Vipassana And The Blue Dot Experiment

Let’s look beyond the blue dots

A large section of society advertises meditation to be a one-stop-shop for every problem. Even though this could not be further from reality, it’s a billion-dollar industry, so there should be something in it.

According to scientists, meditation helps in increasing the production of serotonin in our bodies. Serotonin is the happy neurotransmitter in the body. I am not a scientist and can’t count serotonin. I feel delighted after eating chocolates, cakes, and ice-creams. Hence, over the past few days, I have tried to answer some questions about meditation.

• So is meditation worth the hype?
• What does it do?
• How does it work?

I don’t have picture-perfect responses to these questions. But I am curious.

I found some answers by comparing personal experience with a Buddhist meditation technique known as “Vipassana” and a study done as part of the “Blue Dot Experiment.”

The Blue Dot Experiment

Dr. Gilbert, a psychology professor, conducted an experiment where the participants saw a range of dots ranging from blue to purple. The organizers paid the participants to focus on the blue dots. After some time, the researchers gradually replaced blue dots with purple. Surprisingly this change went unnoticed by most of the participants.

The reason was the motivation to focus on the blue dots. This effect was known as ‘Prevalence Induced Concept Change.’ More on this concept later on.

The following experiment expected participants to categorize scary & pleasant faces. Initially, the organizers displayed frightening faces, but as time passed, the organizers showed peaceful faces. Surprisingly, most participants formed a perception from looking at the intimidating faces and wrongly identified calm faces as threatening.

Next, the participants had to differentiate between unethical research proposals from constructive ones. After looking at poorly documented proposals initially, they form perceptions for all the submissions. Even though the proposals which followed were productive, the participants could not gauge the difference.

These experiments showed that we are inherently a cynical bunch of nerds. We cling to negative things in life as they are lottery tickets. Each adverse life event destroys our capability to look into the positives, and this creates a never-ending cycle of negative thoughts, eventually leading us into a state of rumination.

What is “Prevalence induced concept change”?

As promised in my previous section, I will talk more about this term. What does “Prevalence Induced Concept Change” mean?

It means that we expect bad situations to re-appear in our life even though the possibility reduces every passing minute — our relentless focus on the dodgy past colors our present in bold black ink. The prevalence of our dark past widens our expectation of a non-existential painful situation.

For example, in the blue dot experiment, people wrongly predicted pleasing faces with threatening ones. Even when the organizers pre-informed the participants about their intentions, they could not accurately gauge the difference.

See yourself in the mirror

I have been fortunate to test my rock bottom every day in the last four years. When I was down and out, my mother and aunt stood by me to remind me what I was worth for? Why should I be fighting? They were like a mirror to me.

They didn’t judge me but made me aware of my emotions. They didn’t question my decisions and taught me to accept myself the way I am. I understood the value of watching myself as a guest without any judgments but with acceptance.

I learned the advantages of being aware — the benefits of being in the present. But I didn’t know how to achieve this state of non-judgemental awareness. I wanted to use something within the framework of my body to work as a mirror.

Vipassana gave me a path. Vipassana is an ancient style of Buddhist meditation in which we observe sensations in our bodies to practice self-awareness. It’s a practical way to differentiate between blue and purple dots.

It’s ain’t that easy

Whenever anyone talks about meditation, a picture of a cross-legged person emerges. The images show a sense of calmness and peace.

None of these photos will tell you that the body starts aching in the first fifteen minutes. Thirty minutes into the session, and you feel like being in jail. Forty-five minutes and the pain becomes excruciating and unbearable. In short, this is the time when there is nothing but blue dots all over the body.

No matter how strong, flexible or disciplined you are, I have seen the strongest breaking down at this moment. Vipassana teaches you to watch and observe the pain as it moves through the body. As your awareness increases, you can pinpoint the exact location of the pain.

In between, there will be seconds of complete peace. There will be no pain, and the experience is like Golddust. You can now differentiate between the blue and the purple dots. See things as they are. This state is not permanent, and the pain will come back. The medicine will be the same, though. Watch it without any resentment.

Easier said than done. After the introductory ten days Vipassana course, the advice is to practice for an hour twice a day. The instruction is to build on this over time. The training is not to attach yourself to pleasant and unpleasant sensations (i.e., purple and blue dots) but to watch them like a mirror.

Finally, I have some answers

Enough of blah blah, Let’s revisit the questions I asked at the start of the session:

• So is meditation worth the hype? — No, it’s not a solution to every problem. It teaches you to be aware of the journey of each problem from its inception to the end.
• What does it do? — It lets us watch the blue and purple dots with the same lens. It utilizes the power of self-awareness to not let us past paint our future with the colors of our dark past.
• How does it work? — It works by taking the emotions away from reality and enables us to make peace with the present, and ends a never-ending battle of being someone we are not.

Thanks

Tarun

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