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The Gods, the Self, and the Bicameral Mind
This is what you get for reading Anna Karenina on the beach
Who drove you to work?
Who locked your front door? Who turned off the burner on the stove? It must’ve been you. And yet you don’t remember doing it.
Certain actions, usually repetitive ones that require no significant cognitive processing, are forgotten as soon as they are performed. That’s how we find ourselves arriving at a familiar destination with no clear recollection of the journey it took to get there, or wondering with a sudden panic whether we remembered to do something crucial.
The brain uses up approximately twenty percent of the body’s energy. More than any other organ and a truly colossal cost for any organism. And it never sleeps. When you’re not focused on the outside world, the brain turns on itself. The so-called default mode network activates when you’re not otherwise engaged, or engaged only partially.
When you think about the past or the future, when you focus on yourself, you’re slipping into this default mode. It’s the part of your brain that’s more active when the rest of you is resting. And in some senses, it’s the part that makes you you. Your memories and preferences and dreams. The million glittering beads that make up the mosaic.
