I propose using meditation as a means to alter the amygdala's brain structure of conservative Republicans to lessen the amount of income inequality and economic inequality. A mechanism to accomplish this is presented.

The research literature on altering the brain's structure due to meditation is robust and points to structural changes many times in a short period of time. The following article specifically addresses the role of meditation upon the amygdala, the seat of emotional and survival instincts such as fear and anxiety,

The Harvard Gazette
Meditations positive residual effects
By Sue McGreevey
November 13, 2012
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/ ... l-effects/

A new study has found that participating in an eight-week meditation training program can have measurable effects on how the brain functions even when someone is not actively meditating.

“This is the first time that meditation training has been shown to affect emotional processing in the brain outside of a meditative state.”

Several previous studies have supported the hypothesis that meditation training improves practitioners’ emotional regulation. Although neuroimaging studies have found that meditation training appeared to decrease activation of the amygdala (a structure at the base of the brain that is also known to have a role in processing memory and emotion), those changes were only observed while study participants were meditating. The current study was designed to test the hypothesis that meditation training could also produce a generalized reduction in amygdala response to emotional stimuli, measurable by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

In the mindful attention group, the after-training brain scans showed a decrease in activation in the right amygdala in response to all images, supporting the hypothesis that meditation can improve emotional stability and response to stress.

Overall, these results are consistent with the overarching hypothesis that meditation may result in enduring, beneficial changes in brain function, especially in the area of emotional processing.”

Further support is offered in,

University of Toronto
U of T News
How spirituality induces liberal attitudes
By Jessica Lewis
February 28, 2013
https://www.utoronto.ca/news/how-spirit ... -attitudes

People become more politically liberal immediately after practising a spiritual exercise such as meditation, researchers at the University of Toronto have found.

"There's great overlap between religious beliefs and political orientations," says one of the study authors, Jordan Peterson of U of T's Department of Psychology. "We found that religious individuals tend to be more conservative and spiritual people tend to be more liberal.

"Inducing a spiritual experience through a guided meditation exercise led both liberals and conservatives to endorse more liberal political attitudes."

In the third study, the researchers recruited 317 participants from the U.S. and asked half to complete a spiritual exercise consisting of a guided meditation video. Those who watched the video were asked to close their eyes and breathe deeply, imagining themselves in a natural setting and feeling connected to the environment. They were then asked about their political orientation and to rate how spiritual they felt. The researchers reported that, compared to those in the control group, participants who meditated felt significantly higher levels of spirituality and expressed more liberal political attitudes, including a reduced support for "tough on crime" policies and a preference for liberal political candidates.

The key to the proposal is to get the wealthy elite to meditate and hence change their brain structure more towards that of liberal's brain structure when it comes to income and economic inequality. This will be accomplished by giving them the reward of a year end tax reduction based upon their fMRI brain scan. This scan will certifying they have truly changed their brain's structure significantly enough to warrant the tax relief.

Have you ever met a conservative Republican who did not want a tax reduction? Certainly not and if you did then they have most likely been mischaracterized and not a true conservative Republican. Just the suggestion of raising their taxes produces an amygdala based fear and survival response whereby they lash out at the individual who made the suggestion as if they were stealing from them. By changing their brain structure through meditation, a reduction in fear and anxiety will set them in the direction of choosing more liberal based programs. This new cognitive gestalt, away from an individualistic survivalist mode to that of a more spiritual induced societal mode, will reduce income and economic inequality by giving them the direct experience of oneness with their fellow human beings.

Although I present this as a somewhat tongue in cheek solution, I would love to have it actually implemented as policy.

~SV~

Getting the wealthy elite to meditate to change their cognitive state towards that of a liberal's and overall reduce economic inequality is either hi-jink to the max or sheer brilliance. Just imagining them using their greed to get a better tax return by meditating is the ultimate irony. They are stuck. It reminds me of the monkeys in India who reach into a narrow necked vase to retrieve candies and then cannot get their hands out because of the fist they make.

It also reminds me of the Maharishi effect from my old Transcendental Meditation days,

Just 1% of a population practising Transcendental Meditation (TM) has been shown to give rise to significant improvements in the lives of the entire population and creates peace and harmony in society. This phenomenon is known as the Maharishi Effect. The mechanics of the Maharishi Effect are based on the understanding that there is a single unified field of intelligence, or consciousness, at the basis of all of nature.

Giving conservative Republicans a tax incentive to meditate with the goal of making them more liberal and thus reducing economic inequality is not only ingenious but diabolical. I suspect the technology is far enough along to produce a certificate of actual brain structural change but obviously a considerable amount of research still needs to be done. Even more obvious is the fact that liberal Democrats will need to control both houses of congress to push the tax legislation forward.

Overall I am intrigued by the concept as it offers hope for actually changing conservative Republican attitudes about liberal policies and economic inequality. Hooray for Sterling for coming up with a mechanism that has such a realistic and promising future for the world.

Jessica pinpoints the dilemma for the Republicans when she says the idea is, "not only ingenious but diabolical". The final turn of the screw is to have the tax law written so they have to get the brain scan certificate on Obama Care. Poetic justice!

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Well, as a long-term meditator, I would love to see the arch conservative Republicans introduced to meditation.

(2nd paragraph) I'm quite sure it would quiet a lot of their fear, anxiety and rigidity....over time.

(3rd paragraph) I like the idea of giving them a highly valued positive reward for participating in such a venture. And I'm sure they would be happy to have another tax cut. But I have reservations about using the tax cut and I don't want to emphasize their ability to get another one. To me that slightly like saying, don't smoke, and if you don't you can have more alcohol!