Untitled Blog Entry

I've never understood why people are mystified by the physical and mental benefits of meditation. I've always thought the benefits are apparent when you look at what meditation really is. Relaxing. Getting comfortable. Taking deep breathes. Lowering your heart rate. Closing your eyes. Focusing on a single thought. Positive mental images.

Doesn't it seem obvious that people would gain positive experiences when they do this? 

So why is it that people treat meditation like a . Why do people connect meditation to extra-worldly experiences? To spirituality?

We already know that doing all of the things mentioned above would help treat anxiety, in any of its forms. 

I think it stems from our inherent fear of science. More specifically, our wish that we can be fixed by things beyond our control. Every human in the world deals with problems, and more importantly, are aware that they will face problems in the future. Knowing that we have a safety net, this higher power that's watching over us, puts us at ease when thinking about these future problems. Humans can put more faith in things like meditation if we can convince ourselves it's associated with something higher than all of us. Something more complicated than anything we could understand, even if it means ignoring the obvious, sobering realities.

That's why we meditate. That's why we invented concepts like karma. That's one of the reasons why we invented God. That's one of the reasons why we have religion.

-----------------------

"I'll meditate on it and get back to you."

-----------------------

It's crazy to me how many people believe that we think in a language. It's scary to me how many people in my cohort believe this.

I don't understand how this is such a misconception. If we think in a language, what language do deaf people think in?

Explaining thoughts is extremely difficult. We don't think in a language. We don't think in images. The only way to summarize it is through this redundant sentence:

We think in thoughts.

Thoughts are abstract concepts. They are brain activities resulting from other brain activities. 

Imagine a pink elephant. 

What are you thinking?

Imagine swimming in a pool. 

What are you thinking?

Now try and do this math problem in your head: 265-133=?

What are you thinking?

Consider the musician, on stage, improving a solo.

What is he/she thinking?

All of these are examples of an individual using cognitive thought. But they're not all using language. Thinking isn't constrained to just language.

Sheesh.

---------------------

"What does he know. Nothing, probably"

---------------------

The new Ben Howard album is really good.

I wrote a script that a lot of people liked. It's being turned into a film. It will be around a 10 minute short.

I've probably written a total of around 50 scripts by now. Some have won competitions, most have lost competitions, some have only been seen by me. The one identifiable trait I see in all of them is the connection they all make with behaviors and emotions. I think people connect to stories that do this. I believe the only way to pull an emotion from someone is to show them one.

------------------

"Tell me a story that will make me cry."

-------------------