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June 24 - October 12, 2023
Over the last forty years, several additional studies have shown that the left side of the brain excels at creating an explanation for what's going on, even if it isn't correct. The truth is that your left brain has been interpreting reality for you your whole life, and if you are like most people, you have never understood the full implications of this.
When the mind mistakes the map for reality, the result is that we carry on blindly in a world of language-based stories created by the left-brain interpreter. Keeping in mind that the left brain creates stories it believes completely—often without regard to the truth—one could compare this to following an inaccurate map.
Our association of our true self with the constant voice in our head is an instance of mistaking the map (the voice) for the territory (who we really are). This error is one of the biggest reasons the illusion of self is so difficult to see.
However, maps stop being useful when they are mistaken for what they represent. You can't play ball in a paper map of a park. In this way, language is an excellent servant but a terrible master. Or put another way, words are wonderful tools, but as the old Zen proverb queries, “Do you use the tool or does the tool use you?”
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. This mistake contributes significantly to suffering when we take words too seriously.
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 interpreter, you find that you make fewer judgments and can take your judgments less seriously. You know that they just happen.
This follows from the earlier assertion that “interpreter” is very close to being a judge. That is to say, to interpret is to judge something.
Only when we begin to see that the interpreter is creating and maintaining our beliefs can we become less attached to the idea that our own beliefs are “right.” This opens us to new ideas and the possibility that for other interpretive minds, it is our beliefs that could be “wrong.”
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.
The interpreter refers to ourselves or our minds or our brains. Again, this is not straight-forward as that is the point of the book.
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.
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.
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.
One way to get more in touch with the right brain is to cut the left brain out of activities by doing them for no reason—not for money, not to improve oneself, but simply for the sake of doing them. The left-brain ego thinks in terms of cause and effect, and in order for an action to be worth taking, it must have a positive outcome, but this can complicate the actual doing of the tasks.
Equating perception with understanding is the essence of metaphor; we take something abstract and connect it to a right-brain experience, hoping that the left brain will get it. There is a large body of research showing the right brain is critical in metaphor and that individuals with damage to the right brain will take poems, metaphors, and sarcasm literally.7 To take a metaphor literally is to miss the connection.
In short, complaints turn into the belief that there is something wrong with reality. This often snowballs, as one complaint brings on a wave of emotion that influences other beliefs in turn, and more negative emotions result from those beliefs. All of these unhelpful complaints stem from an overidentification with left brain and the illusory self, for it is only the ego that can object to reality as it is.
Being grateful is a choice that brings us away from the left-brain interpreter and into better alignment with the powers of the right brain.
As it turns out, the RTPJ isn't fully developed in kids, and they have a difficult time seeing things from others' point of view until this area matures. Anyone who has spent time around young children can attest to this, as it's virtually impossible for a two- or three-year-old to relate to the needs of his or her peers when it comes to sharing a coveted toy.
RTPJ is right temporoparietal junction, and is located in the right brain. It is responsible for thinking about other people’s perspective.
The right brain has more and longer fibrous connections both within itself and also to the rest of the brain.18 This greater neural connectivity allows the right brain to make novel connections between diverse ideas, and because of this it is often labeled as the creative side of the brain.
