I was listening to the Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama a few months back and something from the book really stuck with me.
Disclaimer, I’m going to say some stuff that may sound disparaging about psychology, but like, fight me. IDK. IDC.
Psychology is a pretty nascent science, but it’s currently the best tool we have we to try to understand eons of neural development that have led to the phenomenon of human consciousness. We’ve made some massive breakthroughs, as far as we can tell. Still, we have some problems related to the fact that science really aims to study empirical evidence. Here’s the definition from the wikipedia:
Empirical evidence is the information received by means of the senses, particularly by observation and documentation of patterns and behavior through experimentation.
Psychology has a few glaring problems in light of this description, I’ll try to keep this brief:
A person’s subconscious processes dictate 90-99% of their behavior according to recent studies. (Fuck Your Feelings by Ryan Munsey)
We’re still just learning how to map AND decode connectomemes (which basically means we’re still figuring out how neurons work)((Fun fact, there’s a single neuron in your brain for Homer Simpson and Jennifer Anniston, respectively.))
Each human mind is a subjective experience. What they observe and interpret about their behavior will be fundamentally different than what an outsider will observe even if they agree about what happened. (Just, go have a conversation with your family about your behavior)
Theories of personality are unraveling in the wake of new research that calls what we know about the very nature of self into question. Sorry , you might have to buy this article for more info haha.
As it relates to trauma, in the Art of Happiness, The Dalai Lama basically explains to the psychologist interviewing him, Howard C. Cutler, that while Western Psychology makes the assumption that the source of our suffering must part of the sum total of our experiences, Buddhism asserts that our past lives are also a potential source of our suffering. My boy Tenzin(His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso for those who are worried I might be gettin fresh) breaks it down for Howie, with this analogy about a room.
“for instance, it(psychology) does not accept the idea of imprints being carried over from a past life. And at the same time there is an assumption that everything must be accounted for within this lifetime. So, when you can’t explain what is causing certain behaviors or problems, the tendency is to always attribute it to the unconscious. It’s a bit like you’ve lost something and you decide that the object is in this room. And once you have decided this, then you’ve already fixed your parameters; you’ve precluded the possibility of its being outside the room or in another room. So you keep on searching and searching, but you are not finding it, yet you continue to assume that it is still hidden somewhere in the room!”
While you may not believe in past lives and karma, the reality is that human perception and perspective is deeply limited. Playing with hypotheticals here there’s a possibility your “problem” could be triggered by something that’s part of a cognitive blindspot, like the forer effect or negativity bias. But before you get too excited about those having nothing to do with your past lives, here’s an article about mice inheriting fear from their fathers
Remember last week when I brought up reliving your traumas and your parents being your history? The fact that genetics factor into tendencies like anxiety and addiction combined with our learned cognitive biases toward lifestyle basically means that it’s not just the punchline to a bad joke.
I’m not telling you I have all the answers, but I do have my answers.
There’s hope for those of us who wish to experience happiness-… and it’s very much within reach. We didn’t choose our starting points in life. For some of us it’s been hopelessly hard. But clinging to the difficulty of the past does not make the present easier. Instead of looking into our past to try to solve mysteries to which we could never hope to find all the clues, we have access to something endlessly empowering right now.
Literally, it’s now. 😉
So I guess next week’s blog is about mindfulness.
Click here if you’d like to get a copy of the Dalai Lama’s book The Art of Happiness
(Disclaimer: I’m not saying quit your meds or stop going to therapy. This is not professional medical advice and should not be interpreted as such. )