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Sissiphys's avatar

Great article! I wonder why there is rarely any discussion on what brain states are useful. The default mode network is not a mistake by evolution or some "historical artefact" to overcome. Dissolving our sense of self into oceanic bliss might be a great emergency exit for some people but for an active social, creative human with ecosystems of agencies requires an integrated well trained default mode network.

"Explaining a joke is like dissecting a frog. It’s not very interesting, and the frog dies in the process.”

The same is true for our sense of self.

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gwern's avatar

> "Upon his death man must leave everything behind ... and depart forever from the world he has known. He must of necessity go to that foul land of death, a fact which makes death the most sorrowful of all events. ... Some foreign doctrines, however, teach that death should not be regarded as profoundly sorrowful. ... These are all gross deceptions contrary to human sentiment and fundamental truths. Not to be happy over happy events, not to be saddened by sorrowful events, not to show surprise at astonishing events, in a word, to consider it proper not to be moved by whatever happens, are all foreign types of deception and falsehood. They are contrary to human nature and extremely repugnant to me."

Motoori Norinaga; or one fun story from _Zen Flesh, Zen Bones_:

> Unsho kept the precepts scrupulously, & Tanzan did as he pleased. One day Unsho visited Tanzan, who was drinking. "Won't you have a drink?" "I never drink!" "One who does not drink is not even human." "Then what am I?" "A Buddha."

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