EPTThe subject of this blog is an invitation to try a mind exercise. This mind exercise can be thought of as a game. It's called Unrelated Concepts. Here are the rules:
1. Close your eyes.
2. Think of any concept or object. Anything!
3. Visualize that.
4. Stop visualizing that and try to think of something completely unrelated. For example, if you think blades of grass, don't think "flowers" next. You determine how far apart things need to be for them to be considered valid or acceptable, but try to make them as far apart as you can.
5. You may go back to a subject you have used previously, but try to stay away from them as long as you can. Don't deliberately keep track of them, though.
6. Continue coming up with unrelated concepts until your mind presents them to you almost effortlessly, at a rate of at least one per second or so.
7. Stop.
2. Think of any concept or object. Anything!
3. Visualize that.
4. Stop visualizing that and try to think of something completely unrelated. For example, if you think blades of grass, don't think "flowers" next. You determine how far apart things need to be for them to be considered valid or acceptable, but try to make them as far apart as you can.
5. You may go back to a subject you have used previously, but try to stay away from them as long as you can. Don't deliberately keep track of them, though.
6. Continue coming up with unrelated concepts until your mind presents them to you almost effortlessly, at a rate of at least one per second or so.
7. Stop.
You may find that the objects/concepts are naturally organizing themselves, or perhaps you alternate between 2-3 trains of thought which allows you to have a list of concepts that are completely unrelated, but the trains of thought continue. For example, you might think: soccer ball, Pluto, basketball net, Georgia, a base in baseball, the Mayflower, Michael Jordan, .... In this example, there are two trains of thought: sports, and physical locations (the Mayflower being closely related to Plymouth, Massachusetts).
Continue the experiment until you get really good at it. It should only take 2-3 minutes until this starts to happen. For example, recently my last few images were: a triangle, a wedding couple, Liquipedia, a semi truck, a sunflower, camouflage-patterned clothing, turtles, dishes, the moon, Venus, computer speakers. This is the type of complexity that you want to have in your random stream of consciousness.
You should actively reject concepts as invalid if they relate to the previous one. For example, in the above pattern I would reject "Venus" because it is similar to "the moon" and I would try to force the mind to think of something unrelated.
Now here is an interesting thing that happens, but please try the exercise before reading the spoiler, as it may spoil the result for you otherwise.
+ Show Spoiler +
You may find that when you get to the point where you have very complex chains of random concepts that you can picture roughly every second or faster, things get really interesting. At this point you can attempt to remember a list to write down later and analyze it to see what you passively thnk about, but let's try something else. Simply stop the exercise. Wait, can you stop?
I have found that my mind will continue for at least another 15-20 seconds, presenting me with completely valid images, according to the rules of the exercise. This says a lot about our control over the visualizing mind. When it is commanded to stop an activity, it may take some time before it actually complies with your request. This is unexpected, because if you command your mind to move a body part, barring any paralysis, it does so. So you can type on the keyboard, scratch your head, whatever.
I have found that my mind will continue for at least another 15-20 seconds, presenting me with completely valid images, according to the rules of the exercise. This says a lot about our control over the visualizing mind. When it is commanded to stop an activity, it may take some time before it actually complies with your request. This is unexpected, because if you command your mind to move a body part, barring any paralysis, it does so. So you can type on the keyboard, scratch your head, whatever.
The point I'm trying to make is, because this happens, isn't there some kind of implication that can be researched further, perhaps relevant to the philosophy of mind-body dualism? And would the research need to be done by neuroscientists, monks, or could other such mind exercises be done to improve understanding of this concept?
For those who have already done the exercise:
+ Show Spoiler +
This reminds me of a Buddhist teaching I read that says our thoughts are always arising. In other words, just because you feel a certain way, you may not know why you feel that way, but it is sometimes just the mind going through its process of arising. You may have many different things arising in the mind very quickly after each other, and this teaching asserted that it is not consciously controlled.
I understand now that Buddhism doesn't try to control the mind, to try to keep it from suffering, because that is a kind of restrictiveness that can be mentally exhausting. Instead, what is done is simply maintaining, as much as possible, your awareness of what your mind and/or body is telling you, and accepting it as a passing thing.
Good practice for this constant awareness can be done while meditating. This is done by mentally repeating whatever you're feeling so that you can focus on it without judging it. What is, not what your opinion of it is. For example, if you have pain in your leg, you can mentally repeat "pain, pain," or "hurting, hurting." If you are angry, you can repeat "anger, anger." Until it goes away. When you have nothing to focus on, the teaching is to focus on your breath, as done when meditating.
I understand now that Buddhism doesn't try to control the mind, to try to keep it from suffering, because that is a kind of restrictiveness that can be mentally exhausting. Instead, what is done is simply maintaining, as much as possible, your awareness of what your mind and/or body is telling you, and accepting it as a passing thing.
Good practice for this constant awareness can be done while meditating. This is done by mentally repeating whatever you're feeling so that you can focus on it without judging it. What is, not what your opinion of it is. For example, if you have pain in your leg, you can mentally repeat "pain, pain," or "hurting, hurting." If you are angry, you can repeat "anger, anger." Until it goes away. When you have nothing to focus on, the teaching is to focus on your breath, as done when meditating.
