We just published a new video from our conversation with John Dunne, PhD, exploring one of the most compelling intersections between neuroscience and meditation: predictive processing.
The central idea is simple but profound: according to this framework, we don’t experience the world directly—we experience the brain’s model of it.
That perspective offers a fascinating way to understand why anxiety, depression, and negative self-stories can feel so convincing, and why meditation isn’t about suppressing thoughts, but learning to relate to them differently.
Watch here: Your Brain Doesn’t Experience Reality
Some of the topics covered include:
- How the brain constructs a model of reality
- Why certain thought patterns become so difficult to update
- What “de-reification” means in meditation
- Why mindfulness helps us see thoughts as mental events rather than facts
- How changing our relationship to thought can reduce suffering
After you’ve watched, we’d love to hear what stood out to you. Have you ever experienced a moment where a thought suddenly lost its grip and became “just a thought”?