There is a concept in science fiction that is also a hypothetical future development called Mind Uploading. For extreme transhumanists, it’s imagined that the contents of someone’s conscious mind can be uploaded to a computer to achieve immortality in a virtual world. To explore this in a thought experiment: imagine that you are in a special laboratory where people in white coats have connected electrodes to your head. A few minutes later the operator announces that your consciousness has been successfully uploaded into computer memory. As you are still conscious in your body, how do you know whether this is true?
Interestingly, a US start-up is working on Mind Uploading, based on their work on rabbits; they promise to upload a copy of your brain to a computer. There’s only one catch – as they need to freeze your brain to make a copy of all the neural connections, the process is fatal.
Partly driven by our quest to develop artificial intelligence, a vast amount of research is being done on understanding human consciousness. One useful distinction is between the content of consciousness, for instance, the words you are processing reading this, and broader conscious awareness – the background awake energy and aliveness that you wake up with every morning before thoughts come streaming in. Another distinction is between the objective reality of the world, the trees, roads, buildings, and the sky, and the thoughts and perceptions we have about them. We can look at an apple on a plate and think “I see an apple on a plate”, but reality is always far more complex than we think. For instance, the subtle range of colours on the apple skin, the sweet and sharp tastes of the fruit, the arrangement of seeds within its centre, the bruise under the skin where it’s been knocked, and so on.
So, when we become caught up in the content of consciousness, we experience a more limited view of ourselves, other people, and the world around us. This can be summarised as our tendency to:
- Conflate the content of consciousness and conscious awareness as the same thing.
- Skim over the surface and miss the rich complexity and wonder of reality.
- Overly identify with our thoughts. Although they may be about us, they are not who we are.
So how can mindfulness help us break through these limitations? Given that our minds typically wander around half of our waking lives, bringing ourselves into the present moment to notice the thoughts we’re entertaining is a good start. We can then shift the focus of our attention away from our thoughts to a different mode of experience; by coming into being, which is conscious awareness. Simply being means resting in the expanded space and stillness of awareness that includes all the thoughts, emotions, and sensations (content) that come and go within that space. Thinking is often directed inward. Being is turning our attention and awareness outwards to our body and senses.
We can bring ourselves into being mode by:
- Letting go of overly identifying with thoughts and beliefs about “me and my situation”.
- Disengaging our attention away from thoughts and turning it out towards our body and senses
- Fully accepting whatever is happening in our experience
- If thoughts and feelings arise, acknowledge them and allow them to come and go
- Bringing openness, kindness, and appreciation to our experience
Our busy work and personal lives are often so full of responsibilities, activities, and deadlines that it’s no wonder that our minds become agitated and that we spend so much time in our heads. By developing and practising mindfulness, we discover that there is a different mode of experience, a hidden resource that is always available in the background. Coming into being connects us to a more open, flexible, and direct experience of reality that can free us from our mind-made limitations and transform who we are in that moment.
Suggested weekly practice
- Notice the difference between thinking and being, where your attention is consumed in content (thinking) or broader awareness (being) of what you are doing
- Explore the space of background awareness as you walk, turning awareness out to the broad soundscape as sounds come and go, the movement of your body, and thoughts that arise are acknowledged and pass away as you rest in being while moving
- Try resting in awareness as you move into activity – doing from a state of being. For example, extending the walking practice above into other areas of activity, like listening in a meeting, etc.
Guidance
Find somewhere undisturbed and sit in a comfortable, dignified, and upright posture, where you can remain alert and aware. There are two guided practices for this session. You can close your eyes or lower your gaze while the meditations play.
- Play the settling practice, then read through the session content, which you can print off if that helps.
- Then close your eyes while this meditation plays to explore and experience coming into being.
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