Hey everyone,
I've just read "A Field Guide to Earthlings" by Ian Ford, basically an explanation (from his autistic perspective) of neurotypical culture and behavior. Not 100% perfect, and with a publishing date of 2010 I'd say its already showing its age a bit, but overall very good. I'm interested if anyone else has read or has experience with this book, mostly because there are a lot of points in here where he talks about things in ways that seem like they wouldn't be out of character in Zen circles.
For instance, he talks about what he calls "symbolic filtering," "The NT brain learns to categorize and direct incoming signals...the act of filtering stimuli is called 'symbolic filtering' [which] converts real world stimuli into an internal symbolic representation of the real world. When the external world is taken in as words, it is physically painless." This sounds a lot like when we talk about direct perception of reality, right view, seeing things as they are, etc.. Sometimes he even uses similar language, "A common delusion is that the economy exists...[rather than] the ability of each individual to meet their needs."
Another one tat caught my attention, discussing meaning, "If meaning is inferred, it can feel deeper than if it is explicit. Inferences can defeat defense mechanisms, in cases where direct meaning would be rejected. Also, active learning is more relevant than passive learning, so the more work that goes into discerning the meaning, the more relevant it seems." This sounds very much like koan study to me, at least one interpretation of koan study I've heard, which is that the koan serves to circumvent and frustrate your mind's conditioning and defenses.
At this time I'm mostly just curious if anyone else here is familiar with this book, and wanting to share that I found this interesting. It felt to me that the neurotypical culture he described was very similar to what I think Zen aims to liberate from. As I'm learning more about my own ASD, I'm interested to learn more about other ND folks experience in Zen, and have a hunch there may be insights to be had for Zen more broadly as ND experiences are shared and unpacked more openly.
Gassho,
Taigen
SatLah
I've just read "A Field Guide to Earthlings" by Ian Ford, basically an explanation (from his autistic perspective) of neurotypical culture and behavior. Not 100% perfect, and with a publishing date of 2010 I'd say its already showing its age a bit, but overall very good. I'm interested if anyone else has read or has experience with this book, mostly because there are a lot of points in here where he talks about things in ways that seem like they wouldn't be out of character in Zen circles.
For instance, he talks about what he calls "symbolic filtering," "The NT brain learns to categorize and direct incoming signals...the act of filtering stimuli is called 'symbolic filtering' [which] converts real world stimuli into an internal symbolic representation of the real world. When the external world is taken in as words, it is physically painless." This sounds a lot like when we talk about direct perception of reality, right view, seeing things as they are, etc.. Sometimes he even uses similar language, "A common delusion is that the economy exists...[rather than] the ability of each individual to meet their needs."
Another one tat caught my attention, discussing meaning, "If meaning is inferred, it can feel deeper than if it is explicit. Inferences can defeat defense mechanisms, in cases where direct meaning would be rejected. Also, active learning is more relevant than passive learning, so the more work that goes into discerning the meaning, the more relevant it seems." This sounds very much like koan study to me, at least one interpretation of koan study I've heard, which is that the koan serves to circumvent and frustrate your mind's conditioning and defenses.
At this time I'm mostly just curious if anyone else here is familiar with this book, and wanting to share that I found this interesting. It felt to me that the neurotypical culture he described was very similar to what I think Zen aims to liberate from. As I'm learning more about my own ASD, I'm interested to learn more about other ND folks experience in Zen, and have a hunch there may be insights to be had for Zen more broadly as ND experiences are shared and unpacked more openly.
Gassho,
Taigen
SatLah
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