By: Dr. G. R. Vijayakumar
“Meditate always on my formless nature, which is Knowledge Incarnate, Consciousness and Bliss”
The human brain is programmed for and capable of subtlety, nobility, and benevolence. It has a center that bestows a unique and divine attribute to man. A neural substrate that generates and regulates compassion and empathy. Extensive neuroimaging research has associated activation of a core salience network, involved in the processing of affective, painful stimuli. Comprising two key regions, the anterior insula and anterior cingulate, activation of this network has been implicated in effecting compassion and empathy.
Empathy and compassion are the need of the hour, and humans perched atop the apex of the evolutionary pyramid, can surely use its power of discretion to inculcate and imbibe these virtues.
Mechanisms that mediate compassion involve using the sense of self as a reference point to perceive the world and gain information about other people’s mental states. However, applying these self-referential projection mechanisms in situations where it is inappropriate can result in egocentrically biased judgments.
Understanding how egocentrism arises has become increasingly important and relevant. Egocentrism and narcissism have been steadily increasing over the last decades, with some scholars even talking about a ‘narcissism epidemic’.
Egocentrism and narcissism arise out of a false sense of identification of the self. A self that regales in sensory gratification. A self that is utterly hedonistic and in relentless pursuit of power, gratification, and domination.
The quest for gratification is boundless and insatiable. Satiety based on extrinsic agents is inherently flawed. Satiety that requires constant stimulation mutates to lust, and eventually is doomed.
A mouse experiment, where an electrode was placed in the pleasure center bears testimony to this. The mouse was placed in a box that had a lever. On pressing the lever, the electrode delivered a micro current to its pleasure center. Once the mouse realized that pressing the lever resulted in pleasure, it kept on pressing the lever repeatedly.
There is an intrinsic pathway that does not rely on any external stimulation to reach a state of bliss and contentment. Activation of these pathways is what spirituality is all about.
Egocentrism and egocentric behavior have the inherent potential to unleash large scale destruction and devastation, if they fester in the psyche of political and religious leaders.
Political or religious ideology is quickly degenerating into an all-consuming obsessive narcissism that reeks of intolerance. An intolerance that will not hesitate to effect destruction in an attempt to subjugate.
“Wherever you are, and whatever you may be doing, always bear it in mind that I shall continue to be informed of the minutest details of your deeds.” – Shri Sai Baba (Chap 3, Ovi 143-148)
Temperance, compassion, empathy, tolerance are the benchmarks of evolution of the human brain. The brain is capable of not just intellectual evolution but more importantly of emotional evolution. There has never been a greater need to affect a paradigm shift. A shift from the segregated, hegemony of ritualistic religion, to a far more holistic and inclusive spiritual harmony. Spirituality, that’s universal and reveals a path to knowledge of the Self. Knowledge of the Self that transcends the physical form. Knowledge that liberates from the ego and all egocentrism. Knowledge that will unite mankind to a cohesive, collective consciousness and usher in an era of peace and bliss. An understanding that all duality and diversity is merely a manifestation of a fundamental non-duality. A non-duality that’s forever in a state of blissful awareness.
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