Image: JAMIE CARROLL iStockphoto
-
The Wisdom of Psychopaths
In this engrossing journey into the lives of psychopaths and their infamously crafty behaviors, the renowned psychologist Kevin Dutton reveals that there is a...
Read More »
Why is it impossible to stop thinking, to render the mind a complete blank?
—
Barry Gordon, professor of neurology and cognitive science at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, replies:
Forgive your mind this minor annoyance because it has worked to save your life—or more accurately, the lives of your ancestors. Most likely you have not needed to worry whether the rustling in the underbrush is a rabbit or a leopard, or had to identify the best escape route on a walk by the lake, or to wonder whether the funny pattern in the grass is a snake or dead branch. Yet these were life-or-death decisions to our ancestors. Optimal moment-to-moment readiness requires a brain that is working constantly, an effort that takes a great deal of energy. (To put this in context, the modern human brain is only 2 percent of our body weight, but it uses 20 percent of our resting energy.) Such an energy-hungry brain, one that is constantly seeking clues, connections and mechanisms, is only possible with a mammalian metabolism tuned to a constant high rate.
Constant thinking is what propelled us from being a favorite food on the savanna—and a species that nearly went extinct—to becoming the most accomplished life-form on this planet. Even in the modern world, our mind always churns to find hazards and opportunities in the data we derive from our surroundings, somewhat like a search engine server. Our brain goes one step further, however, by also thinking proactively, a task that takes even more mental processing.
So even though most of us no longer worry about leopards in the grass, we do encounter new dangers and opportunities: employment, interest rates, “70 percent off” sales and swindlers offering $20 million for just a small investment on our part. Our primate heritage brought us another benefit: the ability to navigate a social system. As social animals, we must keep track of who's on top and who's not and who might help us and who might hurt us. To learn and understand this information, our mind is constantly calculating “what if?” scenarios. What do I have to do to advance in the workplace or social or financial hierarchy? What is the danger here? The opportunity?
For these reasons, we benefit from having a brain that works around the clock, even if it means dealing with intrusive thoughts from time to time.
This article was originally published with the title Ask the Brains.
Rights & Permissions
See what we're tweeting about
39 Comments
Add CommentAlthough, under normal circumstances, it is impossible to stop thinking, years of meditation actually allow one to acquire that skill. You can learn to put yourself in and out of a nonthinking state. First this can be accomplished only while still and during meditation. Much later this can be accomplished during most any activity. It's not that you don't have any awareness. You are still aware, but it is a different awareness without any word thoughts going through your head. There is no thinking as we know it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisrhata
Thank, Rhata, for your post. One would think that a professor of cognitive science at Hopkins would be aware of the existence of disciplined minds and the advantages of having one. This mini-article could lead one to believe that endless, uncontrolled ruminative thinking is our only option.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhen at a bar with music, I like to empty my head of thought so as not to judge or desire. Actually my head fills with what I perceive to be microwave background radiation, sometimes medusa like funnels emanate unjudged radiation received or sometimes ping pong balls randomly bounce throughout my head and beyond in hope of touching all neurons. Imagining gyroscopic spirals or elliptical orbits seem to provide me with balance even if drunk. It seems I feel healthiest and headache free at these times of not forcing thought.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIs this really true? From what I've read and learned from meditation teachers, thinking never stops, even for the most experienced of meditators. It becomes more and more distant, like a radio that gets further and further away, and easier to not tune into, or get caught up in; but it never stops.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy reaction to this article was, yes, this is why meditation is hard! And also, I suspect, why it's beneficial; it develops one's ability to control one's attention.
DA
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDA
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOne can view "thinking" as processing information in order to come to some conclusion, as recalling information (reminiscing), or as imagining what might have been or what might come to be. Processing information and reaching a conclusion includes processing sounds that might be a rabbit or leopard leading to some response. All of these can happen at various levels of consciousness. Using one's imagination can be highly productive (creative, constructive, destructive) in a desirable way if done skillfully - with some degree of masterful control. Imagination can also run away with one's "processing power" and take on a life of its own, as with the jingle that gets "stuck in my head," or escapist and fearful patterns of thought that have no practical basis in physical reality. All such thinking can be "turned off" and it's not even very difficult. Meditation is highly beneficial but not absolutely necessary.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhen we think, our vocal chords make micro-movements as though we were speaking the words we are thinking - even when we think we're not thinking in discrete words. It is possible to learn to relax the vocal chords so they do not make these habitual micro-movements. When you learn to do that, your habitual patterns of thought will stop - and as long as they are on "hold" you will not be able to think in your usual manner. Some people might actually deem this a form of meditation and they would not be wrong in doing so.
Doing this does not mean your thinking brain suddenly turns off and becomes unable to process anything. You will still be aware of yourself and your surroundings and you will be able to process input - you will be in awareness, which may be considered a form of thinking. For example, you will be able to identify sounds, touch and temperature changes. You can, however, by stopping your habitual thought patterns, avoid putting labels on what you are experiencing and identifying, so identification does not require naming. You can also avoid assigning values to whatever you are aware of. While you have suspended your habitual thought patterns, you still retain the ability to restart your thinking at any time - and that takes a thought.
So, thinking doesn't ever completely stop - the mind doesn't become a "complete blank" - yet we can certainly stop our thoughts from taking over our lives, and that can have great benefits. An incessant flow of uncontrollable thought is neither required nor desirable.
The issue, I believe, is not thinking as in word thoughts, but as in cognitive activity. The "awareness" Rhata writes of is still thinking, whether we put words to it or not.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOh, not "impossible". Being and Nothingness in Austin: Gov. Rick Perry.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnti-science embodied presses on... when it can remember why it entered the room.
If you could stop thinking completely, how could you start again? You'd need some type of thought or conscious cognitive act to command your mind to resume its normal activity. Wouldn't the mere fact of being able to summon up such a command indicate that you hadn't really succeeded in going totally blank?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisagreeing with Rhata - I cleared my mind with meditation after 3 months of 10-20 mins daily practice - reached my zen moment of nirvana, found I could read people's minds - and have a crystal clarity of observation of people and events around me.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNow - my empty mind allows me to detect and respond appropriately to any tiny interaction around me, from the beauty of a falling leaf or dancing insect, to a major disaster.
Before - the mind as a endless loop of rat-race thoughts - one triggering the next - like watching a celluloid film - each frame pulls the next into view, so you are never looking at the real world, just a movie of your own mind - meant that I was never viewing reality but only my fuzzy mind screen of judgements and feelings with interpretations about other people and events that were almost invariably wrong.
Turn it on and off - not really - if relaxed I am usually in the clear - if busy/buzzy after too much coffee or calories, my mind might be full of thoughts - if I want to clear such mind, I just focus my eyes on a fixed point, focus my mind on emptiness and it will usually clear in a couple of minutes
What I love is noticing tiny interactions of nature and people that a companion walking beside me will never notice - perhaps because their mind is busy with their own (illusory) imagination
Some people say an empty mind sounds boring and they wouldn't want it - I find it gives me a cutting clarity to decision-making - I can see the key essential points in any issue and go straight to it without any time-wasting mistaken thinking or feeling.
I expect most people will never achieve it - it takes self-discipline over time (in my case - say 15 mins per day x 3 months = say 1350 hours) but to me it has removed all fear and given me a wonderful clarity of world view which I love.
oops - mistaken thinking - not 1350 hours in my previous comment - more like 20 !
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI know - empty mind fail at maths - good catch !
Yes you can. This is enlightenment, and it doesn't take all that long and you don't have to go study meditation. For real. Eckhart Tolle can get you there, so can Kenneth Folk and others I'm sure. The basic behavior required is A) Learn to observe your thinking brain. B) Realize deeply that it is literally always now and C) Feel your body as a whole internally. Get there! It's amazing!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's similar to the way that when you unclench your fist, your hand does not disappear.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow about when you are born, how (and when)does the brain start thinking? The brain does not have to br booted like a computer , it bootes itself.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisfocusing one's attention on not one thing is not "not thinking". a distant radio is a poor analogy. close your eyes and sit with all external distractions off. you can see what your mind produces. a state of meditation is confined to, seeing what arises then dismissing it. if nothing arises you're dead. the point is to recognize and control what is normally an unbridaled barrage of random thoughts. if you can recognize them you're ahead of the curve.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisyou're an idiot. if you honestly believe you're a buddha (which is what you describe yourself as) why not try to help others instead of boasting?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Such as are your habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of your mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this- Marcus Aurelius
I watch T.V., does that count as thought cessation?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGood thinking , Zak44 .Good Question too!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBrain is like heart .
Once stopped , how do you restart it ?
Since there is no bio-mechanism for restarting that's why we can't stop thinking.
That's the simplest explanation .
Hence applying " Occam's razor" we are compelled to delete the involuted explanation of the learned prof . Barry Gordon. Unless Dr. Gordon can provide that missing "bio-restarter" in his postulate.
Or,would he have missed it ?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=ask-the-brains-why-impossible-to-stop-thinking&posted=1#comments
Brain is like heart .
Once stopped , how do you restart it ?
Since there is no bio-mechanism for restarting that's why we can't stop thinking.
That's the simplest explanation .
Hence applying " Occam's razor" we are compelled to delete the involuted explanation of the learned prof . Barry Gordon, unless Dr. Gordon can provide that missing "bio-restarter" in his postulate.
Or,would he have missed it ?
By the way , isn't " brain activity " different from " thinking " ?
We can't stop brain- activity , but we certainly can shut off thinking .
Brain activity is a neurological function but "thinking" comes out of the " mind " .
"Mind" consists of not only neurological inputs but also of muscular, ocular, nasal, olfactory , sight , hearing, tastes,breathing , sense of touch , feelings,seeing,hearing,sensations of thrills, sorrow, pleasure , sadness , happiness and everything in between too .
Now, the " mind" can stop by shutting off all sensations and feelings
though the brain continue to function ceaselessly; even while sleeping or in Meditation .
Brain is a product and it's characteristic property is to continuously function with or without thinking.
Mind is the thinking process and , brain is the main part of it, although mind is there even if brain is not there .
Muscles can think in motor sensory mode .
Reflex actions of muscle and nervous system does not need the direct function of brain as such .
The can stop functioning even while brain continues to operate , like in deep sleep or in coma when all your sensations stop but brain works to run the heart and keep life running in you.
If we understand this knife- edge differentiation between Brian and Mind , we can explain the perplexing dichotomy.
Pure materialistic model of mind treat mind and brain synonymous and try to seek origin and evolution of mind from physical stuff of brain. But these models do not lead to convincing and satisfactory mechanism for the evolution of mind from physical brain .
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMystics and spiritualists of various shades and time have found and stated that our physical body with brain is immersed in one astral body. Mind as a part of astral body is embedded in physical brain. Thought process arise due to tandem action of mind and brain. But problem has been that neurologists and physicists are unable to discover any astral body or astral plane of nature with the current Science and technology and they will also not believe Spiritualist/Mystic's version of mind and astral body. In view of this, they try to come out with different models of various mental functions arising from physical brain but all these models are weird, lack convincing mechanism and and above all "thrust upon" models
scymn, where did you learn about the vocal chords, or rather, where would an interested party find more information about this?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI actually can play a simple game in my mind and reach a state of awareness without mental chatter.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDon't think of anything ... Try again ... Do not count the seconds. Do not count the seconds ... Stop being aware of breathing ...
It is mentally difficult to gather the will to accomplish this. And time consuming. Hours sometimes. But I have had the condition lasts for many weeks. To me it is sort of a frightening phase to be in. Acute senses. Understanding without conscious thought. There seems so be much going on in my mind, but at a level I am not aware of. I feel like my IQ goes up 20 points. I observe and converse with people, with a brilliant clarity (for me anyway). I don't even seem to have to think about the topic or the words I utter. But the clarity is unsettling to say the least.
Hi NorEastern. I'm actually very interested in this process you describe. But you lost me at "Don't think of anything".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIs there a way you can describe in words how exactly to do that? (I'm not being cute - I really would like to know.) Everytime I've tried this, there are thoughts there. Is it simply a matter of "trying" it for longer. I admit I'm impatient sometimes.
Words are going to fail me. I realize this and I hope you do too. It is a "will" thing. Every time a thought enters my mind I beat it down, return to a state of "not thinking", "will" my mind to be silent. Gradually this state holds for longer and longer. The first time I did it, I did not show progress for a while, maybe half an hour. By the time I made it to 30 seconds it held. I hope this helps.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe meditator (Rhata) who thinks he's closed off his brain is wrong. I too have meditated. One must concentrate on a syllable like "om", just as a laser concentrates light. This is not a turned off mind but a focused mind. I wish meditators would not make claims like that, because they aren't correct and they might chase people away from useful meditation out of fear of (as Zak44 puts it) going "totally blank", which would indeed be scary.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI believe that the English vocabulary does not have unambiguous words to describe the journey to or the state of the mind when entering what you call a focused state. I personally would not describe what I have experienced as you did, but that leads back to language inadequacies. I can assure every one that reaching what I have experienced as a "focused state of mind" does not under any circumstances mean that you are not in control. It seems to me that it just allows the deeper processing of sensual input and memories. Maybe intuition in certain circumstances?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat I have experienced is frighteningly close to what is described in Post 11. Without the overboard claims such as "reading peoples minds". For me that is in the category of (without conscience thought) being able to process all of the data of our relationship, notice body and facial "tells" and then identifying given the circumstances what is on their mind, given that they are currently reacting to me. But then I have a background in science and mathematics and our conclusions and impressions are probably heavily influenced by our training.
So basically I have no idea what is happening nor why it is happening. I seriously doubt that it is a genetic "leap forward", so it must have roots in meditation etc. I just did not get there by that path.
Rereading this I sound like some mystical jerk. But I am going to post it none the less.
That sounds a lot like a rationalization to hang out in bars and get drunk.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWell for me I've found that the whole "Not a thought in your head" thing, a bit of a paradox. After all, thinking that your not thinking anything is still thinking something. So you wouldn't really ever know that you're not thinking anything since that's thought itself. But what you can do is focus on where that thought, the voice inside your head you call you, is actually coming from. Analyze and measure it like you could do with any other sense. The sense of sound is the easiest to relate too. Imagine the sensation of sound on your ear drums getting softer and softer until the sensation disappears and the sound is no longer audible. Now apply that to the sensation of thought. Try to listen as closely as possible to your inner voice. So close for just the utmost subtlest of sounds. Search for that split nano second of thought. You'll realize that the thought doesn't actually start from where you hear it. Like a feather rubing gently on the surface of your arm, so the thought reaching the surface of your mind. Thoughts are more like bubbles that float to the surface of the ocean. Once they reach the surface we become aware of them. However they start much deeper. It's becoming self-aware, or Conscious of this deeper location that we should be in search of. Just like the ocean the surface is choppy, wavey, and chaotic, but the deeper you go the calmer it is. You're more collective and purposeful because you're no longer living on the surface. Once you become conscious on that level it is said that you gain Cosmic Consciousness and transcend to the state of Being. It's called transcendental meditation.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this{ALSO} it's not meant to be hard to do. Life didn't make such a positive thing tricky to achieve. Try taking 20 min a day anytime to get in a comfortable position and stop thinking about the future and things you have to do. Then stop thinking about the past and how things made you feel. Just try to "Be Here Now." Once you've done that then just see how small of a second can you become conciously aware of until ... TaDhaa you Win! :)
A simple technique to assist in falling asleep is to allow no words to pass thru one's mind. This sounds harder than it is. First, no stories are allowed completion, then no sentences, then strive for a blank awareness. Positive feedback will arrive in the form of hypnagogic imagery; that is, the verbal cortex cedes dominance to the visual cortex and 'eyelid movies' result. This imagery is typically not as vivid as dream imagery but can become very vivid on occasion. Focusing on the imagery and allowing no verbal interruption will typically lead to slumber in fairly short order. The next step to lucid dreaming from the lucid state is to memorize your hands in the steepled pose. This will summon them (after some practice, years maybe, but what else to do while falling asleep?) and focusing on them will allow the body to fall asleep while the mind stays awake - a thousand year old Dzongen Buddhist technique.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe next step to lucid dreaming from the waking state is to memorize your hands in the steepled pose.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisActually, it is not impossible to stop thinking. We will all do so at some point. It is called "death".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe cannot stop our thinking because thinking is a spontaneous process. Spontaneous process cannot be stopped.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisS. N. Tiwary
DIRECTOR
Experiencing lack, uneasiness, discomfort, uncertainty and then fulfillment, adjustment is the format of pleasure on which the brain is sustained. This is same as natural pleasures of the body are ‘feeling of hunger and its satisfaction by food’ and ‘activity during the day and recuperation by sleep’. The illusion becomes busy in having a fulfilled state, done state-hence frustrated, starts making stories around discomfort, lack instead of seeing ‘what pleasure is’.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThings do not get resolved finally at a point. The momentum of life is (auto)-disturbance and (auto)-adjustment. And the momentum is self-sustained. To see this is one's attunement to Life energy, the Original-the God Particle.
https://sites.google.com/site/yvchawla/happenings-around-and-fundamentals/thegodparticlehiggs-bosonnewsdatedjuly2012
It is absolutely possible to stop the "blah, blah" mind, and still retain the problem solving, planning, reading, writing mind.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAfter 20,000 hrs of meditation, my self-referential narrative thoughts stopped 95%, and w/them went my self-referential fears and desires. This has continued for 14 years. At the time i was running a 1000 person, $260MM budget, 4 research lab organization; i continued to do this after the "blah, blah" stopped and in several other high-functioning positions. In fact, w/o the bandwidth and energy consumed by "blah, blah", the problem solving, planning functions, etc. were enhanced.
As Prof. Gordon should know, there are two distinct and different neural circuits that primarily do these two different functions. He should check out Farb, et. al. in "Attending To the Present; Mindfulness Meditation Reveals Two Distinct Neural Modes of Self Reference, in SCAN, 2007, 2, 313pp. and Brewer, et al. in "Meditation Experience is Associated with Differences in Default Mode Network Activity and Connectivity", PNAS, 2011. This is well documented in major papers.
i have even met at length w/several Johns Hopkins folk on this phenomena of having "blah, blah" thoughts stop, most notably Prof. Roland Griffiths and Katherine MacLean, who i am sure would be glad to talk to Prof. Gordon.
i have been a subject and collaborator in four different studies using fMRI, EEG, detailed psychological interviews, etc. @ Yale, IONS, Baumann Foundation, Center for the Study of Non-Symbolic Consciousness, and am to be in NYU and potentially Johns Hopkins studies that are upcoming. i was also passed by two Zen masters.
i have given talks @ the Science and NonDuality Conference in San Francisco, the Towards a Science of Consciousness Conference in Tucson and Stockholm, and the Asian Consciousness Festival in Hong Kong; many of these are on youTube. i have also given several interviews and articles and maintain a website, blog and book.
Prof. Gordon is uninformed on this issue. This is an unfortunate and misleading article from someone who should know better.
Yes, you can stop your "blah, blah" mind and function even more effectively in the world, even in a high-functioning capacity.
website: www.happiness-beyond-thought.com
i would be glad to meet w/Prof. Gordon.
Carlos Castaneda, in his several volumes course on sorcerery or witchcraft, proposed that one of the ways to access the "separate reality" was stop the course of your thoughts, and Stanislaw Lem in his series of books, fables explaining marxism, proposed not to think at all as the only way to survive under a socialist regime. If they succeeded in putting their minds blank, and how they may have done it, remains a mistery.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI believe that with practice, the mind processes can be made to slow down to a point close to not having any thoughts at all. This may be done though meditation, concentration, mantras, music listening, art or other means but it is doable.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhen I am deeply concentrated on my work-job, there are very few perturbing thoughts that arise in my mind. Most of the thoughts are directed to accomplish the job I am doing. The deeper the concentration, the less extraneous thoughts.
bilocation, I first heard about vocal chord micromovements associated with thinking way back when I was a kid, which was 6 decades ago, so I no longer recall the actual source except that it came to me through my father. So, as a kid, I experimented some with relaxing my vocal chords and noticed the quieting of my mind, which I thought was interesting and, as I grew older, found to also be practical. As a middle aged adult, a spiritual teacher introduced vocal chord relaxation as a technique to quiet the mind during meditation. It was, of course, already quite familiar to me but I was provided some expanded context for it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI suspect a bit of web searching would turn up references to some research in this area, but the basic information about vocal chord micromovements has been around for a long time - at least 6 decades.