When heading home after an event, I try to figure out the quickest route or expect that Google maps will do it – shortcuts for both time and thinking. I’m not so worried about what I’ll miss along the way – what familiar streets I won’t get to walk down or cool shops I won’t get to stumble into. And truth be told, that might be better on my pocketbook too. All attention is focused on getting home. Maybe I miss a chance encounter, but I’d be home asap to rest and relax and that might be the priority in that moment.
When we’re trying to get to the bottom of a story, taking factual shortcuts might cause us to miss piecing it all together. And where we land with our understanding, may not be the same as if we’d taken our time to figure it all out. I’ve written in past blogs about cognitive dissonance – conflicts with beliefs and actions. This blog has been inspired by a term I discovered as I continue to comprehend how the mind can get lost in understanding a complex situation. The term heuristics, or cognitive shortcuts refers to mental skips that allow people to determine or judge something quickly and efficiently. We do this all the time and often without known side effects! The issue though, is that cognitive shortcuts may come with inaccuracies due to the swiftness and lack of patience to review the layers within a story.
With cognitive shortcuts, we’re more likely to have a partial sense and then fill in the blanks with our own biases or tolerances of a situation. That “chance encounter” we’d miss on the way home might explain the ‘how and why’ or provide the other half of the story that we had only known one side of. In this case, we’d do better taking the time to get to know rather than have to backpedal to catch what we missed. We might come to see that what we thought was our homebase of knowing isn’t actually a sound structure. If you’ve been following my blogs over the last two years, you’ll know this has been inspired by my own journey of moving away from Zionism and towards my Jewish values – what I can now confidently describe as two distinct realities. What I write about is what I’ve uncovered in myself and witnessed around me. These writings help me understand the powerful workings of the mind as a Yogi, Jew, and gay, mixed heritage person. I’ve experienced and seen what we’ll do when bombarded with information, misinformation, and disinformation.
In the first pages of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, a primary and philosophical Yogic text, we immediately learn about the nature of the mind as being filled with vrittis, or mental modifications. “Yogas chitta vritti nirodha” (sutra 1.2) is Patanjali’s definition of yoga, meaning Yoga is the cessation of the mental fluctuations. It is noted that when the mind is still, the seer abides in its true nature: “Tada Drashtuh Svarupe Avasthanam” (sutra 1.3). “Vritti Sarupyam Itaratra,” (sutra 1.4) means that at all other times, we identify and become intertwined with the fluctuations of the mind amidst daily life.
At the start of these 196 sutras, we get the shortcut to Yoga! But of course, you likely won’t know how to get there and sustain the state of pure consciousness unless you read, practice, and experience the remaining sutras. It’s a teaser shortcut to the goal to inspire you to take the journey. 🙂 (Personal note: I feel like I exist in the middle of these padas (chapters) with much to digest and reflect on repeatedly. I have never felt like I need to “get through” them and always hope to start another study group around them. If you’re reading this and interested in the long and winding road of Yogic philosophy, let me know!)
The mental modifications are then classified into 5 basic categories in sutra 1.5: 1. Right knowledge – it has been directly seen, heard or comes from a trusted source; the mind derives knowledge from direct perception, inference, or scriptural testimony. 2. Misperception – it seems to make sense and even be real, but facts are missing to back it up as it is mistaken as truth. 3. Verbal delusion – words shared with confidence to create a mental picture but actually don’t add up to make sense or correspond with reality. 4. Sleep – even while we are asleep, the mind is still working. We often aren’t aware of what is happening but dreams can sometimes offer a window. 5. Memory – we call forward things that we remember and tend to fill in the blanks for things unfamiliar with what we have access to.
Four of the mental modifications might lead us to cognitive shortcuts as only information via right knowledge will allow us to fully understand life in this world of duality. [And just to note, all five modifications limit the mind from gaining access to the true nature of consciousness. It is the mastery of the mind that enables one to transcend the natural functions of the mind, to comprehend an expanded state of awareness that doesn’t identify with the ripples (mental fluctuations) on the surface of the lake (the mind), but can see through to identify what exists at the complete depth (the True self/Pure consciousness) of the lake (the mind).]
Think of the many ways we compile our sense of things, such as what we know first-hand, what we accept from what others have shared, and what we’ve decided is true based on memory. It might become obvious what problems can arise with any of the ways the mind functions and fluctuates. Even with right knowledge, we come to see that the mind itself, with complete reliance on our intellect, can prevent us from building faith and/or accessing our intuition. It can hinder us from arriving at any conclusions by being preoccupied with data and analysis. (Will AI be able to build faith or have intuition?)
I have no way to know for sure that the earth is round since I’ve never been in a spaceship to actually see the earth. But I’ve seen photos that I believe are real and trust the general field of science and can confidently say the earth is round. I can’t prove that karma is a real thing or not. But with all the writings about it and how I’ve found it to answer questions that for me, nothing else could answer, I’ve found it to be the best way to explain how and why things happen as they do in this world. I trust science enough and I trust the ancient scriptures which have endured the test of time. Along with my own contemplative practice, I feel that I can move through this world accepting the limitations of my body/mind and put in effort to ask if something is based on a selfish need to be a certain way, or if it feels like it can offer service to myself and others by being another way = selfless.
Sutra 1.5 in The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali also notes the mental modifications can be categorized as being either painful or painless. Swami Satchidananda’s translation offers the idea of being either selfish (painful) or selfless (painless). By moving towards the selfless/painless state of mind, inner peace and self-realization arise for the benefit of all beings, not just for some. This reflection alone has helped me sort out the divisive messaging being propagated and to reveal the wizard(s) behind the curtain. I’ve come to understand how old thinking was based on my Hebrew Day School education with constant reminders throughout life that guided my mind a certain way for a certain benefit. I’ve always considered this to be foundational knowledge of my Judaism which intertwined my support for Israel’s existence. Utilizing my understanding of the 5 different mental modifications and being open to seeing a bigger picture, I’ve spent time discerning right knowledge from the other 4 which has challenged much of my Jewish identity.
I’ve been curious about how the brain works when we’re confronted with new information. This came up over the last weekend during our Documentary & Discussion event at the studio when we screened, “The Truth: Lost at Sea,” a documentary by Rifat Audeh that bluntly shows the brutal takeover of a flotilla convoy of peaceful activists to Gaza by the Israeli military in 2010. Footage of the attack was shared and at one point, 4 shrouds (dead bodies covered) in their country’s flag were shown on the ship having been martyred by Israeli soldiers. During our discussion, one of us from the group said a part of her didn’t believe what they showed were actual dead bodies, even though she shared that her rational mind does know it. Some part of her mind isn’t able to process it and so she decides it’s not real. And then I wondered if that same thing is happening for those seeing the images coming out of Gaza these past two years. Are people able to disengage because some part of the mind isn’t really seeing it? We’ve all had to create some way to manage this which could mean ignoring, denying, deflecting, numbing, getting outraged, becoming outspoken, etc. I find it helpful to notice what choice we’ve each made and then to know why for the sake of an exercise to know ourselves better.
Both Patanjali’s sutras and modern psychology understand that we have a tendency to distort reality with our powerful minds. So much so, that we can convince ourselves of certain things and have our bodies respond as if that perceived thing was real. The story often shared in spiritual teachings is of a person entering a darkened room who perceives a coiled snake in the far corner. They freeze and their nervous system fully responds to that of which they believe they’re seeing. Another person turns the light switch to reveal the coiled rope on the floor. Even though truth has been shown, our body still remembers all of this. And while we’re relieved in that moment, that speck of uncertainty lingers. This is an ancient response of our nervous systems driven by safety and security. And this can also happen in reverse: We think we just see a rope and feel relaxed, until it turns out to be a snake!
Reviewing this may help us understand why we may still cling to something as true or false even when direct knowledge of the contrary has been offered. You know the garbage disposal has been disarmed, but you resist putting your hand into the drain when a spoon accidentally drops in. Only by taking the time to rationally think it through: 1. The plug is unplugged. 2. There is no power that can turn on the motor. 3. My hand going in does not initiate the motor. 4. I am safe to remove the spoon from the drain. We may have to take this long route each time, but we will be able to build resiliency in this situation versus remaining frozen with an irrational fear.
As I continue to witness my own unraveling of what I had held as truths prior to October 7, I have greater empathy for those who have not chosen this long way home. It’s a painful path filled with great discomfort and even betrayal. It’s been a wild switch where out of fear of betraying my close Israeli and American Jewish friends, I instead realized that after coming to terms with broader history, I felt betrayed by the withholding of half of the story from the dominant voice of the Jewish community. But then, I’ve also come to learn how well designed this entire narrative is, especially for Israelis who are required to be in the military for 2 years, and truth is lost mostly to them. Or another way to say it, indoctrination is most heavily geared towards them. I have only visited Israel once and cannot speak to what it would feel like to live there.
I’m glad to have moved towards a more humanitarian view at this moment before the outburst of uncontrollable AI information wars. After researching all the articles, books, and videos I have at this date, I feel confident that I’m following actual news and have pieced together authentic articles on recent and past history. Because soon, and likely sooner than we want to admit, AI will make it incredibly difficult to know what’s real. And of course, that’s convenient for those who have already mastered the art of disinformation. You might say, “how do you know all of the research you’ve done isn’t fake and AI generated.” To that, I simply have to say that if you haven’t been reading this news as it comes out, I imagine you’ll have a super long path to unwind, assuming everything is fake news except what conveniently aligns with your limited view. And well, that’s how we get to the divided places we’re in. Please take time to research and read the work by credible historians who have challenged the dominant narrative. This would be a good starting point. If you’re open to it, I’ve gathered a collection of links HERE that detail my research of news after October 7, 2023.
The current government shutdown is harming so many Americans while the money and funding to Israel keeps going. We learn more about the nature of the material world we live in with statistics like this. ”1.4 million federal employees are on unpaid leave or working without pay.” – https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crrj1znp0pyo The US has sent 21.7B to Israel since October 7, 2023. $21,700,000,000. That’s over $3,500,000 a day for the last 753 days. To me, that’s scarier than any Halloween theme I’ve seen. This is how we show up in this world, military spending over all else. And if you feel yourself saying that’s the only way to stay safe and feel real security by sustaining this presence, then I’ll share that I can relate to that shortcut of thinking, and only by diving in to fully understand how I was convinced to think this way (because I didn’t have personal experience to show otherwise), I had to take the time to learn, unlearn, and relearn.
As I write, I’m even aware of the potential for me to be talking myself into believing things that might not be true. And that’s when I pause and listen. What is my intent? Is it to find truth or win a case? Is it to sincerely understand the situation? Or is it to come up with reasons to beat down the other side and be indisputable? This is where my years of Yoga practice and even Jewish values of questioning and inquiring, come in handy. I truly know to ask myself, where does this desire come from? What compels me to want to understand and seek the best understanding of this situation as I can? Am I being selfish by thinking this way, or selfless? Am I taking an emotional shortcut by placing my safety and security above someone else’s?
Taking the quickest route through a complicated situation can mean a long way back to understand what happened. And even before that, it can mean living with a part of the story where you feel you have enough pieces, or the justified pieces to leave the story where it is. Who’s to say how many pieces you actually need until you win the ‘more true story’? The competitive mind isn’t going to be the part of the mind that gets best use here. It will be the long road of building a sense of compassion and empathy for those who have often suffered great loss on this planet – those who protected and cared for a land vs those who desired someone else’s land for whatever reason and then took it by force. Without taking the time to ask questions, debate subjective truths, we may all be at a great loss for humanity. With time to deeply understand our interdependence and the beauty of coexistence, there is hope that we can enjoy the path whether it’s a long or short road that we walk together.
Another take on shortcuts: https://medium.com/p/5b1e7684d027
