The Quest for Modern Enlightenment

Reality is in The Mind of the Beholder

Dr. Amy Johnson, author of Modern Enlightenment, shares her insights about the nature of thought and how thought habits form the thought filters through which we view the world.

We each have our own individualized perception of reality that is separate and apart from anyone else’s individualized perception of reality.

The moment your brain begins processing stimuli, your individual consciousness is born. From this point forward you begin to experience reality from your own egocentric point of view. As you take in information your brain effectively recognizes repeated stimulus/response patterns and actually changes and forms neuropathways making the future processing of this pattern a fluid, almost undetectable process. These neurological changes are the roots of your core beliefs and form your internal map of reality.

As you grow you continue to synthesize, streamline, lump and group all of your experiences based on how your individual brain filters the stimulus it receives. By seven or eight years old you have a fairly solidified version of what “reality” is which is different from every one else’s.

The developmental process continues throughout your life with your brain responding and altering itself to adapt to new conscious or unconscious stimuli. In scientific terms this process is know as neuroplasticity. Thoughts that are repeated over and over get primary attention as do thoughts that are infused with fear energy. Your brain sees these as very important and wants to make sure you have access to them in times of perceived “danger.”

According to Dr. Amy Johnson in her blog post on MariaShriver.com, “this is how our way of being in the world gets shaped. Something happens and out of our perceived need for survival, we define ourselves in relation to it….that’s the moment we lose a little piece of ourselves.”

Your brain does this over and over again, learning, adapting, engraining, altering, changing and through this process the pure consciousness that you were born with becomes buried under layers of solidified thoughts and beliefs.

I was struck by Amy’s favorite definition of enlightenment as removing the dimness or blindness from one’s heart. She makes the statement that “our hearts become dim when they are covered with layers upon layers of beliefs and expectations…removing the dimness begins with awareness and end with choice.”

For Amy, enlightenment is not associated with any religious practice or philosophy. It is about accepting that your brain has been shaped and programmed by your experiences, being mindful and noticing when this programming is running your thoughts and changing it when you can. It is also about understanding that much of this programming is deeply engrained, so having compassion for yourself when it drives your emotions and behavior is essential.

The quest for enlightenment is an ongoing journey. And according to Amy, her book, Modern Enlightenment, is about finding the balance between loving and accepting yourself as you are and striving to uncover and learn more to become who you were born to be.