Meditation and Mental Movies

“The mind is its own place and, in itself can make a heaven of hell or a hell of heaven.” — John Milton

Do you think you see reality as it is?

Let’s make it more specific, pick your most recent stressful situation or meeting; do you think your memory of that meeting is as it really happened?

John Locke, an Enlightenment thinker, believed that the human mind is a blank slate at birth, ready to be written over by sensory experience. Beau Lotto, a neurologist, proposes the opposite of Locke’s position. According to him, our senses are given meaning by the human mind; the ultimate blank slate is the outside universe.

Woah.

Either way, it seems self-evident that subjective experience isn’t everything. Unlike worms and wolves, humans cannot sense Earth’s magnetic field; we are also deaf to high pitch noises other animals can hear, and we have a very weak sense of smell.

Your dog sees a whole world you never will — through its nose.

I’m not sure where I fall out as to how much our human senses reveal the world or obscure it, but I’m absolutely certain I don’t have a perfect view of reality. The representation of the world around me is an output that includes objects, noises, scents, and colors that, and here’s the key, mingle with my thoughts and emotions.

What I see is a personal version of reality, x parts real, x parts illusion. And sometimes, I don’t see reality at all.

Depending on the day, I can be so lost in thought that even when looking at something in the physical world, like a tree, I won’t notice it, literally not “see” the thing in front of me. Instead, I’m seeing completely different images that thoughts are projecting in my mind, obscuring the physical reality of my visual field.

Here is where a meditation practice has been helpful, so stay with me :)

The more I practice becoming aware of thought capture, the more I “wake up,” as it were, and notice what’s happening. This, in turn, helps me get some distance from thoughts versus swallowed up by them.

I sometimes practice a form of meditation that uses a labeling method developed by Shinzen Young called “see,” “hear,” “feel.” It’s a technique to help you become aware of (and noting to yourself) what you see, what you hear, and what you feel. Awareness practice is the epitome of being mindful.

The see-hear-feel method also extends to mental phenomena. You just note “see-in” when you become aware of mental images or “hear-in” for mental chatter. I’m oversimplifying a bit, but this is the practice essentially.

For me, the whole point of meditation is to break the habit of living in the projections of my mind — the personal interpretations of reality.

Imagination (which can be wonderfully creative) is probably the main culprit when it comes to psychological suffering, but regardless of emotional effect, being lost in thought and not knowing you are — is the definition of sleepwalking through life.

So I’ve recently tweaked the mental noting part.

I’ve started to swap out the label “see-in” whenever I notice mental images and scenes to label them “movie.” This crystallizes that I’m likely watching more of a story play out either past or future, and what I’m feeling is emotion from a scene or soundtrack in my mind I’m wrapped up in.

I know that if I’m suffering, it’s usually because I’ve lost myself in some soap opera playing out in my mind.

I’m not just having thoughts; I’ve fused with them. Instead of observing what is happening, I’ve jumped into the screenplay — and feel it as real.

Here’s the rub; the movie playing is not my choice; I didn’t request the various scary trailers that run on my mental screen, they are automatic, AND I can’t walk out of the theater.

But that’s okay.

People often misunderstand the goal of meditation; it’s not about stopping thought, but being more aware of them. In doing so, I can experience them without being caught up IN them.

I move my psyche’s location from “actor” to observer.

So noting the word “movie,” helps me realize when I’m sitting in a theater of my own creation to see beyond the screen where I notice the projector that’s running — is me.

What to explore more about the mind and meditation? Check out these previous podcast guests here.