NEUROSCIENCE—The Bad, the Good, & the Transcendent. Part II
As neuroscience has turned its attention to

feelings,
consciousness,
the self,

it has become clear that a lot of simple everyday concepts
that we all (scientists too!) assumed were valid—
—are not good descriptions of what is really going on in the mind and brain.

This is HUGE. These insights, although hard to digest,
point towards a whole new way of experiencing.

 

For instance, basic concepts like
“perception”,
“action”,
“thought”,
“emotion”,
“I”
“it”
turn out to be flawed.

Stunning! Who’d‘a thunk?

These concepts separate and distort the underlying reality,
which does not divide things up into separate categories like this.
These categories are relics of a dualistic way of thinking.

We need to find a different way.

Another example of the dualistic tendency of our conceptual mind.
is the tendency to think of the brain/mind as modular,
with separate regions performing separate specialised tasks.

In reality, The brain operates as a coherent whole,
Not separate from body and environment;

more like an orchestra, or the ripples on the ocean
than a machine or computer.

The more awake you are, the more connected the brain is;
this means that large areas vibrate at the same frequencies,
or even multiples; this is the same principle behind musical chords that sound pleasant (consonant).

In addition, the more awake & balanced you are,
the more brain activity hovers
“on the edge of chaos”;
poised between too much order & too little,
at the “Goldilocks” place!

This Natural State is inherently pleasant, just like a resonant chord.

Moving into this connected state
necessarily must involve mind, feelings and body;
separating them is obviously not connecting them!

—When the whole system works without obstruction, we call this the Natural State.
In this state, we are fully connected, acting effortlessly & spontaneously, without inner conflict, and fully integrated with the environment.

Unfortunately, we are not often in this state! Everybody gets in their own way, more than we realize. The essence of Bodymind Training is to learn how to let go of interference and move towards the Natural State in all situations of life.

Below is a little map:
We can move into the Natural State directly
through experiencing the actual wholeness of our being in the moment:

Standing solidly on the earth,
floating lightly towards the sky, and
open to what is all around us.