something about consciousness

Data scientists take information from the world and use mathematics and statistics to create a model of what the phenomenon is and does and how it behaves.

So if phenomena are able to be put through mathematical computations and (parts of it) can be modeled, and then that therefore creates an understanding of that phenomenon - the only reason we can't model something fully is because it is impossible to capture the seemingly infinite amount of changes happening on a micro and macro scale, to factor in all the events in the past and what is occurring in the present that have allowed for a certain phenomenon to occur. So we use data science to take what we have labeled MOST descriptive what cause phenomena to arise - and try to make a somewhat working model of it to understand it.

So the fact that we as humans are able to experience. to experience at all - awareness then in its totality including within the scope of cognition is the ultimate model of all events past and occurring presently. but this can't be described as ultimate truth, because phenomenon is still getting filtered through a brain-body, then it can't be fully known to the observer - the observer only knows what it is able to model from external and internal phenomena interplays.

therefore humans CANNOT experience ultimate reality, but can come close.

how can we know ultimate reality if we are there to experience it - by virture of us being there to experience it, then it means the information being filtered CANNOT be representative of original SOURCE stimuli

weird- I wanna learn more

Perpetual Disillusionment - Reflections on dependent origination and the subtlety of suffering

The beauty and simplicity of buddhist thought, mindfulness, awareness, curious investigation etc... is that is just that: beautiful and simple. Everything possesses a divinity defined by the reality that its existence is dependent on the existence of other phenomenon - and its existence is the cause and condition of other phenomenon to arise. This is not a novel and mystical attitude, in my opinion. This is really the root of all science and engineering: that all phenomenon exist in an interdependent web, where one string pulled can have an effect on another ad infinitum. I believe this concept can become sticky to some when that lens is focused inward - on our notion of self. selfhood, ipseity. It is easy to project a cause and effect reality over our external world, i believe it can make us feel that we are separate from it, and therefore can control it. Things get a bit turbulent when we take that extra investigative step and begin to realize that who we are is also part of this interdependent web of existence. Where all phenomenon, including all that we experience and identify with, are inherently "nonexistent". Woah there. We must be careful with lofty sounding terms such as non-existence especially when discussing selfhood - but what it really means is that "we" are neither perpetual in our existence, nor finite. We exist within this perfectly balanced "middle way" as the Buddha put it - where existence of phenomenon rises and falls, morphs and ceases in dependence of certain causes and conditions. It is important to define conventional truths - i.e observed phenomenon and ultimate truth - i.e the inherent nonexistence of all phenomenon as independent entities. Typically when referring to sources of suffering, it is the overemphasis on conventional truths. The imbalance of perspective on ultimate and conventional reality. Skewing too far in either direction can be dangerous.

To me, that is fairly liberating, it means we, at all times, have the capacity to change the salience of our suffering, to adjust the causes and conditions in our control with piercing clarity. To also realize that suffering does not exist as some immutable, unshakable entity -that instead it may arise in dependence with a source of suffering and our conscious attitude towards it - is a pretty powerful insight. An insight that must be experienced viscerally - not based on concepts that define what we think that may look like.

Alright - with that background - I would like to explore the idea of existing in a state of "perpetual disillusionment". Here is a little story to preface this idea:

A young man strolled down to a roaring river. A river whose chaotic motion is determined by the intricate, seemingly intentional rock formations below the surface. The young man was an appreciator of art and wanted to capture the beauty of the river's flow so he ran to the bank with a cardboard box - scooped up a cubic meter of water, taped it up and ran back to town to share it with everyone. He exclaimed that he had captured and boxed up the ineffability of the river flow and, naturally, the whole community gathered around to see this feat. However, when he arrived, all they saw was some still, dead water and a soggy box.

We often navigate life through the lens of a separate, independent self. In each, subtle moment we create an expectation of how we want things to be. With the processes of foresight, rumination, and imagination we create ideas of how we think things ought to be - we want to create security in inherent insecurity by judging, compartmentalizing, boxing up, naming, rejecting, craving what we believe to be the substance of life. But, what you are actually basing your security on is not life itself, it is a microscopic, conditional little segment that you are convinced is the way things must be - and when you are met with the fact that this neutered expectation isn't coming into fruition - you are struck with a feeling of disappointment and disillusionment. The next step oftentimes is to double down and escape the disappointment by searching for security in other phenomenon, only to be let down once more. This perpetual cycle of setting expectations and being met with reality being largely different happens on the most subtle level. Literally moment to moment - not necessarily seconds, minutes, days, years - it can happen on those scales, but if it is the framework by which you live, this separation from reality is essentially perpetual. This "suffering", if you will, only arises in dependence with the ignorance of dependent origination. That the condition of expectation, the constant tension of wanting to be anywhere else than where you are now, is a crucial condition that, in conjunction with other phenomenon, creates a tough feeling of disappointment. How this attitude can evolve into other unwholesome or apathetic states of being is its own topic. To realize that your idea of self, your conditioning, your expectations of self is just a tiny little drop in a massive, ineffable reality can help you tap into some level of liberation. With mindfulness and compassionate self-inquiry, you can precisely identify what thought patterns, attitudes, and consumptions are causes and conditions in the arising of subjective experiences which are unwholesome. With that piercing clarity, you may find that a life lived with non-judgement, ease, patience, and tenderness towards self can create the conditions of a fulfilling life experience - it is also fantastic that those who may embody these values alleviate the suffering of others, effectively adjusting more causes and conditions of more societal or community level suffering and therefore kickstarting a change in thought.

it all starts with us, as individuals, we can cultivate mindfulness and identify what levers we can pull to create the conditions of openness, kindness to self and realization of our unique potential. It is often that setting subtle expectations of how things ought to be is a surefire way of creating moment to moment disillusionment and confusion, which can drive one farther away from well-being.

In the age of instant gratification and ability to consume constantly, our capacity to have autonomy over the nutriments that fuel our consciousness and body diminishes everyday. We need to have better access to healthy, whole foods, exercise, and mental health care that emphasizes attunement to self. We need to regulate the immensity of the information we and our youth consume on a massive scale everyday through constantly-on media. All these societal and ecological factors have a profound impact on our ability to attune to ourself and identify the causes and conditions of our suffering. We end up defaulting to flawed modes of seeking numbing, temporary gratification, or meaning in things inherently stripped down from the richness of reality. The solution to this problem must occur at the systemic level surely, but for now, all we can do as individuals is strengthen our capacity of internal attunement. :)

PS:
I must emphasize that I am constantly on a journey of self-understanding and observation - these thoughts express the current state of who I am. I am always aware and open to the fact that my thoughts, opinions, and perspectives are subject to criticism and change. If the things you read here do not resonate or you disagree, thats OK - feel free to open a discussion or just dismiss and move on.

I never want to assume I have it “all figured out” or the answers - of course not. These are just reflections of a young dude who derives joy in exploring these ideas.

Navigating the new Human-Technology Paradigm

This blog post is majorly inspired by the books Meganets: How Digital Forces Beyond our Control Commandeer Our Daily Lives and Inner Realities by David B. Auerbach, The Mindful Brain by Dr. Daniel Siegel, and i-minds: 2.0 by Dr. Mari Swingle. I highly recommend these reads! 

What is our relationship to complexity? How do we make sense of ineffability? It may be that dealing with complexity, impermanence, and ineffability is our chief responsibility as humans. One way of addressing this "problem" is to simplify the world around us, or rather, develop tools and attitudes towards it that allows us to navigate life in a way that promotes human flourishing, insight, alleviation of suffering, and meaning. This has manifested in the exponential growth and integration of a hyper-connected, digital reality into our human experience. As a result of this hyperconnectivity, our consciousness is constantly bombarded with messaging, imagery, information, bells, sounds, whistles, political opinions, ways of thinking, positive content, negative content, neutral content, subway surfers, 5 second videos, 3 hour video essays etc... The list goes on and on - and it is accessible 24/7 at incredible speeds. The integration of this digital reality into our human experience has created a new human-technology paradigm that is neither wholly human nor wholly technological - it is a complex, nebulous chaotic system defined, as David Auerbach puts it, by Virality, Velocity, and Volume. How fast can information spread, how many people interface with said information, and to what scale does it exist on; to compound on this complexity, the information is constantly changing and morphing depending on the human feedback given to it. The responsibility of how this complex system operates falls not only on the engineers of the algorithms but by the people who engage with them. There are two outcomes to this integration - the algorithms (and the data that it interprets) that facilitate this system cannot match the complexity of human desires, actions, and thoughts, therefore it behaves in a way not fully in line with human needs OR humans become more “algorithmic” in their behaviors and actions in order to be better understood by the algorithms. It seems to be an arms race, and the latter outcome is nudging ahead. Because the data being processed by algorithms needs to be relatively simple and pattern based, the inputs it thrives on are the ones we are seeing slowly infect our daily realities - short form videos (how much time do you spend on it and how often do you cycle through it), upvotes & down votes, simplistic reactions etc... - all of this data compounds into a profile of YOU - what the algorithm guesses (emphasis on guesses) what you will respond to based on this neutered form of feedback you're giving to it. Alright, so what? The problem arises when we consider the amount of TIME and ENERGY spent by each of us engaging with these platforms (whether it is in our control or not) - the more time we offload our consciousnesses onto these platforms, the more we may become algorithmic in our way of thinking, way of behaving, and way of viewing the nature of ourselves and the world. We are stripping down our ability to BE complex and BE ineffable in service of the algorithmic decision making that drives the digital realities that are intertwining with our human reality. The next question is, is this type of existence all that bad? isn't the goal to make our lives more convenient, more predictable, and less complex? What are the real consequences of this paradigm on human health (physiological and mental) and sustainable living? That's a great question, and I am not sure we fully know yet - but there are hints as to why this way of being can be catastrophic to human development if not completely restructured. Beyond the observed rise in mental health problems, especially in youth, we are seeing that the depth and beauty of human language, for example, is being replaced with an AI chatbot (one that hardly understands the complexity of human language itself). It simply estimates what a human might say given a specific prompt. The consequence of this is a feedback loop where we begin to use an AI's understanding of language to inform how we use it, and the more we use its interpretation of language, the more we begin to adopt and spread it and therefore become more algorithmic in our way of communicating - at least online. There must be a way to use this powerful tool to enhance creativity and keep it in its place - but this is far easier said than done. This phenomenon spreads far beyond just how we communicate. If all the feedback we give to content is either positive or negative (likes or dislikes) then we ourselves become binary and irrational in the way we view ourselves, each other, and the world; we lose nuance and complexity, because nuance and complexity is boring and effortful. By the way, I am inclined to believe that although major platforms got rid of a dislike button - a new metric for how much you enjoy a piece of content is how long you may spend viewing it, or the nature of the comment section. One area we see this causing harm is in the space of health and nutrition - the nature of these complex digital platforms prioritizes content that is attention grabbing and polarizing, because those metrics ARE THE MOST SIMPLE FOR THE ALGORITHM TO UNDERSTAND (again, humans pretty much forced to be more algorithmic in their feedback to content). So, nutrition information that is short, conclusive, polarizing, and telling people good things about their bad habits becomes the most viral and spreads the fastest. Because people spend so much time on these digital platforms and also tend to place trust in the information, the general public is more confused than ever about what a healthy eating pattern looks like. As we have progressed in our scientific understanding of human health and nutrition, we have seemingly regressed in informing the public on what those advancements are. This however is an inevitable outcome when we use systems that encourage virality and spreading of information at lightning speeds. An additional example that may resonate with people is the "selfie effect": The more you associate going places and accomplishing things with sharing them online, the more you end up doing things for the sole purpose of sharing them. The reward and social validation (or criticism) you receive when you share something can far outweigh, at least in the moment, the intrinsic reward of doing the activity; this behavior and attitude towards doing things is simply not sustainable. This is not groundbreaking, but the same principle applies to how we spend our time engaging in these technologies; the more time we spend engaging in a hyperconnected world, the more we begin to change to satisfy the mechanisms by which they work, whether we realize it or not. 

There must be a future that can balance the properties of this technology with the maintenance and wholesome evolution of our humanity. How can we ensure that these technologies augment not replace our humanity. This is not new information, we as a society are already noticing the consequences of the attention economy - but what is actually being done about it? 

We need a generation of people who deeply understand how and why these technologies function in the way that they do - we need everyone to be educated on the implications of exponential technologies, so that they can understand when it infringes on their civil and human rights. There is a growing awareness that something just isn't right with the nature of constant connectivity, social networking platforms, and ubiquitous access to information.  It is our right as a people to understand how this new paradigm is influencing our mental, physical, and social well-being just as we have the right to know that alcohol consumption is a known teratogen; we need to know the extent of the problem, so that we can use it responsibly. To keep using the alcohol example, adults should have the right to use alcohol as they please if they are aware of the totality of its consequences, but we provide strict shame and awareness towards the devastating effects of it when consumed during pregnancy. For technology, we may use it responsibly, but find that the impact of it on adolescent brain development is so damaging, that we restructure how we distribute and use it. 

Awareness of a problem is a great first step as long as it doesn't devolve into apathy or learned helplessness towards solving it. There lacks an effective solution to the problems highlighted above because it is such a layered, dynamic, and complex situation - the human-technology paradigm is a system as controllable and predictable as the weather is.

As long as we possess a brain and frontal cortex we can do our best to control the human part of this problem and leverage our capacity for mindfulness and behavior change. How can we make access to states of attunement to one’s self accessible and prioritized during online interactions? How can we ensure that a hyperconnected society can maintain its attention on the realities of interdependence, compassion, and self-awareness? So that we are especially sensitive when our technological augmentation begins to shake the foundation of well-being and the sustainability of our species. There needs to be a method of understanding exactly how our current reality is affecting our physiology (more specifically, our brain's functional connectivity). By creating a model of how an individual's functional connectivity is being restructured by a hyperconnected society, we can create personalized interventions that address any observed or demonstrated dysregulations. It is my personal belief, that the fruits of an intentional mindfulness practice with an emphasis on compassion/interdependence can help counteract the potential consequences of a hyperconnected society, but we will only know for sure what the best intervention is when we develop a scientifically rigorous framework on what exactly is being dysregulated by our current human-technology paradigm. For now, I encourage every single person to become more attuned and sensitized to their human experience. To spend time offline, not highly stimulated (to the best of your ability) and direct your attention inward, towards your subjective experience with an attitude of openness and compassionate self-inquiry. From that point, you may learn exactly what it takes for you, as an individual, to achieve well-being in this new reality we are creating for ourselves. Observe impermanence, investigate the interdependent nature of things, and approach yourself and others with curiosity and compassion - this is where all meaningful change starts. 

Brain dump on the role of digital media in stifling potential - a call to action

In each of us there is a threshold of energy to give towards a certain goal or attitude; a force that wants to express itself via creative thinking, physical output, problem solving etc…

Knowledge of self is learning where to direct this energy in order to produce outcomes that are sustainably rewarding to the person - the difference between drive and addiction is the outcome. The beauty of the human experience is that, over time, we can refine and redirect our energy and skills to different places as we learn more about the nature of ourselves and our environment. One may learn that what creates a sense of fulfillment, presence, and joy is artistic expression; as they reap the rewards of artistic expression, they become more skilled at it, as they become more skilled at it, it becomes more rewarding ad infinitum. The same energy can be given to the pattern recognition and creative thinking required to understand dense scientific topics - as someone learns that directing their energy towards scientific pursuits enables them to create sustainable joy, they may also learn that this love of theirs can make positive change in the world and alleviate suffering. The list goes on - different people with different experiences enjoy and pursue different things, it is key to understand that there is an amount of ENERGY required to engage in these pursuits.

If someone experiences a sense of dis-ease in their present moment or is dealing with unresolved pain, they may direct their energies to pursuits that produce a short term reward but results in long-term damage. It takes a subtle attention and self-love to understand this about oneself, and is a topic of discussion fit for a different time.

For now, I am interested in discussing the role of modern technology and constant connectivity in stifling the potential of youth learning where to direct their creative energy. Research is demonstrating that those with highest potential for innovative thinking and creative expression have the highest potential for developing an addiction to digital media. When someone has a force inside them that wants to explore and manifest itself in a behavior, it takes trial and error to learn where this force can manifest itself in order to create a sense of sustainable reward and joy. If the modern child isn’t given the tools and access to outlets that can foster and develop a sense of self rooted in a sustainable behavior, then their potential can be severely limited. If someone realizes that gaming or stimulating digital media can scratch that creative and energetic itch, this is where they may decide to direct their potential. If someone who has the potential to express themselves via peak athletic performance or entrepreneurship isn’t given the right tools or guidancei, they may end up giving up that same skillset to countless hours spent in passive media consumption or gaming; from the perspective of the energy being released in these pursuits, it doesn’t matter where it goes, to the experiencer however, it can result in a myriad of symptoms and behavioral outcomes that are at best neutral to their standing in the world and future development. The issue is not the devices themselves, but the ubiquitous access to them; when adolescents have unlimited access to unlimited stimulation during their formative years, they end up sinking their time and energy into pursuits that mask as rewarding but produce no tangible, sustainable outcomes. Essentially, these devices may be hijacking their potential for growth.

This may lead to epidemic of a lack of future leaders, innovative thinkers, problem solvers, and most pressing, a lack of self-awareness; in an age where things are changing and growing at an exponential rate, it is crucial that we foster a generation of passionate, creative, and curious problem solvers. If we don’t immediately help our youth redefine their relationships with digital devices and redirect their energies to pursuits that are not only rewarding to them but beneficial to the human condition, we may be at risk of an unjust, uncertain future.

All hope is not lost, not even close. The youth today are smarter than ever and have the most potential of any generation past; we just need to fundamentally restructure how they spend their time. We need to equip them with the skills and mindsets rooted in mindfulness and awareness so they can unravel any current deregulating relationships to technology; once they become more aware and mindful of their subjective experiences, we can begin to engage them with tools that can receive the energy they once gave to digital devices. We must foster an environment wherein which the next generation is intrinsically motivated to understand our current human paradigm and understand their place in it. Once an understanding is developed, they can begin to direct their energy and time towards pursuits and activities that strengthen their place in the world and can provide a sense of purpose and joy. It may be that someone realizes their love of social equity; if they are given the right tools and knowledge, they can begin to direct their time and energy towards understanding how to create social equity in the modern age using modern tools. This same person could easily give this potential to hours of media consumption, or they can be nurtured and empowered to direct that same drive to a more rewarding and change-making endeavor. If the youth, however, don’t know about the tools or forces responsible for change, they may never even attempt to engage with them - hence the need to not only foster an environment for growth, but also provide them with relevant outlets to receive their energy.

We must help our youth redefine their relationship to technology using mindfulness and give them access to the knowledge of tools of the modern age in order to create real, sustainable change in the world.

On the Embodied Experience

Aware of all the naïveté that laces the thoughts, actions, and conditioning of someone who’s only 22 years old, I have currently come to the conclusion that our utmost responsibility as humans is understanding our humanity - our embodied experience.

If you probe yourself with the proverbial questions:

“Where am I?”

“Who am I?”

“What am I?”

“Who was I?”

“Who will I be?”

The first reaction to these questions may be repression of these existential crisis inducing questions or the conclusion that, “well, I am the thought that is asking this question!”

As one probes more, as one navigates life, they begin to realize that who “they are” is where their awareness lies. If what encompasses your awareness is a thought, you become the thought - however positive, however negative, however delusional. If one is entrenched in social conditioning or has been fed a certain self-defeating narrative that dominates their awareness, then naturally you are the conditioning.

What is important to note is that we are NOT limited to the ideals, thoughts, narratives, or expectations that we identify with.

The one sensation, the one experience that always exists as long as we are human, is the body itself. No matter where your mind goes, what you’ve been told, or who you believe yourself to be, you are always the body you inhabit. We are all having a beautiful, human embodied experience!

I’ve noticed that in western culture, there is very limited emphasis on how to learn the body, how to love and respect the body. We are conditioned and convinced that we are separate from the body - that the pursuit of conceptual ideals and expectations is who we are and who we must be.

The body is often neglected as a source of happiness and peace. The body became a vessel of exploitation - we place expectations on the body, we are so unfamiliar with the terrain of the body that we escape to the mind when the body isn’t feeling pleasure.

When times get tough or we feel anguish is when we exploit the body. We aren’t familiar with the pain of life and use the body as a means to feel pleasure - drugs, screens/social media, sex, you name it. These things aren’t innately bad, but its our relationship to them as escape mechanisms that creates a vicious, destructive cycle of abuse.

We rarely take time to address the needs of the body, to let it heal, to let it untie the knots of trauma or abuse.

This is not inherently our fault. We aren’t given the tools or guidance on how to navigate the body and learn what makes us feel full or complete.

The time spent neglecting the body compounds stress and confusion and makes it increasingly more daunting to return back home to the body, to the embodied present. Social pressures and expectations of what a “healthy” body looks like infested our minds at such formative years and has led to an epidemic of body dysmorphia and rejection of the self.

The body is a complex, wonderfully perfect machine that serves the human experience so well and reliably. To learn how to observe our breath, to remember that every breath we take is contributing to the building blocks of our cells and livelihood. The carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen we consume through drinking water or breathing air are crucial to our survival. To be aware of such a simple luxury is the source of all joy an awe of our current, human position. We just have to learn to look.

We must take time to familiarize ourselves with the body, with the embodied experience. Patience and lifestyle changes to the best of your ability - engaging in resources to heal trauma. Taking time for repose - even 5 minutes is enough for the body to return to homeostasis. Change takes time. The body is our only connection to the world, to others, and to reality. It goes without saying that this is all easier said than done. That every force outside ourselves is encouraging unconsciousness. The insurmountable stress and expectations placed on our youth and the working class coupled with our lack of tools of insight is a perfect recipe for physiological and psychological pathology.

The emotional aloofness of the western parent impacts the child and starts the domino effect of compounding stress on the body and mind. The access to constant connectivity - social media influences and a mind-numbing amount of access to information. The social-economic divide that barricades education, opportunity, mental health support, and even proper nutrition from millions of people. The selfishness and ego of those in charge of our daily lives. The supply chain of suffering that we’ve built just to feed consumerism. The consumption and murder of billions of sentient animals. The destruction of the environment. All these issues and more contribute to the disconnect from the body. People born with physiological conditions that make living different from the average person.

These situations make it difficult to return to a body and experience that is laced with hardship and confusion; I can’t pretend to understand the hardship of those in situations different from my own.

What is universal, however, is that we escape to the mind and to pleasure, only to create more distance from the body, self and virtues. The odds are against all of us, but to say it is impossible to heal and live mindfully in this world is far from the truth. We are all deserving and capable of peace, clarity and insight. With every breath, with every acknowledgment of the body, with gratefulness for existence, and being patient with ourselves as we navigate this human experience are all baby steps to empowerment. Regardless of our situation, we all owe it to ourselves to explore our current states of being (mental and physical) and understand it well enough to proceed with life in clarity and self-love.

Understanding our place in this world and our purpose takes time.  I believe the route of the body is the necessary first step.

The cup is already broken - Meditation on the fleeting experience

The finiteness of experience is one of the most difficult laws human beings can grapple with. Realizing the fleetingness of experience, of the body, of the planet, of our loved ones, of our emotions is unavoidable, yet it is often repressed into the exhaustive “think about later” list some of us keep.

The law of finiteness is an invitation to know the preciousness of all things. This law does not discriminate and can be noticed in even the most seemingly mundane. Every inhale has a brith, a growth, a decay, and a death. To try and hold on to an inhale is futile and eventually you will either be beckoned to exhale because of the discomfort, or the body will pass out in order to restore the exhale-inhale cycle. To observe this law in the breath, the cornerstone of all life, may point one to not only the necessity of fleetingness, but the beauty of it. Rejecting the law of finiteness in the pursuit of holding on to something is akin to holding your breath. It is futile, it can cause discomfort, and it will persist with or without your accepting of it.

The finite nature isn’t a somber one, it isn’t a law to be simply tolerated, it is a law to investigate first hand. When you practice mindfulness of fleetingness, you not only accept it as law, but you deepen your love and care of all phenomenon you come in contact with. You understand things  as they are, you know that by something simply existing, it is precious. Anything subject to the cycle of birth and death is inherently beautiful - it is to be awed at and appreciated. Including you.

It is okay if one forgets this fact and clings to life - it is okay if this feels uncomfortable. The relief that comes from knowing finiteness is always available. You may realize it in one moment and forget the next, this is the point of practice - slowly you get more comfortable with the landscape, you learn about yourself and your nature, and what is meant to be shown to you will reveal itself. Be patient and be kind to yourself - but don’t be afraid to look what scares you the most in the eyes and see it for what it is. You’ll be a-okay.

Anchor Point

Is it necessary to have a reference point of what well-being feels like in order to practice towards it? If someone has been existing in a state of depression or anxiety for a long-enough period that they develop amnesia of what another state of mind may look like, do they need to engage a tactic that can at least momentarily create a sense of well-being so there is at least a reference point of what a solution could look like?

For example, if there exists a breathing technique that can create a sense of momentary peace by calming the nervous system, can the observer then use that feeling as evidence that well-being is accessible? How powerful does that reference point need to be considering the state of conditioning the observer is in? What tactics need to be employed to develop a practice that uses the reference point as a foot in the door to expand and experience other states of wholesomeness and create reprieve from a long bout of suffering?

Does the reference point necessarily need to have a physiological manifestation - does it need to have a visceral feeling of reprieve to remind/convince the observer that relief can even exist? How can practitioners avoid seeking reference points that are potentially unwholesome - such as substance abuse or behavioral addictions that disguise as reprieve but instead leave the user in a worse off place?

Does it require trial and error to determine what senses of relief provide long term well-being? How does one even cultivate the motivation to overcome the inertia of initiating well-being? Is it always a fact that mindfulness-based contemplative techniques or manipulating the breath are wholesome ways of achieving reprieve, albeit temporary? How can you convince people in deep states of suffering that there does exist a life that consists of openness, love, purpose, and peace? Does that convincing require a wholesome anchor point?

Our next mission as a people should be developing a decent enough understanding of these questions to begin a movement that makes life satisfaction and well-being familiar and accessible to as many people as possible. I believe that by understanding how different “positive” mental states manifest in our biology, we can reverse engineer the underlying mechanisms to develop therapies and help for the masses. Let’s do it.

Being Your Own Compass

How aware are you of the direction your subjective experience is heading? As the cultivator of your individual experience, do you trust that you have the best repertoire to inform the most wholesome outcomes? Are you aware that you may be the cultivator and the experiencer?

Mindfulness is a tool - the ultimate informer of the best decision making, because it enables the experiencer to understand what exactly they need to experience.

Mindfulness is a word that can be lost in the mainstream fodder attempting to understand and commodify it beyond its genuine purpose. You can begin to think of mindfulness as an activity or state of mind that bridges the experiencer and the experienced. How aware are you of how different scenarios, thoughts, circumstances, conditions, or different phenomenon effect your present, subjective experience. How can you leverage your own reactivity to different phenomenon to cultivate an infallible life compass.

Are you able to curiously observe and understand how your conditioning is influencing your present moment reactivity and well-being. As you navigate your daily life, you undergo a series of sensory or mental experiences that each have an effect on how you feel at a given time. If you have been conditioned to put pressure on yourself to succeed, then a news story of a successful entrepreneur may  kickstart an avalanche of self-defeating beliefs about why YOU’RE not there and as successful. You may have gotten used to this experience and understand it to be who you are - a person who needs to succeed, but can’t, therefore you MUST BE all the negative thoughts that confirm that belief. You enable this type of self-created hell by not serving as a compassionate advocate of yourself - you may have never developed the skill or even desire to alleviate this source of suffering from yourself.

It may help to picture this relationship with yourself as a parent to child relationship. Imagine you witness a child spiral into a self-critical tirade that leaves them vulnerable to depression, anxiety, or other negative affective traits every time that they see a person that is seemingly more successful than them. As the parental figure, you would do everything in your power to comfort the child and understand the root of that suffering in order to alleviate them of the negativity associated with that certain thought spiral. Every parent wants their child to live a fulfilling and loving life - so they do everything in their power to create the conditions for that reality to manifest. Why can’t you afford yourself that same compassion?

This is where mindfulness comes in. If you begin to curiously observe how your reactions to different phenomenon influence your immediate subjective well- being, you can begin to consciously create the conditions that guide you in the direction of fulfillment, joy, openness, and wholesomeness. You can retrain your brain to pull you in the direction of behaviors and circumstances that result in wholesome outcomes instead of unwholesome outcomes. This requires self-love and the tools to help strengthen this compass. Once you reach a state where you are using mindfulness as your navigation tool, you get better and better at understanding yourself and what keeps you fulfilled. Through patience and trial and error, you can slowly master your own experience and do everything in your power to cultivate openness at any given moment.

This state of momentary awareness, acceptance, curiosity, and openness is not the destination, but instead the STARTING POINT. Once you are in the state of mindful, momentary acceptance you can begin to unearth your unique potential and forge your life journey in the most informed and wholesome way. It all begins now. With the right tools and skills in your repertoire, you can journey through life confident that you are doing what is best for yourself and others.

Identity Crisis and Social Media Use

As someone whose formative years (around 7th-8th grade) were spent exploring and engaging with the advent of mobile social media, I have felt and seen its potent effects on both myself and my peers.

Middle school is a time of developing your relationship with self and environment, ideally. We all ebb and flow through different personality traits - basically beta testing the person we want to be with our social circles and community. Everyone comes from different environments: The effect of different child-raising techniques, generational conditioning, or any experience that shapes personality dictates how we navigate our social environment. The time spent coming into yourself, whatever that may look like, is key in developing an understanding and relationship with the self and others, but it can also be extremely stressful. The feedback we receive from our fellow human beings are so important in creating a relationship with self and life, hence why unmonitored, unconscious social media infected and fundamentally changed the process

A study showed that emerging adults might develop a stronger dependence on their phones as they might be going through a social identity crisis

As our social lives exist predominantly on social platforms, many emerging adults (adolescents) begin to form identities within and reliant on the feedback given in these hyper social environments. This is so dangerous. If adolescents arent given the SPACE, TIME, or SKILLS necessary to develop a healthy relationship with themselves and their identity, they are virtually (no pun intended) enslaved to the identity/ self-worth they design ONLINE - which is strictly contingent on the feedback received in these social platforms.

If certain trends, ideas, dogmas are rewarded on social platforms, and the majority of youth DERIVE THEIR SENSE OF SELF ON THESE SOCIAL PLATFORMS, then they are subject to a volatile sense of self, one that is constantly changing day to day based on what’s rewarded at a given time. This gives immense power to the systems in charge of facilitating how these online platforms function and what information is present at a given time. This also further deepens tribalism and lack of open, constructive communications. Any side that disagrees with the identity you’ve latched onto will then pose a threat to you.

We can’t and shouldn’t fight the inevitable growth of technology, so we need to learn how integrate it into our well-being. We need to teach the youth how to derive a sense of self naturally and in their own context. We can achieve this by giving them time AWAY from their phones, but not only that, we must empower them with real science-based, mindfulness tools that can foster a positive identity.

In my opinion, one of the stronger barriers to undoing the vice grip of compulsive digital technology use is the way it effects our biological mechanisms of rational decision making. Constant connectivity has created a constant state of arousal - we are constantly on edge, waiting for the next cue to engage again with these devices. The relationship created with the digital device becomes one of escapism - we subconsciously associate using these technologies with the “alleviation” of anxiety that these very technologies created. Additionally, those with pre-existing anxiety conditions are more susceptible to falling into this damaging relationship to digital tech. The discomfort felt when we aren’t actively using our phone, I believe, is one of the the most prominent obstacles in the way of conscious phone use.

The withdrawal we feel when we put our digital device down and the feelings associated with that withdrawal (social isolation, FOMO, physiological stress, heightened self-criticism etc…) need to be addressed and tamed before one can take the best step forward to conscious tech use. When we are put it a position to decide whether or not we want to continue using a digital device in a way that we KNOW is potentially damaging, being in a state of psychological and physiological withdrawal leaves the user more likely to make the irrational decision to keep using the phone, just to relieve the symptoms. When we are in a more relaxed, “meditative” state the user is more likely to choose the option that takes them in the direction of well-being. Using our understanding of biology, we can begin to nip these uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms in the bud using proven breathing or mindful techniques. Breathing in a certain way or engaging in a gamified mindfulness exercise can relax the nervous system and promote mental equanimity - alter your brain/emotional state to be in the best position possible to develop a conscious phone relationship. It’s key we don’t underestimate the effect of the withdrawal symptoms - our biology and mindfulness can help us.