Natural selection didn't shape the human brain to understand reality as it is. It designed it to hallucinate whatever helps humans survive and reproduce. You can't turn off the hallucinations, but if you pay close enough attention to them, they gradually become less convincing.
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Instead of taking thoughts as true representations of reality, we can simply try to see each thought as an object - one that has spontaneously arisen out of the emptiness of mind due to factors beyond our control.
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This allows us to take a step back. We can ask "does this thought contain any useful information?" before we decide to engage with it. The mind's habit is to immediately feel like we *own* the thoughts, and that we're obligated to take them seriously. This habit can be loosened.
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Gradually, the hallucination becomes more transparent. It’s a bit like switching to a lower darkness level on a pair of sunglasses. When wearing sunglasses, the tint is an unavoidable feature, but the darkness can vary. Think of conceptual overlays as the “tint” of the mind.
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It's probably not possible to experience reality with no filter at all (nor would it be desirable, given that we need filters to be functioning humans). But it is possible to have conceptual filters be more transparent, so that they aren't preventing us from seeing clearly.
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When you can see filters as they are, and switch between filters pragmatically without ever being attached to one or another, your mind is much freer to engage with life in a more relaxed way. Many problems cease to be problems, and real problems become easier to solve.
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