In essence I am a ‘writer’. I write about the impact of cutting edge thinking on the process of changing minds. This fascinating topic leads in many directions. It formed the basis of most of my erstwhile professional work in education and in grass roots development.
As I make my way in the world I change my own mind and that of others (one at a time or in groups) and those others change my mind and the minds of even others. The pattern of influencing is different as we move as individuals from womb to tomb, and as empires from rise to fall. (see http://naesaebad.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/changing-and-changed.html )
The process happens more or less formally and at both the smaller and larger scale. At the smaller scale there is you with your friends and family; at the larger scale there are the institutions of education, apprenticeship and work, and also the hegemonic, political, power systems that drive the advertising and propaganda machines through the media.
I have recently been approaching the topic from three main directions – neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, and mindfulness.
Neuroscience has made gigantic advances since I graduated in Zoology in 1971. In essence the mindbrain is modular with ever active connections between the modules. Some modules are inherited from our primate, mammalian, and reptilian ancestors. The uniquely human modules tend to be in the cortex which is the third and most recent of the three-part (triune) brain. Wikipedia explains the structure as follows:
“… the triune model of the mammalian brain remains one of very few approximations of the truth we have to work with:
- the "neocortex" represents that cluster of brain structures involved in advanced cognition, including planning, modeling and simulation;
- the "limbic brain" refers to those brain structures, wherever located, associated with social and nurturing behaviors, mutual reciprocity, and other behaviors and affects that arose during the age of the mammals; and
- the "reptilian brain" refers to those brain structures related to territoriality, ritual behavior and other "reptile" behaviors.”
Sensory signals enter the sense organs and are churned up with memories by way of figuring how to react quickly and to respond more slowly to what is happening in the external world.
The structure of the mindbrain is not set in stone. A remarkable amount of neural plasticity is possible. If a part of the brain is damaged in an accident then another part can take over the functions that have been lost.
Over 99% of the activity in the mindbrain is in the unconscious. The human ability for self conscious reason and rationality is considerably less than has been supposed since the European enlightenment in the west. Most normal people behave according to the instincts and intuitions of their autopilot most of the time. But the potentially good news is that, by taking thought this way rather than that (see below), an element of free-will can be exercised.
Wikipedia offers a list of 21 major branches of neuroscience. This demonstrates the wide influence that the discipline is having on various fields of cutting edge thinking. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroscience#Major_branches
Evolutionary Psychology (EP) is focused on how past adaptations have shaped the mind and brain to behave this way rather than that. EP recognises that both nature (hard wiring) and nurture (learning) are responsible for an individual’s world view and associated points of view.
Arguably there still exist some bits of stone age hard wiring that are no longer functional in the modern world – (eg the fight or flight adrenalin response being constantly triggered in urban environments). But these anomalies can be noticed and thus have their sting removed. Mind over matter with free will is therefore possible. It might be something of an uphill struggle but at least there is a framework that allows us to conceptualize a way of changing minds so as to build a better world.
The five principles of EP are listed in Leda Cosmides & John Tooby (1997) “Evolutionary Psychology: A Primer”. http://www.cep.ucsb.edu/primer.html
- Principle 1. The brain is a physical system. It functions as a computer. Its circuits are designed to generate behavior that is appropriate to your environmental circumstances.
- Principle 2. Our neural circuits were designed by natural selection to solve problems that our ancestors faced during our species' evolutionary history.
- Principle 3. Consciousness is just the tip of the iceberg; most of what goes on in your mind is hidden from you. As a result, your conscious experience can mislead you into thinking that our circuitry is simpler that it really is. Most problems that you experience as easy to solve are very difficult to solve -- they require very complicated neural circuitry
- Principle 4. Different neural circuits are specialized for solving different adaptive problems
- Principle 5. Our modern skulls house a stone age mind
When the findings of neuroscience and EP are shared a whole new world view opens up. Amongst other things it becomes obvious that a child is not a blank slate and the amount of the slate left over for self consciousness is in fact rather small. There is also a large amount of instinct blindness (see Principle 3) but, by taking thought in a particular way (see below), at least some of the underlying complexity can be appreciated.
Mindfulness as a conscious mental process is 2500 years old. Historically it is associated with Eastern world views (especially Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism and Zen). But when the Eastern exotica are stripped away we are left with a robust psychology of perception which is now at the cutting edges of several patterns of Western thought eg MBSR and MBCT.
The practice of mindfulness is easily stated but not so easily done. In essence it involves calmly noticing the thoughts, feelings and moods that arise from the unconscious and occupy the attention centre for a while before being replaced.
When you are operating on autopilot the thoughts, feelings and moods take over the whole of the attention centre – ‘you’ are not in control; you are instead a puppet driven by the stuff that swells up from the unconscious.
The alternative is to notice calmly and non judgementally what is going on as if you were a witness to what passes through the attention centre.
The autopilot gets 100% angry. The witness notices that anger has arisen to the 50% level.
Jon Kabat-Zinn explains that “Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.” (Google him for many inspirational video presentations)
The mind is like a horse, elephant or Olympic athlete. Taming and training can be tough in the beginning but with persistence all manner of wonderful things develop.
Amongst these wonderful things is non-attachment to a world view and assorted points of view. The disciplined mind knows that the ‘truth’ is contingent. It is said that “the reality that can be described is not the real reality”.
To train your mind you can sit quietly paying detailed attention to your breathing. But the attention will wander. Notice this calmly and put attention back on the breath – time and time again – practice makes perfect.
In time the feverish workings of the autopilot are replaced by the peaceful musing of the witness. The thoughts, feelings and moods that arise are seen to be mind-made; and the mind from which they come is a biological and cultural product with its roots in the serendipitous churn which is your particular nature and nurture.
Recommended for digging deeper:
- Jon Kabat-Zinn – various texts, and audio and video presentations since the 1970s
- Mark Williams and Danny Penman (2011) “Mindfulness – a practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world.”
- Henepola Gunaratana (1991) “Mindfulness in plain English”
Various themed compilations of my fairly recent short articles on most of the above mentioned themes are freely available at http://toonloon.bizland.com/compilations/the-compilations/
SO although I have retired from the institutions I still account for myself as a writer. And, whilst I recognise the Taoist notion that “those who speak do not know” I still get my jollies from stringing words together.
and there's me washing ma curtains!
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