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It would seem we are truly walking our own path up a mountain. No one is on our path but us. Our paths can run alongside each other for a time and we can speak as we walk. Sharing our experiences as we talk, we find that there are more similarities than differences. And my path is still my path, and your path is still yours. I celebrate the differences. I just posted a piece that identifies why I resonate with this. Thank you,
This resonated with me big time - AI is truly the western pinnacle of left minded fact collecting Large Language Models with 0 right brained INTUITION = our relationship with a collective unconcious. It is why they ultimatrly fail in true value.
Thanks for sharing this interview. A lot that could be commented on. I'm very interested in the way consciousness affects society & vice versa, especially expanded consciousness. Very important to learn to integrate analytical and intuitive knowing (for self & society), to use them as complementary rather than competitors. It's a major focus of my publication Intuitive Sociologist. Just getting started here, so if you have any interest you can find it at https://christinaleimer.substack.com/
Very important that we learn to integrate analytical & intuitive ways of knowing & use them as complementary, not competitors. For anyone who's interested, I write about that in my pub Intuitive Sociologist at christinaleimer.substack.com
Unfortunately, in his recent embrace of the far right and his increasingly narrow, dualistic approach to the two forms of attention, Dr. McGilchrisit appears to have fallen prey to exactly what he is warning us about.
You could make that argument for sure. His political engagement is suspect at best, I wasn’t the biggest fan of his new Substacks despite his erudition and my love for his work.
This is very interesting and I don't want to discourage anyone from watching the video or reading his works.
Having said that, I was intrigued by his first back (Master, etc). I didn't find anything particularly insightful about attention that hasn't been done infinitely better in the contemplative traditions, but with my students and patients, I found adding some neurological correlates were helpful, though in terms of practicality Dan Siegel's interpersonal neurobiology was not only simpler but far more detailed and covered a vast range of our, well, neurobiology, whereas McGilchrist terribly limited himself by focusing on conscious cognition.
Still, he's a good writer and it's worth looking at.
Over the years, I kept dropping in on his videos and found he was just saying the same thing over and over. I was invited to help shape his new website (a few years ago, that is) which his staff hoped would lead to online community. As it was, nobody was interested in contemplative/meditative practice and it devolved into left brain hairsplitting of the most abstruse academic kind.
I guess I wasn't that surprised then, when his new book (The Matter with Things) came out. I would dip into a chapter, which seemed at first sight to be saying something, but then found minor points being spread out over 5 to 10 pages without adding any insights.
His misunderstanding of non duality is just stunning. But I was not really surprised, as I remember asking him in a Zoom about meditative practice and he made some vague confused comment about ALL practice being "left brained." One can find similar comments in Facebook arguments from 20-somethings who just read Joan Tollifson's latest bromides on non duality.
Anyway, watch and read, but have some caution. if you're someone impressed by erudition (as I tend to get caught up in myself), please reflect a bit and see if anything worthwhile is actually being said.
By the way, if you want practical applications of attention, Culadasa's "The Mind Illuminated" is not bad, but really, Alan Wallace's "The Attention Revolution" is a masterpiece. I read it over 20 years ago and still find it stunningly brilliant.
Rather than reading, try the practices from Wallace's book.
1. Do you know how to do mindfulness of breathing? If you can be with the breath for 24 minutes without getting lost in thought, go on to step 2
2. Be with the thoughts arising without getting lost in thought, for at least 24 minutes.
3. Let attention be focused (wide, open, immersed, not analytic) in the space of awareness within which all sensations, emotions and thoughts arise and pass away
4. When you can do step 3 for 4 hours without getting lost in thought, turn attention around and look at that which is looking.
That should take a few years! And if you have a heart-centered practice as well, even better. It's the best thing in life, without exception.
would you forgive me if I shift the subject to practice?
I just wrote this for Jason and it's SO Much more important important than reading Siegel (who is wonderful but VERY excessively wordy) As far as McGIlchrist on non duality, it's impossible to really make this clear in words if you haven't had some experience of meditation.
Try this if you like:
Rather than reading, try the practices from Wallace's book.
1. Do you know how to do mindfulness of breathing? If you can be with the breath for 24 minutes without getting lost in thought, go on to step 2
2. Be with the thoughts arising without getting lost in thought, for at least 24 minutes.
3. Let attention be focused (wide, open, immersed, not analytic) in the space of awareness within which all sensations, emotions and thoughts arise and pass away
4. When you can do step 3 for 4 hours without getting lost in thought, turn attention around and look at that which is looking.
That should take a few years! And if you have a heart-centered practice as well, even better. It's the best thing in life, without exception.
Here's the key (actually, you can learn about this from McGilchrist!!!)
don't relate to the breath as an object, analyzing it.
A couple of things to help"
Do you know Qigong? Any simple arm movements will work. As you lift the arms, inhale, and lowering the arms, exhale. Get the feeling of the breath and arms flowing together as one. Do this for a few minutes, then sit - for no longer than a minute at first, so you stay with the feeling of flow - and FEEL the breath flowing without interruption (like oil being poured out, the wonderful imagery used in Patanjali's yoga sutras in regard to meditation, dhyana)
Use inner sounds - if it's not too evocative of 60s hippies, OM really really does work:
inhaling OMMMMMMMMM
Exhaling OMMMMMMM
The key is minimal effort. Then let go of the sounds and feel the breath flowing all the way to the exhalation and all the way to the inhalation.
Finally, as the mind gets quieter and quieter (don't practice for more than 2 minutes at a time so it stays fresh; recent research suggests as little as 20 seconds at a time can be early as powerful), notice the gaps, the silence when the breath stops.
Then throughout the day, like right now, notice for just a second or two the absence of thoughts at the end of an exhalation. No effort, just notice.
I've been meaning to meditate more and will check out these practises. Regardless I would like you to expand on why you think Mgilchrist misunderstands non-duality - and what the term means to you.
I know this is likely to make you angry, but I'm sorry, I've had conversations about non duality for over 50 years. I just gave a presentation which included non dual awareness to a yoga philosophy training group in December. The teacher asked me, in my second session, to have students "pair up" and "guide each other" in non dual awareness.
have you ever played the piano ? This would be like teaching people how to play "Mary had a little lamb' and then asking them to pair up and teach each other how to play Chopin's Winter Wind Etude: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHlqEvAwdVc
In traditional times, students would study for 10 years or more before even being introduced to the idea of non dual awareness. With Trump and Putin and Netanyahu and AI here, maybe we don't have that much time, but a little practice is in order first. Honestly!
Apologies!!!
Try it and actually, you may have at least a glimpse within a few weeks which will be worth more than reading 50 volumes of Vedanta.
I’m writing a disturbingly similar article right now. Even with the Einstein quote 😂
Mgilchrist is a favourite of mine and this is a fantastic summary.
ah! Looking forward to reading it Lucas!
that would be great. always like to hear feedback from more experienced minds. the name’s Luca, by the way ;)
Been meaning to read "The Master and his Emissary" for a while.
We don't see things as they are; we see them as we are. Choose your lens wisely.
It would seem we are truly walking our own path up a mountain. No one is on our path but us. Our paths can run alongside each other for a time and we can speak as we walk. Sharing our experiences as we talk, we find that there are more similarities than differences. And my path is still my path, and your path is still yours. I celebrate the differences. I just posted a piece that identifies why I resonate with this. Thank you,
This resonated with me big time - AI is truly the western pinnacle of left minded fact collecting Large Language Models with 0 right brained INTUITION = our relationship with a collective unconcious. It is why they ultimatrly fail in true value.
Thanks for sharing this interview. A lot that could be commented on. I'm very interested in the way consciousness affects society & vice versa, especially expanded consciousness. Very important to learn to integrate analytical and intuitive knowing (for self & society), to use them as complementary rather than competitors. It's a major focus of my publication Intuitive Sociologist. Just getting started here, so if you have any interest you can find it at https://christinaleimer.substack.com/
Very important that we learn to integrate analytical & intuitive ways of knowing & use them as complementary, not competitors. For anyone who's interested, I write about that in my pub Intuitive Sociologist at christinaleimer.substack.com
We didn’t become too stupid for wisdom.
We became too efficient to notice we lost it.
McGilchrist keeps pointing at the same thing from different angles:
attention isn’t neutral.
It decides what kind of world we’re allowed to live in.
Unfortunately, in his recent embrace of the far right and his increasingly narrow, dualistic approach to the two forms of attention, Dr. McGilchrisit appears to have fallen prey to exactly what he is warning us about.
You could make that argument for sure. His political engagement is suspect at best, I wasn’t the biggest fan of his new Substacks despite his erudition and my love for his work.
No idea what his political stances are or do i really care - the proof is in the pudding
This is very interesting and I don't want to discourage anyone from watching the video or reading his works.
Having said that, I was intrigued by his first back (Master, etc). I didn't find anything particularly insightful about attention that hasn't been done infinitely better in the contemplative traditions, but with my students and patients, I found adding some neurological correlates were helpful, though in terms of practicality Dan Siegel's interpersonal neurobiology was not only simpler but far more detailed and covered a vast range of our, well, neurobiology, whereas McGilchrist terribly limited himself by focusing on conscious cognition.
Still, he's a good writer and it's worth looking at.
Over the years, I kept dropping in on his videos and found he was just saying the same thing over and over. I was invited to help shape his new website (a few years ago, that is) which his staff hoped would lead to online community. As it was, nobody was interested in contemplative/meditative practice and it devolved into left brain hairsplitting of the most abstruse academic kind.
I guess I wasn't that surprised then, when his new book (The Matter with Things) came out. I would dip into a chapter, which seemed at first sight to be saying something, but then found minor points being spread out over 5 to 10 pages without adding any insights.
His misunderstanding of non duality is just stunning. But I was not really surprised, as I remember asking him in a Zoom about meditative practice and he made some vague confused comment about ALL practice being "left brained." One can find similar comments in Facebook arguments from 20-somethings who just read Joan Tollifson's latest bromides on non duality.
Anyway, watch and read, but have some caution. if you're someone impressed by erudition (as I tend to get caught up in myself), please reflect a bit and see if anything worthwhile is actually being said.
By the way, if you want practical applications of attention, Culadasa's "The Mind Illuminated" is not bad, but really, Alan Wallace's "The Attention Revolution" is a masterpiece. I read it over 20 years ago and still find it stunningly brilliant.
But you have to actually practice!
I appreciate your insights Don. Will have to do seem deeper reading into your recommendations. Cheers.
Rather than reading, try the practices from Wallace's book.
1. Do you know how to do mindfulness of breathing? If you can be with the breath for 24 minutes without getting lost in thought, go on to step 2
2. Be with the thoughts arising without getting lost in thought, for at least 24 minutes.
3. Let attention be focused (wide, open, immersed, not analytic) in the space of awareness within which all sensations, emotions and thoughts arise and pass away
4. When you can do step 3 for 4 hours without getting lost in thought, turn attention around and look at that which is looking.
That should take a few years! And if you have a heart-centered practice as well, even better. It's the best thing in life, without exception.
Wow! Really helpful. Step 1 might just take me a year in itself, haha. Thanks!
I’ve heard of Siegel. Mind sending me some introductory material? Could you expand on what he gets wrong regarding non-duality?
would you forgive me if I shift the subject to practice?
I just wrote this for Jason and it's SO Much more important important than reading Siegel (who is wonderful but VERY excessively wordy) As far as McGIlchrist on non duality, it's impossible to really make this clear in words if you haven't had some experience of meditation.
Try this if you like:
Rather than reading, try the practices from Wallace's book.
1. Do you know how to do mindfulness of breathing? If you can be with the breath for 24 minutes without getting lost in thought, go on to step 2
2. Be with the thoughts arising without getting lost in thought, for at least 24 minutes.
3. Let attention be focused (wide, open, immersed, not analytic) in the space of awareness within which all sensations, emotions and thoughts arise and pass away
4. When you can do step 3 for 4 hours without getting lost in thought, turn attention around and look at that which is looking.
That should take a few years! And if you have a heart-centered practice as well, even better. It's the best thing in life, without exception.
Here's the key (actually, you can learn about this from McGilchrist!!!)
don't relate to the breath as an object, analyzing it.
A couple of things to help"
Do you know Qigong? Any simple arm movements will work. As you lift the arms, inhale, and lowering the arms, exhale. Get the feeling of the breath and arms flowing together as one. Do this for a few minutes, then sit - for no longer than a minute at first, so you stay with the feeling of flow - and FEEL the breath flowing without interruption (like oil being poured out, the wonderful imagery used in Patanjali's yoga sutras in regard to meditation, dhyana)
Use inner sounds - if it's not too evocative of 60s hippies, OM really really does work:
inhaling OMMMMMMMMM
Exhaling OMMMMMMM
The key is minimal effort. Then let go of the sounds and feel the breath flowing all the way to the exhalation and all the way to the inhalation.
Finally, as the mind gets quieter and quieter (don't practice for more than 2 minutes at a time so it stays fresh; recent research suggests as little as 20 seconds at a time can be early as powerful), notice the gaps, the silence when the breath stops.
Then throughout the day, like right now, notice for just a second or two the absence of thoughts at the end of an exhalation. No effort, just notice.
Here's a video you can practice with. Don't need to watch the whole thing, just try it for 30 seconds or less: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGLB_wDBsRE&list=PLaCGyVFYXoBWiYBH6nFWUIaNP2J10V3__&index=2
I've been meaning to meditate more and will check out these practises. Regardless I would like you to expand on why you think Mgilchrist misunderstands non-duality - and what the term means to you.
I know this is likely to make you angry, but I'm sorry, I've had conversations about non duality for over 50 years. I just gave a presentation which included non dual awareness to a yoga philosophy training group in December. The teacher asked me, in my second session, to have students "pair up" and "guide each other" in non dual awareness.
have you ever played the piano ? This would be like teaching people how to play "Mary had a little lamb' and then asking them to pair up and teach each other how to play Chopin's Winter Wind Etude: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHlqEvAwdVc
In traditional times, students would study for 10 years or more before even being introduced to the idea of non dual awareness. With Trump and Putin and Netanyahu and AI here, maybe we don't have that much time, but a little practice is in order first. Honestly!
Apologies!!!
Try it and actually, you may have at least a glimpse within a few weeks which will be worth more than reading 50 volumes of Vedanta.