No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism

by Chris Niebauer

“fresh frozen.”

The root of the problem is that many of us do not see language as a representation of reality, but confuse it with reality itself.

contributing factor in the modern phenomenon of teen suicides that result from online bullying.

As long as we remember that categories are mental representations (thoughts) only, they can be very useful; in other words, categories exist as “things” only in the mind and only in the act of perceiving them. Issues arise when we believe these “things” are real.

For instance, imagine if you showed up at the university where I teach and asked me to show you the university. After being shown one building after another, you begin to get frustrated and say, “Yes, I've seen this building and that building but where is the university?” I would have to point to the left side of my head and say, “it is only up here,” because it exists as a category and so it may change depending on whom you talk to. When no one is thinking about it, it doesn't exist at all.

“I” is simply a useful, categorical fiction, expressed through language. But unlike the categorical fictions of the university or Canada, believing wholeheartedly in the fiction of self—in effect, making the left-brain interpreter the master instead of the servant—has unintended consequences—suffering being one of them.

To think is to think in categories, and there is no way around this.

Categories are created by taking something continuous and drawing the proverbial line in the sand to separate one into two. The placement of this line requires a judgment. Without judgment, categories could not exist. In fact, one could go so far as to say the next closest word for interpreter would be judge

Exactly where along the continuum of temperature does cold become hot? When do you get offended? When does good become evil? When does something become a catastrophe? A failure? When does being poor become being rich? When does happiness become sadness? Where do you draw the line for any and all of these?

Recognizing this has immense practical benefits. Simply becoming aware of the interpreter and the endless categories it creates through judgment frees you from being tied to the inevitability of these judgments. That is to say, when you become conscious of the interpreter, you are free to choose to no longer take its interpretations so seriously. In other words, when you realize that everyone's brain is constantly interpreting, in ways that are subjective and often inaccurate or completely incorrect, you might find yourself able to grasp this as “just my opinion” or “the way I see it” rather than “this is the way it is.” You begin to see your judgments as simply a different line in the sand than others. When someone approaches you with a “this is the way it is” attitude, you can appreciate that this person is dominated by the left brain, that they are a servant to its master. As a result, there is no need to take their actions or attitudes personally; it's a biological function that they have

not yet recognized. This small perspective shift is enough to change how we live with...

Furthermore, when you become aware that the left brain is just doing its thing, interpreting and judging, the stories it creates don't tend to provoke the physical reaction in your nervous system they once did. A momentary judgment of “They don't like me” doesn't have to spiral into the sweaty palms and increasing heart rate of a mini panic attack. This awareness of the interpreter can profoundly change how you experience the world. In addition, when you begin to observe the in...

Beliefs The left-brain interpreter also creates and sustains a collection of categorical thoughts based on judgments and groups them together as likes and dislikes, ideas of right and wrong, and mental models of how things are supposed...

But belief systems are like the university where I teach or the country of Canada: they don't exist “out there” in the world, but only in the left brain and only when people are thinking about them. Take some of the most popular beliefs: my country is the best; my religion is the only true one; I think so-and-so should be president of the country. None of these beliefs exists independently in the ...

when we are unaware of its effects and are possessed by it—perhaps then we could say that we are in fact our thoughts and beliefs.

Let's look at how being overly identified with a belief system can cause suffering. What is the major source of conflict between people? Why do we fight each other? Turn on any news channel and you can confirm the intense suffering that occurs due to opposing belief systems. People die and kill for beliefs all the time, but not just any

beliefs—only the ones they believe in without recognizing that they are only beliefs.

“Right and wrong are the sickness of the mind”

once the belief in the individual self is anchored, we then further divide and categorize this individual self and turn this imaginary self into a project for self-improvement. This results in the twin beliefs that “this is how I am,” and “this is how I want to be,” but this internal split is just more of the left brain doing its job to separate all things into opposing categories.

Even as it is separating and categorizing the entire outer world, the interpreter also works to separate and categorize the inner world into the conflicting beliefs of a controller (present self) and something else to be controlled (future self), creating an inner conflict that cannot be resolved. We are the only species that we know of that can believe in ourselves, lie to ourselves, convince ourselves, love or hate ourselves, accept ourselves, push and even pull ourselves. These beliefs are fundamental to the human story, as much a part of the dramas relayed by the ancient Greek poet Homer as they are playing out in the daily headlines today.

paradox is a turnoff to those deeply possessed or controlled by the left brain. Paradox is also more attractive to those less identified with the interpreter.

Identity is merely a pattern of events in time and space. Change the pattern and you have changed the person. —Nisargadatta Maharaj

the most advanced pattern-perception machine in the cosmos.

Just like categories and beliefs, most of us have completely forgotten that patterns only exist in the mind and not out in reality.

While seeing patterns that aren't there as in the Rorschach test can seem innocuous, upon closer inspection it may provide us with a hint of how the left brain created our sense of self—by seeing a pattern that isn't there. In other words, perhaps our pattern-perceiving machine looks within and finds a single point of perception, remembers a series of likes and dislikes, judgments, beliefs, etc., and creates the pattern of “me.”

By seeing patterns that are not there, the mind creates stories that aren't true, and as we've previously discussed, this can lead to unnecessary suffering, anxiety, and depression.

The left brain is dominant for dopamine, whereas the right brain is dominant

for serotonin and norepinephrine.

One of the hallmarks of schizophrenia is seeing patterns that are not there, that is to say hallucinations.

One fascinating study found that subjects who had an increased amount of dopamine were more likely to find patterns.

The tendency of the self to defend its own image through more thinking is a hallmark of understanding in Buddhism. Experienced meditators describe how in meditation, as the mind begins to still and the voice in the head speaks less frequently, there is often a rush of thoughts that are most important to sustaining the self-image. This is how meditators can notice what mental stories and thought patterns are their most prevalent preoccupations, as the mind reverts to replaying these topics as a defense against slowing down. Some Eastern teachers explain that the mind “keeps talking” in this way because it's the only way it can exist. This is consistent with my view that the self is more like a

verb than a noun. It only exists when we think it does, because the process of thinking creates it.

the self is recreating itself in response to the threat of dissolution.

“When committed beliefs are violated, people experience an arousal state that prompts them to affirm other beliefs to which they are committed.

Both the triangle and the inner self are strongly suggested by the surrounding information, but upon closer inspection one can see that they are only suggested and have no real physical existence.

saying the self is an illusion doesn't mean that it doesn't exist at all, but rather that it's akin to a mirage in the middle of the desert. The vision of the oasis is real, but the oasis itself isn't. In this same way, the image of the self is real, but when we look at the image, we find it is simply that, an image and nothing more. The image of both, the oasis and

the self, is really just another idea or thought and only there the moment it is being thought of.

The left brain has created this illusion of self by noticing a pattern of categorical differences between you and others and combining those observations with memory, preferences, and the perspective of the “pilot,” who seems to be steering the ship of the brain and body. Our definition of self de...

Psychology and many self-help practices play the game of categories regularly, when we say things like “this is how I am, and this is how I want to be.” We create an image of ourselves, split that image, and then suffer when one imaginary image can't live up to that “better” imaginary image. We want to be smarter, more attractive, more successful, etc., and all of these ideas are our “problems.” The great tragedy here is that we never realize that none of these conditions will ever be met completely to the satisfaction of the self because the self must continue to think in order to stay in existence and therefore will always change the measuring stick—always adding a new “better” to fall short of.

As a reminder, when I say we suffer, in this context I mean we generate thoughts and feelings of sadness, disappointment, grief, what have you, as we reject one imaginary version of ourselves in favor of another. This is simply the left brain doing its thing and nothing more. When we identify entirely with the left brain and believe that it's us, however, the suffering can be overwhelming.

The trick is to become

less identified with your thoughts, to not take them so seriously, to see them as “happenings” rather than “the way things really are.”

What allows us to notice this emptiness at all? Perhaps it is something we could call awareness or consciousness (something we will talk more about in a later chapter): simply the observance that the space is there. That's really all that can be said about it, and of course the left brain hates this, because as a lover of language, categories, and maps, it has reached the end of its ability to use its tools.

In my view, believing that the left-brain interpreter is “you” is akin to looking at the night sky and believing the constellation Orion is really out there as an entity, rather than a group of stars seen from a particular angle, which the mind has made into a pattern and labeled. While it may initially sound a little depressing to know that nothing is real in the way we might think it is, you may find a sense of relief in this—like putting down a heavy sack you've been taught to carry your whole life.

Another way to think of the fictional self or ego is that its addiction to interpreting works like a drug. Every day it needs to get its fix, and it does that in a variety of ways: telling stories about what it perceives, comparing and categorizing itself again others, judging things as rig...

Rather than embrace reality as it is, the left brain is hopelessly addicted to storytelling and interpretations about reality, which provide a short-term hit of purpose and meaning but an inevitable crash of suffering. And most people never even know this cycle is going on.

Exploration How Many Yous in a Day? The left brain is seduced by consistency, even though the world is in continuous flux as Buddhism often points out. This need for consistency supports the illusion of a solid self, unchanging and in control. But based on what we have learned so far, we might more accurately think of the self as a river whose form is in constant forward flow. Just so, our self is continuously changing by way of ideas, perceptions, and feelings. In my class on consciousness, we do an exercise where we spend a whole day becoming aware of how many selves appear and disappear. You can do this too. On the surface, you might first notice a “work self” and then a “home self,” but if you

are attentive, even these will change moment to moment. At work, one self may come online with one coworker; then another self appears as a different coworker enters the room. If you shatter a glass in the break room, your irritation or embarrassment may bring another self forward, until you get an email that a meeting was suddenly canceled to the great relief of yet another self. Sometimes I like to think of the singular “you” as a flip-book. If you take a stack of paper and draw a picture that slightly changes on each page and then flip through the pages, the still images will appear as a short animation. In reality, there are one hundred different pictures, but the mind weaves these together into one continuous story. For this exploration, take a day and see if you can notice your shifting selves. Count the yous as they come and go.

Noting just how many “yous” appear in a day works to dismantle the illusion of a singular “you” behind it all. A sense of freedom can emerge from the realization that you are under no obligation to be consistent. You need not try to glue the continuous change in the world into one single thing. Anger may appear with one “you,” but that is only one page of the flip-book, which will soon be replaced with another emotion, another perception, another thought. Like the sun rising and setting, these “yous” will come and go. There is no need to cling to some and avoid others. There need be no conflict between these selves—so you can abandon t...

where is the self when no one is thinking about it?