Original post made July 18, 2016 on WordPress

“I think, therefore I am” is one of the greatest dictum of human experience. But although we don’t question that we think, can we question the knowledge we have about ourselves? Do we really know ourselves as well as we think we do?

In the New York Times article entitled Why You Don’t Know Your Own Mind, philosophy professor Alex Rosenberg questions this knowledge, asserting that “Our access to our own thoughts is just as indirect and fallible as our access to the thoughts of other people. We have no privileged access to our own minds. If our thoughts give the real meaning of our actions, our words, our lives, then we can’t ever be sure what we say or do, or for that matter, what we think or why we think it”. Philosopher David Hume proclaimed the idea of the mind being a stage that our thoughts and feelings simply dance across. Zen Buddhism, in a similar vein, provides the metaphor of the mind being a sky and our thoughts, sensations, and emotions as clouds passing by.

Decartes said “cogito ergo sum”, but I say “corgito ergo corgi”(Photo credit: AKC)

Does this mean that whatever neurons fire in our noggins and their resulting messages are meaningless electrical fluff? No. Our unique internal experience is the beauty (and the misery) of being human. Meditation is the means to clear the mind of the nuisances by simply observing the fluff that passes by like a cloud in the sky or a dancer on a stage. By giving attention to what passes through, we are more aware of our being.

From what I have experienced from the act of surrendering to the incessant chatter rather than battling my demons head on in a billion fruitless encounters, the frivolous fluff slowly deteriorates in intensity and frequency. It’s as if those annoying voices/whiny complaints and self-defeating thoughts just want to be given their turn to dance on the stage.

And just when we think we’ve figured how our mind functions, we’re thrown out of orbit. Our perceptions change. In last week’s Invisibilia on NPR,  in an episode entitled “Frame of Reference”, hosts interviewed a woman whose entire worldview shifted (for only a mere 30 minutes) after an experimental crew equipped her with a dose transcranial magnetic stimulation. She perceived the same experimental scenario in an entirely new way after magnetic stimulation altered her brain’s functioning. (for more details, listen to the show)

So what’s the takeaway? Just surrender to the unknowing? Live in uncertainty? Constantly question who I am and what I know about myself?

Yes. Embrace a Beginner’s Mind. Letting go brings you to places you wouldn’t go if you keep hanging on for dear life. Yes, you will encounter resistance — both from others and from yourself – but without change, you run the risk of staying stuck like a wheel spinning in mud!

Original post made July 18, 2016 on WordPress

“I think, therefore I am” is one of the greatest dictum of human experience. But although we don’t question that we think, can we question the knowledge we have about ourselves? Do we really know ourselves as well as we think we do?

In the New York Times article entitled Why You Don’t Know Your Own Mind, philosophy professor Alex Rosenberg questions this knowledge, asserting that “Our access to our own thoughts is just as indirect and fallible as our access to the thoughts of other people. We have no privileged access to our own minds. If our thoughts give the real meaning of our actions, our words, our lives, then we can’t ever be sure what we say or do, or for that matter, what we think or why we think it”. Philosopher David Hume proclaimed the idea of the mind being a stage that our thoughts and feelings simply dance across. Zen Buddhism, in a similar vein, provides the metaphor of the mind being a sky and our thoughts, sensations, and emotions as clouds passing by.

Decartes said “cogito ergo sum”, but I say “corgito ergo corgi”(Photo credit: AKC)

Does this mean that whatever neurons fire in our noggins and their resulting messages are meaningless electrical fluff? No. Our unique internal experience is the beauty (and the misery) of being human. Meditation is the means to clear the mind of the nuisances by simply observing the fluff that passes by like a cloud in the sky or a dancer on a stage. By giving attention to what passes through, we are more aware of our being.

From what I have experienced from the act of surrendering to the incessant chatter rather than battling my demons head on in a billion fruitless encounters, the frivolous fluff slowly deteriorates in intensity and frequency. It’s as if those annoying voices/whiny complaints and self-defeating thoughts just want to be given their turn to dance on the stage.

And just when we think we’ve figured how our mind functions, we’re thrown out of orbit. Our perceptions change. In last week’s Invisibilia on NPR,  in an episode entitled “Frame of Reference”, hosts interviewed a woman whose entire worldview shifted (for only a mere 30 minutes) after an experimental crew equipped her with a dose transcranial magnetic stimulation. She perceived the same experimental scenario in an entirely new way after magnetic stimulation altered her brain’s functioning. (for more details, listen to the show)

So what’s the takeaway? Just surrender to the unknowing? Live in uncertainty? Constantly question who I am and what I know about myself?

Yes. Embrace a Beginner’s Mind. Letting go brings you to places you wouldn’t go if you keep hanging on for dear life. Yes, you will encounter resistance — both from others and from yourself – but without change, you run the risk of staying stuck like a wheel spinning in mud!