Make the mind cat-like (and win a gold medal)

I don't really believe in sychronicity or the universe has a message for me, but in the past 24 hours three pieces of information have combined to produce a feeling of, well, synchronous messaging going on.

Last night I was reading TIME's summer olympics special issue. Lolo Jones, the American hurdler, describes what happened during her disastrous run for a gold medal in the 2008 Olympics. In the midst of the race...

And then there was a point after that where I was like, Wow, these hurdles are coming up really, really fast. You have to make sure you don't get sloppy in your technique. I was telling myself to make sure my legs were snapping out. So I overtried. I tightened up a bit too much. That's when I hit the hurdle. Honestly, I should have relaxed a little bit and just run. Instead, I was just so paranoid because they were coming up so fast, I snapped it down too fast.

A few paragraphs on, there's a discussion of what "choking" is all about in athletic endeavors.

Beilock and other scientists who study choking -- there are more of them than you might think -- suspect that athletes under stress choke when too many thoughts flood the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain that houses informational memory. Worry, and the brain becomes too busy. It's a misallocation of resources. The motor cortex, which controls the planning and execution of movements, should be doing most of the work for experienced athletes.

...Jocks should be dumb and not think too much. Jones' recall of her Beijing race suggests that her working memory, rather than her muscle memory, was too engaged. She talks about technique. Notice that she was "telling myself to make sure my legs were snapping out" rather than just letting her motor cortex do it.

Then, this morning I got an email from Nick, who sent me a link to a post on a discussion forum that has something to do with self-realization and all that stuff. (I didn't think about the web site; I just read the post in a dumb way.)

The cat is looking at you, but he can't hold your gaze because that's not his game. He has no interest in what you think. What goes on in your mind means nothing to the cat. Even when you fail to feed him and he's reminding you of your failure, it isn't your mind he's appealing to - it's your behavior.

Behavior is all the cat knows, and he's a master of behavior because he does what he can't imagine, reflect upon, or second-guess. Behavior is all the cat knows, which means he can't know this. What the cat knows, he can't think about, and what the cat thinks, he can't know. This works well for the cat, and it works well for what enjoys the cat's behavior. The cat reminds the self-conscious mind of what it is, and why.

Finally, as I was starting to write this post my wife asked me if I remembered the part in David Eagleman's "Incognito" book where he talks about Japanese chicken sexers. She's listening to an audio version of the book; I read a dead-tree version.

Yes, I did remember. Here's a description of what the chicken sexers can do, in an Eagleman article titled "Your Brain Knows a Lot More Than You Realize."

When chicken hatchlings are born, large commercial hatcheries usually set about dividing them into males and females, and the practice of distinguishing gender is known as chick sexing. Sexing is necessary because the two genders receive different feeding programs: one for the females, which will eventually produce eggs, and another for the males, which are typically destined to be disposed of because of their uselessness in the commerce of producing eggs; only a few males are kept and fattened for meat.

So the job of the chick sexer is to pick up each hatchling and quickly determine its sex in order to choose the correct bin to put it in. The problem is that the task is famously difficult: male and female chicks look exactly alike.

Well, almost exactly. The Japanese invented a method of sexing chicks known as vent sexing, by which experts could rapidly ascertain the sex of one-day-old hatchlings. Beginning in the 1930s, poultry breeders from around the world traveled to the Zen-Nippon Chick Sexing School in Japan to learn the technique.

The mystery was that no one could explain exactly how it was done. It was somehow based on very subtle visual cues, but the professional sexers could not say what those cues were. They would look at the chick’s rear (where the vent is) and simply seem to know the correct bin to throw it in.

And this is how the professionals taught the student sexers. The master would stand over the apprentice and watch. The student would pick up a chick, examine its rear, and toss it into one bin or the other. The master would give feedback: yes or no. After weeks on end of this activity, the student’s brain was trained to a masterful—albeit unconscious—level.

So there we have it. Three bits of information. Which add up to... I don't know. 

Ah! That could mean I do know. I just don't know that I know it, often the best sort of knowing. If you want to win a gold medal. Or be a cat. Or a chicken sexer.

Comments

[harry]

even jesus had 12 disciples, and the disciples regarded jesus as their guru/teacher.
one of them betrayed jesus, yet the master jesus was all knowing and an enlightened soul. he did not change his bad fate or disown his disciple. which i think is the case of brian

what we can learn is that this 'guru' 'teacher' has been always around and obviously god will not be unfair to send just certain saints at certain times, they are always present....

when jesus was around, no one believed him except his 12 disciples, after he died, everyone believed him, well mostly.

the same is with guru nanak ji, when he was around, only very few disciples believed and listened to him, yet when he left this world , he has millions of followers, if guru nanak ji was to enlighten all souls after he left this world ...then why would he leave a successor to carry on his work.... he would have said just believe and pray to me and i will save u.

same with john the baptist. he initiated jesus, and he was the successor.

so i think we always need a teacher, if i passed a school exam, who would i thank? the books i studied from or the school teacher that taught me from the books???
the answer is obvious !!

thats the same with religious books, you read it and think you know it all, but when a living guide explains it properly, then you thank the living guide for clearing your doubts and helping you.

[cc]

"then you thank the living guide for clearing your doubts and helping you."

Nobody can clear your doubts but you. When you doubt something, you look more closely, examine more carefully until you get to the bottom of whatever it is you're uncertain about. That's the value of doubt. Without it, you're just a follower, a sucker, a fool.

[harman]

Well if i got stuck on an exam question. had doubts on my answer. needed clarification, then no amount following my self . Examining more carefully will bring the right answer. only a living teacher can point you in the right direction. and give you the right answer. then you can examine the formula. do the experiment to see if you get that result.

When we come inti this world we need a teacher straight away. our first teacher are mum and dad. no amount of self help will help the kid grow. talk or walk. only through guidance of his parents will he suceed. then through out life whatever we learn we need a teacher. driving. studying, swimming, any skill or sport u need a teacher. you can not examine or learn an art urself. very rare.

brian is a wonderful person and soul. his dislike to rssb is justified in his reasons. we can not tell him that he is wrong. all of us on here have read from books about what is right and wrong, whether god exists.etc. this is secondary knowledge. not primary experience or your own knowledge.
so how can we tell him he is wrong when we are lost ourselves.
all our knowledge is based on books. we have seen nothing ourselves!!
if were enlightened souls. then we would see god in everyone. even brian. so then tell me who is right and wrong. we would just stay quiet . especially when god is in everyone and we from our primary experience can see that he is everywhere,then our doubts would come to an end.because god himself is directing this worldly play.
all this world is a stage . we come and do our parts then depart from this earth. like shakespeare said.

[cc]

"we have seen nothing ourselves!!
if were enlightened souls. then we would see god in everyone."

Huh? Help me out here. If "we have seen nothing ourselves", how do we know what we would see if "enlightened"? Or is it you that sees what we don't?

[harman]

Well look at history of enlightened souls. such as jesus, the sikh gurus. , bulleh shah, kabir, and reading their scriptures will tell you what enlightenment means. and how to achieve it.

just like a littpe child says he wants to be a doctor, parents just agree with the child but not say no way u wil not be.
thats our case at the moment . we keep saying who is wrong and right based on our understanding and knowledge.

then if the child grows up and studies and takes the appropriate exams he qualifies for a doctor and reaches that stage of doctrine. the same is with enlightenment. until we dont achieve it ourselves we will carry on with worthless arguments and justify our own ego.

just like john the baptist enlightened jesus and baptised/initated him. just like guru nanak chose his successor becausr he felt that he had reached the stage of being a guru.

Just like jesus when he was preaching and achieved tue ultimate enligthment and said god is in evryone. my father has many mansions. let him cast the first stone who has never sinned in his life.
i cant say much more. because i dont want to prove anything but say that no one is wrong or correct. My only point was that a living guide is a neccessity. we have to find a guide who preaches the same as moses. jesus. guru nanak. bulleh shah. their actual writings have not been altered and tue truth is in their teachings.

[tAo]

harman, you're full of crap.

[harman]

Thanks. i agree.
but again you are only saying that because u think u know it all.

The whole world is full of crap. because we are all dead people walking. these very bodies will be buried here.
The whole world is full of death and crap.

[Juan]

harman, you're a real gurmukh.

[Gaz]

Come on Tao, don't be so narrow minded, Harman is saying some good things, just because he is RS don't shut him off. That's the problem with these so called ex RS satsangis that have supposedly meditated diligently for 30 years.

Now if someone said your full of crap to one of Brian's puppets then there would be a myriad of vengeance and even from the puppet master himself.

Oh well, you reap what you sow, believe in God, don't believe in God, there's justice in this world.

[cc]

"Come on Tao, don't be so narrow minded, Harman is saying some good things"

Sorry Gaz. Tao is right. Harman - a fine fellow and an upstanding citizen - is full of crap.