Plugging Back Into THE Ecosystem

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Disclaimer: I expanded some traditional ideas to make this material more accessible to a wider audience.

Background

The natural world is interconnected—trees, lakes, insects, animals. You have undoubtedly heard of it as the ecosystem.

There are of course ecosystems within ecosystems (plant, forest, animal host etc.). We will assume there is just one to be able to discuss more easily.

Humans, evolving as we have, are intrinsically part of the ecosystem. It is still the default. When a child is born they do not see themselves as different from anything around them. Sigmund Freud refers to this as the Oceanic Consciousness of new borns.

As civilization evolved our species began to project abstractions over nature. Labeling things externally and internally (colors, species, emotions, observations, patterns etc.) See Carl Jung, Man and His Symbols.

Early on the human brain created a Task Positive Network (TPN) in order to focus on select objectives and actions. This is where healthy relevent thoughts come from when you are focused on a task.

So What?

In very recent evolutional times the human brain created the Default Mode Network (DMN) believed to have helped increase social requirements as we branched out of the bell of Africa.

The Default Mode Network (DMN), however, is obsolete. Instead of diminishing over time, like tails or molars at the back, societal aberrations are causing it to thrive. This outdated software is the origin of Self-Referential Narrative (SRN), i.e., incessant self-talk about emotionally bound matters—the constant chatter in your head, often referred to as the monkey mind.

The DMN is just the current label; it has been described in various ways in the past (see references).

This is dramatically different than the Task Positive Network (TPN) which is engaged when working on a task or learning a new skill etc.. Complaining days, weeks and years later about something is an example of the DMN. Actually so is nearly all complaining, i.e. emotionally not being able to let things be as they are.

Again, this is different than the TPN. For instance, if something is broke and needs fixing, the TPN is engaged to help make it happen. The "being pissed off" that you have to fix it is the DMN...which is obsolete and leads to a gross misperception of reality. This leads to stress and unhappiness.

Reminder: Reality in this context being the natural state of things. The oceanic mind experiencing its connectedness to THE ecosystem.

An emotional reaction can be natural in the instant a truly profound event occurs. Its a survival mechanism. Like when a truck is about to hit you and you have to jump out of the way. Expletive!!!

A Closer Look

The errorneous part, the DMN, is the part of your brain that needs to keep animating a past event. The continual "being pissed off" aftwards.

• Why did that happen!
• Who the F is driving that!
• I can't believe that happened!
• I can't believe that happened last week\month\year\decade!
• Why me!

In modern societies, media sources are conscious of the DMN and leverage its activation to generate a "need" for you to watch their shows, buy their products, or vote in a certain way. Billions of dollars are invested in keeping this obsolete part of the brain operational, relying on your ignorance and apathy toward the DMN.

What To Do

So if the DMN\SRN is unnatural and bad for us, leading us to stress and unhappiness; what can be done about it?

With all the societal stimuli, just intellectually knowing this will not change the DMN. You have to invest in recurring actions that have been scientifically proven to work.

• Daily meditation for at least 30 minutes a day.
  There is now overwhelming evidence that meditation suppresses the DMN to the extent that it can remain largely inactive even outside of meditation. This results in experiencing everything with a mind that is significantly quieter than what you have now. While noticable improvement can happen quickly, near complete shutdown of the DMN can take some time and real persistence.
  Conversely, ceasing daily meditation will allow the DMN to reassert its dominance in time.
  Aim to explore meditation methods specifically crafted to calm the mind, creating space between your thoughts (see references).
• Work on detecting and letting go of the Default Mode Network (DMN) when it tries to activate.
  By staying vigilant against the Self-Referential Narrative (AKA complaining), and consciously letting go of its noise, you can gradually diminish its control over you. It behaves as if it's a life-form relying on your continued animation. Refrain from animating it; don't invest mental energy in it.
  This will also help you get to know your Self at a deeper level.
  Note that I capitalized 'Self.' The small self refers to that aspect of you tethered, akin to a cult-of-personality, to the DMN. Alternatively, you can liken it to being functionally bound to a 'religion' of the self.
  The large Self is the part of you bound to THE ecosystem. Your core true identity. Beneath all the mental abstractions and fabrications.
  Understand that all complaining activates the DMN. No other species engages in this behavior except humans—more accurately, humans still bound to the DMN.
• Surrender control of everything to that which has been running everything for millennia without needing your help: the ecosystem, as opposed to the DMN. Cultivate the habit of letting things be as they are.
  That's how the natural world works. Things naturally unfold in a manner that is in the best interest of the ecosystem. When you act in this way, you operate on a principle that has the full inertia of the entire ecosystem (see Wu Wei). Galaxies know how to spin. The sun knows how to shine. Trees know how to grow. Your heart knows how to beat. Your cells know how to manage themselves.
  The entire ecosystem knows what it is doing. It always has. It has an undeniable intelligence. Your small self of course can't\won't believe this...at first. Be persistent.
  In developing the habit of letting things be as they are, don't be daft. Put band-aides on cuts. Take care of your hygene. Go shopping. Go to your job. Do the natural things our species does. Spiders build webs etc.
  Just start to gain a deeper trust that you don't have to do everything the small self says you have to do. It will go away little-by-little and at some point have no meaningful bearing on your life. ;-)
• Self Inquiry
  Lastly, there is Self Inquiry. Author Gary Weber and Professor Richard Doyle, PhD (AKA Mobius), assert that this method is essential for completely clearing the DMN. This approach involves delving into the nature of who owns each thought, essentially questioning one's identity.
  Interestingly, when sufficient attention is directed towards an emerging thought from the DMN, it tends to disappear. What's even more intriguing is that the brain rewards this process by releasing a shot of dopamine for the act of removing such thoughts (and associated neural connections).
  All of these methods, including this article, are designed to provide an introduction to the topic rather than serve as a treatise (see references).

Summary

The media-industrial complex capitalizes on your lack of awareness and apathy toward the Default Mode Network (DMN). With products to promote and profits to amass, you unwittingly become a pawn in their agenda.

It is better to experience life directly in all its facets rather than through mental abstractions or excessive thinking. Food tastes better, sunsets are more vivid, and everything feels more alive.

You'll also notice improved performance in your job and other pursuits when the mental noise is minimized.

The quieter your mind, the more joyous life becomes. Go find out for yourself!

Epilogue

When you give up the small self, your identity becomes the large Self. Automatically. In this way, without trying to become everything, you become it (Wu Wei). You find that the "self" that needed attention never really existed anyway. It was kept animated by a constant stream of lies.

Most of us grew up with well meaning parents and friends but still we accepted so many false beliefs. Once the beliefs and erroneous thoughts are gone, what remains is a deep quietness. In this you act out of a center that is nowhere and everywhere.

References