This is my final paper for Buddhism and Modern Psychology! I got a good grade on it as well. ☺
Does modern science lend support to the Buddhist ideas about the human mind?
The specific topic that comes to mind for this would be the Buddhist idea of anatta, or the not-self. In the video lecture named “the Buddha’s Discourse on the Not-Self,” we learned that the Buddha does not consider the five aggregates – consciousness, form, feeling, perception, mental formations – to be self because they lack the two attributes that he believes the self should have, namely permanence and control. The modular theory of mind and the idea that what we call “self” may be more of a press secretary than the CEO supports the Buddha’s teachings on anatta.
We can recall that in Week 3, we learned that modern psychology professes that there is no single self that decides how you should behave. Instead, mental modules do this. The modules grow stronger the more attention is paid to them and the more success they reap whenever the mind runs them. The press secretary self is what organizes the different behaviors conducted by the modules. It gives a sense of coherence and continuity to them, making our behaviors look reasonable to us. All this for the sake of making ourselves fit in more with other people and increase our chances of passing our genes on to the next generation.
Does modern science lend support to the logic behind Buddhist meditation practice?
Sattipathana1 or mindfulness is the practice of simply being aware of your thoughts, emotions, sensations, or anything that is going on in you or in your surroundings. Consistent practice results in either quieting the monkey mind, a.k.a. the default mode network, or at least weakening its hold on you. Many people who
subscribe to Buddhist ideas or have a consistent meditation practice say that thoughts think themselves, as if they are coming from a source other than what you consider to be the self. This claim supports the modular theory of the mind. People who have a consistent meditation practice experience becoming less attached to thoughts and emotions, and having the ability to take a good look at the modules competing for their attention before acting on them.
My Own Experience With Mindfulness
I started taking meditation seriously earlier this year and I adopted a daily practice to manage my mental and emotional health. A month ago, I became quite busy because my workload more than tripled. I decided to drop my sitting meditation practice and instead use mindfulness throughout the day. Whenever a strong emotion comes up, I notice it, focus on it, and simply observe it. I try to catch my mind wandering and observe my thoughts. Every few moments, I check in with myself to see if I am present or caught up in whatever my mind churns out.
This was not something that came naturally to me, so it felt uncomfortable. I was used to either suppressing emotions or letting them spiral downwards. The emotions I focused on disappeared after a few moments, leaving no trace. They would later try to sneak up on me again, but would completely dissolve into nothingness after a few moments of me focusing on them. After two or three proper sessions of focusing on strong negative emotions that came up, I had the realization that I don’t actually have to engage any thoughts, emotions, or situations just because they’re there. A slight distance appeared between me and my circumstances. I felt like I finally have a choice about how to act, what to think, or what to feel. That slight distance allowed me to pause; consider the thought, emotion, or situation; and then decide accordingly what would be best for me to do in the moment. This made me feel as if I were a character in a role-playing game. It was strange yet liberating.
Buddhism in Modern Psychology
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is an excellent merging of Buddhism and Psychology. I came across it recently and noted right away how fundamental mindfulness is to ACT. A defusion technique2, for instance, is to take note of your thoughts and add “I am having a thought that” in the beginning to distance yourself from your own thoughts. You can take this further by adding “I notice that I am having a thought that” instead. This technique is quite similar to the sattipathana exercises that prescribe paying attention to your thoughts and feelings as a way of grounding yourself in the present moment.
Sources:
1 “Maha-satipatthana Sutta: The Great Frames of Reference.” Access to Insight. https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.22.0.than.html. Accessed 13 Nov 21.
2 Here’s What Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Looks Like. YouTube, uploaded by MedCircle, 5 Oct. 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HklLoSB8iso.