The Brain and the River

I finally have reached my decision. I kind of have everything figure out already, more or less. There is something I need to verify but I think it does not matter because it is going to be difficult to verify, so I decide to let go. So now is the time to implement it. So let us see how it goes from here.

Anyway, I am not going to blog about that. These few days, I have been listening to Ajahn Brahm's talk on Youtube. Now loading another to listen to :P For those of you who do not know Ajahn Brahm, he is actually a Buddhist monk and has come to Singapore to speak quite a few times, but I missed the opportunity to learn from him during those times, but I managed to find time to listen to his talk now. He is indeed wise after listening to 5 of his talk in YouTube and another two live talks conducted last Sunday. Very thought stimulating, which I love. And as I mentioned, these few days, I need some wisdom to help me sort through my thinking and yes, there are some nuggets of wisdom which I can use. Thank you.

When listening to one of his talk about embracing changes, there is something that he said that I would like to share with all the readers out there and it is about embracing change and learning for the better.

He was telling us how we should improve our thinking and our lives. Very simply put, think of your brain as a river. If the river is very slow moving, then it is very dirty and murky right? If the river is fast moving, the water is crystal clear and clean. How does it apply to our brain? Haha, well, if you are able to adopt better ideas, thinkings and change mindset fast, then your brain would be clean and clear and vice versa, if your brain does not accept better ideas, thinkings and change mindset fast, your brain will be 'dirty' and 'rusty' and may not help you to survive the current environment. The key is that we should be constantly exposed to new ideas and thinking, just like a river that keeps on flowing. When you look at a particular cross-section of it, the water molecules are always different.

Now the thing is this, when you are exposed to better ideas, usually we need to verify it ourselves or listen to more opinion before we truly accept the idea and adopt it into our life, which is what Ajahn Brahm preaches, keep questioning. Look for facts that support and also dispute the idea. Then u see for yourself whether you want to accept the idea or not. You have the right to reject the idea if you do not believe in it after viewing the supporting and disputing facts.

Now does that mean that when we see a better idea, we have to really go out and look for all the supporting and disputing facts, do a proper analysis and then adopt the new idea immediately? My personal opinion is no need to be immediately. Just keep in mind that this idea has not been verified yet. Use it with such a knowledge in mind. If you feel that it is a better idea, adopt it straightaway, but always remember to look out for facts that support and most importantly facts that DISPUTE it. And don't dispute the disputing facts. Look at it, scrutinise it, check it, verify it, recognize it and if it dispute the idea really badly, it might be time to abandon the idea altogether. Don't bend the disputing fact to suit the faith you have about the 'better' idea, because sometime the 'better' idea might be 'better' at that moment of time but might have change as time passes (I guess this is what Buddhist people called "Impermanence").

Always rejuvenate our mind with better and new ideas. Open our senses, accept the information that are coming in AS IT IS. Do not mixed it with emotions, perceptions and assumptions. (I know I know it is difficult, I did not say it was easy anyway.) In this way, our brain would be like a fast moving river, that is always clear and clean and useful for the present moment.

Haha, sounds very deep right? Well, there is more to it but these are my thoughts of it at the moment. When I can comprehend more, I will put them in the blog. For those of you who are interested to know more, I strongly recommended that you look up for Ajahn Brahm's talk in YouTube. Although I am a free thinker, I can tell u I benefited a lot from his wisdom. I like the Buddhism way of thinking things and how it see things. Very insightful.

Thank you very much. Cheers!