Enlightenment, June 2023
I think we can think our way to being happier w/o 10,000 hours of meditation.
This is a brief overview of some of the ideas in Losing My Religions.
To have the best life possible, understanding our world and ourselves more honestly is important. (Unless you can really live a lie, which is possible.)
The Genes that Tie and Bind
We humans are not equipped to see things as they actually are. Our genes have built us to get more copies of themselves (our genes) into the future; these “selfish” genes will program us – their vessel – to do whatever it takes to maximize this outcome. This includes, but is not limited to:
The craving for “more” – more calories, more stuff, more money, more status;
The drive to have sex, the love of / desire for babies;
The inability to see the world clearly or understand ourselves.
(Obviously, we don’t all share exactly the same drives to the exact same extent.)
I talk about this and the below in Losing My Religions; Robert Wright covers this in more detail in The Moral Animal and Why Buddhism Is True.
Our families have also programmed us. Not to be happy and fulfilled – oh no, no, no – but to do what they want (except in rare exceptions). In short, those genetically related to us are programmed by their genes to want us to propagate the genes we share with them.
It’s selfish genes all the way down.
Some people have kids to fulfill their drive to procreate, and many (but not all) also want love from their children. (“Some people have kids and want those children to be happy. Others have children and want the kids to make them happy.”)
The above can be incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to recognize and, if necessary, overcome.
Religion – The Great Obfuscator
Then we have society.
Perhaps the most insidious lie foisted upon us by our society is one our family also programs into us: religion. Our ties to family make it stranglingly difficult to even question the faith in which we are raised, let alone free ourselves and see the universe more clearly.
Which religion is programmed into our synapses depends on where and when we’re born. Recognizing that particular fact can be helpful in freeing us from the shackles and torture of our parents’ beliefs – there is no reason to think that our mother and/or father just happen to have the right view of god(s) when the vast majority of humans have believed something else.
Once we recognize that our parents don’t have a monopoly on cosmic truth, it is still difficult to clear the stained glass completely. The vast majority of people believe in some form of god(s); making belief without evidence the norm. In addition, we understandably want to feel like the universe is not a “cold, uncaring, and meaningless place,” which is what some people fear would be the case without god(s).
Additionally, we have the solace faith can provide us in the face of death.
Despite all this, no actual evidence gives us reason to believe in any “higher power.” True, we don’t currently understand how the Big Bang came about. But if we think everything had to be created, and thus the Big Bang must have been created, then what created the Big Bang’s creator? At least we have evidence of the Big Bang, and it is a falsifiable theory.
Additionally, think about everything else that was previously unknown and used to justify belief in god(s). Now we understand what the Sun and Earth are and how they came to be, for example, as well as how the diversity of life evolved.
We haven’t learned these things through faith, of course. Religions have thwarted the advancement of human knowledge. The imprisonment of Galileo for noting that the Earth isn’t the center of the universe is only one example. The general “it’s god’s will” anti-science attitude has caused so much suffering. (Another topic in Losing.)
Although we can’t, of course, prove a negative (“no god(s) exist”) we have no reason to have any affirmative belief, especially not one that affects how we live.
Free Will – The Greatest Illusion
We do, however, have reason to believe we have free will. It totally feels like we are in control, actively controlling our thoughts and driving our actions. Showing that free will is an illusion is beyond the scope of one blog post. Even though I am not down with him on many things (just search this blog for his name), Sam Harris is very good on the topic. Here is a post that introduces his short book on the topic; here is a short video; here is a longer video.
Recognizing that free will is an illusion – a nearly perfect illusion – is astonishingly difficult. Possibly harder than giving up god(s). This isn’t just because we feel like we have free will, but also because many people think they would not be an individual if they weren’t “in control.”
This can seem scary, but really isn’t. In my experience, giving up the illusion of free will is a necessary but not sufficient insight for enlightenment – the topic of my next (shorter) blog post. Accepting that free will can’t exist is the heavy lift, and is the one topic I think is worth your time to explore, starting with the three previous links: a post that introduces his short book on the topic; a short video; a longer video.
In Why Buddhism Is True, Robert Wright quotes a teacher saying that you shouldn’t try to intellectually understand the Buddhist concept of emptiness, because if you make the attempt, your head would explode.
I disagree.
Recognizing Our Simplicity
We humans have proven ourselves capable of incredible illusions. From believing in god speaking to us and transubstantiation to suffering the delusion that we are living in the end times and the Dunning-Kruger effect, our brains do not see the world clearly. We can’t even comprehend how bad it is. (Doubt that?)
Although we can’t be sure we aren’t living in a simulation, all testable evidence indicates that the universe is simply matter and energy following (a certain set of) the laws of physics. (“A certain set of” because there could be other universes where the laws are different.)
We don’t understand how the chemical interactions of our brain’s ~1.4 x 10^26 atoms give rise to conscious, subjective experience. But we do know that we can manipulate consciousness in specific ways by manipulating the brain’s atoms' interactions. This gives every reason to believe that consciousness is an emergent property of specific arrangements of matter and energy, but still subject to the laws of physics (and the emergent rules of chemistry, biology, physiology).
Everything we think, everything we feel, everything we do – all of it is, at the core, the interactions of atoms. Nothing more.
Recognizing this undermines the illusion of free will. But this insight isn’t (entirely) a loss, just as it isn’t (entirely) a loss to give up religion, or to understand the evolutionary basis of love, sex, and reproduction. Realizing the materialist, reductionist nature of the universe is yet another gain – a clearer understanding of reality. And that better understanding can help us lead a better life.
The First Gain: Freedom (of a sort)
The first insight is into ourselves. Since everything is chemical reactions, we can’t be the driver of our thoughts and feelings. Consciousness is along for the ride. Our bodies feel emotions – hunger, fear, desire – as a way to understand the world and motivate “appropriate” behavior. Many things are going on in our body / brain to keep us alive; consciousness shines the spotlight of attention on one part of our otherwise unconscious thoughts and feelings to allow us to “think” more on that topic. We don’t “choose” what to think about.
This is the great insight from mindfulness meditation – recognizing that our minds don’t actually work the way we assume they do. Thoughts think themselves.
But we don’t have to be the feeling or the thought. Once we realize thoughts think themselves and feelings are messages, we don’t have to identify with them if we don’t want to. That is: these insights and mindfulness can reprogram our brains to recognize thoughts and feelings for what they are. Thoughts and feelings are not who we are.
More concretely: we don’t have to be “angry.” We don’t have to "be" anything.
Anger can arise, we can recognize it, and then “choose” to let it go. "I recognize I am experiencing anger" vs "I am angry."
Conversely, we can recognize good fortune, experience gratitude, and “choose” to embrace the experience of that feeling.
As Sam Harris notes:
“Losing a belief in free will has not made me a fatalist – in fact, it has increased my feelings of freedom. My hopes, fears, and neuroses seem less personal and indelible. … Becoming sensitive to the background causes of one’s thoughts and feelings can paradoxically allow for greater creative control over one's life. This understanding reveals you to be a biochemical puppet, of course, but it also allows you to grab hold of one of your strings.”
The Second Gain: Emptiness toward Enlightenment
The second insight is the first applied to the broader world.
Everything in the universe is simply matter and energy following the laws of physics. There is no “good” or “bad.” Everything is empty of meaning, value, and emotional valence, except what our consciousness assigns to it.
And with enough understanding, training, and reprogramming, we can “choose” not to assign anything to anything, except what makes our lives better.
It goes without saying: this is difficult. But the reality is that the rude cashier is just a collection of atoms constrained by the laws of physics. Ted Cruz is just following his genetic and societal programming. The chicken farmer, the person picking their toes on the train, the driver revving his unmuffled car – at the core, just collections of atoms, empty of any inherent meaning.
So instead of reacting with disdain, hatred, or mockery, we don’t have to react at all. Or we can “choose” to react with joy that we aren’t that person. Or we can “choose” compassion. Or we can “choose” to try to figure out actions that may help change a situation that is causing suffering in others – and we can make this choice without allowing ourselves to suffer.
(And of course, when I say “choose,” I mean “use insights from others and our experiences to reprogram our neural net so we react differently in the future.”)
Simply Another Way of Interacting with the World
We don’t start out knowing how to type, use a cellphone, or speak a language. We don’t simply “decide” to have those and other skills. But if something in our lives leads to the knowledge and training necessary, we can interact with the world in a new way.
Learning a new language is perhaps the best example. People can speak German to me and I am unable to react in any positive, constructive way (unless they get a laugh from my idiotic grin). But because of an external factor (an excellent teacher in college) Anne “chose” to put in the time to learn and practice German, and now she has a new way of interacting with the world.
If you are reading this, it is likely that you have a similar ability – the ability to gain the knowledge and do the training necessary to achieve something closer to “enlightenment.” Put simply:
By recognizing the illusion of free will and pursuing the right training / reprogramming, we can develop something much more like free will than we have now. We can take hold of one of the strings that currently makes our life worse than it needs to be. We can stop simply reacting and instead interact, with more control over our feelings.
In short: giving up free will and embracing emptiness can make life much better.
This series is not meant to imply that I am “enlightened.”
For one, as I write about in Losing My Religions, I was unable to “mindful” my way out of the depression that followed my fractured neck, spinal fusion, facial reconstruction, and final firing. At some level, I knew everything discussed in the previous post, but was unable to use that knowledge to get out of the depression.
It took a functioning antidepressant to change my brain’s chemistry such that I was able to be happy again. That, in turn, allowed further mindfulness training to help me be less reactive.
I have many other advantages and privileges. Even though my professional life has been mostly misguided and impotent (at best) I have the best partnership I’ve ever known or heard of. We have enough material stability that I don’t have any rational reason to worry about being homeless or needing to take a job cleaning toilets. (I’m not sure I could “mindful” my way to enjoying that job … at least not yet.)
There are several things in my personal life that I still react to with negativity (especially guilt). And I still care about politics and suffering more than is necessary to do what I can to help. Clearly, I have more work to do. (I need “the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”)
But I think the pieces are there for something along the lines of “enlightenment.” I don’t have to meditate myself into some foreign state of consciousness. I don’t have to become a monk or go listen to some “guru” in Tibet. I need to train my brain to not react negatively. A hard task, sure. But I am lucky to be in a position where starting is even possible.
As always, I suggest reading and re-reading Robert Wright’s Why Buddhism Is True (after, of course, writing a review of Losing – my ego certainly hasn’t been mindfulled away ... yet?).
Take care.
Waiting for Parts II and following.
How's your health? Improving I hope or at least stable.