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The position that brain and mind are separate entities was Rene Descartes’ greatest error, to borrow Antonio Damasio’s (1994) famous turn of phrase. Another of Descartes’ big errors was the idea that animals are without consciousness, without experiences, because they lack the subtle nonmaterial stuff from which the human mind is made. This notion lingers on today in the belief that animals do no think about nor even feel their emotional responses. Most who study animal brains have not yet learned how to discuss and study animal minds, especially their emotional feelings, as systematically and superbly as they study learned behaviours. Animals’ primal feelings are best studied ethologically—by monitoring their own emotional tendencies.

— Archaeology of Mind by Jaak Panksepp, Lucy Biven (Page 1)

As far as we know right now, primal emotional systems are made up of neuroanatomies and neurochemistries that are remarkably similar across all mammalian species. This suggests that these systems evolved a very long time ago and that at a basic emotional and motivational level, all mammals are more similar than they are different. Deep in the ancient affective recesses of our brains, we remain evolutionarily kin. This has long been evident in our body structures and biochemistries.

— Archaeology of Mind by Jaak Panksepp, Lucy Biven (Page 4)

Also, the mammalian brain is fundamentally a social brain, and it needs to be treated as such. (..). Thus, almost all mind-medicine interventions need to be complemented by appropriate psychosocial help, not only to trace and unravel the secondary- and tertiary-process derivatives of (perhaps lifelong) basic emotional imbalances, but also to guide, facilitate, and activate the desired primary-process affects. (..). Affective neuroscience highlights that the role of social emotions in all future therapeutic schools of thought must remain in focus in order for lasting improvements to be maximized.

— Archaeology of Mind by Jaak Panksepp, Lucy Biven (Page 1)

The psychoanalytic tradition was followed, during the behaviourist era, with highly focused "behaviour modification therapies," where both the cognitive and emotional issues were put aside and therapists sought to mold maladaptive behaviour patterns by adjusting reinforcement contingencies. With the cognitive revolution, the focus shifted to "cognitive behavioural therapies" (CBT) that were remarkably effective for some disorders such as specific phobias (Beck, 1976). Now, with the recognition that emotional tides lie at the core of psychiatric disorders, the winds are shifting again.

— Archaeology of Mind by Jaak Panksepp, Lucy Biven (1%)

Je réalise que je connais peu la réalité des francophones du coin, et encore moins celle de toutes ces autres communautés éparpillées au Canada et partout en Amérique du Nord. Qui sont-ils, ces Franco-Canadiens et ces Franco-Américains issus des cultures irlandaise, italienne, haïtienne, maghrébine et toutes les autres ? Qu'est-ce qui les pousse à continuer cette bataille pour leur langue ? Comment nous perçoivent-ils, ces citoyens de Hearst, de Kapuskasing, de Lafayette, des Antilles? Notre tendance à nous croire seuls dans cet effort de résistance est-elle vue comme de l'arrogance? Nos luttes se font dans un confort qui se confond avec de l'indifférence, voire de la complaisance, quand on les compare avec celles de tous ces alliés naturels qu'on oublie trop souvent.

— Du bitume et du vent by Vincent Vallières (Page 198 - 199)

Le Canada, quatrième pays producteur de pétrole au monde. Les promesses gouvernementales jamais tenues. Le nombre de fois où nous prenons l'avion dans cette tournée de l'Ouest canadien. Mon VUS. Le steak énorme que j'ai mangé hier soir. Pascal a raison, c'est plus confortable d'intimer à nos voisins de se regarder dans le miroir que d'identifier nos propres angles morts. Alors on garde nos œillères et on se vautre dans nos routines. Quand ça se met à chauffer, on pointe les autres du doigt. C'est la faute à Trudeau et à son laxisme, la faute à l'Alberta qui refuse de se mettre au pas, la faute aux lobbies qui ont mainmise sur tout, la faute à Guilbeault, trop accommodant avec son gouvernement. C'est la faute au décalage, je suis épuisé.

— Du bitume et du vent by Vincent Vallières (Page 216)

An important principle in primate communication seems to be, "If we can't see each other, then we can't start something." (..). Turid Rugas, a Norwedgian dog trainer, call turning the head a "calming signal," and I agree that it does have a calming effect on the dog who sees it (although I don't think that dogs are necessarily doing it consciously to relax the other dog). Humans can do it consciously, doing what wolf researchers call "look aways" by turning our heads to the side when we greet a new dog or we sense that tension is mountain. You can also cock your head [to the side], which is something never done by a tense dog on offensive alert. Many mammals cock their head to gather more information about the world around them, and they almost always do it when they're curious and relatively relaxed. If you cock your head, you are signalling to a dog that you're relaxed, which can go a long way towards relaxing the dog as well.

— The Other End of the Leash by Patricia B. McConnell (Page 35 - 36)