Intuition – Part 2

“Nature’s greatest accomplishment, the human brain, is never more efficient or invested than when its host is at risk. Then, intuition is catapulted to another level entirely, a height at which it can accurately be called graceful, even miraculous. Intuition is the journey from A to Z without stopping at any other letter along the way. It is knowing without knowing why.”

― Gavin de Becker, The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence

In the previous Intuition blog post, I talked about the observation by Gavin de Becker, an expert on violent behavior, that emotions, particularly fear, can hold information about threats in our environment. By listening to this intuition, we can actually reduce worrying, because we'll gain confidence in our ability to protect ourselves and our loved ones. In case you haven't read it here's a link:

Link to Intuition –  Part 1

In Part 2 I’ll go over the parallels between Gavin de Becker's view of intuition and the Buddhist view of wisdom.

Our emotions often solve the puzzle of our situation, before our conscious awareness knows something is out of place or a significant event has occurred. This matches how I heard an MIT neuroscientist describe emotions: as condensed learning about what brings pleasure or pain. Emotional learning is quick and resilient to being lost, unlike learning on the conscious level. This view of emotions, including fear, also fits the Buddhist view.

Buddhism teaches that emotions hold a certain intuitive information, also called wisdom. However, this comes with the strong warning not to let emotions take control, especially anger, because they can be incredibly destructive. The wisdom behind emotions can only be utilized when one has enough distance from them to neither react impulsively nor suppresses them. Then one can act on the information they contain with clarity and for the long-term benefit of all.

Because emotions are much more powerful than intellectual thought, one must change deeply rooted habits before emotions arise. Then in the moment they arise one can work with them effectively. For this reason, Buddhist meditation is designed to create distance from emotions as well as to take away the mistaken but natural experience that we are the center of the universe.

However, as Gavin de Becker notes, in the case of fear for one’s immediate safety, one often must act upon the information which fear provides and hopefully leave the dangerous situation immediately, regardless of one’s emotional maturity. He also recommends that one maintains a calm baseline, otherwise our survival signals will be masked by a general anxiety. See for instance, the following quote:

“When you worry yourself into a state of artificial fear … , you distract yourself from what is actually happening in favor of what you imagine is happening.”

― Gavin de Becker, Protecting the Gift

The best resource I know for the topic of the wisdom hidden within disturbing emotions is “Buddha and Love” by Lama Ole Nydahl, which covers each of the disturbing emotions and their transformation in a chapter on female wisdom. In this context the word wisdom is equivalent to the word intuition. As Gavin deBecker also noted, wisdom is typically associated with women, thus the term women’s intuition.

Here is a list of Buddhist quotes from Gavin de Becker’s books. My intention is not to paint Gavin deBecker as Buddhist but simply to draw attention to the parallels between his views and that of Buddhism.

On the topic of listening to one’s intuition about people: “People should learn to see and so avoid all danger. Just as a wise man keeps away from mad dogs, so one should not make friends with evil men.” —Buddha (quoted in “The Gift of Fear”)

About controlling partners: “The Buddhist definition of human suffering applies perfectly: ‘clinging to that which changes.’ ” —Gavin deBecker in “The Gift of Fear”

“What we’re talking about is getting to know fear, becoming familiar with fear, looking it right in the eye—not as a way to solve problems, but as a complete undoing of old ways of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and thinking.” —Pema Chodron in “When Things Fall Apart” (quoted in “Fear Less”)

On the topic of Protecting public figures from attack: “Sever the edge between before and after.” Takuan Soho, Zen Master, author of the The Unfettered Mind, 1600 (quoted in “Just 2 Seconds”)

Intuition – Part 1

I took a class about how to respond to active shooters because of what’s going on in the world. Besides, everyone needs a hobby, right? :) It was taught by a man with decades of real-life defense experience. He is a current member of the Boston police department as well as a former member of the Boston SWAT team, and the Marines. I was surprised to hear that he advocated we read a book called “The Gift of Fear” by Gavin deBecker.

This instructor seemed like the last person I’d expect to advocate for fear. As it turned out he wasn’t at all. To summarize the message of this book in one line, our emotions, which can also be viewed as intuitive signals, hold information about our situation that we're not even consciously aware of. By trusting this brief and highly evolved intuitive signal, we have no reason to worry endlessly, because we can trust that our body is providing us with all the information it needs to survive.

“When dreaded outcomes are actually imminent we don't worry about them we take action. Seeing lava from the local volcano make its way down the street toward our house does not cause worry it causes running. Also we don't usually choose imminent events as subjects for our worrying and thus emerges an ironic truth: Often the very fact that you are worrying about something means that it isn't likely to happen.” ― Gavin de Becker, Protecting the Gift: Keeping Children and Teenagers Safe

The full title of the book is “The Gift of Fear: And Other Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence”. He also wrote a sequel to this book after September 11th called “Fear Less”.

Gavin de Becker is a specialist on violent behavior, especially against high profile targets. He developed the MOSAIC threat assessment system with a team of experts in psychology, law enforcement, victims’ advocacy, and threat assessment. This tool has been adopted by law enforcement and intelligence agencies around the world.   

In the next part I’ll go over the parallels between Gavin de Beckers view of intuition and the Buddhist view of wisdom.

Theory of Consciousness – Part 3

Link to Theory of Consciousness – Part 1

Link to Theory of Consciousness – Part 2

From a few basic observations, Integrated Information Theory, IIT, constructs a mathematical theory of consciousness which allows one to predict where consciousness can be expected to arise vividly. The powerful thing about IIT is that, with this mathematical theory, it attempts to shine light on what consciousness is and why it feels like something. Or at very least this theory attempts to make observations about how it behaves.

So what are the basic observations about consciousness which IIT, makes? In the case of the current version of IIT, 3.0 (as of January 2017), there are 5 basic observations, which I will explain in detail at a later time. For now I will just list the descriptive names they’ve been given with simplistic definitions:

Intrinsic Existence – Consciousness exists. Each experience is real. This existence is self-evident.

Composition – Conscious experience is composed of elements, such as the objects in one's environment which one is aware of.

Information – Each experience is the way it is and different from other experiences.

Integration – Consciousness is unified. It cannot be described merely as the sum of its parts. 

Exclusion – Consciousness exists at a particular place and time. It excludes other times and places and elements.

To tie these axioms back to the Buddhist view that consciousness is part of a totality, the first axiom—Intrinsic existence, states that consciousness is a fundamental property of reality. Therefore, it is not strictly limited to brains. Instead consciousness is defined as the integration of information, which is reflected in the third and fourth axioms which give Integrated Information Theory its name. Lastly Composition and Exclusion acknowledge the convenience of dividing phenomena into structured, highly interconnected parts in order to understand the way phenomena appear to be, for instance giving rise to conscious beings. This is consistent with Buddha’s reply to the question, “Are things separate or a unity?” Answering that both views are extremes to be avoided. Although things are part of a unity, recognizable phenomena do arise within that unity, like waves within the ocean.

So why didn’t someone come up with this theory much earlier? Probably because it would have been pointless until now. The theory couldn’t have been tested experimentally. We couldn’t measure our thoughts, feelings, and experiences quantitatively and objectively until machines like EEG, MRI, etc. were invented. We would only have had subjective unquantifiable self-observation to rely on.

An example of brain Imaging. In this experiment an image is shown to the subject and changes in brain activity are observed. Adapted from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Development-of-grouped-icEEG-for-the-study-of-cognitive-processing-Video1.ogv

In order to test IIT, researchers created an artificial world, like Sim City, except the only thing in this world is an old-school Pong-like game. The creatures in this world, called Animats, use a simple nervous system to either avoid or catch the blocks coming at them, similar to how an animal finds food and avoids predators. What they found is that these simulated creatures evolve to be more conscious as measured by φ (Phi). Apparently, beings with higher consciousness are better at staying alive given their limited neural resources. This Animat experiment shows how IIT may be able to answer the fundamental question of why vivid consciousness appears in living beings.

Illustration of Animat world and nervous system adapted from http://integratedinformationtheory.org/animats.html

IIT has also been validated to some degree by the fact that φ (Phi) follows self-reported levels of consciousness during sleep, seizures, and other states. In other words researchers were bothering sleeping people, waking them up in the middle of the night and asking them how conscious they were, “Hey wake up! How conscious are you?” “Uh what, kind of?” How conscious the participants said they were correlated with the value of φ researchers calculated based on measurements from electrode placed on their head to monitor the activity in different areas of their brain.

The ability to measure consciousness is why this theory may have practical applications like measuring the depth of anesthesia or analyzing sleep disorders. Beyond immediate possibilities, IIT may help to answer one of the most fundamentally basic yet complex questions of life, “What is consciousness and why does it feel like something?”

Theory of Consciousness – Part 2

Link to Theory of Consciousness – Part 1

I’m really excited about Integrated Information Theory (IIT). It takes a simple and logical approach to forming a theory about consciousness. Treat consciousness the way we do physics, describe our observations about consciousness using equations.

At one time I believed we understood physics to such an extent that we could just sit down with a piece of paper and reason out the equations. In fact it is necessary to go into the world, build experiments, and see what happens or at least believe the results other people have observed.

This realization happened for me as a high school student taking Electromagnetics at a Community College. I was obsessed with knowing the proofs for all the equations in my Calculus and Physics textbooks. In this Electromagnetics class, I was following the proofs deeper and deeper, from equation to equation, until I got to Biot-Savart’s Law (a basic law relating magnetic fields to current). Here the text book merely said, experimentally derived. Wait, what?

A brave hobbyist tests the theories of electromagnetics with a home-made Tesla Coil

I thought perhaps they were just taking the easy way out and this was a clever way of omitting the proof. But in fact, as my professor told me, physics simply describes our observations of nature with equations.

IIT takes the same approach to understanding consciousness that physicists take to understanding how the world behaves. It starts from basic observations about consciousness instead of trying to explain how it arises from various phenomena like neural activity or the movement of particles. IIT takes consciousness as a given in much the same way as physics takes gravity as a given.

Theory of Consciousness – Part 1

At one time during Buddha’s life, he was asked whether things are separate or a unity. He replied that both views are extremes to be avoided. It is for this reason that some Buddhist masters refer to mind rather than saying a mind or the mind, both of which imply an archetypical object. That is a mind and the mind imply something structured and definable, which is separate from its environment.  

These days popular media is awash with information about brains, their structure, and their function. For this reason, one may think of mind as being the mind an archetypical structure restricted to brains. One might also think of a mind restricted to a single brain. However, from a Buddhist perspective, consciousness is part of a totality. It is neither absent from the brain, nor is it restricted to the brain.

Knowing of this view, my eyes opened double wide when I came across a theory of consciousness in the same vein, the Phi Theory of Consciousness—also known as Integrated Information Theory. One result of this theory, if it is proven to be true, is that consciousness is not limited to the brain but is a property of all systems which integrate information. Another exciting aspect of this theory, originally authored by Giulio Tononi, is that it attempts to boil down the degree of consciousness to a single number: φ (pronounced Phi).

Is a Photon Enlightened?

I was lounging with some friends and fellow-practitioners from Boston and New York, on a sunny day at our beautiful, green retreat land in upstate New York. The conversation started when I mentioned that a photon doesn’t experience the passage of time in transit from the sun to our retina, or wherever its destination may be on earth. This is despite the fact that in our frame of reference it takes 20 seconds for the photon to arrive.

Participants of the conversation included a Harvard astrophysics postdoc, an entrepreneur trained as an aerospace engineer, and a Buddhist teacher/IT professional, which might explain why we couldn’t just relax and enjoy the weather. The Buddhist teacher’s perspective was that the only thing he knows which is beyond time is enlightenment, the timeless state. We couldn’t disagree with this and spent some time thereafter reconciling these two things. 

Put simply, a photon isn’t beyond time, because with the passage of time it is emitted and absorbed. However, there’s a cool analogy with the nature of mind, which is what a Buddhist fully recognizes when he or she attains enlightenment: you cannot deny it exists but from the time it is emitted to the time it is absorbed, no time passes because nothing about it changes. Since it doesn’t exist for any length of time, you can hardly say it exists. So it seems to have in common with mind that it is beyond existence or non-existence. All kinds of things play around in it yet mind itself cannot said to have any color, shape, form, and so forth. If you would like to know more about the nature of mind from a Buddhist perspective I recommend the 3rd Karmapa's  Mahamudra Wishes (Karmapa is a realized teacher and meditator well-known in Tibet and now also in the west), which is the text I'm most familiar with on the topic. A fantastic commentary on this work is The Great Seal by Lama Ole Nydahl. 

You might say, as the astrophysicist did, “But it is changing in transit when you take into account the expansion of the universe. The photon is red-shifted by the expansion of space.” We thought, “Is this a limitation of Einstein’s Relativity?” and ultimately concluded that there is an analogy which reconciles the idea that no time passes for the photon and the red-shift caused by the expansion of the universe. It’s like if you had a 10 pound note in your pocket. Then the Brexit happened (The Brexit is a nickname for the British Exit from the European Union if you are reading this after the hype has passed). From your frame of reference, nothing has happened. There is still a 10 pound note in your pocket. But from the perspective of the economy it has less of an effect. You can’t buy as much with it. When you look at the photon solely from its frame of reference, the frame of reference expands with the photon because that’s the only place we’re looking. But due to the expansion of the universe it has less of an effect when it gets to its destination. 

It’s not until it reaches its destination that the change in its width becomes relevant. It’s upon this realization that my friend, a joyful muscular individual who we refer to as Thor because of their similar appearance, said, “A photon is enlightened, it doesn’t exist, it has no past and no future, just the present moment!” So perhaps a photon is a good example for us. It exists only exactly in that moment with no separation between where it is coming from and where it is going.

Fearlessness – Part 3

Link to Fearlessness – Part 1

Link to Fearlessness – Part 2

Part 3 gives Alexis' account of staring down an F5 tornado. She mentions Lama Ole Nydahl, one of the first students of the 16th Karmapa of Tibet. She also mentions Wrathful Mandalas. Mandalas are a space, often depicted in paintings, which represent an enlightened state, in the case of a Wrathful Mandala – powerful protection.

Two days later another powerful experience brought the words of my teacher to mind. A tornado hit the city, and this was very interesting as well. In the Mason lectures with Lama Ole (Nydahl – One of the first western students of the 16th Karmapa of Tibet) in ‘94, he mentions something interesting about the Wrathful Mandalas (Mandalas are a space, often depicted in paintings, which represent an enlightened state, in the case of a Wrathful Mandala – powerful protection). He says that in order to enter them one needs a lot of courage. 

Photo of approaching tornado taken by Alexis. A clear view of the tornado is provided by an exploding transformer. (This photo was also the one I saw on the news the next day. They pulled it from her Facebook account!)

As I was seeing the tornado right before my eyes, an overwhelming and intense feeling covered me. It popped into my head that this was the closest moment that I had experienced in my life that maybe simulated a tiny taste of the intensity of a Wrathful Mandala. This idea made me smile and I understood tornado chasers (talk about excitement!). I wanted to be closer. I was outside with my family and they all started taking refuge in the house. I couldn't stop staring and didn't want to go in. They grabbed me and took me inside. Later on, even though it didn't hit the house I was in, I saw destroyed houses all around, and heard in the news it took away lives. 

Part of our meditation is understanding that the nature of everything composite is that it is ever changing. The tornado, a natural happening that arose spontaneously, destroyed everything around it. And even the tornado in itself dissolved after a while. Watching this event really made me accept this a little bit more, it was definitely a unique experience that will remain with me until I forget it :) haha. 

As she mentioned the super cell did take lives, dropping funnel clouds on the highway as it approached us in central Dallas. But as it went over the heads of my friends and myself it didn’t drop any tornados. And up where Alexis watched in awe, no one died despite extensive damage to homes.

Experiences like these remind me that inevitably in life we face the unexpected and the unknown. Isn’t it a good idea to do what we can to prepare by developing fearlessness? All the better if we have like-minded friends to prepare with. 

Fearlessness – Part 2

Link to Fearlessness – Part 1

I wanted to know badly what it was like for Alexis to test her mind in such a rare and challenging way, so I asked her to describe what happened. Here is what she wrote:

After I told the cousins I was spending Christmas with that I went bungee jumping right after meditating, they were shocked and expressed how they thought it was a contradiction, and it didn't make sense. We learn in Buddhism that space is joy, that we can trust the moment. This is what makes us fearless. With meditation practice this is what we are able to experience. We take refuge in the Lama our example (fearless free and joyful), Buddha (the enlightened state), our friends on the way (inspiration, mirrors), and in these teachings. 

When I first heard that it was a tradition to take people bungee jumping after meditation at the Dallas center, I did feel a strong fear running through my body, along with a hesitation and excitement. These feelings were the indication that I should definitely do it.  As we were approaching the venue I felt confident and calm. These feelings stayed until the moment I stood on the edge. The critical moment where you can decide to take action or be paralyzed with fear. I stood there, and instead of just acting and trusting I started overthinking. This was a great lesson. The more I tried to rationalize or control the more the fear grew. Why? Because I was separating myself from the moment. I took a step back and let my Bodhisattva friend go first. It was amazing to watch. He stepped to the edge, turned smiled at us and without hesitation and complete trust he jumped with joy into space. In this moment I realized the meaning of sangha: how we are here to inspire each other and mirror each other's qualities so we can benefit all beings.

Now it was my turn. I knew that if I was to jump I had to let go. Let go of concepts, thoughts, and feelings (all illusory in the end). I had to trust space, trust the moment. So, I stepped on the edge and jumped. That second I was falling was completely fresh. One of the best moments in my life. There was no time, space, or concepts. I felt complete joy. I was in the moment. 

Our practice is not about not feeling disturbances or pushing them away or about trying to hold on to a comfortable feeling or situation. Our practice is about accepting whatever may come and looking at in the eye, embracing it, and powering through it. This is how we develop because we are able to understand that it is all passing. The only thing that isn't passing is what notices that it is all passing. That awareness is really something worth trusting. 

Two days later another powerful experience brought the words of my teacher to mind. A tornado hit the city...

Part 3 gives Alexis' account of staring down an F5 tornado.

Fearlessness – Part 1

It was December 23rd, 2015. The night started out normally. My girlfriend and I were living the single life vicariously through our friend Brian's tinder account. He was a member of the sangha, the group of Buddhist practitioners, visiting from Lubbock. We were laughing and shouting about each other’s choices when suddenly our phones sounded an amber alert. There was a tornado warning.

As we listened to the weather report on our phones, it was obvious the supercell was headed straight for us. An F5 tornado had already been spotted, the worst possible rating.

The storm in our area was quickly gaining speed. We had to decide quickly. Wait it out in our apartment with no basement or drive quickly to my seven story office building. To my knowledge a tornado rarely or never topples a 7 story building so we ran to the car. From growing up in Nebraska, I knew tornados can be invisible at night so I drove like mad through the turns and watched closely for cars and pedestrians.

I warned my coworkers working through the weekend on the top floor. As they waited in the stairwell with the others, I stared down the road looking for funnel clouds, but I didn’t see any.

The next day we heard that another friend of ours, Alexis–who was visiting from Las Vegas–witnessed a tornado up close. Just two days earlier we stood on a bungee platform. She was standing on the edge looking down and she said, “We really have to put the teachings into practice don’t we.” She was referring to the teachings of Mahamudra, the Great Seal, which we had received from our teacher just weeks earlier in Las Vegas. These are powerful instructions on the way a meditation master experiences the meaning of the teachings in daily life, not experiencing any separation between outer and inner phenomena. As our teacher explained, when one is able to rest in this experience, the inevitable result is fearlessness. 

Part 2 gives Alexis' account of standing on the bungee platform, and Part 3 gives her account of staring down an F5 tornado.

Einstein and Emptiness

There is a special equation in physics, which we have all heard of, \(E = mc^2\). I think of it as a gift to mankind. It’s a simple refutation of materialism. It shows that mass is none other than energy, which in Buddhist terms is “empty”. In other words energy is empty of solid boundaries, definition, or unchanging nature . It manifests as sound, form, heat, motion, light, and so forth. As Buddha said, “Form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Form and emptiness cannot be separated.” Einstein himself believed in the potential of Buddhism to be a modern religion. He said, “If there is one religion that would cope with modern scientific need, it would be Buddhism.”

I like to give this equation as an example of things being more free and empty than they appear, because even a child—who has probably heard this equation many times—can relate to it. One time, my friends and I were hosting a Buddhist teacher for a weekend program, and, at the end of the weekend, we celebrated by getting lunch at a nearby restaurant. His daughters were very intelligent and interested in science, so I shared with them the meaning of \(E = mc^2\), that even small amounts of matter contain massive quantities of energy. I said, “If you could release the energy in that salt shaker, it would blow up Texas!” To which, his younger daughter, about 7, replied, “Don’t do it!”

I felt that I was exaggerating, but assuming a salt shaker weighs 100g, releasing its energy would be 107 times more powerful than the bomb which was dropped on Nagasaki (which contained 84teraJoules of Energy), so perhaps I was not off by much. 

Since the meaning of this equation can give an intuitive insight into the nature of reality, I thought it would be nice to have an as-intuitive-as-possible derivation of it for my own benefit and to share with you all. Watch out because the math starts here! If you’re satisfied with an interpretation of this equation, you can stop reading at this point. If knowing how to derive Einstein’s most famous equation gives you a feeling of confidence or ownership please continue.

Last warning, click here for math!