In chatting about this with ChatGPT, it described the DMN as "strongly associated with self-referential thought, autobiographical memory, rumination, and the sense of a continuous, bounded self- essentially, the psychological "I"." It is the proverbial nemesis of the true spiritual seeker. Aha!!
All our internal monologues are the DMN - the part of us that is judging everything, including ourselves, as well as all of the other mind-wandering and worrying we do. Most people spend about 40-50% of our time in the Default Mode Network, although those with depression and/or loneliness may spend as much as 70% or more. YIKES!
The Default Mode Network is also responsible for our political, religious, or other battling, and holding us to our personal or groupthink standing. When we are confronted with an opposing view, the DMN is triggered which causes us to go into a heightened state of self-reference and defense, in to order to MAINTAIN our sense of self and our precious religious or political identity. In other words, it keeps us from actually being open to alternative viewpoints and possible change!
So what does this have to do with Enlightenment? When I was researching into this DMN, I pretty quickly remembered the book by Suzanne Segal - Collision with the Infinite. In that book, Suzanne describes how one day, while getting on a bus, her whole sense of self suddenly and completely disappeared. Even though Suzanne had been meditating for years, and losing the sense of self or ego, is often described as the ultimate enlightenment, it put her in a panic, and she had a very difficult time with this, working for years to understand it. As it turned out, Suzanne had a brain tumor, which was the ultimate cause of her death in 1997. It occurred to me that a brain tumor MAY have influenced her DMN, causing it to disappear or go quiet, and thus her sense of self with it. I don't have any evidence for that, except I remembered another interesting brain case - the book My Stroke of Insight, by Jill Bolte Taylor. There is a fascinating TED Talk on Youtube, from 2008, which you can still find, if you're interested. Jill is a Neuroanatomist who one morning experienced herself having a stroke. It began with pounding, pulsing pain in her left eye, and progressed to an inability to walk, talk, read, or recall parts of her own past (a function of the DMN). But this all moved from initial panic to a sense of peace and joy, a loss of her sense of physical boundaries and becoming 'One with Everything'.
So maybe my theory isn't so far-fetched after all, eh?
However, there may be more to it than this. For instance, Jill Bolte Taylor immediately felt bliss and expansiveness, while Suzanne describes it with terror!
Searching the 'net' for 'Default Mode Network and Enlightenment' brought up such articles as:
When We Turn Down The Default Mode Network, The Ego Dissolves
The Neuroscience of Enlightenment
Default Mode Network - The Root of Suffering
Can Enlightenment be Traced to Specific Neural Correlates?
Science and Spiritual Enlighenment
Enlightenment, a Distinct Cognitive State
You get the picture. So obviously, I'm not the first one to have these ideas. If you can diminish or eliminate the workings of this default mode, you may be on your way.
How does one naturally turn down the DMN? You could probably guess....one of the key ways is through meditation! Also, aerobic exercise does it. I imagine anything that puts you 'In the zone' also moves us from the DMN. Psychedelics also temporarily move us out of the DMN.
One of the best methods is any kind of focused attention meditation, such as watching the breath - simply 'be with' the breath as it goes in and out. A variation of this is to feel or imagine yourself expanding out with each breath as you expand into infinite space.
The inquiry - 'Who am I?' is very effective, as long as you don't answer mentally. In other words, you want to direct your attention to the 'sense' of I AM - the feeling of pure awareness, free from thoughts. Or the space in which thoughts arise, but focusing on that space of Being itself, not on the thoughts.
Mantra is another very effective method for moving out of the DMN space, where you're focusing with full attention on whatever word or phrase you choose. For instance, at the bottom of my blogs, you'll maybe notice a couple lines of strange writing. That is the Devanagari version of the Sanskrit mantra - Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare - said to be the taraka-brahma-nama or the names that liberate one in the present Kali Yuga.
Can one permanently shut down the Default Mode Network? Probably not, which would also possibly explain why enlightened teachers retain a specific personality. Even with minimal dependence on the DMN, the memories, habits, and thought patterns would still remain in the brain - the individual just wouldn't put as much emphasis on them.
Is this really the key to enlightenment? Truthfully, I have no idea. I've only scratched the surface on this topic, and definitely not any kind of expert. However, it does give us some kind of anatomical/psychological explanation behind the phenomena. Also, we have to remember that the whole idea of Waking up to who we truly are IS, by definition, free from the body/mind complex. In fact, when we're resting as that Beingness, the whole body, mind, and the entire cosmos appear IN that space of Pure Awareness.
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हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण कृष्ण कृष्ण हरे हरे
हरे राम हरे राम राम राम हरे हरे
Such a great exploration: The Neurophysiology of Enlightenment. Yogis, Mystics, Shamans have been on this track since the birth of time—essentially forever.
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