Archaeology and Human Remains

Quebec artist Marc Seguin paints pictures of destroyed European churches from World War Two. This in itself is not so unusual. What is different about Seguin's paintings is the material he uses in his work - human remains. It all began when a friend offered him the ashes of his mother and Seguin had to decide what he would create from them.
“I had to find the proper thing to say,” he recounts. “It’s the symbolism of using human ashes that’s important here — of life, leaving a trace.”

Over the past two years others have donated the ashes of loved ones to Seguin and he has so far used the remains of seven individuals in his work.

Link to artist's site - Via Toronto Star

Symbolism yes, but more profoundly; asscoiation. Symbols are mere references to their associations. As in language, the words do not mean anything in and of themselves, but are empty pointers to real meaning which is not contained in language. In that way it is necessary for nations to have flags and "National Emblems" so they can trap all patriotism in their symbolism. Then they can turn around and say "Hey, look at this symbol, now doesn't that make you want to fight for us, erhgm, your nation I mean." See this flag, the Canadian one, it represents Liberty, Justice and Truth. See that flag, the American one, it represents the same thing. Great, now forget about them and get to work. If you want Liberty, Justice or Truth again, just have a look at this flag, you will be instantly filled with those feelings.

Hey, which came first national symbolism or hypnosis and neurolinguistic programming? It kinds of seems like the latter might have been the inspiration for the former.
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I ask because hypnosis uses a technique called "Anchoring" which, properly understood, is a utilization of the neuroscientific law known as Hebb's Law/Rule which was developed by the Canadian Psychologist Donald Olding Hebb in his work "The Organization of Behavior" in which he correctly stated "When an axon of cell A is near enough to excite cell B and repeatedly or persistently takes part in firing it, some growth process or metabolic change takes place in one or both cells such that A's efficiency, as one of the cells firing B, is increased" which is often paraphrased "Neurons that fire together wire together." and is, to-date, the only well-known form of neuroplasticity, called Hebbian Plasticity (See wiki; Hebbian Theory).

So what the hypnotist does is create a new association which acts as the "anchor". The most common form is a simple pat on the shoulder. The hypnotist asks you to think of something which brings up the associations they want, then they put their hand on your shoulder briefly. This causes the Axon for Cell A (representing the tactile sensation of being touched ont he shoulder) to undergo a metabolic change, that makes it more likely to cause firing of the Cell B (representing the thing which they got you to think of and it's associated emotions). They do this repeatedly to ensure a good neurological association, then they pat you on the shoulder whenever they want to control your state of mind and bring you back to the way you felt when the association was established.

Neurolinguistic Programming, developed by Richard Bandler, also uses the Anchoring technique and builds on association theory to provide a traversable mental map for the manipulator. They know that "Water" and "Boat" are associated, so if they want you to think about water, they will mention the word "boat" to you, they have techniques like this for evoking thoughts in you as if you thought of them yourself. But that illusion only persists as long as you believe you are in control of yourself and you do not see the associative causes underlying all of your thoughts and behavior. Which most people don't, so they are all very effective tools. Regardless of my superior understanding of these things, I refuse to use those techniques, but I see others doing it and achieving resutls. I'd be more like the early Christian scientists who published the magazine "Lucifer" because of all the negative associations attached to it which rape it of its actual meaning.
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They called it "Lucifer" in a bid to shed light on the Biblical meaning as the Lightbringer. But the negative associations made the publication unpopular and they were forced to realize that it was futile. The first issue of "Lucifer" deals with this subject and explains the rational behind giving the name to the magazine. And sorry, I just double-checked it was Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society who published Lucifer. The article from Vol 1 of Lucifer can be read here: http://www.theosopher.net/dzyan/lucifer/lucifer_v1_n1_september_1887.pdf

"Piously inclined readers may argue that" Lucifer" is accepted by all
the churches as one of the many names of the Devil. According to
Milton's superb fiction, Lucifer is Satan, the "rebellious" angel, the
enemy of God and man. If one analyzes his rebellion, however, it will
be found of no worse nat,ure than an assertion of free-will and independent
thought, as if Lucifer had been born in the XIXth century."
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