Random Dharma

gizmodo article time slices

Time Slices: What is the duration of a Percept?

plos bio article

Abstract
We experience the world as a seamless stream of percepts. However, intriguing illusions
and recent experiments suggest that the world is not continuously translated into conscious
perception. Instead, perception seems to operate in a discrete manner, just like movies
appear continuous although they consist of discrete images. To explain how the temporal
resolution of human vision can be fast compared to sluggish conscious perception, we propose
a novel conceptual framework in which features of objects, such as their color, are
quasi-continuously and unconsciously analyzed with high temporal resolution. Like other
features, temporal features, such as duration, are coded as quantitative labels. When
unconscious processing is “completed,” all features are simultaneously rendered conscious
at discrete moments in time, sometimes even hundreds of milliseconds after stimuli were
presented.

Chris Marti wrote: It's always nice to see what is plainly evident from meditation being investigated and documented using science:

gizmodo.com/new-time-slice-theory-sugges...tm_medium=socialflow

The new model, developed by Michael Herzog from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and Frank Scharnowski from the University of Zurich, proposes a two-stage processing of sensory information. During the first phase, the brain processes specific features of an object, say, its color or shape. This scanning is done semi-continuously, but we humans are completely unaware that it’s happening. During this first phase, even changes to the object (like a change in its color or brightness) aren’t consciously perceived.

But then comes the second stage: the transference of the stimulus to actual conscious perception. During this stage, the brain renders the perceived features after the unconscious processing has been completed. We experience all this as qualia (i.e. subjective) conscious experience arising from sense perception. It’s like that moment when a polaroid film reveals its hidden details and we’re finally aware of what we’re looking at—except this process happens so fast that we’re oblivious to the “developing” phase.

"That means there’s a lag from when we first experience something, to when we’re actually aware of it. This entire two-stage process, from start to finish, can last up to 400 milliseconds—which is a long time from a psychological perspective."

400 ms is an enormously long time between stimulus and conscious awareness. Yet, we can react to situations much faster than that. Check out this infographic on hitting a major league fastball: www.phoenixbats.com/baseball-bat-infographic.html

The elephant vs. the rider?

Chris Marti wrote: Mahout!

Drop the mahout!

So... not that I would ever watch a move like Age of Adaline, but here's a quote from it:

Adaline: Tell me something I can hold on to forever and never let go.
Ellis: Let go.

dharmic mansplaining?

Perhaps!

Mariana Caplan's exposition on "the Zen boyfriend" is the classic in the field...

www.ievolve.org/the-problem-with-zen-boy...s-by-mariana-caplan/

"Jivan was a living example of such a situation. The first night was all right, as far as Zen boyfriends go. I enjoyed hearing of his adventures over a cappuccino, only occasionally irritated by his references to having “seen through the nature of reality” or having “become one with everything.” Of course, by early evening he needed space, but that was to be expected.

The next day, however, as we walked in Muir woods, he tried to do his spiritual number on me. To explain his spiritual approach in two sentences, nonduality is based on the tacit recognition of the oneness, or “non-separation,” of all things. It means that “I” don’t exist separately from you or any other animate or inanimate being or thing: all is one. However, there is a big difference between being able to spew these words (as I just did), and living as one who abides eternally in the truth of this reality.

“Jivan, if we are going to hang out together, I need to feel like you’re really here with me and not always so detached,” I opened the floor.

“But who is the ‘you’ who wants to hang out with the ‘me’?”

“I am the me and you are the you!”

“There is no difference, so we can never really be apart or together; it’s all the same.”

“You’re full of shit.”

“But who do you think is the ‘me’ that is full of shit?”

“I think it is you!”

“Who’s getting angry?”

“I’m getting angry.”

“Look into my eyes, what do you see?”

“You.”

“Look more deeply. Now what do you see?”

“I see a lonely man who thinks he’s enlightened.”

This is great, thanks for sharing Kate.
A nice reminder of the dangers of "conceptual" enlightenment...

[Deleted for double post]

But being so disdainful of 'the herd' is not the type of awakening I got! Or wanted! Indeed that disdain is one of the major things that has to go.

I think Rowan is referring to this from the article:

When one decides to take the Siddhartha road to the Self, he soon realizes he is alone on that road. The herd is going in the opposite direction. One must be prepared for that, to find comfort in being alone, not understood by others.

My take on the article is it is a bit emotively strained... A little too much "your doomed" and a little too much "there is nothing you can do" a little too much "you're alone". You could write the inversion of the article because it is equally true that you are saved, there is something you can do, and you are part of a community of practitioners. It's tough to write about a middle path, it's like trying to describe sanity.

Noah wrote: So... not that I would ever watch a move like Age of Adaline, but here's a quote from it:

Adaline: Tell me something I can hold on to forever and never let go.
Ellis: Let go.

I saw that (yes, I would watch a movie like that ).

I certainly went through some very dark times, but much earlier on in the process. I agree with shargrol above but would also add that we are part of a beautiful community of people who don't do spiritual practice for awakening and never will. It's humbling not to see oneself as better than them, or to see all those people as a 'herd' and precisely one of the things I lost to an extent at awakening was egotistically seeing myself as special and different in that way. Imho someone who hasn't seen that has a way further to go. Ymmv.

From the Marco Polo episode 'Heirs':

The Mongol Queen requests Marco Polo's presence at the birth of the royal child, but not the father of the child (Prince Jingum). After Marco & the queen leave, there is an awkward silence in the room, shared between Prince Jingum, Kublai Khan, and the Daoist monk, Hundred Eyes. With a subtle smirk, Hundred Eyes says "perhaps she needed help setting the water to boil." Kublai Khan says "get out!" Hundred Eyes bows and says "joyfully."

Humor mixed with the exemplar of Mudita.

So many good quotes here:

antaiji.org/archives/eng/kodo-sawaki-to-you.shtml