Why Neuroscience Matters: Concrete Strategies for Your Practice

NP0032: Why Neuroscience Matters: Concrete Strategies for Your Practice

Abnormal ease

There is an inbuilt state of mind that is more peaceful and insightful than the agitated and automatic state that passes for normal in normal people. Anyone can, at any time, sit quietly and witness the beginning, middle and end of thoughts and feelings that flow into attention and muddy its waters before passing on. But - only a very few people take time out to let the mud settle and to observe and analyse the goings on in their head.

At various times over the last 40 years I have been one of the few. I have made time to stand and stare. Most times there was despair and an ‘I’ frantically searching for philosophical comprehension and peace. Most times the search was guided by the wise written or spoken words of a guru or teacher. But the intellect on its own could not solve my spiritual problems.

hard-copy spiritual library

My present, spiritual, hard-copy library contains almost a thousand books; and these days there is a massive, open, online source of the dharma in textual, audio and video format. It is thus very easy to engage intellectually in the process of being, knowing, and understanding beyond the intellect. But such academia in itself is of limited value.

The intellectual frame of mind has its work to do in the real world of practicalities but an exclusive overreliance on it is a sure way to reify and delimit viewpoints. But old habits die hard. I am a compulsive intellectual. It takes motivation and clarity of intention to remember about the need for, and the practice of, sitting. 

“Present moment, wonderful moment.” Less than a minute into the past or future. Sit at the keyboard and record relevant mental formations as they arise. ‘I’ have no clear idea of what this piece of writing is about. ‘I’ cannot remember the story line in the above paragraphs. But they can be reread and edited into a cogent and flowing story. 

So might it be said that I am flowing in the zone; and that the muse (the unconscious) is pumping words through ‘me’? Perhaps! The deep truth, the dharma can be experienced but it is in essence unspeakable – words cannot do it justice. But words are what we use for communication. They can be used to make metaphors that reach out into the unknown. Hopefully some of them will be turning words or phrases that unlock the door leading to illumination and inner peace. 

Several times each day –

Turn the mind around

Just sit

Feel the abnormal ease

Why People Believe Invisible Agents Control the World

Based on http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=skeptic-agenticity

By Michael Shermer, 2009

Souls, spirits, ghosts, gods, demons, angels, aliens, intelligent designers, government conspirators, and all manner of invisible agents with power and intention are believed to haunt our world and control our lives. Why?

The answer has two parts, starting with the concept of “patternicity,” which I defined in my December 2008 column as the human tendency to find meaningful patterns in meaningless noise.

The problem is that we did not evolve a baloney-detection device in our brains to discriminate between true and false patterns. So we make two types of errors: 

• a type I error, or false positive, is believing a pattern is real when it is not
• a type II error, or false negative, is not believing a pattern is real when it is

If you believe that the rustle in the grass is a dangerous predator when it is just the wind (a type I error), you are more likely to survive than if you believe that the rustle in the grass is just the wind when it is a dangerous predator (a type II error). 

Because the cost of making a type I error is less than the cost of making a type II error and because there is no time for careful deliberation between patternicities in the split-second world of predator-prey interactions, natural selection would have favoured those animals most likely to assume that all patterns are real.

But we do something other animals do not do. As large-brained hominids with a developed cortex and a theory of mind—the capacity to be aware of such mental states as desires and intentions in both ourselves and others—we infer agency behind the patterns we observe in a practice I call “agenticity”: the tendency to believe that the world is controlled by invisible intentional agents. 

We believe that these intentional agents control the world, sometimes invisibly from the top down (as opposed to bottom-up causal randomness). 

Together patternicity and agenticity form the cognitive basis of shamanism, paganism, animism, polytheism, monotheism, and all modes of Old and New Age spiritualisms.

There is now substantial evidence from cognitive neuroscience that humans readily find patterns and impart agency to them, well documented in the new book SuperSense (HarperOne, 2009) by University of Bristol psychologist Bruce Hood.

once born again let the mud settle

let the mud settle

Metaphor - the normal mental state is muddy water stirred up by the ever active mind – the ONCE BORN. But this mental state can, through stillness, be transformed to clarity and peace – BORN AGAIN.

There is a vital, mental churn which identifies fleeting patterns and agencies in the external world. These mind-made perceptions help us to monitor the sense channels for signs of positive or negative stimuli. But what type and level of busy-ness is most functional and under what circumstances?

There would appear to be an abnormal (supra-normal?) mental state of peaceful clarity. This becomes apparent when the mind has been still for some time and the mud has settled. It is the human birthright and is ever-present; but, in most people, the mental mud hides it from view.

between them and us

Those who have known the mental clarity report experiencing patterns and agencies that are non-egoic (self-less). These are related to compassion and peace as reflected in an ever-expanding boundary line between ‘them’ and ‘us’. Inclusiveness continues to develop until the principle pattern is the Oneness. 

As a result of the non-egoic perception the frantic desire to have and to do is replaced by the simple intention to be. Renunciation follows automatically.  The erstwhile blood lusting tribal warriors and capitalist consumers are now seen to be mind made mental mud.

So there is a continuum (see the table) and most reasonable observers consider it to be a good thing that the mind state of most people transforms from ONCE BORN to being BORN AGAIN. 

ONCE BORN		BORN AGAIN
Ever-active mind		Still mind
Muddy water		Clarity
Territorial warriors		Global stewards
Capitalist consumers		Renunciants
Egoic greed & exploitation		Non-egoic compassion
Many phenomena		The Oneness
To have and to do		To be

The following quotes are from
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Meditation-Masters/218587618170634

 

"At its core, meditation is about touching the spiritual essence that exists within us all. Our spiritual essence is not something that we create through meditation it's already there, deep within, behind all the barriers, patiently waiting for us to recognize it." ~ Aaron Hoopes

"Meditation means to be constantly extricating yourself from the clinging of mind. By letting go of even the thought ‘I,’ and 'me' what is left? There is nowhere to stand and no one to stand there. No separation anywhere. Pure awareness. Neither this, nor that. Just clarity and being.” ~ Ram Dass

"If your mind is happy then you are happy anywhere you go. When wisdom awakens within you, you will see Truth wherever you look. Truth is all there is. It’s like when you learned how to read, you can then read anywhere you go." ~ Ajahn Chah

"Thoughts are impediments to seeing your deepest nature. Don't give rise to any thought, and discover who you are. That ocean of eternal peace is you. What is the difficulty that we suffer from? It is that we seek peace elsewhere and do not experience that we are peace incarnate itself." ~ PapaJi

"You are not merely the body; you are 100% Pure Being. But you must find this out for yourself. It must become your own discovery, happening in your innermost being."
~ Mooji

“Meditation is essentially training our attention so that we can be more aware— not only of our own inner workings but also of what’s happening around us in the here & now.” ~ Sharon Salzberg, Born 1952

Jon Kabat-Zinn

“Mindfulness practice means that we commit fully in each moment to be present; inviting ourselves to interface with this moment in full awareness, with the intention to embody as best we can an orientation of calmness, mindfulness, and equanimity right here and right now.” ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn

“The inner revolution will not be televised or sold on the Internet. It must take place within one's own mind and heart.” ~ Noah Levine

"Meditation is giving yourself time to just be yourself. There is nothing to it other than that, it’s nothing really special, just allowing yourself to relax and be yourself without worrying about what has happened in the past, or without worrying about what’s going to happen in the future. Just to simply relax and rest in your own natural state is all that you need to do, giving yourself the opportunity to do that." ~ 17th Karmapa

"Is it possible to stop the noisy mind? Yes, but not through force, for it thrives on force. I will show you an easy way. Stop identifying with your mind's play. Be the witness only, detached and impersonal. Don't move from this. Once you are stable as the witness, find out if this witness can be found."~ Mooji

"You are always the Supreme. But your attention is fixed on things, physical or mental. When your attention is off a thing and not yet fixed on another, in the interval you are pure being. When through the practice of detachment you let go of sensory and mental states, pure being emerges as the natural state." ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

 

“We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.” ~ Dalai Lama XIV

“Treat every moment as your last. It is not preparation for something else.” ~ Shunryu Suzuki

“Just Sit.” ~ Dogen