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Dear xxx
I got your message on the fancy stationary. I did not know if your silence was a good thing or a bad thing. It would seem to have been due to a touch of existential crisis. This is a common affliction these days.
The global situation is in such a mess that people do not know who or what to believe or where best to invest. There is doubt, uncertainty and cognitive dissonance. There are too many ends to tie together. The dis-ease (anxiety, panic, depression and stress) disturbs the sleep patterns and people get weary.
This point of view can lead to a feeling that there is no audience for your performance; so your standards slip. It is the ‘can’t be bothered’ CBB syndrome. Given this, it is interesting to note how you allocate time. What do your senses seek out and to what do they attend? What do you still bother about?
I, for example, am presently bemused by my political, social and existential perspectives.
Politicians, economists and business people now reckon that there is no alternative to neo-liberal, free-market fundamentalism. The theory is that if we give the super-rich free-rein there will be growth for all to share - even when the 1% super rich get a 99% slice of the pie. And the theory turns a blind eye to injustice, poverty, pollution, overexploitation of resources and to climate change. How come the rich and powerful elite still thrive in their top-down, corporate, Thatcher/Regan bubble?
But, there is resistance from the bottom-up. Participatory as opposed to representative democracy is on the rise and, if Naomi Klein is to be believed, it is gradually figuring how to be an influential global force. The lead up to the Scottish referendum demonstrated a range of ways for ordinary people to get motivated and engaged, often using ICT. There was a buzz in the street where people talked about issues rather than about the weather. Is CBB losing its grip?
“An existential crisis is a moment at which an individual questions the very foundations of their life: whether it has any meaning, purpose or value.” (Wikipedia). My present view is informed by the big history project (https://www.bighistoryproject.com/home ). The beginnings were about 13.7 billion years ago with the Big Bang. Then there was cosmic, biological and cultural evolution - and behold human beings with i-pads on planet earth. If we manage to figure how to live sustainably on the planet we might prosper. But, whatever happens, our sun will eventually self destruct and that will be the end of the planet and life as we know it.
Nothing lasts forever. There is creation and destruction, yin and yang. Being an ‘I’ is a fleeting phenomenon. But there are the infinite and eternal options. How parochial is your world view? How far reaching are your boundaries?(ref Wilber) When did you last treat your mindbrain to a cosmic zoom?
If there are questions about the meaning, purpose or value of life then it is not unreasonable to ask who asks them – and why. Because there is need to ask the right questions and to do so demands thoughtful use of our language instinct. (Ref Pinker)
The human mindbrain evolved as a means of making sense of sensory inputs regarding objects and events in the immediate environment… Blah blah …
>>>>> Interlude:
The joiner arrived at 8:00 to finish fitting a roof window to the study. That was the last job for this session which included building a sun room, rebuilding a utility room, and modifying the kitchen and bathroom. I used local tradesmen who have many other calls on their time – so it has taken seven months so far - and painting, decorating and carpet fitting have still to be arranged. Tarting up my cave. It was badly in need of maintenance after 30 years of CBB!
So sometimes attention was with the renovations, sometimes with this letter, and sometimes with a bout of constipation. The shit has now moved on and I am back with this letter after a bout of cleaning which prompted a burst of CBB.
A bit of the vacuum cleaner broke while I was changing the dust bag. So I binned it and bought a new one with a trendy bagless design but with a 1600 watt engine. New rules from the EU say that vacuum cleaners should be 1000 watt maximum. Fads and fashions.
>>>>> a new day.
I am minded to be grateful. The new type of charcoal briquettes burn slowly in the new multi-fuel stove and were still active in the morning. Homefire ecoal 50 – doing my bit for the environment. Sunshine through the new roof window into the office - the brightness is mood changing. Effortless heat and light towards the North Pole.
Today there are blue skies; and a low slung sun pokes fingers into the buildings in new ways. It is as if xmas has come early bearing the gift of light.
>>>>> another new day with some neat ideas from the social networks –
Thoughts are not facts – “Next time your mind jumps to a conclusion that inevitably sends you in a spiral toward depression or anxiety, check to see where your head was at the time of that interpretation.” http://www.mindful.org/mindful-voices/on-mental-health/thoughts-are-not-facts#.VHBRoFEpS9E.twitter
“The research suggests that depression may be a natural condition in which the mind concentrates involuntarily on a complex issue to the point where it allocates resources to analyzing the problem at hand, diminishing concentration on other aspects of living, perhaps giving rise to disrupted eating, sleeping and social interaction that are associated with depression.” http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-11-bright-side-depression.html
Neurology, evolutionary psychology and cognitive science are causing a paradigm shift (ref Kuhn). We now know that the mindbrain is constantly churning so as to make sense of the internal and external world. This is a highly adaptive process and many aspects of it are now hard wired into the mindbrain. But it is an evolutionary process. The issue is not perfection or truth. It is good enough that your variation is better than your competitors. Mad myth and magic will do fine for creating a cultural world view. Pragmatism rules OK.
What this means, amongst other things, is that an object or an event can easily but wrongly be thought of as being ‘real’ while in fact ‘it’ ‘exists’ only as a perception in a mindbrain and as a word representing a concept in a sentence. The ongoing churn results in many mini inputs giving rise to a ‘story’ which forms the basis of a quick reaction (eg to avoid a hungry lion) or a slower response (eg to see constellations in the night sky). (Ref Kahneman)
>>>>> another day – quite bright and the painter is at work in the sunroom.
My present goal, aim, purpose, motivation, and intention is to get my mindbrain into the new neuropsychological framework such that an abiding peace of mind comes into being.
The methodology involves making time to:
- read widely in the associated literatures,
- associate with like-minded souls
- sit still and watch what my mind gets up to,
- let the unconscious generate stories in flow and
- make the stories available on a blog
So, in the immediate short term, it seems to be a selfish quest. But, paradoxically, the result of all the searching is to know that there is no abiding personal self. And, therefore, the concept of there being a selfish quest is problematic.
The mystics in various times and places have spoken of the ineffable and unspeakable. “He who speaks does not know, he who knows does not speak.” Language has not yet needed to evolve enough to tackle the existential problems. But there can be non-verbal experiences which, when embraced, can stimulate the development of ‘alternate states of consciousness’ many of which change the mindbrain in desirable ways.
Those who make time to stand and stare note that the mind has a mind of its own. The ‘I’ is not in control of what is going on. But this can be a good thing. What appears in consciousness is a reflection of a tiny percentage of what happens in the unconscious.
Many ‘experts’ surrender control to the unconscious because it operates at a much more sophisticated level than the egoic conscious. Athletes are in the zone, musicians are in the groove, and writers let the muse speak through them. These are examples of flow (ref Csikszentmihalyi) which is a prerequisite for what in positive psychology is called flourishing (ref Seligman). It is an effective and efficient frame of mind which rises to challenges and would be deemed wonderful except that there is no self to do the deeming! No self, no problem.
Rick Hanson is a neuropsychologist who reckons that the human mindbrain has a negative bias. There is an inbuilt tendency towards pessimism, to anxiety and panic, and to stress and depression. These are evolved and adaptive features to ensure survival in the Stone Age African savannah. But our socio cultural settings are now quite different and the old ways of doing things are no longer appropriate.
A key feature is that bad stuff sticks in mind (like Velcro) while good stuff slips away (like Teflon). It is therefore both desirable and possible that we “accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative” by way of changing the mind mood from red to green
SO – slow down, be aware of and awake to the stuff (thoughts feeling and moods TFM)) that appears in the attention centre, and choose the good green stuff over the bad red. This is more easily said than done. But it is a possibility for nearly everyone. Where there is a will there is a way.
But whence the ‘will’? It might begin as an intellectual construct possibly linked to negative feelings and moods. So act ‘as if’ being aware and awake made a difference. In time it will.
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