I'm back where I was - on a stunning beach, near a wonderful little place in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. A few times now, I've come here for no other reason other than to balance a pile of rocks, one atop another. It didn't start off that way; but, as is my nature, a year ago I ended up trying to pile these rocks as high as I could. And, may I say, it was quite an impressive pile of rocks in the end. Probably around two meters high. It was so impressive that a small group of passers by, decided to stop and take a look. And, one of them said something that really stuck with me.
They asked me about how I found myself there. And, in sharing, I mentioned, without thinking, that I would soon be returning to the real world. A lady - one of the group - was looking quite intently at the pile of rocks that I'd built. She hadn't been paying much attention to the conversation. But, she heard my statement. She turned to face me. Her response was in a way that was not direct, but made me take note of what she said, without knowing why. In retrospect, what she said may have stuck with me, more as a result of my own head space, than how she said it. In any case, it really did stick with me, what she said - that was, "This is the real world". Oh, how that statement would taunt me. What did she mean by, this??? What did I mean by, the real world?!? What is real!?!
Don't worry, this is not going to be another venture to endeavour to find out, what is real. Rather, this is going to be a little exploration into why we give some things meaning, and let some things pass. Why do I remember the one thing this woman said, so clearly; when, I cannot remember any detail about anything the rest of the group said. Why can I remember a dream I had as a 10 year-old boy, centred around a day on the beach, when I struggle remember a single dream from the past week. Why do I remember a reprimanding that I got from my sixth grade maths teacher, like it was yesterday; when, I barely remember yesterday.
From my understanding of how the brain works, it consists of an incomprehensible number of, what we call, neurons. In every moment, we take in a multitude of data points representative of the world as we perceive it. And, based on this perception, specific neurons are "activated". These activations may be of different strengths. Also, these initial activations may lead to subsequent activations in other neurons. What is of utmost importance, is that every coombination of neural activations, equates to a decision about the initial perception. An overly-simplified example of this may be that a group of neurons being activated with a certain strength, means that, within the initial perception provided, there is a chair to my left-hand side. Or, there is a bell ringing behind me.
Considering the importance of how the brain works, in the context of answering why we give some things meaning, and others not, I'll provide an analogy for the above explanation. Imagine your brain as a room full of billions of dominoes. The dominoes are arranged in such a way that knocking any one over, will result in knocking over an arrangement of others - not all of the others, but some. When all is said and done - some dominoes are left knocked over, and some are left standing. Now, in every moment, when you perceive the world around you, you knock over one or more dominoes in the room, resulting in some combination of fallen and standing dominoes. This combination represents how you have interpreted what you have perceived - for instance, I am sitting on the couch, typing out this blog post, the TV is playing football highlights in front of me, my feet are slightly cold, I can smell something is cooking in the kitchen, etc. And then, by the time the next moment comes, the dominoes are rearranged as they were - well, not exactly as they were; but, we'll get to that next.
Sometimes, the interpretation of our perception about the world around us, lets us down. For example, I may interpret something as a beautiful flower, and I may interpret that it's worth smelling. So, I decide to pick it, and smell it. But then, something, which I think is quiet mystical and perhaps even, miracullous, happens. I get pricked by the flower. Its own arrangement of being in this world lets me know to bugger off. Firstly, Wow! Everything I knew told me that I should pick that flower. Then, something entirely new, something I could in no way have seen coming, taught me a lesson. Secondly (the lesson) - that hurt! So, what now? Well, now all the dominoes are picked back up. But, their arrangement is changed, ever so slightly. So that, next time, when I perceive the same thing, I interpret it not just as a beautiful flower that may smell nice; but, a beautiful flower that may smell nice; and, may prick me if I pick it. I have learned something.
Learning is the change that takes place in neurons from one moment to the next, such that they provide better interprations of our perceived world. Or, the change in the arrangement of the dominoes in our head, which leads to a different set of fallen dominoes, the next time we knock the same domino down. To circle back to the question at hand. Why do we give some things meaning, and let some things pass? Well, because the neurons that are activated when we perceive some things, tell us that those things are important. Whereas, with other things, they tell us to move along swiftly. And, what they interpret as important or not, is based on repeated learnings from past moments. Making correct or incorrect judgements of the perceived world; and, rearranging themselves to provide more accurate judegements, next time.
However, the moment each of us came to life...there was some initial firing of neurons. Our very first perception of the world, and first resultant activation in neurons that that perception led to. What decided that was not a result of training. It was a result of our genetic make up. An initial arrangement of dominoes. That would, not only, decide how we interpreted that first perception, but, how to subsequently rearrange itself based on that interpretation. And so, at the bottom of the reason we consider some things and not others, is us. It is who we are.
Therefore, it is important to be mindful of what we remember, and what we don't. Of what we notice, and what we disregard. Because the more we notice about what we notice, the more we discover about ourselves. There is purpose to this journey, and you are it. The what - or the who - is you.
Thanks for bearing with me. Till next time. Goodbye.
"The problem of neurolagy, is to understand man himself."
- Wilder Penfield