Default Zone
Here, said the guard, is the speech center.
We were touring the brain. Through the open
door we peered in but did not enter
the suddenly cavernous hall
where all the worlds answering services
could be poised to respond with all
words waiting to be expressed. As we
passed a narrow, unmarked door, I pointed,
asked, and the guide said, it's just the
default zone for introspection.
Not concerned with the world out there,
active when we're not paying attention.
It works best when it's left alone
as it has a mind of its own.
Are we approaching the neurology of meditation? Meditation as a goal, an objective, a phenomena in its own right? We're certainly not just unraveling complexes of words, not a time to call for Wittgenstein. We can't get there by trying to think hard about nothing.
Genuine meditation, if there is such: would it correspond to a state in which the default zone/system would be maximally active? Is the next question: is thai a state to be saught, to be desired? To be aware yet perceiving nothing?
