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

by Chris Niebauer

The brain is the subject and the mind is the verb, or as cognitive scientist Marvin Minsky put it, “The mind is what the brain does.”

Any new parent can tell you that meaning is different than happiness. In fact, becoming a new parent is one of the clearest ways to trade ego happiness for meaning and never look back. In my own case, because I am no good for breastfeeding, my job as a new parent was changing diapers. I have changed thousands of diapers, and I vividly recall the array of fluids and solids that came my way during those first few years. My sleep was reduced to far less than half of what it had previously been. My moment-to-moment existence was outwardly miserable in many ways. Yet I wouldn't trade being a parent for anything in the world, then or now. Only meaning could ever make such a deal worth being grateful for.