photograph represents a particular intellectual, emotional, or expressive quality of the subject, they represent powerful emotions and feelings and passions. In 1666, Sir Isaac Newton demonstrated that objects appear to be a certain color because they absorb and reflect different parts of the visible spectrum. Obviously, not all artists are able to utilize light as fully as architects. Architects, particularly, must concern themselves with light. However, especially if artist and photographers are interested in representing the World, they must learn to imitate the effects of light in their work. There is something called the atmospheric perspective or aerial perspective, and these rules state that the quality of the atmosphere (the haze and relative humidity) between us and large objects, such as mountains, changes their appearance. Objects further away from us appear less distinct, often cooler, or bluer in color, and the contrast between light and dark is reduced. Some of these photographs throw a veil of matchless color, that lucid interval of Morning dawn and dewy light on which the Eye dwells…and it is a sacrilege to pierce the mystic shell of color in search of form.

With linear perspective one might adequately describe physical reality—a building, for instance—but through light one could reveal a greater spiritual reality. In this photograph, the light is much more expressive. It is, in large part, the dramatic play of light and dark in the photograph that contributes to this expressivity. The perspective system employed is used to focus our attention on the building, it is light that draws our attention to the grandeur and beauty. The Heavenly light surrounding the Capitol contrasts dramatically with the darkness of the rest of the composition. The building is symbolically offering you its body as nourishment. This purely spiritual act contracts with the gluttonous Worldly activity going on in the foreground, where a dog knaws at a bone, and a cat searches for leftovers. Light here symbolizes the spiritual World, and darkness our Earthly home. Light and dark have traditionally had strong symbolic meaning in Western culture. We have only to think of the Bible, and the first lines of the Book of Genesis, which very openly associates the dark with the bad and the light with good. In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth. And the Earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. In the history of art, this association of light or white with good and darkness or black with evil was first fully developed in the late eighteenth-and early nineteenth-century color theory of the German poet and dramatist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

For Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, colors were not just phenomena to be explained by scientific laws. They also had moral and religious significance, existing halfway between the goodness of pure light and the damnation of pure blackness. In Heaven, there is only pure light, but the fact that we can experience color—which, according to the laws of optics, depends upon light mixing with darkness—promises us at least the hope of salvation. In the first, the figures are all passive, sleeping, or dead. In the second, the figures are bathed in an almost pure white light and barely recognizable at the top center of the painting. Figures swirl around him as if life itself is being born out of a vortex. Although this opposition between dark and light is taken for granted in our culture, many people of color, with reason, find such thinking offensive. They are especially offended by the use of the term value to describe gradations of light and dark, so that black is low, and white is high in value.Artists and art historians alike use the term as a part of a specialized descriptive vocabulary that, in itself, would seem to be art the furthest remove from issues of race and the relative worth of human beings. Nevertheless, it is clear that since Biblical times, Western culture has tended to associate blackness with negative qualities and whiteness with positive ones, and it is understandable why people might take offense at this usage. For this reason, we use the word key instead of value, substituting the musical metaphor for the moral and economic one. If for Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, blackness is not merely the absence of color, but the absence of good, for African Americans, blackness is just the opposite. Mighty drums echoing the voices of Spirits…these sounds are rhythmic, the rhythm of vitality, the rhythm of exuberance and the rhythms of Life. These are the sounds of blackness. Blackness—the presence of all color.

When restoring some artwork, technicians found that the dull, somber hues always associated with Michelangelo were not the result of his palette, that is, the range of colors he preferred to use, but of centuries of accumulated dust, smoke, grease, and varnishes made of animal glue painted over the ceiling by earlier restorers. The colors are in fact much more saturated and intense than anyone had previously supposed. Some experts, in fact, find them so intense that they seem, beside the golden tones of the unrestored surface, almost garish. As a result, there has been some debate about the merits of the cleaning. However, it is not a controversy. It is a culture shock. Therefore, agree with your adversary quickly. Do it quickly—bring yourself to judgment now. In moral and spiritual matters, you must act immediately. God is determined to have His child as pure, clean, and white as driven snow, and as long as there is disobedience, God will allow His Spirit to use whatever process it may take to bring us to obedience. The fact that we insist on proving that we are right is almost always a clear indication that we have some point of disobedience. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there until you have paid the last penny.  

We set forth on Earth as architects of our soul and relationship with God, the goal is to fulfill a mission so we can return to our official house with God. The story of our relations is to open up to people and teach them compassion and love so we can help them heal and grow as beings, and what we put out there, we will get in return. I know many people feel hopeless sometime like nothing will ever change, but keep being a good person. Sir Isaac Newton’s third law of physical states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The statement means that in every interaction, there is a pair of forces acting on the two interacting objects. The size of the force on the first object equals the size of the force on the second object. This means that if you send love out and help others, the Universe will send you love and assistance back in return. And I continue to be the excited observer of the amazing benefits to my own personal and professional growth, as well as to the accelerated healing in my life and in the lives of the people around me. 

To be empathetic is to emotionally resonate with what another is feeling—we are in their shoes, in their skin, in their position. We get them. Empathy cuts through our isolation, generating a network of interconnection and bring our heart out of the cold Winter storm, making compassion possible. On the spiritual level, I believe that as we master the psychological dynamics of our soul and our relationship with God and others, we blend emotional sensitivity, understanding, and savvy where they are intended to go and the steps and these choices move us toward the unfolding of our destiny on Earth and beyond. It means knowing what you are feeling while you are feeling, and being able to both contain and openly express it.  In my heart is the feeling of the purest love and beauty, I feel showered in light, love, amazement and wonder. This feeling of love in my heart helps to end my suffering, and allows me to get to the roots, exploring it deeply, moving through it slowly but surely. You cannot emerge from your pain unless you enter it, and this begins with turning inward. 

Have compassion for the you who fears doing this, holding him the way you would hold a frightened baby, keeping him close to you and letting him know that he is loved and protected. This blissful sense of union with you being will allow you to visit a remarkable place of Heavenly feelings, and as you go about your day and gaze into the eyes of other, an arc of light will envelope them. Each of your emotions has a purpose and is worth getting to know. When I focus on things that I love and make me happy and am around kind people, I feel like I am transported into a White Squall of tranquility, oneness, and a rapture of love far beyond anything on this Earth. In these moments, time stands still and the eternity of God’s love and my echo of that love is in my soul and spirit. The emotional intimacy of the divine love becomes a glorious sphere of light and the depths of tenderness presents an ecstasy and an inner sense of comfort.  The enchanting blue World and the profound heart and soul are an inevitable part of life, and it carries me through my days. 

I cannot wait to meet the glory of the Heaven World, where there is an inner perfection of charming love that transcends all space and time, where Heaven and Earth are truly one, and Love’s eternal promise is fulfilled. Many of the wonderful people I meet on Earth, much like myself, are trying to find a spiritual partner to share their soul, intellectual, emotional, and physical life with. We all want to create a loving hose and lasting friendships, and those already in loving relationships want a way to deepen the connection between themselves and their beloved. What I have learned is that we are required to heal and focus on the things we love. We have talked so much about trauma because I feel that we all have been hurt to the core and before we can reach a deeper level of intimacy, we are required to address our inner pain so we can let go of it and allow love to flow in our heart, minds and body. I have learned that life and relationships mirror back to us who we are and what we need to learn and perhaps I attack so much pain because I have to teach others how to love. Who we are is a combination of the magnificent soul and spirit of God. 

Life can be so confusing and it can be painful, but what you choose to do with this pain is what is important. We have to learn is to understand and appreciate ourselves spiritually, mentally, physically, and emotionally. Each lesson we learn helps us to accept more of our loving qualities into our being and this becomes grounded in our core. And then we find ourselves having more control over the pleasant and unkind feelings and we can recognize negative habits and patterns that sabotage our relationships. Life can be a mystical experience, we already live in the greatest and most peaceful country on Earth, so there is no need to make war with our neighbors. Our human experience is meant to embrace the mysteries of love. Love is the reality of God, and I wish to reach the starry heights with you. Each of us wants to be loved, it is how we nourish our heart, soul, and body. Love recaptures the soul’s inception with God. Each of us is granted the gift of free will and you can choose to be kind and loving towards others or not. The essence of my being is love, and it is God’s given gift for me to help you open your heart and heal. 

I remember when I was a child, and would look up at the starry sky with my father, and he would tell me stories about how beautiful and perfect Earth used to be and how people were like angels. Perfect and kind. Each of us have a special experience and we may open our hearts and ask God to helps us love others. We can be a source of inspiration, and we can cry out for God’s help when we require it. Continue to send light and love to others and think good thoughts. Love is patiently awaiting our awakening, and it seeks to heal our soul’s memory. Sometimes we feel the sense of inner peace and harmony, even when we do not know where it is coming from. This is your soul; its quest is help you realize our natural state is a pleasant one. We all seek a higher meaning of life, no matter how much money we have nor how big our house is. When life is about making our dreams come true through honest means, the American dream can come true. We love each other the perfect way, we complement one another, and it is not surprising that others love us in return.  

The real job of the director or therapist and others is to provide you with the support you need to delve into whatever you have been too afraid to explore on your own. The safety of group therapy is supposed to allow you to notice things that you have hidden from yourself—usually the things that you are most ashamed of. The most powerful emotional roadblock for many is shame. It is also probably the most hidden, neglected, and overlooked emotion in most people (and in psychotherapy). Vulnerable emotions like sadness or grief may be difficult to access and fully express for many individuals, but aversion to shame. Shame often rapidly mutates into various forms of aggression—whether directed at others or at us—or into numbness or an emotional shutting down, all of which serve as “solutions” to or distractions from whatever shame was just felt. When you no longer have to hide, the structure allows you to place the shame where it belongs—on the figures right in front of you who represent those who hurt your and made you feel helpless as a child. 

Feeling safe means that you can say things to your father (or, rather, the placeholder who represents him) that you wish you could have said as a five-year-old. You can tell the placeholder for your depressed and frightened mother how terrible you felt about not being able to take care of her. You can experiment with distance and proximity and explore what happens as you move placeholders around. As an active participant, you can lose yourself in a scene in a way you cannot when you simply tell a story. And as you take charge of representing the reality of your experience, the witness keeps you company, reflecting the changes in your posture, facial expression, and tone of voice. In some experience, physically re-experiencing the past in the present and then reworking it in a safe and supportive container can be powerful enough to create new, supplemental memories: simulated experiences of growing up in an attuned, affectionate setting where you are protected from harm.

Science is a powerful way of asking questions about the World and getting trustworthy answers. Structures do not erase bad memories, or even neutralize them. Structures offer fresh options—an alternative memory in which your basic human requires are met and your longings for love and protection are fulfilled. Most of us would be skeptical when buying a used car or an old house. However, all too often, we may be tempted to “buy” outrageous claims about topics such as dowsing, the occult, the Bermuda Triangle, hypnosis, UFOs, numerology, healing crystals, and so forth. Likewise, most of us easily accept our ignorance of sub-atomic physics. However, because we deal with human behavior every day, we tend to think that we already know what is true in psychology. For these and many more reasons, learning to think critically is one of the lasting benefits of a college education. 

Critical thinking refers to an ability to evaluate, compare, analyze, critique, and synthesize information. Critical thinkers are willing to as the hard questions, including those that challenge conventional wisdom. For example, many people believe that punishment (a spanking) is a good way to reinforce learning in children. Actually, nothing could be farther from the truth. That is why a critical thinker would immediately ask: Does punishment work? If so, when? Under what conditions does it not work? What are its drawbacks? Are there better ways to guide learning? The core of critical thinking is a willingness to actively evaluate ideas. Critical thinkers analyze the evidence supporting their beliefs and probe for weaknesses in their reasoning. They question assumptions and look for alternate conclusions. True knowledge, they recognize, comes from constantly revising and enlarging our understandings of the World.

Critical thinking is built upon four basic principles: Few truths transcend the need for empirical testing. It is true that religious beliefs and personal values may be held without supporting evidence. However, most other ideas can be evaluated by applying the rules of logic and evidence. Evidence varies in quality. Judging the quality of evidence is crucial. Imagine that you are a juror in a courthouse, judging the claims made by two battling lawyers. To decide correctly, you cannot just weigh the evidence. You must also critically evaluate the quality of the evidence. Then you can give greater weight to the most credible facts. Authority or claimed expertise does not automatically make an idea true. Just because a teacher, reporter, guru, celebrity, or authority is convinced or sincere does not mean you should automatically believe them. It is unscientific and self-demeaning to just take the word of an “expert” without asking, “What evidence convinced her or him? How good is it? Is there a better explanation?  

Critical thinking requires an open mind. Be prepared to consider daring departures and go wherever the evidence leads. However, it is possible to be so open minded that you simply become gullible. Critical thinkers try to strike a balance between open-mindedness and healthy skepticism. Being open-minded means that you consider all possibilities before drawing a conclusion. It is the ability to change your views under the impact of new and more convincing evidence. Here are some questions to ask over and over again as you evaluate new information: What claims are being made? What test of these claims (if any) has been made? Who did the test? How good is the evidence? What was the nature and quality of the tests? Are they credible? Can they be repeated? How reliable and trustworthy were the investigators? Do they have conflicts of interest? Do their findings appear to be objective? Has any other independent researcher duplicated the findings? Finally, how much credence can the claim be given? High, medium, low, provisional? A course in psychology naturally enriches thinking skills.  

Pain rather seemed to increase life than to weaken life in these champions. However, the goal is to teach people how to accept and understand their inevitable fear, hopelessness, and anger and to treat those feelings as members of your own internal family. One must learn the inner dialogue skills that will enable them to recognize their pain, identify the accompanying thoughts and emotions, and then approach these internal states with interest and compassion. A basic problem usually emerges early, so many trauma survivors are alexithymic (have an inability to identify and describe emotions in the self), so they never complain about their pain or disability unless they are totally overwhelmed. When asked how they are feeling, they will almost always reply, “I am fine.” Heir stoic parts clearly helped them cope, but these managers also kept them in a state of denial. Some shut out their bodily sensations and emotions to the extent that they could not collaborate effectively with doctors. Cookin’ some fish–think about walking into a house where fried fish, sauerkraut, and head cheese were prepared for dinner. (Some dinner!) You would probably pass out at the door. Yet, the people who live there would be unaware of the smell of their food odor. Why? Because sensory adaption decreases our response to a constant or unchanging stimulus. However, if I took some of their food to work and heated it up in the microwave, my coworker might response by saying, “Whoa! It smells like shit here, what is it?!” Fortunately, the olfactory (smell) receptors adapt quickly. When exposed to a constant odor, they send fewer and fewer nerve impulses to the brain. Soon, the odor is no longer noticed. Adaptation to sensations of pressure from a wristwatch, ring, or glasses is based on the same principle. Sensory receptors generally respond best to changes in stimulation. We need above all not to know about changes; no one wants or needs to be reminded 16 hours a day that his shoes or on or that his back hurts. We simply learn to cope and limit our activities to reduce the sensations of the pain. 

Basically, people learn to grin and bear it because no one wants to hear about their pain anyway. This is also called selective attention (voluntarily focusing on a specific sensory input). We are able to tune in on a single sensory message, while excluding others. Another familiar example of this is the cocktail party effect. When you are in a group of people, surrounded by voices, you can still select and attend to the voice of the person you are facing. Or if that person gets dull, you can ease drop (eavesdrop) on conversations all over the room. (Be sure to smile and nod your head occasionally!) The cocktail party effect is quite powerful. If you are listening to one person, another person nearby can talk backward and you will not notice the strange speech. What makes this possible? Selective attention appears to be based on the ability of various brain structures to select and divert incoming sensory messages. Then, as they asked the stoic parts to step back, they started to acknowledge the angry part that was in pain and wanted to tell and wreak havoc, the part that wanted to stay in bed all the time, and the exile who felt worthless because he was not allowed to talk. These people were raised to be seen and not heard—safety meant keeping their need under wraps. And that is why the antiquated generations are so strong. They were taught not to complain, to be quiet, polite, and respectful. And to work hard and they could get what they wanted out of life and that their word was their bond. Yet, some people feel trapped by conflicts at their job, where a manager part insisted the only way out was to overwork until their back pain flared up to the point where he could barely walk. And so, these type of people really need to dial it back a little and rest so they do not end up being paralyzed.  When people have nerve damage, they may be injuring their body and not even be aware. Stop and think, what about messages that have not reached my brain? Is it possible that some are blocked while others are allowed to pass? Evidence suggest there are sensory gates that control the flow of incoming nerve impulses in just this way. Specifically, sensory gating refers to facilitating or blocking sensory messages in the spinal cord. 

A fascinating example of sensory gating pain in the spinal cord is that one type of pain will sometimes cancel another. The gate control theory suggest that pain messaged from different nerve fibers pass through the same neural gate in the spinal cord. If the gate is closed by one pain message, other messages may not be able to pass through. How is the gate closed? Messages carried by large, fast nerve fibers seem to close the spinal pain gate directly. Doing so can prevent slower, reminding system pain from reaching the brain. Pain clinics use this effect by applying a mild electrical current to the skin. Such stimulation, felt only as a mild tingling, can greatly reduce more agonizing pain. So just because a person looks good and seems happy, you never know what they are going through. A visual inspect cannot tell you what is going on internally. For example, there are Victorian houses that look very beautiful inside and out, but you cannot see if the pipes are rotted out or if the studs are about to collapse, or if they knob and tube wiring is about to start a fire, unless a professional goes in an examines these things. Just like many used cars look nice, but you would not buy one without having a mechanic look under the hood, would you? So you never know what a person is going through just because they look good. It is not your job to manage the lives of other people. The sense of the human body supplies raw data to the brain, but the information remains mostly meaningless until it is interpreted. It is as if the senses provide only the jumped pieces of a complex puzzle. A variety of psychological factors affect the severity of pain. Psychological interventions can help people in physical pain. Cognitive behavioral therapies and mindfulness-based practices have also been shown to have a beneficial impact on pain, joint inflammation, physical disability, and depression. However, none of these studies has asked a crucial question: Are increased psychological safety and comfort reflected in a better-functioning immune system? Instead of listening to the whirr of a dentist drill, for example, you might imagine that you are lying in the Sun at a beach, listening to the roar of the surf. At the house, music can be a good distractor from chronic pain. Distraction can reduce pain.