Enlightenment And Your Visual Cortex
You know when you look at abstract art and immediately think, “It’s a dragon, in a…glue storm?” That’s the opposite of enlightenment.
Studies on mindfulness have shown undeniable benefits to the brain.
All things we modern people say we don’t like about our current situation — the distractions, the anxiety, lack of balance — mindfulness practice is not only an effective solution, it’s basically the only free solution, with no drugs, that you have complete control over.
The problem is that we think our problems of light-speed mind-racing will be solved by a genius insight at 1 am while scrolling through Youtube — the way Einstein did it.
Mindfulness takes the opposite approach. It’s the process of focusing attention without solving any kind of problem.
In fact, it’s the process of trying not to understand anything and not make any decisions at all.
What’s left? Being. Experiencing pure experience as it happens. That’s enlightenment.
When you practice enough mindfulness, researchers found, your brain has different electrical patterns in it.
In a neuroscience study, meditators first meditated and then looked through a pair of binoculars with different images in each eye hole.
In this situation, because the brain can’t figure out what it’s looking at, it jumps back and forth between the images, trying to decide which one it’s actually looking at.
There are also rare moments of seeing them both “fused” together.
Experienced meditators had none of the above. They experienced something closer to non-decision.
By the way, that’s closer to the correct answer because they were looking at something that made no sense.
Your eyes almost never see two completely different images. The most realistic response is to reserve judgment about what it is.
While doing this, the meditators were also examined with EEG (to see the electrical patterns in their brains).
The researchers found asynchronous signals between the visual cortex and parietal cortex of the meditators. What does that mean?
Visual cortex sends more “pure pictures” to the parietal cortex of what your eyes are actually taking in — abstract art. The parietal cortex then makes a decision about what you’re looking at — dragon in a glue-storm.
Enlightenment, a state of non-judgment, is usually temporary, although it can be extended with consistent meditative practice.
It’s now clear, however, that the non-judgment of enlightenment is not just an emotional thing. It’s not just choosing to reserve judgment about whether something is good or bad.
You can actually train the “simpler” sensory areas of the brain to actually be less judgmental, to look at the light patterns shining in the world, and let them be undefined.
You can do this right now.
Pick up a small object within reach of you, preferably something without any writing or branding on it. Preferably something natural, but man made is OK too.
Spend two minutes looking at the object.
Look at it as if you have no idea what it is. Try to see every single feature on it, the smallest things and the largest. Don’t name them. Don’t decide what they are, just see them.
Then look around at the rest of your surroundings. What else can see without understanding or judgment?
Then look inside yourself.
