Bias
Metacognition
(Note – This was another insert in the teaching I gave in Bali, but did not have time to complete it. It is part of the online course I am in the process of structuring)
To value a controlled mind is to understand the way the mind thinks and to bring it in line with the way the Self would think if it was a person living in the apparent reality. It means that although the mind is capricious I need not fulfill its fantasies and yield to its caprices. It means that I am the boss, not the mind.
There are four basic ways of thinking, three of which are necessary to understand and master if I want to prepare my mind for Sel-knowledge.
1) Impulsive. Unexamined thoughts born of instincts dominate the mind. I do what I feel without thinking about it.
2) Mechanical. Thoughts of which I am conscious but have no power to control because they are produced by binding vasanas.
3) Deliberate. Thoughts subjected to discrimination that are accepted or dismissed with reference to my value structure.
4) Spontaneous. Without evaluation my thinking automatically conforms to universal values and my actions are always appropriate and timely. This kind of thinking only applies to those for whom Self-knowledge has destroyed binding vasanas and negated doership.
Spontaneous thought is not included in this value because it only applies to Self-actualized individuals. If my thinking is impulsive, conditioned or deliberate I am not a master, but by deliberate thinking I, the doer, can gain control of the mind. Relative mastery is simply alertness (sattva) and involves deliberately submitting all thoughts and feelings to rational scrutiny and substituting the appropriate Vedantic logic whenever ignorance-born mechanical thinking dominates the mind. If I am conscious of my mind I can learn from my mistakes and exercise choice over the way I think, allowing me to fulfill my commitments to my goal in the face of various distractions and to change my behavior so that it conforms with universal values.
Control of the senses and single-pointedness are qualifications for inquiry. In this discussion we present them also as values. Here, mind control is discipline over one’s thinking at the level where the thoughts arise, sense control indicates discretion at the level of the senses and single-pointedness is the consistent capacity to stick with the teachings in the face of unhelpful thought patterns…applying the opposite thought, for example. The first two make the mind capable of single-pointedness.
The limitation and Inevitability of Bias
Everyone has biases, they come with the territory of being human and cannot be avoided because they are all guna generated. The field of experience is run by them. Isvara loves bias and you can see how it functions even in the natural world. Whether the bias is personal or universal, it’s not a problem if we understand what it is and how it conditions the mind. There are an infinite number of biases, most of our thinking and feeling comes from them. Some are more damaging than others. One of the most familiar is confirmation bias, and we all know how that works! Because the mind is so limited it operates as efficiently as possible – it is a master of heuristics. It simplifies everything as much as possible to conform to what it knows, which is why all of us have a tendency to align with ‘our truth’. It takes us out of our comfort zone to do otherwise.
What Is Metacognition?
Metacognition is a function of the mind which allows us awareness of our own thoughts and emotional processes. It’s being able to plan, monitor, and access our true motivations, conditioning factors, performance, and understanding. It’s like our brain’s way of understanding and grading itself. It applies in our interaction with others and in our mastery of any topic, skill or task. Including the assimilation of Vedanta. Our metacognition will be vastly different if it is governed by Self-knowledge, nonduality, as opposed to duality. Self-knowledge gives us the 20/20 clarity of guna knowledge, as well as how to think critically and deliberately. It will also give us a rational understanding of what we do and do not know regarding the factors in the field with reference to object knowledge, and our abilities. But if we enter self-inquiry thinking we know it all, we will never make progress towards moksa. Without Self-knowledge, not only will we tend to be identified with our thoughts and feelings, less aware of our conditioning and biases, but we will tend to have unrealistic views of what we do and do not know.
Vedanta Requires Developing a Critical Thinking Mentality
It is undeniable that the lack of critical thinking faculties amplified by social media contributes a great deal to the current worldwide state of affairs. Sadly, our society does not educate people to develop independently verifiable, evidence-based research and analytical skills, to practice exercising judgment, and to use language with accuracy. If it were, we would be seeing less of the madness going on, with people losing all ability to agree on what constitutes ‘truth’. None of it is new of course, it’s just the way ignorance is unfolding, it just seems much louder and ubiquitous now because of social media. If you have not read it, I attached my comments on the topic. What else is there to say or understand? Self-knowledge gives you 20/20 vision about everything, in every moment.
The intellect is an especially important tool, and we all need to develop it to think critically. We are not born with a highly developed intellect, although some people seem to have a natural propensity to think well from young. However, as much as having a finely developed intellect is, we need to develop emotional intelligence as well to function properly as humans. The problems raging in society, the ‘us vs them’ populist ideas are nothing new; it’s just the same old age-old dissatisfaction. Thanks to rajas and tamas, fear and desire, these ideas are part and parcel of duality. Today these eternal grievances have found social media as the perfect platform to shout them out into the void. It is all so silly because all everyone wants is to be happy, no matter what we believe to be true. In mithya, everything is subjective. But even so, there are or used to be, rules that guided what we all believed to be factual. Not so anymore.
Sundari
