Piercing the Cloud: Encountering the Real Me: A Life Review

by Jaime A. Pineda Ph.D.

Overview

"Piercing the Cloud" is the story of a young boy's journey into science and spirituality. At 9 years old Jaime is stripped of his family, friends, country, and language, and sent to the U.S. in pursuit of a better life. The departure makes Jaime keenly aware that what he thinks of as the self, the personality that defines him, is really the composite of stories he and others have repeated. This memoir is about the search for the true self that Jaime, and many others, are on each and every day.

As a trained Neuroscientist, Jaime's views on science are at loggerheads with his views on the spiritual. His story offers hope for anyone living in an apparently empty world in which questions are more numerous than answers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781098324070
Publisher:	BookBaby
Publication date:	12/01/2020
Pages:	262
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

I am Professor of Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, and Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego. 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 on animal and human cognition and systems neuroscience. I am the editor of one academic book, "Mirror Neurons." But I am more than an academic. I have been interested in spiritual matters for over twenty years. This led me to explore Zen Buddhism, train with a master teacher, and develop my creative side. I have published two books of poetry, "Quieting of a Mind" and "Dawning of a New Mind," focusing on mind-brain relationships with an emphasis on spirituality, mysticism, environmentalism, and social activism. In my creative writing, I explore how true seeing, hearing, feeling, and thinking can quiet the overactive monkey mind and how it allows silence to become the fountain of creative thought. From such silence I have experienced the emergence of a new perception and awareness: An awareness of unity infused with intrinsic joy and filled with a deep and uncompromising dedication to what is true and real while exuding love and empathy towards others.

"Piercing the Cloud: Encountering the Real Me" is my autobiography. Throughout my training as a scientist, I felt the constant presence of an unseen yet helpful and guiding presence whose existence conflicted with my scientific outlook. This lead me to develop an intense interest in spirituality. But the conflict and antagonism between my scientific and rational self and my spiritual and metaphysical experience, coupled with the vicissitudes and mysteries of life, drove me to a crisis point. To resolve the crisis, I had to deny science or deny spirituality, for they could not coexist. However, the resolution I reached is unique and became the intermingling of both viewpoints, providing intuitions into the meaning of life and my place in the world. My story is unique and yet similar to all stories of those who have searched for the truth. It offers hope for anyone living in an apparently empty world in which questions are more numerous than answers.

Table of Contents

Prologue xi

Introduction xiii

Part I Search for Meaning 1

Chapter 1 3

A A Positive, Creative Force 3

B In the Right Place and Time 4

C Family Legacy 8

D Everyday Life 19

E Fateful Events 23

F An Inquisitive Mind 26

Chapter 2 28

A A Questioning Nature 28

B Pleasure in Reading 30

C The Downside of Inquisitiveness 31

D A More Enlightened Experience 32

Chapter 3 34

A Letting Go of Everything 34

B Preparing for a New Life 36

C Leaving the Old, Finding the New 39

D A Growing Self-Consciousness 43

E The Dark Side of Growing Up 45

Chapter 4 47

A Growing Psychological Challenges 47

B Encountering the World of Literature 48

C Language of Poetry 49

D Practical Pursuits 50

Chapter 5 52

A Protection 52

B Caring 53

C Guidance 56

D Presence 59

Part II Digressions and a Career 61

Chapter 1 63

A Leaving My Second Home 63

B A New Sense of Freedom 65

C Encountering the Greater World 69

D Computers and Psychology 74

E The Door to Academia 76

Chapter 2 78

A Building an Adult Life 78

B A Growing Desire for Change 80

C Acknowledging Personality Differences 81

D Letting Go of Childish Ways 84

E Searching for a Deeper Spiritual Life 87

Chapter 3 95

A A Meaningful Intellectual Existence 95

B From Scary Unknown to Appealing Known 99

C The Alluring Landscape of Science 101

D Animals That Shaped My Life 104

E The Potential for Unethical Behavior 110

F The Price of Following One's Heart 112

Chapter 4 116

A A Unique Academic Opportunity 116

B Barriers to Entry 120

C How to Study Complexity Itself? 123

D The Need for Good Scientific Questions 127

E Academic Challenges to the Ego 130

Chapter 5 134

A Observable Conditions 134

B Tools of the Trade 139

C The Best and Most Impactful Findings 144

D Larger Lessons Learned 149

Chapter 6 152

A Teaching and Mentoring Undergraduates 152

B Graduate Students 157

C Promoting Diversity 159

D Expanding Teaching Horizons 162

Part III Encountering the Real Me 169

Chapter 1 171

A The "Virtual Me" 171

B Dissolving the Mythologies 181

C Jumpstarting Spiritual Growth 182

D Dissatisfaction with Science 183

Chapter 2 188

A Answers from Unexpected Places 189

B The Mystery of Life 191

C Recovery and Remarriage 195

Chapter 3 200

A Spirituality as the Naturalness of Life 200

B The Need for a Spiritual Teacher 202

C Being in Touch 207

Chapter 4 213

A The New Heart-Mind 213

B Piercing the Cloud 215

C Contentment to Be 217

D New, Fresh, and Natural 221

Chapter 5 224

A Helping Others 224

B Making Thoughts Real 228

C Aftereffects on Academic Work 230

Chapter 6 231

A The Scarcity and Fulfillment Mind 231

B Streams: Not-One, Not-Two 234

Epilogue 239