Unravelling the Human Condition: A Rational Approach

In this exposition, we will discuss the concept of human existence and its liberation from suffering. Starting with an illustration of the neuroanatomical model of the brain, we will traverse the concepts of cybernetic systems theory, elaborate on the crux of this theory, and conclude with feasible solutions along with a description of the experience post-implementation.

25 min readJul 21, 2024

Log line: A cognitive process isn’t functioning properly in humans, like a bug in computer software. This hypothesis presents an explanation and suggests possible solutions.

Disclaimer 1 — This essay only addresses the concept of psychological suffering; it naturally presumes the person is in a state of physical wellness.
Disclaimer 2 — Implementing the solution will be a time-consuming process; do not expect to complete it without efforts spanning at least a few years as it involves behaviour modification. The process is similar to that of overcoming addiction.
Disclaimer 3— This discourse could trigger an existential crisis; hence, it should be avoided by someone who is content with their life or is unable to afford the time that will be needed for its resolution. Solutions can be implemented while living in society and doesn’t demand seclusion.

“One who considers oneself free is indeed free, and one who considers oneself bound remains bound”
Aṣṭāvakra Gītā I.11

The Human Brain

This section contains a brief explanation of brain anatomy and its biological functioning.

Triune Brain Theory (Outdated)

Although outdated, it overlaps in many respects with contemporary understanding of the brain and is included here to simplify the explanations in subsequent sections.

The ‘triune brain’ was first proposed by McLean (1969) based on the idea that the brain is divided into three regions : reptilian (instincts), limbic (emotional visceral brain) and the neocortex (abstract thinking, imagination, reasoning etc) which belongs to the primates and humans.

Reference — The Myth of Triune Brain Theory

Adaptive Brain Theory (Current)

This conceptual framework depicts the interconnectedness and plasticity of brain regions, emphasising the brain’s capacity to forecast and adjust to forthcoming needs and circumstances.

The brain enhances adaptability by minimising prediction errors and accurately forecasting outcomes, enabling rapid and efficient responses to changing environments. Rather than distinct emotional or cognitive circuits, the brain uses integrated networks to optimize bodily maintenance, emotion, and cognition and adapt to evolving demands.

References

Human behaviour

Behaviour is largely driven by genetic and environmental factors that affect an individual but is also influenced by thoughts and feelings. Social norms also condition behaviour, whereby humans are pressured into following certain rules and displaying certain behaviours that are deemed acceptable or unacceptable depending on the given society or culture.

Human brains, as with those of all mammals, are neuroplastic. This means that the structure of the brain changes over time as neural pathways are altered in response to the environment. Changing our own behaviour deliberately is possible for humans, although it can be difficult, especially when it involves breaking ingrained habits or perceptions. However, with effort and determination, almost any behaviour can be changed.

“Most of us think of ourselves as thinking creatures that feel, but we are actually feeling creatures that think.”
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor

Enactive Cognitive Science

Enactivism is a position in cognitive science that argues that cognition arises through a dynamic interaction between an acting organism and its environment.

The enactive approach stresses the fact that cognitive activity doesn’t take place in a vacuum, but in a world where a cognitive agent is trying to get something done — whether that’s get to work, make a cup of coffee, or figure out what this “enactive approach” thing is. The approach also makes central the essential relationship between the experiences of the cognitive agent and the meaningfulness of those experiences. Thinking isn’t abstract for the thinker — it really means something and feels like something. The concept of biological autonomy is also important in the enactive approach because we are not just pushed around by our environment but have some control over our own behaviour as living agents.

Biological Autonomy

All living systems — from simple cells to whole organisms, whether the latter are single-celled bacteria or human beings — actively individuate themselves from other aspects of their environments and maintain themselves by engaging in a constant “dynamical exchange of energy and matter that keeps the inside conditions just right for life to perpetuate itself” (Kabat-Zinn 2016, p. xiv). This is all part of the great game of life: staying far enough away from entropy, aka thermodynamic equilibrium, to survive.
Living systems are organisationally and operationally closed, which is to say that they are “constituted as a network of interdependent processes, where the behaviour of the whole emerges from the interaction dynamics of its component parts” (Barandiaran 2017, p. 411).
Adaptive regulation requires flexibility. It requires simultaneous adjustments at multiple timescales and various levels, where each adjustment must be responsive to particular speeds and rhythms at the scale required to meet specific thresholds. This is why the business of being and staying alive is necessarily complex, forever unfinished, precarious, and restless (Di Paolo and others, 2017; 2018). Though there is room for error, minimally, organisms that survive and propagate must actively avoid engaging in behaviours that are overly maladaptive.
Enactivists hold that such adaptive activity is autonomous. Living systems establish their own unprincipled norms of operation — norms that arise naturally from the activity of staying alive and far from entropy. It is because organisms generate their own norms through their activities that enactivists speak of them as having an immanent teleology (Thompson 2007, Di Paolo, and others 2018).

Summarising this section, we can say that a human being, as it leaves its mother’s womb and experiences information through its senses (external — Exteroception; internal — Interoception) ends up individuating themselves by identifying the mind-body as a distinct entity from its environment. Thus facilitating the conception of a separate entity — an I or self.

Cybernetics

Cybernetics is the study of human/machine interaction guided by the principle that numerous different types of systems can be studied according to principles of feedback, control, and communications.

A cybernetic process contains the following:

a representation of the current state.
a representation of a goal state.
a strategy for action to move from their current state to their goal state.

We will be using this framework to understand the basic processes of a biological system that are pivotal for its survival.

Note: We will preclude the concept of immediate danger since it activates a fight/flight response, which suspends all other processes.

Thirst — Physiological (absolutely necessary to maintain system)

2. Hunger — Physiological (absolutely necessary to maintain system)

3. Rest is also a physiological property which follows a similar process.

4. Security — Psychological property (concerning anticipated danger)

In other animals, provided their immediate environment is secure

In humans, since they possess the abilities of imagination and abstract thought, the Threshold keeps shifting

There are more processes in the human mind, like Compassion, Awareness/Experiencer, Exploration etc. These will be discussed in later sections.

Reference — Enactivism

“Organisms actively and continuously produce a distinction between themselves and their environment where none existed before they appeared and where none will remain after they are gone”
(Di Paolo and others 2018, p. 23).

Existential Anxiety

Hereon, we will be exploring the core concepts of this exposition.

The Search for Meaning

After a baby is born, its mind only has the basic functions required to nurture itself and the evolutionary need to keep itself safe from any immediate danger. As the child’s mind develops, it gains complex abilities: imagination, self-reflection, abstract thinking, reasoning, and more. These abilities enable the child to comprehend more than its immediate environment.

For comparison, let us consider another mammal, a dog named Bruno. Mammals have been found to have the experience of emotions, memories, habits, and attachments but lack complex thought processes like self-reflection and abstract thinking. Let us consider that Bruno was assaulted and abused by a man in the past; naturally, he would have a traumatic memory of this experience. Now let us consider that he was rescued by a kind-hearted woman. Bruno’s mind (security process, to be specific) will always be on the lookout for signs of abuse from his observable environment and for cues from his new owner. But Bruno lacks the ability to hypothesise beyond that which his senses can perceive. Over time, just like Pavlov’s dog overcame his conditioning, Bruno also overcomes his trauma and starts to feel more and more secure in this new environment. Essentially, as his security process approaches completion, this will be recognised by the new owner as the dog changing his behaviour (becoming friendlier). His feeling of insecurity may spin up again when he sees the previous owner in the future, but it will not start with him thinking of that possibility.

The human child instead goes through the process of comprehending more possibilities of danger to its safety as it learns more about the world, and it also becomes aware of the inevitability of death and of becoming non-existent. So naturally, the question arises, aided by both self-reflection and perception: Who is the one that dies? Who am I?

This rarely happens in isolation, as a basic framework is provided to almost every human by their parents and society. They give this person an identity: as a son/daughter, as a countryman, as poor/rich etc. This happens by default to everyone who isn’t abandoned at birth away from humanity. These identities are supplemented with a framework of beliefs, which will quell his doubts about his existence and retain him as a contributing member of human society. Additionally, he forms an attachment to his immediate family, as they are crucial for his survival, and hence he remains agreeable to their conditioning. This set consisting of mind, body, identities, beliefs, and attachments that a human uses to make itself distinct from the universe will be referred to as the Ego or self.

This construct of Ego is now the central axis of the human mind. It mediates between the conscious and the unconscious (behaviour and emotions) and is responsible for reality testing. Behavioural patterns and emotions are all filtered through the lens of Ego, usually reinforcing existing beliefs and identities. As long as the ego feels validated and there is no uncertainty about what the future will bring, the person should be secure. But this never happens; the Ego is always in comparison with other Egos, always measuring itself and ruminating over their future.

That person is richer, his future is more secure.
That other woman is more attractive, she will have more suitors, and hence a higher chance of ending up safer in the future.
That scientist has made a wonderful discovery; his name might be remembered for eternity. Is my existence even relevant?

Some humans, as they acquire more knowledge and develop their reasoning faculties, aided by the scientific and rational nature of the modern world, end up questioning the validity of their preconceived beliefs. This can also happen when they encounter something that challenges these notions and forces them to question them. Henceforth, the person requires something new to sustain their Ego, thus embarking on a search for meaning.

According to Viktor Frankl, the author of Man’s Search for Meaning, when a person is faced with the concept of extreme mortal dangers, the most basic of all human wishes is to find a meaning of life to combat the “trauma of non-being” as death is near.

The topic of Ego alone is enough to fill up the entire Library of Alexandria and is something the reader can explore from multitudinous sources. It is quite important to understand this construct in decent detail to properly implement the solutions mentioned in this discourse.

Note: The search for meaning has become more prevalent in modern times as a paradigm shift from a Disciplinary society to an Achievement society happened after the “Age of Enlightenment” and the Industrial Revolution.

The Absurd

In Existentialism, the absurd is a metaphysical term that refers to the conflict between the human desire for meaning in life and the human inability to find any. The absurd is not “logically impossible”, but rather “humanly impossible”.

Imagine this:
A man is transported into a magical forest along with many others, where they will always be young, perfectly healthy and immortal, additionally they can also conjure any plant or fruit into existence, but they are struck by a curse unbeknownst to them: that they will always be hungry.
This human eats an apple, but his hunger remains. He is confused and thereupon dreams up more fruits and crops into existence, but alas, his hunger remains. Even after consuming the most exotic of edibles and even after devouring the entirety of a bountiful harvest, his hunger remains.
How will he react to this absurdity? Obviously, the human wants to somehow eliminate his hunger; this inability to feel satiated is causing him distress. He simply wishes to exist in peace, enjoying the forest.

Initially, he will avoid noticing this absurdity; choosing wilful ignorance, he will continue conjuring up more fruits and crops into existence, silently hoping that one day these will satisfy him. But what will happen when he cannot avoid the bottomless abyss that his hunger is?

He might react with denial, constantly distracting himself; he will cook up more and more complex recipes to satisfy his urge. He might also consider engaging in hedonic pursuits like drugs, alcohol, and entertainment, or will try to manage the terror by “tranquillizing himself with the trivial,” i.e., strongly focusing on trivial matters and exaggerating their importance, often through busyness and frenetic activity.

With the hope that he can avoid this ridiculous fate, he might engage in bargaining with some imaginary source whom he portrays as the bestower of his destiny. He will promise to be moral; he will sacrifice a part of his benefits as an offering, thus attempting to negotiate for deliverance from his condition.

Or he can react with anger towards his fate, which leaves him constantly unsatisfied, but since he can’t be angry at the concept, his anger becomes misplaced and directed at the people around him or at the world in general. (Misplaced anger is a defence mechanism that people use when they are unable or unwilling to confront the source of their anger.)

When all these methods don’t make him feel any better about his future, he might react with depression. He despairs and loses motivation or interest in the experiences he was engaged in until then.

Or he can also choose to revolt as an absurd hero who knows about the absurd and lives his life in spite of it. Albert Camus proposes that the only appropriate response to the absurd is to revolt against it and to live on with the knowledge of the absurd.

Note: This concept has been discussed voraciously by existentialist thinkers, and exploring their works would be helpful in understanding the details.

References

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”
Albert Camus

Solution

So then, is reacting against the absurdity of existence the only option left for mankind. Are we, in the end, doomed to a lifetime of suffering?

Camus once made the statements

“We get into the habit of living before acquiring the habit of thinking”
“Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is”

and it is in this perspective that the solution lies. Man is not an immutable product of its nature and environment but an entity that can change its psychological patterns of behaviour, albeit with considerable difficulty.

Man is a creature who can become what he should be — an entity that experiences and explores reality not as a distinct individual but as a part of it.

Storytime
In the city of Gordium, the capital of Phrygia, an ox cart was tied to a post with an intricate knot of cornel bark by King Midas (the one with the golden touch). The knot was later described by Roman historian Quintus Curtius Rufus as comprising “several knots all so tightly entangled that it was impossible to see how they were fastened”.
An oracle had declared that the man who could unravel its elaborate knots was destined to become ruler of all of Asia. Centuries passed by as many a man ended up defeated by the sheer complexity of this puzzle. Until the day Alexander the Great entered Gordium.
Alexander the Great was confronted with the challenge of the knot. He tried to untie it, but his struggle ended in futility. He then reasoned that it would make no difference how the knot was loosened; all that matters is that the knot not remain. Thereafter, he drew his sword and swooped down on the famous puzzle that withstood the minds of countless geniuses for millennia, slicing it in half with a single stroke.
Thus goes the legend of the Gordian Knot.

Consider this story an allegory for the significance of human existence.

Understanding the Problem

The human need for security in this vast, indifferent universe usually manifests through two major strategies.

The desire for meaning or validation for one’s existence.
The desire to enact control and create a predictable environment where they can hopefully feel more secure. This is popularly called the desire for power.

We will define two important concepts derived from Kantian logic.
Phenomenon: things as they are experienced through the senses and processed by the mind.
Noumenon: that which is beyond human cognition.
The boundaries between these two concepts and how human exploration affects them are fascinating concepts requiring enquiry.

Let us now reconsider the never-ending security process mentioned in the cybernetics section — Insecurity Process for short.

The insecurity process seeks completion but is unable to do so due to the human inability to find a concrete rationalisation for existence and death within the phenomenal realm. This results in it becoming a runaway process that creates constructs upon constructs and makes it act as the dominant process when physiological processes are satisfied. As previously expressed, this chiefly manifests as an ego construct. The ego construct further hijacks other cognitive functions (like compassion, exploration, aesthetics etc.) in its desperate attempt to complete its original evolutionary objective of satisficing itself.

Therefore, the resolution fundamentally boils down to overcoming the existential insecurity that has taken root within our minds.

Cognitive restructuring

Cognitive restructuring is the primary method used in CBT and REBT forms of psychotherapy. It essentially involves the identification of problematic cognitions, which are dysfunctional or negative views of the self, world, or future based upon already existing beliefs about oneself, the world, or the future.

The triangle in the middle represents CBT’s tenet that all humans’ core beliefs can be summed up in three categories: self, others, future

A widely held tenet within psychotherapy is that a human’s cognitive-behavioural framework hinges upon their identification of themselves, the world, and the future. Insecurity arises due to the interplay between these core beliefs, the need for security, and higher cognitive functions (Imagination etc.).

What if we are able to change these core beliefs and replace our cognitive framework with a better one, one that helps improve our fundamental experience of reality by reassuring our existential insecurity?

Methods, impact, and the concept of truth
Cognitive restructuring can happen through three main mechanisms:
Knowledge transmitted through language: This involves belief frameworks given by society, scriptures that document alternate methods from personal experiences of others, objective truths widely held by humanity, etc. The mind assimilates this data into its existing framework and usually rejects anything that challenges its core concepts. Change can be brought about using this method, but it is a slow process and would rarely create a substantial impact alone. Truth is considered objective within this context as it is shared and verifiable.
Knowledge gained through lived experience: As a person experiences the world through time, their encounters shape their base framework and make them receptive towards change and also towards incorporating subjective inferences. The changes that happen through personal experience are more impactful and might veer away from objective truths.
Insights from self-reflection: A capability seemingly unique to humans, the insights that arise through soul-searching are trusted implicitly, whether they are rooted in rationality or not. The interpretations a person forms through this process are subjective in nature, mostly based on the religious or spiritual framework provided to them and rarely based on logic. Nevertheless, a rational approach can be taken by those who favour it, but the only relevant aspect is the end result and not the reverence for rationality. This is by far the most effective mechanism for cognitive restructuring.
The base framework is the one that is given by parents, the community, etc. during infancy and is usually transmitted through language. It precedes both the time required to experience life and the maturation of self-reflection.

Resolution

There are two obvious ways to resolve the insecurity process,

Give it a sense of completion.
Maintain it in a state of regulation.

Both have similar requirements: destroy the constructs made by the insecurity process and relinquish any sense of separation & control. But they are to be implemented through two distinct methods.

Method of Fulfilment

This method requires the person to surrender their rational faculties.

The individual has to designate a noumenal entity as a fountainhead, one who is in absolute control of causality and also protects them like a mother protecting their child in the womb. On the altar of this deity, they have to sacrifice their rationality and any idea of separation.

Remember, using this entity as something to bargain with will never work. It requires the complete abolition of any and all insecurity constructs, the illusion of control, and any sense of separation between the self and reality. The future should be entrusted to this entity without any doubt.

Bhakti yoga is a spiritual path within Hinduism that focuses on loving devotion and is a good example of this method. This strategy is also present at the centre of many other religious and spiritual traditions.

“Out of a number of practices that lead to the ultimate goal of humanity, Bhakti Yoga is one of the most important. Almost the whole of humanity is concerned with Bhakti Yoga, which, in simple words, means the art of worship. But it must be understood in all its true aspects, not merely in a narrow and shallow sense in which the term is commonly used and interpreted. Profound worship based on the high ideals of philosophy and spirituality, prompted by doubtless divine love constitutes true Bhakti Yoga.” — Meher Baba: The Path of Love

This method is also a part of many cults, wherein the individual can achieve a feeling of security by surrendering to some noumenal ideal described by the leader. This has obviously led to many tragedies where the leader has misused their influence. Similar behaviour is rampant in religious systems too; ultimately, religion is just a cult with a dead founder.

Therefore, it is advised to do this as an individual activity towards a personal deity. Culminating in the erasure of both the “individual” and the concept of “personal” as the person’s mind is completely absorbed in the suprarational. The person should transcend all doubts about their experience of reality.

Books: There are too many to mention, but two that explain the philosophy in some detail are

Bhagavad Gita: It wraps Vedantic philosophies, Samkhya, and many other schools of thought as a subset of Vaishnavite philosophy by designating the God Vishnu as the Parabrahman (the absolute noumenal reality).
Book of Mirdad: It draws on a variety of philosophies, primarily Sufism.

Note: The author admits his limitations in explaining this method in detail because of his inability to surrender his rationality. This is undoubtedly a more joyful path towards reaching a state of tranquility. After all, rationality doesn’t prohibit the elimination of rational ability itself.

Method of Negation

This method is for those who wish to confront this issue rationally; it requires confrontation with the spectre of existential dread in its full capacity.

It’s also called the method of self-inquiry.

In a sense, it’s quite straightforward; examine every premise you encounter and every impression in your mind, and never accept any answer as final (including this exposition). Only the experience that results from having shed your insecurity can serve as an end.

First, create an identity, that of a ‘Seeker of Truth’. This is the representation of ‘Will to Poise’, the will of the human mind to reach a state of equilibrium. Use this identity like a spear to pierce through all other delusions.

Start by observing your belief systems; question their validity; then move on to your identities and dismantle them. These are simply components of the shared delusions of humanity. This activity will take some time; use books and their methodologies as additional tools. Further down the line, analyse your attachments, both to people and to other aspects of reality. Scrutinise the concepts of ethics and morality and try to understand the conventions adopted by human societies for functioning adequately.

Put yourself in conditions where your behaviour will undergo transformation. Examples are engaging in holistic activities, travelling to unknown locations with minimal preparation, and learning the concepts of a contradicting belief system; nothing is better than an opposing ideology at dismantling your beliefs. Question your emotional concepts and explore the scientific literature on human psychology.

The philosophies put forth by Ramana Maharishi, Jiddu Krishnamurti, and Osho are good resources to consider. Osho can be seen contradicting himself sometimes; it is intentional.

The works of existentialist philosophers will also be helpful, especially Friedrich Nietzsche, Albert Camus, and Jean-Paul Sartre.

There is obviously no requirement to read their works completely; they simply aid in your own process of inquiry. Never borrow another man’s thought until you have examined it yourself.

All these steps are meant to change your behaviour and thought until you reach the point where you are facing The Absurd without any defence mechanisms.

When facing the meaninglessness of existence directly, a human has no option but to feel extreme fear. The spectre of cosmic nihilism is debilitating but not insurmountable.

At this stage, you will retain your last identity, that of a seeker of truth. This has to be abandoned; it is the last major hurdle. It is the final remnant of the insecurity process, which is still seeking completion. At this juncture, you would have already stripped away the other concepts that upheld your Ego. Now you are left all alone with no armour.

Surrender. That’s the only option. It was never something you were supposed to battle with. Reality was never something you were supposed to secure yourself from. You are just a part of it; you never were an adversary. You are a simple, transient component in the vast web of causes and effects.

Concepts that can help cross this hurdle are

Śūnyatā and Pratītyasamutpāda — Originally expounded by Buddha, nevertheless Nagarjuna’s work on sūnyatā and his logical analysis with the tetralemma are particularly praiseworthy. This is a realist concept that doesn’t attempt to explain beyond what can be comprehended.
Brahman — Advaita uses it as a positive suprarational concept, a definition for a noumenal entity. This entity is not a deity, but the very essence of everything. Like a computer system in which the human program manifests. It is not about devotion to it, but about recognising it as everything. Essentially, it is a roundabout way to convince the mind that we are a simple part of reality.

These concepts should be ruminated over, and the person should forgo his search for truth at this point, even though he doesn’t have a clear answer yet.

The meaning of human existence is the original Gordian Knot.

Once the insecurity process subsides, the mind experiences an equilibrium which was always hidden in its shadow.

To summarise, we are replacing the core concept of individual self that the human mind has by default with an alternative concept that grounds our “sense of self” in an Absolute postulation.

Note: The practices of Zen are also noteworthy in aiding the process of negation.

Warning: Avoid getting attached to any of these schools of thought if you are on the path of negation; it is a common mistake that seekers make. They get stuck in the comfort provided by “spiritual practices” and remain students for eternity. Graduation is important too.

Books:

Ashtavakra Gita- clear, concise and beautiful.
Avdhuta Gita- Song of the free soul
Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch- Quite interesting
Zhuangzi and Tao Te Ching- Taoist textbooks

Extra: The Answer — Dr. Thanu Padmanabhan

“Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.”
Soren Kierkegaard

What lies beyond?

In the Taoist book, The Secret of the Golden Flower, there is a beautiful depiction of these concepts, the “four relations between host and guest”

The guest within the guest is the state of the ordinary mind going from one mood, state, or sub-personality to another, alienated from conscious contact with the host behind the scenes.
The host within the guest is the first stage of turning the light around, when contact with the original mind is established even as the individual is passing through shifting moods and personalities.
The guest within the host has a more mature level of attainment, at which the individual can enjoy free access to thought and its products, including ideas, moods, and personalities, without being deceived by them or bound to them.
The host within the host is the original spirit itself, the primal source of consciousness, in which is found the hidden “turning point” on which psychic liberty hinges. In one sense, conscious experience of the host within the host follows realisation of the host within the guest, yet in a deeper sense, the host within the host is not only at the pinnacle but even at the basis of the total experience of the human mind.
Translated by Thomas Cleary

Who the guest is is quite obvious; it’s the Ego construct arising from the insecurity process.

But who is the host?

Awareness

This process is referred by a multitude of names: Witness, Experiencer, Source, Origin, Soul, Atman, Emptiness etc.

Note: Always evaluate books and philosophies that are ancient with some leniency; they did not have access to the modern understanding of the human brain. For them, the brain and everything else were essentially a black box, and hence, olden concepts might end up sounding supernatural. In spite of these obvious limitations, they have made giant strides, and we should be marvelling at their abilities.

Awareness becomes the dominant process whenever insecurity is suppressed.

Awareness can be best thought of as a spontaneous perception that remains when all cognitive processes are in equilibrium. It feels like all senses are being streamed in a parallel manner; this is also interpreted by some as becoming one with existence.

Jiddu Krishnamurti posits it as a state of unpremeditated, complete awareness of the present without preference, effort, or compulsion.

Every human would have experienced it, mostly before the insecurity process took centre stage, i.e., in infancy. This is usually a combination of awareness along with the ability to appreciate aesthetics.

In the book “Whole Brain Living”, Dr. Jill Taylor expounds on her experience with the awareness process. She is a Harvard neuroanatomist who suffered a stroke and, in that state, had unique experiences. She writes about this and also has a Ted talk. Don’t blindly believe it, as experiences of the mind are quite easy to misinterpret. When all’s said and done, both prophets and schizophrenics talk to God.

This process is defined as MPE (Minimal Phenomenal Experience) by Thomas Metzinger in his book “The Elephant and the Blind” (free book), wherein he compiles 500+ experiential reports from meditators across the world.

This process is not survival-centric; it involves experiencing without making any attempt to process the input. In the Saptha Bhoomikas, the stages from 4 to 7 are concerned with varying levels of absorption in this process. Absorption is completely up to the concerned person’s will; it is not compulsory or even recommended. But if a person stays in this state at full absorption, it is theorised that he will end up forgetting even his physiological needs and pass away while experiencing a state of permanent bliss.

Buddhism usually advises practicing Awareness along with Compassion. The ideal of the Bodhisattva is used to represent this; Bodhisattvas supposedly devote all their energy to saving beings from their suffering.

The combination of Awareness and Curiosity(Exploration) is also a viable option. Every human should determine how they want to experience this process by themselves.

There is obviously a lot of glorification involved in spiritual and religious circles around these concepts. It is usually done to attract a crowd for political or monetary benefits. Awareness is a simple, natural process that doesn’t require any eminence. Hence, it is the responsibility of the reader to find the real roses in the faux bouquet.

An important concept to understand here is that there is no state of perfection. Awareness can exist as a dominant process, but the security process always takes precedence. We can only create a behavioural pattern that keeps it subdued. This is done by relinquishing our sense of control over both the future and the present that is outside our immediate surroundings. Essentially emulating the final behaviour of other mammals in matters concerning security by doing mental gymnastics.

Conclusion

The entire premise asserts that for the experience of inner peace, a human must restructure their cognitive and emotional framework to the point that they do not feel existential anxiety anymore. This is done by replacing the core concept, that of the individuated self, with the concept of the self as part of an absolute. A wave must perceive itself as the Ocean.

“I am out of quotes”
Author

Appendix

Intellect

It is the process of the rational mind that we have been using all along, the one that reflects on other processes, the one that notices the discrepancy of the security process, and the one that helps Awareness take the lead. Intellect serves as the arbiter of the mind. This is the System 2 which Daniel Kahneman mentions.

Intellect helps regulate the insecurity process whenever it arises using the cognitive-behavioural framework that gets conditioned in the mind of the person who has completed either of the two solutions. Imagine it like balancing a bicycle, constantly eliminating imbalances, and thus achieving the state of balance.

This regulation has to be facilitated consciously till it becomes the default of your intuitive/emotional framework.

Human Will

The fundamental drive that seeks to maintain all biological and cognitive processes in a steady, regulated state while aiming for both self-preservation and the survival of the species and, furthermore, seeks to minimise variational free energy is termed the Will to Poise.

Competing concepts of human will can be explored through Schopenhauer’s notion of the will to live, Nietzsche’s will to power, and Camus’ will to happiness.

Suggestion

If the reader has judged that implementing these solutions is tedious and managing this insecurity would be preferable, the suggestion is to learn techniques created by expert psychologists. They can teach you how to better adjust to society while maintaining a positive mindset.

Proof and Future Work

Please understand that this is a hypothesis that the reader should scrutinise and explore on their own. It doesn’t explain many dimensions of cognition and emotion, because they weren’t needed for the line of reasoning employed here. These can be studied with the books that have been referenced. This recoed is about trying to build a preliminary bridge between cognitive sciences and spiritual experiences and then contemplating if this pursuit can be taken further ahead.
Considering that the whole process involves varying facets of subjective conscious experience, it is very difficult to provide proof in the domain of objective science. Even if an attempt is made to gather empirical evidence in the form of experiential reports, the approachable pool is considerably low, and even then, separating the wheat from the chaff will be hard.
Evolutionary Robotics simulations could be used to further explore Enactivism and if we can identify that complex abilities are forming within these simulations, it could be used to further develop Artificial Sentience in a constructivist manner. This could someday serve as concrete proof for how the human mind works.

Afterword

“Trust those who seek the truth but doubt those who say they have found it.”
Andre Gide.

At the risk of sounding redundant, let me repeat. Those who wish to take the path of devotion do it as an individual activity towards a personal deity, and those who take the path of inquiry kindly question every single thing.

Absolute truth isn’t pertinent for a human; the only aspect of your existence that’s relevant is how you are perceiving reality in the present moment. Whether that perception is a blissful experience or a chaotic one, that is all that matters. Hence, do not hesitate to change your preexisting cognitive framework to one that results in a joyful life. Live your life in peace and experience reality in its full glory; this is the sole possession of mankind.