In this course, I aim to present a laboratory of contemplative practices with which we can conduct a science of the subjective. Though science usually refers to the systematic study of the natural world (the world we might take to be outside our minds) through observation, experimentation, and hypothesis testing, we can apply a similarly systematic approach to analyzing our subjective experience of both ourselves and the world. This is how I like to think about contemplative practices: they are methods of observation and experimentation applied to our first-person experiences.
One of the simplest, though not necessarily easiest, such tests is to simply sit quietly and observe that machinations of our mind. As one meditation teacher put it,
“If you want to understand your mind, sit down and observe it.” - Munindra
Easier said than done! As the famous mathematician Blaise Pascal put it, “All of humanity’s problems, stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” When we first try to sit and observe the mind, we notice that it isn’t so easy. It’s as if the mind has a mind of its own.
Fortunately, many of the practices we’ll be experimenting with have been in use for thousands of years. Modern psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience have shed a lot of light on how and why those practices work and the sorts of changes they can catalyze in the practitioner.
Think of the various contemplative practices you’ll encounter here like the tools in a laboratory. The tools are just the tools. What we’re most often interested in when we conduct experiments is the raw material on which we experiment, not the tools we use to conduct those experiments. In the case of contemplative practices, the raw material on which you’re experimenting is your own subjective experience.
Some of these practices might yield really powerful insights. Some might not. Give each one a fair shot, but remember that the aim is self-knowledge: we’re here to gain insight into what makes us tick, what drives us, what holds us back, what moves us.
DISCLAIMER: Though many of the readings and practices in this course come from spiritual/religious traditions, our approach will be entirely empirical and experiential. In the spirit of beginner’s mind, the expectation is that you don’t take anything at face value, let alone believe any of the theoretical foundations or scientific evidence for these practices. Each time we engage in a contemplative practice, we want to simply notice what is present in our experience, be that physical, mental, emotional, or otherwise. Any beliefs or doubts that bubble up become part of the practice of observation.
One final point
Although there may be a positive outcome bias in scientific research, we learn as much from negative results as we do from positive results. Even in the case of a failed experiment, one in which we neither confirmed nor refuted a hypothesis, we can learn a great deal from an investigation into why our experiment failed: Was there an issue with our methods, our execution, or our assumptions? Did we not give it enough time?
The same is true in contemplative practices. When a particular self-reflection doesn’t seem to yield any answers, or when a meditation leaves us feeling more agitated rather than more relaxed, we can still learn from the experience of not getting what we expected, but only if we remain curious. As the meditation teacher Adyashanti says, the primary task of such practices “is not to answer your questions, but to question your answers.”