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Keynote address: Professor Snyder
"The Nonconscious Mind" 24 May 2002
Truly great science - truly great advances of any kind, are about
making leaps! - about making leaps! Making intuitive leaps, making
creative leaps, leaps that explode upon you, seemingly from nowhere.
Leaps often way beyond what you have any right to expect from
conventional science - they defy conventional science. But, somehow,
somehow you just know they are justified. Somehow, they feel right.
Somehow they lock into place ideas that previously had been unconnected.
I am talking about the nonconscious mind. I am talking about
how problems seem to incubate in the nonconscious. And, I am talking
about how answers pop into the conscious brain when you least
expect them and seemingly from no where.
Take the brilliant mathematician Poincare. His breakthrough solution
leaped into his mind, unexpectedly, as he stepped onto a bus,
and most importantly, after a lengthy holiday. Take the German
poet Rilke. In the midst of a poem, Rilke ran out of inspiration
and lapsed into an unproductive depression. 10 years later, 10
years later, his masterpiece "Sonnets to Orpheus" leaped from
his mind, "as if he were taking dictation".
Dalai Lama, Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. What
is so remarkable about our brain is the fact that the nonconscious
is the real executive in charge. Possibly nothing we do, no action
we take, no thought we have is purely conscious. It is our nonconscious
mind that plays the decision making role in so many matters that
are crucial to our well being. It is our nonconscious mind that
seems to have virtual dictatorial power about what is best for
our survival.
When you think about it, when you think about it, this is rather
extraordinary. But this is how we are wired up. We are not aware
of the mechanisms giving rise to our senses. We are not aware
of how our thoughts are formed or how we articulate them. And,
worse still, worse still, we do not even consciously see what
is out there. What we do see is based largely on what we expect
to see. What we do see is based largely on what we know. What
we do see is a construct of the nonconscious mind.
Two people looking at the very same cloud can see radically different
images. The portrait painter sees a face of dignity. The ultrasound
sonographer sees a diseased gall bladder.
To me, this says it all. It says it all! We are intrinsically
blinded. We see only what we know.
Is it possible to extricate ourselves from this intrinsic blindness?
Is it possible to see the world the way it really is? Amazingly,
certain brain damaged people, like autistic savants, can do just
that! Savants are peculiarly literal. They lack the big picture,
they lack decision making. But, savants display extraordinary
skills. Skills which demonstrate that they can access the nonconscious
mind.
Can we, through some artificial means, also gain this privileged
access. Say, by switching off the part of our brain that is damaged
in savants? Yes! Yes! We can! We do this by inhibiting the brain
with magnetic pulses. Ordinary people can actually become more
literal by turning off part of their brain. They can actually
access their nonconscious mind.
But, are magnetic pulses the only way to do this? What about
altered states of consciousness?
What about altered states of consciousness? After the BBC documentary
on our magnetic pulse research, we received mail from across the
globe about how meditation also permits you to access the nonconscious.
Can this be true ? Does meditation, something known for thousands
of years, accomplish what we scientists are only today on the
threshhold of achieving? Maybe! Maybe! Apparently the Buddhist
notion of enlightenment is reached by peeling away those layers
of conceptuality that obscure so called valid cognition.
Ladies and Gentleman, there would appear to be a genuine synergy
here. On one side, we have our scientific theories of the nonconscious,
along with our attempts to access it by technological means. On
the other side, we have the Buddhist tradition of thought along
with its meditative practice providing access to the nonconscious.
So, the challenge today, the challenge right here, right now
is to explore the potential synergies between two great systems
of thought. And, to do so with daring, the daring required whenever
conventional boundaries are crossed. And, to do so with courage,
the courage required whenever conventional wisdom is confronted.
Thank you
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