#meta-awareness

Meta-awareness is the knowledge of a world outside of the inner world. A headmate should possess at least a basic level of meta-awareness. They should know that they are sharing a body with others and have some idea of the life that is being lived outside of the inner world.

An inner world NPC or a daydream/dream character may have some rudimentary forms of agency or self-consciousness, but I wouldn't classify them as a true headmate until they have achieved meta-awareness. Similarly, a writer's characters may seem autonomous in their head while playing out a scene, but the writing character generally has no idea that they are in someone's story.

Science of Meta-awareness and Mind-Wandering with Jonathan Schooler.

The topic caught my attention, and immediately I thought of the number of times I have found myself in a daze. I couldn’t wait longer to listen to the interview and find out what exactly happens at moment when one is not in the moment. The research focuses on consciousness, Meta-awareness, mind wandering, and mindfulness. It explains the meaning of mind wondering while exploring the causes as well as its effects. The researcher gives a clear definition of mindfulness as a state of being attentive at the present action where one is aware of their environment. On the other hand, mind-wandering is when the mind drifts from the present to unrelated thoughts. The researcher goes ahead to explain how we can improve mindfulness as mind wondering can be a hazard in some situations, for instance, when driving a car or when reading a vital piece.  

While discussing about the research, he points out that mind-wandering can be beneficial as well especially in coming up with creative ideas. Also a percentage of people who engage in mind-wondering while faced with a problem tend to find a fitting solution. That then reveals that mind-wandering has its positive impacts as well. One needs to know the state of their emotions when their mind drifts.

The researcher of mind wandering topic is Jonathan Schooler a distinguished Professor of psychology and Brain Science at the University of California (Santa Barbra). He is an author of more than 200 scientific articles; his research covers a wide range of discipline including psychology, philosophy and meta-science.

After listening to the interview, I’m drawn to think that mind-wandering is an important aspect of human life as it brings a pause from the fast-paced life. The mind halts from reality. On the hand, it is hard to ensure that you are in the right state of mind during mind-wandering as it can negatively impact one.  The fact that mindfulness and mind-wondering are sort of opposite ends of a continuum fascinates me and that’s the reason why I would like to learn and discover the exploration of the mind, how it drifts from the present, how far it goes and what happens at that time.

An Interview with Professor Jonathan Schooler (Part Three)

Interviewer: Scott Douglas Jacobsen Numbering: Issue 14.A, Idea: Outliers & Outsiders (Part Nine) Place of Publication: Langley, British Columbia, Canada Title: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal Web Domain: http://www.in-sightjournal.com Individual Publication Date: August 22, 2017 Issue Publication Date: September 1, 2017 Name of Publisher: In-Sight Publishing Frequency: Three Times…