Replacing our current "I"-based, mental operating system (OS 1) with an upgrade, largely by reducing the self-referential internal narrative (SRIN), is something i have been exploring for a while. The belief that our current OS has become "maladaptive", was discussed in the blogpost "Does your nondual awakening benefit 'everyone'? the world?" and in the video "dysfunctional evolution of the mind".
At the Buddhist Geeks Conference in Boulder, CO last weekend, i presented "Upgrading the Mental Operating System". This approach is also being discussed by Vince Horn, head of Buddhist Geeks (See Vince's video "Mind Hacking: Upgrading from Windows ME"). i will be presenting @ Dartmouth on 10/5 "Is it time for our new Operating System?
A perspective from cognitive neuroscience, long term meditators and
psychedelics research".
OS 1 developed about 75,000 years ago. (see blogpost "How old is the "I"? How/why did it come into existence?...new science") Our predecessors split off from our nearest relatives, the chimpanzees, about 6,000,000 years ago; the "I"-based OS 1 has been in operation for about 1% of the time we have been distinct from other primates.
Our brain size increased 3X since that split off from the chimpanzees until when we developed OS 1. As the "How old is the "I"..." blogpost points out, many structural, organization and neural modifications evolved before OS 1 could emerge.
As we know, our current OS has many limitations. It is difficult to focus on important "stuff" w/the continual interference from our SRIN. "Does insufficient apoptosis cause cancer" competes with "why did Jane treat me the way she did?", "i'll tell her next week what i think of her", "i should stop eating ice cream - Greek yogurt would be better", "What should i wear tonight?", etc.
The persistent SRIN also consumes huge amounts of energy, wastes much bandwidth, and increases the energy of negative, emotionally-charged memories leading to depression, anxiety, dis-ease, worries, craving, attachment, suffering, etc.
The recognition that SRIN was THE problem causing "my" personal unhappiness occurred when i was in grad school walking to campus. i just could not believe that this never-ending cacophony of the SRIN was how we were to live "our lives"; there had to be a better way. So, i set out to see if/how SRIN could be reduced or perhaps even eliminated, while still retaining functionality in the "real" world.
As an empirical scientist "in-training", i did this investigation totally empirically. Every understanding had to be personally validated. There would be no philosophy, theory or teachings from millennia ago. To make certain that i had the best possible data, i developed some "design parameters":
a) Any information had to come from sources alive now, or who were alive while i was alive.
b) There had to be movies/videos, photographs, and direct transcripts of the information from any sources.
c) i had to personally see the sources, preferably, or talk to folk who had.
d) The sources would be fluent in English to avoid misunderstandings from translations (Tower of Babel).
e) The sources must be validated by well-known and credible "experts".
f) Ongoing direct feedback on progress/success was critical for a DIY approach. Good news/bad news, SRIN provided continuously-available feedback...if SRIN was there, more work was needed.
g) The process must retain/enhance functional "real world" performance
h) Happiness would increase, and suffering, stress and anxiety would decrease.
i) The result was a change in "life", not just experiences; it was a new OS.
j) It would be scientifically verifiable.
The source that met all of these parameters was Ramana Maharshi. His "Direct Path" (See blogpost "What is the 'Direct Path' to nondual awakening? What is 'self-inquiry'?") was simple, empirical, required no ancient texts or philosophy, and had been extensively evaluated by many "objective experts".
i also drew upon sources who met these parameters, like the late Toni Packer (my iconoclastic Zen teacher), J. Krishnamurti, Amrit Desai, Swami Rama, Roshi Eido Shimano, etc.
As described in the "Direct Path" blogpost and in my book "Happiness Beyond Thought: A Practical Guide to Awakening", i did many direct empirical exercises to understand thoughts, how they were constructed, whether they were continuous or intermittent, energetic or not, linked or "stand alone", how the "I" was constructed, etc. With that perspective, and Ramana's work, particularly "Who Am I?", (the 14th century Japanese Zen monk Bassui had a similar approach), i embarked on an intensive program of self-inquiry and "I" deconstruction.
As discussed in interviews (BATGAP, TSC Conference), presentations ("Awakening Beyond Thought" - Asia Consciousness Festival, and videos ("The wonderful surprises of awakening beyond thought"), after about 20,000 hrs of meditation and meditative yoga asanas, my SRIN stopped. That has continued at 90%+ for the intervening 15 years.
SRIN occurs when blood sugar gets low (am hypoglycemic) or i am very tired. Some early mornings, there is a short clearing out of some residual "stuff" from the day before in an "Is this important, or should we dump it?" mode. If you don't take delivery, it just vanishes...the brain got its answer.
Surprisingly, a loss of self-referential desires and fears, as well as dramatically enhanced functional capability occurred w/the disappearance of SRIN/"I".
What also fell away, which was a total surprise, was "free will", or "control" - without an "I", there was no other logical possibility. Despite expectations of chaos and anxiety, it was incredibly sweet. Life w/o the illusion that one is/can be in control (which is really obvious if you just look carefully) is like having the world lifted from your shoulders.
The SRIN stopping should not have been a surprise, as that is what Ramana said would happen. As i looked into it, i found many ancient texts, as well as contemporary teachers who reported that the loss of "thought"/SRIN was the principal goal of meditation and/or spiritual practice. (See "Can you stop your 'blah, blah' thoughts? What thoughts are useful?").
There is also much scientific validation manifesting now. This is described in the blogposts "Folk who meditate decrease mind wandering", "Do your mystical experiences fit with w/quantum physics? neuroscience?", "What is the Default Mode Network?", "What is really 'real'? What does 'nothing is real' mean?".
There is no doubt that much more will be discovered going forward; we are at the beginning of what cognitive neuroscience will find. However, there are already strong validations for the "Direct Path" approach.
A big question is whether it is possible to decrease SRIN w/much less practice than 20,000 hrs; the answer is a conclusive "yes". As described in the five "Dialogues w/Dominic" (See "Working in a 'big job' w/family, w/o thoughts"), a 30-something w/a full-time supervisory job, wife, and baby did it in one year by using self-inquiry in his meditation and inserting it into his day; we only did e-mail and one phone call. His previous preparation of 2 years of on/off meditation and his practice during the year totaled about 900 hours. He now has days of work w/o SRIN and is "lovin' it".
As to why more folk don't reach the state of a decreased SRIN:
They do not believe it is possible.
They will not let go of their attachments.
They will not let go of their suffering.
i believe we are at a "tipping point. If we don't make a fundamental change in how we function, our egoic/"I" operating system OS 1 could well destroy us. The change from the belief that the "I" is a constant, fixed, real entity to understanding that it is an "ad hoc", haphazardly-assembled, mental construct, needs to be as fundamental and clear as "the earth is round" and, IMHO, it needs to happen soon.
The Buddhist Geeks preso "Upgrading the Operating System" is now in a youTube video, courtesy of Vince Horn.
 |
| Vince Horn Buddhist Geeks |
OS 1 developed about 75,000 years ago. (see blogpost "How old is the "I"? How/why did it come into existence?...new science") Our predecessors split off from our nearest relatives, the chimpanzees, about 6,000,000 years ago; the "I"-based OS 1 has been in operation for about 1% of the time we have been distinct from other primates.
Our brain size increased 3X since that split off from the chimpanzees until when we developed OS 1. As the "How old is the "I"..." blogpost points out, many structural, organization and neural modifications evolved before OS 1 could emerge.
As we know, our current OS has many limitations. It is difficult to focus on important "stuff" w/the continual interference from our SRIN. "Does insufficient apoptosis cause cancer" competes with "why did Jane treat me the way she did?", "i'll tell her next week what i think of her", "i should stop eating ice cream - Greek yogurt would be better", "What should i wear tonight?", etc.
The persistent SRIN also consumes huge amounts of energy, wastes much bandwidth, and increases the energy of negative, emotionally-charged memories leading to depression, anxiety, dis-ease, worries, craving, attachment, suffering, etc.
The recognition that SRIN was THE problem causing "my" personal unhappiness occurred when i was in grad school walking to campus. i just could not believe that this never-ending cacophony of the SRIN was how we were to live "our lives"; there had to be a better way. So, i set out to see if/how SRIN could be reduced or perhaps even eliminated, while still retaining functionality in the "real" world.
As an empirical scientist "in-training", i did this investigation totally empirically. Every understanding had to be personally validated. There would be no philosophy, theory or teachings from millennia ago. To make certain that i had the best possible data, i developed some "design parameters":
a) Any information had to come from sources alive now, or who were alive while i was alive.
b) There had to be movies/videos, photographs, and direct transcripts of the information from any sources.
c) i had to personally see the sources, preferably, or talk to folk who had.
 |
| Tower of Babel |
e) The sources must be validated by well-known and credible "experts".
f) Ongoing direct feedback on progress/success was critical for a DIY approach. Good news/bad news, SRIN provided continuously-available feedback...if SRIN was there, more work was needed.
g) The process must retain/enhance functional "real world" performance
h) Happiness would increase, and suffering, stress and anxiety would decrease.
i) The result was a change in "life", not just experiences; it was a new OS.
j) It would be scientifically verifiable.
The source that met all of these parameters was Ramana Maharshi. His "Direct Path" (See blogpost "What is the 'Direct Path' to nondual awakening? What is 'self-inquiry'?") was simple, empirical, required no ancient texts or philosophy, and had been extensively evaluated by many "objective experts".
 |
| The Late Toni Packer A true iconoclast |
i also drew upon sources who met these parameters, like the late Toni Packer (my iconoclastic Zen teacher), J. Krishnamurti, Amrit Desai, Swami Rama, Roshi Eido Shimano, etc.
As described in the "Direct Path" blogpost and in my book "Happiness Beyond Thought: A Practical Guide to Awakening", i did many direct empirical exercises to understand thoughts, how they were constructed, whether they were continuous or intermittent, energetic or not, linked or "stand alone", how the "I" was constructed, etc. With that perspective, and Ramana's work, particularly "Who Am I?", (the 14th century Japanese Zen monk Bassui had a similar approach), i embarked on an intensive program of self-inquiry and "I" deconstruction.
As discussed in interviews (BATGAP, TSC Conference), presentations ("Awakening Beyond Thought" - Asia Consciousness Festival, and videos ("The wonderful surprises of awakening beyond thought"), after about 20,000 hrs of meditation and meditative yoga asanas, my SRIN stopped. That has continued at 90%+ for the intervening 15 years.
SRIN occurs when blood sugar gets low (am hypoglycemic) or i am very tired. Some early mornings, there is a short clearing out of some residual "stuff" from the day before in an "Is this important, or should we dump it?" mode. If you don't take delivery, it just vanishes...the brain got its answer.
 |
| Letting go of the illusion of controlling your world |
What also fell away, which was a total surprise, was "free will", or "control" - without an "I", there was no other logical possibility. Despite expectations of chaos and anxiety, it was incredibly sweet. Life w/o the illusion that one is/can be in control (which is really obvious if you just look carefully) is like having the world lifted from your shoulders.
The SRIN stopping should not have been a surprise, as that is what Ramana said would happen. As i looked into it, i found many ancient texts, as well as contemporary teachers who reported that the loss of "thought"/SRIN was the principal goal of meditation and/or spiritual practice. (See "Can you stop your 'blah, blah' thoughts? What thoughts are useful?").
There is no doubt that much more will be discovered going forward; we are at the beginning of what cognitive neuroscience will find. However, there are already strong validations for the "Direct Path" approach.
A big question is whether it is possible to decrease SRIN w/much less practice than 20,000 hrs; the answer is a conclusive "yes". As described in the five "Dialogues w/Dominic" (See "Working in a 'big job' w/family, w/o thoughts"), a 30-something w/a full-time supervisory job, wife, and baby did it in one year by using self-inquiry in his meditation and inserting it into his day; we only did e-mail and one phone call. His previous preparation of 2 years of on/off meditation and his practice during the year totaled about 900 hours. He now has days of work w/o SRIN and is "lovin' it".
They do not believe it is possible.
They will not let go of their attachments.
They will not let go of their suffering.
i believe we are at a "tipping point. If we don't make a fundamental change in how we function, our egoic/"I" operating system OS 1 could well destroy us. The change from the belief that the "I" is a constant, fixed, real entity to understanding that it is an "ad hoc", haphazardly-assembled, mental construct, needs to be as fundamental and clear as "the earth is round" and, IMHO, it needs to happen soon.
The Buddhist Geeks preso "Upgrading the Operating System" is now in a youTube video, courtesy of Vince Horn.
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