At their root, all long-standing religious traditions are concerned, first and foremost, with the "awakening" of its adherents. What does this mean for Christians? I refer to Franciscan Richard Rohr:
In our regular contemplative “sit” (time of silent prayer) we are actually practicing being awake. Religious teachers, including Jesus, the Buddha, as well as many Hindu sages, are always telling us to wake up—to be alert, alive, awake, attentive, or aware. You might call it the AAAAA recovery program! But how can you do that? What does being awake actually mean?
Being conscious or aware means:
- I drop to a level deeper than the passing show.
- I become the calm seer of my dramas.
- I watch myself compassionately from a little distance, almost as if “myself” is someone else.
- I dis-identify with my own emotional noise and no longer let it pull me here and there, up and down.
- I stop thinking about this or that and collapse into pure or “objectless awareness” of nothing in particular. I don’t get there; I fall
At first, it does not feel like “me.” It is unfamiliar territory because up to now I thought that my thinking was “me,” yet now my thinking has ceased. I believe this is the meaning of Jesus’ teaching on “losing oneself to find oneself” (see Luke 9:24).
This new and broader sense of “me” gradually, over time, begins to feel like my deepest and truest self; it seems solid and unchanging. At this point, God, consciousness, I, silent emptiness, and fullness all start to feel like the same wonderful thing! This is what spiritual teachers mean by growth in holiness.*
Another way of understanding "awakening" is the gradually increasing realization of "thy Kingdom come." We say this familiar phrase in the Lord's Prayer time and time again, glossing over the odd use of the present-tense "come." It means that the Kingdom is now, here in this moment. How can we know this? We know it, when we are aroused from our sleep-state; when then we have eyes to see and ears to hear, as Jesus quips. The process begins with awareness, of which Rohr refers. If there was an Awareness 101 class it would begin with an understanding of the three "brains" of the human experience: Lizard, Monkey and Thinking. We are not awake in the Lizard and Monkey states, which are the places from which we operate, most of the time. Cultivating a practice of constant awareness moves us from reacting continuously to responding. Within our responses lie our freedom and our awakening. (There happens to be such a class! See below.)
Heidi Hanna explains the three brains:
When we find ourselves slipping into survival mode, it can feel pretty chaotic. Consider what happens when you’ve gone too long without eating, haven’t had a good night sleep in a while, or haven’t seen the sun in days – you might not feel quite like yourself. This is when I like to remind myself that my “monkey brain” has taken over. The first reason it’s helpful for me personally, is I happen to be a huge monkey fan, so I instantly get big smile on my face. Monkeys always seem to be in a pretty good mood, and are usually playing around, acting silly. So the initial reaction to thinking about something called our “monkey brain” just makes me laugh (and we’ll talk about how important laughter is to staying healthy in an upcoming chapter). But there is another reason to consider how the monkey brain responds differently than other parts of our brain, and when it can be detrimental to us.
Our brain can be separated into three sections – our lizard brain, our monkey brain, and our human brain. The “lizard brain” is found at the base of the brain, and contains the cerebellum and brain stem. Lizards only have these elements of the brain, which controls our most basic instincts. The next part of the brain, the “monkey brain” includes the majority of our tissue, and controls more complex tasks as well as emotions. Most mammals lead with their “monkey brain”, which is fueled by our most basic responses to fear and desire.
The most advanced part of the brain is the “human brain”, which consists of the outer layer, surrounding the “monkey brain”. This area allows for logical, emotionless thought, as well as delayed gratification. It is by using our “human brain” that we are able to think through our responses, rather than just reacting. But, when we are faced with threats to our system, we don’t have time to stop and analyze what’s going on. During these times we are glad to have our “lizard” and “monkey” brains to get us to safety, through our fight or flight response.
Because we have so many things going on at one time, when we multitask we can easily find ourselves using our “monkey brain”, making mindless decisions that may end up causing serious problems with important tasks, or even worse, with important relationships. Next time you find yourself trying to do a million things at once and getting irritable or grumpy with someone you care about, remind yourself that you’re using your “monkey brain”, and work on acting more like a human.
Please consider joining my upcoming class, Awakening! 40 days of Self-care and Self-knowledge, a weekly offering held on Zoom at 7pm every Wednesday night during Lent: March 9, 16, 23, 30 and April 6. During this class you will be exposed to a variety of authors and encouraged in choosing and being supported in Lenten disciplines that encourage your awakening. Learning to move from the Lizard or Monkey brain into conscious awareness will be included in this offering. Email revrmacgregor02@gmail.com for the Zoom link. Drop in when you can or take the whole series. There is no charge for this class.
*Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See (The Crossroad Publishing Company: 2009), 134-136.
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