At any given moment the spotlight of awareness leaves almost everything in darkness. People vary in where they point their spotlight. Perhaps some people have a wider or more quickly oscillating spotlight, so they see more stuff. Or maybe it only seems so.

Then again, we don’t see what others see. And what they say they see is only the tip of the iceberg.

Some patterns of thought are like family. A few words out of their mouths and you know where they’re going. After a while, you know that when Uncle Fred starts talking about those damn Republicans, he’s just going to go on another rant, which doesn’t help anyone’s mood or increase their understanding. So you learn to nod, confirm, and then gently steer the conversation elsewhere. So it is with thoughts.

Words point to something beyond themselves. When you “accept” a thought, that means you have not resisted an arbitrary stopping point in the potentially endless signifying. But the last thought is not the last word is not the full story; it’s just a snapshot of one spot in the stream of meaning-making.  When does a “thought” begin and “end”?  Who is to say that a few mind-words constitute a full “thought”? When you “accept” the beginning of a thought but then redirect attention to something in the external environment, you very well may be nipping the thought in the bud. At some point, you decide to stop the spreading activation. That’s a decision – often a good decision. It’s not because the possibilities have been exhausted but that you’ve decided pursuing them is no longer worth it.

“Being” with the flow of thoughts and feelings, and not trying to cut them off through redirection of attention, can generate good things and bad things. Sometimes it helps to “be” with thoughts and feelings, to let them carry one along for awhile, for them to work themselves out, or for us to become desensitized to them, or for us to learn or change through them. But cutting them off is also fine, depending. Sometimes we want to focus on the task at hand. Sometimes we’ve heard the same old song many times before and find little value in listening once again.

Making it a general principle to “accept, then redirect” thoughts –  that is, to accept the initial manifestations of a thought stream and then redirect attention to the “present” –reflects low regard for what thought streams have to offer. The technique of labeling moods and emotions reflects a similar devaluation of emotional life. To label is to engage in shallow processing. This is sadness; this is anger. These are all ways of constraining thoughts and blunting emotions. To label is to reduce, to make small. It’s no accident that labeling people is considered rude – it’s diminishing and a sign of prejudice.

The phrase “wandering thoughts” is interesting. Why not call the movement of thoughts “exploring thoughts”?  From the outside, exploration may look like wandering. From the outside, you can’t see direction; you can’t see what is being sought.  It’s all helter-skelter. The difference is that “exploring’ conveys intention or goal. As noted in prior posts, “stimulus-independent” thoughts are largely goal-directed and future oriented (Baird et al, 2011). When an observing part of the brain becomes aware of the activities of another part of the brain, the observing part may not grasp the latter’s business.

Reference:

Baird, B., Smallwood, J. Schooler, and J. W. Back to the future: Autobiographical planning and the functionality of mind-wandering. Consciousness and Cognition 20 (2011) 1604–1611

…the origin of thinking is some perplexity, confusion, or doubt. Thinking is not a case of spontaneous combustion; it does not occur just on “general principles.” There is something specific which occasions and evokes it. (Dewey 2010, p 1)

…the content of mind-wandering is predominantly future-focused … [and] frequently involves autobiographical planning (Baird et al, 2011, p1604).

Dealing with “perplexity, confusion or doubt” may take the form of planning, problem-solving, rehearsing, re-playing prior interactions (to reduce uncertainty on how to interpret the experience; or to reinforce an initial impression) and rumination. Since dealing with unfinished business involves contemplation of something not yet in its ideal state, a certain amount of mild negativity may be part of the process.  For example, competent planning for just about anything requires consideration of what might go wrong. It stands to reason that when the mind is churning over unresolved issues, one’s  hedonic states will be somewhat less enjoyable than, say, a flow experience, where attention is buoyed by a challenging but doable activity. Not a tragedy.

References:

Dewey, John “What is thought?” Chapter 1 in How we think. Lexington, Mass: D.C. Heath, (1910): 1-13. https://www.brocku.ca/MeadProject/Dewey/Dewey_1910a/Dewey_1910_a.html

Baird, B., Smallwood, J. Schooler, and J. W. Back to the future: Autobiographical planning and the functionality of mind-wandering. Consciousness and Cognition 20 (2011) 1604–1611

The tendency among mindfulness practitioners to revere masters goes hand-in-hand with appeals to authority and status that are commonplace among boosters within the movement. Check out, for instance, Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness. It’s not enough for Kabat-Zinn to describe someone as a psychologist – he must be “renowned” (4747), or an economist – he must be a “highly respected” (9275), or a journal – it must be a “one of the most prestigious and high-impact scientific journals in the world” (346). The overall impression is that of an attempt to undermine readers’ attempts to think for themselves – appealing to the (apparent) reputation of individuals and not to the persuasiveness of what they say.  Such subversion of independent thinking is apparent at the very beginning of the book, with page after page of hyperbolic endorsements by “physicians, psychologists, scientists, meditation teachers, educators and leaders”. How can one’s critical faculty survive such an onslaught?

Reference:

Jon Kabat-Zinn (2013) Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness, Kindle Version, Revised Edition; Bantam Books, New York. (Kindle pages referenced)