It's very interesting time and place we human beings live on this beautiful planet earth. On the one hand, there is accelerating progresses in sciences and technologies that are unimaginable merely decades ago, yet the more we learned and progressed, it often seems that we were peeking at ever smaller slice of greater mysteries of the big picture beyond. As we deployed and harnassed more and more of the science and technology learned to improve our comforts and conveniences at greater efficiency, we seem to consume more and more of the natural and manmade resources around us at greater pace, toward a future without such comforts and conveniences. We have unprecedented access to information, with the emergence and prevalence of planet-wide web systems, yet the more we have access to information, the less access we seem to have to quality information, and even less ability to discern quality information that may help us grow and lead a meaningful and mature life on earth.
Life is a grand, beautiful mystery of the universe, and we (and our modern sciences) know very little about it. We, as conscious sentient human beings, are among the grandest, most beautiful and most fascinating mysteries of the universe. How and why do we perceive, emote, think and act as we do? What are our true essence beyond labels such as conscious, subconcious, unconscious? Are there more than we can perceive from our usual senses? How do we learn, inquire and cultivate ourselves beyond our usual senses? and where will these lead us to? Are we all the same, or if each of us is unique in our own ways? How do we learn about and understand better this unique conscious sentient human being of our own self? These are all big, important questions, and you won't find good answers at this website here. However, there have been numerous great scientists, scholars, philosophers and sages over the ages, who had inquired, studied and addressed such questions at various levels and perspectives. Their findings and wisdom are readily available from the web, mostly free and some at nominal costs.
For some of us, learning the story, experiences, teaching and findings of other pioneers, no matter how great they are, will remain insufficient and incomplete. Indeed, as many of the teachers have taught, each of us has to go through our own life experiences to find our own self.
So, where and how may we start this journey of self inquiry, self discovery and self experiencing in this modern time and place? Surely, we can take advantage and make positive use of modern technologies deployed in the form of easily available, very affordable, easy to use, highly capable bio-sensor tools that were not available in ages past. Furthermore, there is no other subject more readily, agreeably and conveniently available, who charges no fees, and with adequate patience and trust in the experimenter, than our very own self.
Whatever your personal belief system may be: the body being the master, the body being the machine, the body being the sacred vessel, the body being a manifestation, or the body being an illusion. It's quite interesting to note that "whatever happens shall leave traces" in all aspects of life, certainly including traces on this magnificent human body of ours. Many scientists, scholars and specialists had studied, experimented and documented numerous effects, artifacts and curious responses read from various parts of our body in reaction to a variety of physical, sensory, or mental stimuli. Many results are surprising and fun, while quite a few challenged or defied our common understanding of cause and effect, space and time.
If we can keep an open mind in self discovery and observing our very own self, utilizing the latest technologically advanced tools to detect the "traces" of our actions, emotions and thoughts from our very own body, be our own demanding critic and rigorous mythbuster, and repeat and modify our own experiments as many times as we deem proper, and applying them on our self. Then, be prepared to be amazed. Perhaps we will share with others our findings and insights, perhaps we will re-assess and modify our belief system, perhaps ... we will study our self more.
Hurray, the glorious age of self discovery.