“It takes a lot to make a memory. New proteins have to be synthesized, neuron structures altered. While some of these memory-building mechanisms are known, many are not. Some recent studies have indicated that a unique group of molecules called microRNAs, known to control production of proteins in cells, may play a far more important role in memory formation than previously thought.” LINK
Indeed, neuron by neuron, science is deconstructing “you" down to tiny little incoherent, totally chaotic, microdots of electrochemical goop.
“And it looks as though miR-182 may be promoting local protein synthesis, helping to support the synapse-specificity of memories.”
Egocentrics are defined exclusively by a past they seek to alter due to its lacking, even though the memory of the past exists as nothing more than synaptical spurts of electrochemical current, lighting up in tandem with current thoughts. Note once again, how you never really leave the moment, because each moment is nothing more than instantaneous brain firings provoking other synapses to engage and fire. Even a memory is… NOW.
And “you” have absolutely nothing to do with any of it....
You have about as much to do with reading this post as I had in writing it…NOTHING, Zero, zilch, nill, nada.
No need to defend any of our brief, episodic, spur-of-the-moment “truths” anymore or…go ahead and defend till your hearts content. You will only ever go where the neurons take you. There is no choice in the matter and that ultimate absence was initiated upon your birth.
"My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts."
"This idea is, of course, the reason why you see only the past. No one really sees anything. He sees only his thoughts projected outward. The mind's preoccupation with the past is the cause of the misconception about time from which your seeing suffers. Your mind cannot grasp the present, which is the only time there is. It therefore cannot understand time, and cannot, in fact, understand anything.
The one wholly true thought one can hold about the past is that it is not here. To think about it at all is therefore to think about illusions. Very few have realized what is actually entailed in picturing the past or in anticipating the future. The mind is actually blank when it does this, because it is not really thinking about anything.
The purpose of the exercises for today is to begin to train your mind to recognize when it is not really thinking at all. While thoughtless ideas preoccupy your mind, the truth is blocked. Recognizing that your mind has been merely blank, rather than believing that it is filled with real ideas, is the first step to opening the way to vision." (ACIM, Wkbk Lesson 8).
Artwork by Shaytan666 - "Neuron"
"Neuron by neuron, science is deconstructing “you" down to tiny little incoherent, totally chaotic, microdots of electrochemical goop"
ReplyDeleteMike, I'm starting to like your - I would call it - 'deflating' kind of approach more and more. It actually is very calming once you start to accept it.
I know this is perhaps a sidetrack but have you ever looked into the Enneagram? If you haven't, it's all about the different egoic strategies we employ to compensate for the (they say imagined) separation from what they call 'Essence' and the sense of lack that entails. I think you might find it interesting (though I'm guessing you will have looked into it already? Feel free to say if you think it's rubbish for whatever reason!).
There was a time when I would have dismissed that kind of thing as being too simplistic or that 'I can't be typed' but having looked I am pretty undeniably a 4 with a strong 5 wing. 4's tend to mythologise their lives (and particularly sufferings), dwelling on the past to very unhealthy degree at times. Your kind of approach actually seems like a really good medicine to this kind of mentality, despite the natural initial aversion of people like me ('how dare you! I'm much more than goop!' etc).
I think it's interesting that you put ''you'' in inverted commas too, as I think it points to something important, that this may not be really who we are (not to say we are anyone)?
Incidentally I've always been interested in A Course In Miracles from what little I know about it. You have spurred me to check it out in more depth...
(I hope you don't mind my Enneagram tangent; I'm just really enthused and inspired by it at the moment, having just discovered it and reading as many books as I can on it. It has a similar sort of deflating, radically self-honest approach to yourself so I thought you might resonate with it.) Thanks
whats up mike, I came across this website today, i think its right up your neuronal alley. http://neuraltribe.squarespace.com/what-we-are/
ReplyDeletesunny,
ReplyDeletebookmarked for review.
looks like some good sheit!
Thanks!
mike
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteSorry 'bout response delay, but my life is spinning wildly out of control at present (Ha! what am I saying...it's always so splendid).
Here is another ACIM quote you might like:
"My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world."
"This is the first idea we have had that is related to a major phase of the correction process; the reversal of the thinking of the world. It seems as if the world determines what you perceive. Today's idea introduces the concept that your thoughts determine the world you see. Be glad indeed to practice the idea in its initial form, for in this idea is your release made sure. The key to forgiveness lies in it."
Not much of a "Course" guy, but there is no denying the beauty of this. Brain circuitry gives you your world.
But is it 'really' there or do you just 'think' it is?
Stuff that makes ya go, Hmmmmmmmm...
Thanks,
Mike
Interesting that you should pick out the point about meaning, that was what first attracted me to ACIM a while ago. I know from my own life, when it's felt most out of control (and my god it has) I have been suffering from a serious case of over-attributing (meaningless) meaning to everything. As you're probably getting at, if you don't project so much weight and import on everything there isn't really a reference point to say whether it's in control or not (or ever has been for that matter). Anyway, good luck Mike, you're a cool dude! All the best!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the kind words and yes, to some I'm a cool dude while to others I'm goddamn fooking Lucifer incarnate (just ask my ex-wife). I suppose it all depends on circuit compatibility.
ReplyDeleteAnd isn't it all about meaning? The superimposition of concepts upon experience? Sheit happens and then we think about it. As Shakespeare said, "there is nothing either good or bad until we fooking think about it" (paraphrasing here). So why not think differently? Cause our circuits refuse to allow it. Suppose it's nothing more but a mass case of acceptance.
Thanks for really great comments!
Mike
"And isn't it all about meaning?"
ReplyDeleteGood point!
By the way, I just read up some more online on the Enneagram. Wow there's a lot of rubbish out there, I can imagine being put off. I recommend the website Enneagram Institute, written by Riso and Hudson, or better yet one of their books (if you're at all interested that is). That's what has profoundly interested me in it, and has been revelatory. A lot of the other stuff is merely pschobabble and easily misinterpreted. Just thought I'd clear that up!
ReplyDeleteThanks,
ReplyDeleteWill look into it and see...
Mike
There's something terribly tragic about it all. The drama of it, everything. Of course, even to say it is tragic is a response, but it's all I have just now.
ReplyDelete:)
Thanks Nahnni,
ReplyDeleteI suppose even if something is inevitable, we can still consider it 'tragic.'
But this has always confused me somewhat...
mike
I often think the tragic rests in the reality that behind the veneer, life is truly an appalling thing...in general, for the most part. In the Western world, one doesn't have to face that...face to face, as it were. After awhile, I begin to sympathize with the lure of the gentle fantasies so embraced by the New Age folk.
ReplyDelete"Recognizing that your mind has been merely blank, rather than believing that it is filled with real ideas, is the first step to opening the way to vision."
The realm beneath the persona. A very interesting space. Very Jungian, I suppose, but still, I find it interesting that once meaning is dissolved, a meaningfulness remains. Things work strangely like that. A moment may be filled with a profound joy, just in that moment, and while it has no meaning, it is meaningful. If one leaves it at that, a sort of shimmering occurs.
And when you shimmer, you pretty much know you are shimmering.
:)