Why "I" is an illusion that makes us suffer

People are absolutely sure that they know what "I" is. But if you think about it and try to explain what it is, difficulties arise.

We can say that “I” is my body. But completely paralyzed people do not cease to be themselves. Also not suitable for the definition of "I" memories, opinions, beliefs, social role, tastes, gender. You can change all of the above or lose memory. But at the same time, you will still feel your “I”. So where is it hiding?

In the book “No Ego, No Problem. What Buddhists Knew Before Scientists About the Brain,” cognitive neuropsychologist Chris Niebauer says that most people consider the voice that sounds in their head to be their “I”. It talks about the world, defines beliefs, recalls memories, identifies a person with their body, and predicts what might happen in the future.

This voice is a product of the work of the brain, or rather, the left hemisphere. And he is wrong more often than he would like.

How the left brain tells stories

Our brain consists of two hemispheres connected by the corpus callosum - the plexus nerve fibersthrough which impulses are transmitted.

In the 60s of the last century, scientists tried to separate them in order to relieve seizures in patients with epilepsy. This helped patients, and provided doctors and scientists with the opportunity to better understand the difference in the work of these two halves.

A study of people with a “split” brain showed that the hemispheres, although similar in their functions, also have significant differences:

• Left hemisphere creates explanations and reasons that help to understand what is happening. Niebauer calls him an "interpreter" of reality. It controls language and thinks in categories, compares, looks for differences and emphasizes them in order to separate one from the other. For example, to see a birch among poplars or to determine who at the party tastelessly dressed.
• Right hemisphere uses a global approach to perception. It processes information about the world without categorizing or labeling it. While the left brain creates verbal reflections, the right brain is responsible for the state of flow - the full involvement in the action, during which you seem to merge with your occupation.

Since the right hemisphere does not have access to language, its activities are often referred to as unconscious. But that doesn't mean his perception doesn't matter.

In one experiment a split-brained person was shown different images. To the left hemisphere - a chicken, and to the right - snow. Then the participant was asked to choose pictures related to the previous ones in meaning, and he pointed to a chicken foot and a shovel.

The subject was then asked to explain his choice. Since the right hemisphere has no language, and the left has not seen snow, a person could not make a connection between these pictures. Then he without any doubt declared that after the chicken it is necessary to clean up the droppings, and for this you need a shovel.

So the left hemisphere got out of the situation, coming up with a plausible, albeit incorrect, explanation.

Such errors in interpretation occur not only in people with a split brain. In fact, the left hemisphere is constantly making mistakes, and we are not even aware of it in most cases.

For example, in one experiment The researchers asked volunteers to rate the attractiveness of the people in the photo. The pictures were shown either before or after the participants rode the roller coaster. It turned out that after the attraction, the subjects always saw the people in the photo more beautiful: they mistakenly took the excitement of riding for attraction.

In his book How Emotions Are Born. A revolution in understanding the brain and managing emotions ”Lisa Barrett told how she once mistook for love the first symptoms of the flu. The left brain put the fever, the discomfort in the stomach, and the date with a new person together and interpreted it all as the excitement of an incipient passion.

So this part of the brain is always guessing what's going on and telling a story about it. And then she herself unconditionally believes in it. Moreover, our "I" is exactly the same story told to itself.

How the left hemisphere creates the illusion of "I"

The left brain is constantly creating patterns reality. We see some interconnections everywhere, and this is very useful. Thus, you can unload the brain and not spend a lot of time, each time re-evaluating the picture of what is happening. But at the same time, the tendency to see patterns in everything can complicate life and lead to misinterpretation.

For example, in one experiment split-brained people were asked to guess whether the square would appear on the top or bottom of the screen.

Images appeared randomly, but 80% of the time they were at the top. When the square appeared from the left and the right brain guessed, people were more likely to predict the top position and were almost always right. But when the picture appeared on the right, the “interpreter” stepped in and tried to calculate the pattern (which was not), so the participants were much more likely to be wrong in their predictions.

Chris Niebauer suggested that it was this left-brain tendency to look for stable patterns that led us to begin to perceive the "I" as something real and unshakable.

It can be said that there is no "I" in fact. It is created by the mind and supported by it. If there is a threat to this image, the left-brain interpreter steps in, rethinking and re-evaluating everything in the world in order to compensate for its position.

For example, if you feel stinging shame or you feel bad, the devaluation of others may turn on: “Yes, I don’t give a damn about their opinion!”. Or a change in personality focus: "Well, yes, I'm not rich, but I'm kind and I have many friends."

Why the illusion of "I" makes you suffer

In itself, the creation of an ego does not bring negative feelings - it is perceived quite naturally. Problems begin when we compare ourselves to others.

And since the left hemisphere emphasizes differences, everything happens automatically and does not require conscious effort. And here at your service not only all friends, neighbors and Colleagues, but generally strangers from social networks, as well as an imaginary ideal you, which for some reason you need to become.

Your state and self-perception depends on how much you are worse or better than others in any category:

• Neighbors blow dust off each other, and we constantly have scandals. I have a bad family. Suffering.
• The saleswoman was rude to me. How could she? Am I worse than others? Suffering.
• The son does not study well. I failed in his upbringing. I am a bad mother. Suffering.
• I love traveling so much, but I can't afford it. I spend my best years doing a job I hate. Suffering.

Even if you do not consider yourself an envious person, you still encounter similar comparisons every day. Just because that's the way we think. And all these thoughts are perceived as reality and serve as food for a whole range of negative emotions - from disappointment to shame, heartache and guilt.

We do not see reality behind interpretations. We divide the world into "before" and "after" instead of a single unceasing "now". We define ourselves, others, actions and events as "good" and "bad" in accordance with the categories that we have.

When, according to some criteria, you have established that you are a complete loseryou really start believing it. Just like you might believe in a flying spaghetti monster. Only this carbohydrate cutie does not upset you, and your illusory unworthy "I" - very much so.

How to Stop Suffering from Illusions

Try to perceive your personality not as a stable and unchanging thing, but as a process. Something like the flow of water or the play of light on the facets of a diamond.

Now your perception has developed like this, and the interpreter has made a certain conclusion. In another moment, it will develop in a different way, and you will already be a different “I” - not at all like what it was before.

This illusion depends on many different things: the environment, the environment, the state of health, the amount of sleep last night, satiety, and even the population of bacteria in the intestines!

You cannot turn off your "interpreter" - it is necessary and important. But you can teach him not to take his own predictions too seriously.

And to more often forget that it even exists, you can try meditation. This state is just aimed at turning off the inner voice, perceiving the world with a wordless right hemisphere.

Slightly shifting brain activity in this way, you begin to notice much more pleasant things around you, and you understand that thoughts are just thoughts, and not reality at all.