Consciousness is the process of studying the brain—and yourself—from the inside out.
It's like a beautiful dance with yourself. People who go on this journey naturally want others to experience it too, because it's an incredible experience.
Most of what we currently know about the brain comes from studying it from the outside in—for example, through brain scans. But the most fascinating way to understand the brain is to discover how your own brain works from the inside out. That is absolutely possible.
One day, I asked my brain, "How do you work?" To my surprise, I got answers.
The mistake people often make is assuming that we are our brain. I find that a strange conclusion. My brain is a part of me, just as my foot is a part of me. Whether the brain is the most important part depends entirely on what we consider important.
A lot of people talk about how they think the brain works, but they're often the ones who have never actually tried different approaches themselves.
For example, have you ever tried to pull a thought out of your brain from the inside out? I bet you think that's impossible. I do it almost every night. I simply pick out individual thoughts.
Or take this: sometimes I set up my thinking in such a way that I know I'll have a specific thought tomorrow afternoon. There is so much more possible than people realize. Some of it is very difficult to explain.
I don't mean this in the sense of trying to control your thoughts or sitting under a tree meditating for years. It's much more playful than that.
Throughout this book, you'll see many different things I tried from different mental and emotional states. Some of them worked. Some didn't.
You'll also notice recurring themes. Thoughts come back, but they're slightly refined each time. Or you'll look at exactly the same thing in a completely different way simply because you feel better—or worse—at that moment.