THINGS I'VE LEARNED

I've decided to start sharing some of the things I learn along the way. I mentioned in an earlier post that little is new, and most of my sources will be a lot more informative than I can be. Only in the past week or so has the ease with which I can share links to those sources finally occurred to me. For somebody who loves to learn, I am notably adept at ignoring anything that doesn't strike me as relevant. This includes all the buttons and iconography that seem to litter the edges of apps and pages. Out of pure laziness, or perhaps an unwillingness to adapt to technology, I've allowed myself to limit my scope and functionality. But I realize now that technology which adapts to us - as in brain-computer interfaces (BCI's) that might one day be able to simply read my brain and code pages like these to suit my fantasy - remains not only clunky but fundamentally unpalatable to me, who would resist biohacking via wifi anyways. For this reason, included in this week's “things I've learned” has been how to use more of the fundamental tools of this site, including providing links within this text. Yay! I hope it makes your visits here more enjoyable. On to things I've learned:

Anil Seth exists and studies the brain and consciousness at the Sackler Center for Consciousness Science. His Ted Talk, "Your Brain Hallucinates Your Conscious Reality," didn't tell me anything I haven't read elsewhere, but I did like the way he arranged that info into a colorful, twenty-minute mind-blow for anyone who still supposes that reality is fixed, rather than something contrived and then generally agreed upon. As for his not-so-subtle conclusion that the death of the body is the death of consciousness, I maintain some skepticism. He recognizes the interconnection of all life, but a broader, living medium in which a larger consciousness might also exist eludes science as studied in individuals, at any rate, and I imagine always will. And it being that experiences of that connection are probably a personal hallucination anyway, there's no reason to have any more faith in those experiences we may have had than we have faith in “reality.” As such, the dream of forms remains inexplicable.

What I love about science is that the more we come to know, the more we know that we don't know. That said, I was reminded by Steven Novella in his lecture series, “Your Deceptive Mind: A Scientific Guide to Critical Thinking Skills,” that neither should we let science's inability to capture perfect or complete data detract from the mountains of data that exist. Let us continue to wonder about why we have that data at all, who collected it and what their cultural biases, motivations and other limitations might be. Let us wonder too at the data we haven't collected, the things we haven't thought to ask or wonder at, or simply haven't the capacity to comprehend, whether limited by human perception, funding, technology, or any of these and more. But then, it might still be in our best interest to trust data replicable across time and across cultures. All this is to speak something of the need for “intellectual humility,” an idea which could stand a little more popularity in this current space and time.

I'm still watching “Scientific Secrets for a Powerful Memory,” (Peter M. Vishton, more lectures in the Great Courses series), but I am so annoyed that I didn't learn the Major System in kindergarten. Like, what the actual fuck. History would not have been my worst subject if it hadn't been for the need for date recall. I now know that I could have turned numbers into words, and those words into memorable images. Why don't they teach this to every child? Instead, we learned just one cute little rhyme that tells us of a murderous conquistador who “in 1492, sailed the ocean blue;" which also rhymes with "1742" and "1032" and every other number that ends in “2.” Useless. I detested singing in class: the monotonous droning, the forced unity, the intent to harmonize as a means of assimilating information was annoying and lost upon me. I could have pictured that sordid mofo in a turban beneath sails and that'd been that, forever. (The major system's TRBN translates to 1492). Fucking bullshit, that singing. A waste of time I could have spent learning the major system, a tool which will be useful beyond our idolization of colonizers.

Then there's the Method of Loci, another thing I wish I'd picked up earlier. When Sherlock Holmes refers to his “mind palace,” this is what he's talking about. We can use it to remember lists, information all kinds, by simply attaching the things we'd remember to locations along paths with which we're familiar, and it helps to surround those things with highly detailed, bizarre and sensuous imagery. Our excellent human capacity for spatial memory makes for success here. It works so well, I still remember every item on the practice grocery list Mr. Vishton used in the example I learned four days ago. Used in combination with the major system, you can remember some extraordinary chains of numbers. I am stoked because I am already using these to remember a string of birthdates I don't want to forget. You can find the gist of how to use your mind palace here.

Another thing I learned this week is that “The Great Courses” are really fucking expensive. Or rather, they are if you don't pick up the DVD's at your local library for free like I did. I highly recommend checking these out in fields that intrigue you.

One last thing I would share you, and which I learn over and over, is that therapy is really fucking useful. I study a lot, but that is not enough. We all need somebody to share the information we assimilate and weave in with our experience, somebody to help process the emotions we may be in the midst of and which diminish our capacity to reason or function effectively. You could certainly get a friend to help you with that, but when this person you speak with is trained and adept at identifying the limitations and pitfalls of the human psyche, and when this person is motivated by both cash and professional commitment to do their best to help you evolve, their work can be priceless. Currently, I visit with a clinical social worker, Dr. Diane C. Evans, every couple of weeks. She's wild and clever, a whirlwind of insight, and a force with a heart of gold. She's helped me to extend the kindness and forgiveness I so urgently want to share with others to myself, making it easier to keep sharing the love.

Dr. Gary Penn of the Los Angeles area is a genius whom I have always deeply admired, and he truly helped me to banish a self that didn't serve my well-being, anyone or anything. He did so with incredible patience, brilliant humor, and a no-nonsense attitude that might daunt the tender, but which satisfies those ready and willing to hear solid gold truth. This guy isn't fucking around, and he uses the sword of his “advanced understanding of the heart and mind” to cut through blind spots and bullshit to help others towards genuine self-realization. Everyone needs a Gary Penn in their lives. You can get some of his perspectives and listen to some talks on his website. Adding "Be Well" to my signature I stole directly from this dude because it's the most potent and concise well-wishing we can be sure to cram in for anyone. I listened to his "State of the Union" and learned that he too wonders how it is we can help people who don't want to be helped. Recently, I've come to wonder whether teaching meditation in schools, and everywhere we possibly can, is the world's best bet for a better future, for opening ourselves to our needs, including those for help. I think it may well be.

Gary introduced me to another genius who changed my life and thinking: Paramahansa Yogananda. I doubt Gary knew that when he told me about “Man's Eternal Quest” that this text of Yogananda's essays and lectures would become a kind of bible to me, a guide for living and doing well that I refer to anytime I'm feeling out of touch with my better self and have sense enough to dig myself out of that wretched hole. Most people rave about “The Autobiography of a Yogi,” particularly since Steve Jobs was so fond of it. If you dig wisdom direct, read the first. If you like a story to embed and reveal wisdom, read the latter. I keep these words from one of Yogananda's essays written down and close by to help keep me focused on the life I want to live. I look at them often:

“Those who like to dwell on the faults of others are human vultures. There is already too much evil in the world. Don't talk of evil, don't think of evil, and don't do evil. Be like a rose, wafting to all the sweet fragrance of soul goodness. Make everyone feel that you are a friend; that you are a helper, not a destroyer. If you want to be good, analyze yourself and develop the virtues in you. Banish the thought that evil has any part in your nature, and it will drop off. Make everyone else feel that you are an image of God, not by your words, but by your behavior. Emphasize the light, and darkness will be no more. Study, meditate, and do good to others.”

Keep learning. Sweet dreams and sweeter waking, friends.