Ignorance sees phenomena - which actually do not exist in and of themselves - as existing independent of thought.
- The Dalai Lama
I have always been interested in how the human mind operates. Like a car, if we better understand how it functions, we might be able to make better use of this amazing asset. For example, I started at one point to look into the cognitive processes involved in task switching (which I need to complete!). Buddhism - more of a philosophy than a religion in my own, perhaps naive, opinion - provides an interesting psychological model, because Buddhism is keenly interested in the same question: how does the mind work.
I am not trying to be Mr. Zen
First of all, a disclaimer: I am not an expert on Buddhist thought. I am not a Buddhist. I have simply been reading the Dalai Lama's How to See Yourself and began reflecting on one tenet of Buddhism which roughly stipulates that nothing really exists independent of thought. Since I am not versed in Buddhist psychology, I wanted to share my own reflections on this notion of existence. Here goes!
Wheels
Let's consider the wheel. When we look at a car or a bicycle, or the lawnmower, we see wheels. They exist, and they exist as wheels. Wheels are "real" to us, and if you said wheels only exist in our minds, we might think you are a little crazy. However, let's consider a time when wheels did not exist. As real as wheels are to us, I think we all accept that at wheels were invented, or at least "discovered". We can easily fathom a time when there was, in fact, no wheels. We can imagine a time before someone realized round things might help move other things using less effort.
If we go back to a time before someone invented wheels, we can imagine someone coming across a perfectly round "wheel" shaped rock. Looking at such a thing, we could probably not help but to see a wheel, or at least see the potential for a wheel. A person from such a time would see no such thing. They would see a rock. Yes, it's roundness might strike them in some way, but they would not see a wheel (or a potential wheel) like we would because the distinction between wheel and non-wheel does not yet exist. Put another way, if you transported someone from such a time to today and showed them a wheel from your car in isolation (i.e. removed from your car so that no notion of obvious function could be observed), they may surely see something interesting (I doubt rubber tires and aluminum rims existed before the wheel was invented), but they would not see a wheel. The wheel that you see does not exist for them. It is not real.
Distinctions
So either you are right, or they are right - does the wheel exist or not? This logical conundrum is rectified if we see that the wheel is a distinction, and that this distinction only exists in the mind. In fact, you could say that the act of invention or discovery is really the human mind creating and communicating a new distinction or organization of the stuff that surrounds us. Taken further, you could imagine that a person that lived before the concept of "roundness" was dreamed up, would not even be struck by the discovery of a perfectly wheel shaped rock because "roundness" is also a distinction. Before someone made this distinction, roundness did not really exist. We can take this even further. You can imagine a person that lived before the concept of "rock" vs. "non-rock" was created, etc. etc.
If at one time wheels, and roundness, and even rocks did not exist, we are lead to the idea that maybe these things truly do only exist in our minds.
Credits: Zen photo by Roberto Zingales.
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Tags: buddhist psychology, buddism, dalai lama, how to see yourself, Psychology, task switching, thought
