Understanding the Process of Perception and Cognition : หน้า 59/164

“Our brain (the five senses actually) takes in information in this way: Perception, Memorization, Thinking, Knowing or Cognition. Perception, of course, starts the process by an action happening to us, or by us simply taking in information due to what is happening in the world around us. The word comes from the Latin *perceptio* meaning to receive, or collect. So we first become aware of, or recognize, the action, or thought. “Then, we memorize this ‘thing’ or ‘action’ – and we do this by committing it to the next level of our mind; we learn it by heart so some would say. Sometimes we learn things by rote, or learn it by repetition, and this rote learning can take us some time – like learning our multiplication tables. Other things, we learn quickly because we need to remember a telephone number or a person’s name or face because it will be important information for us to use at some future time. Either way, we memorize these things. “Next, we form some opinion on the thing or action or thought itself. Usually we place a value judgment on this as well. In other words, we start to actually think about it, and thinking about it means that we consider it, or reflect on it, or reason-contemplate the thing or the action. This level is a much deeper or higher level of the mind, and some people do this very little – this thinking. Many people just memorize things that they need to know, but they really don’t reason WHY they need to know it, or what it actually means to them to know what they know. We are in a world now that really doesn’t WANT us to think and, therefore, we are not taught to think. But that is another talk for us, isn’t it?” He smiles. “The final, and smallest, sphere of the mind is the knowing or cognition sphere, but this is not the most accurate description because it is really Meta-cognition, or the awareness of the awareness of the mind. This is easy to see when you meditate, but not as easy to describe to you. When you reach the stage in meditation in which you become aware of this, and you can allow your awareness to ‘speak’, then you will gradually speak with more wisdom. Just as when you practice the eightfold noble path. “War and conflict are examples of wrong perception, memorization, thinking, and knowing. In other words, war is wrong ‘mind’. But how do we change this? We change it by keeping our mind pure at all times: clean and clear. “The characteristics of the mind are many: (1) It is not a physical body, but it forms a bright sphere. (2) It can think only one thought at a time and it perceives only one feeling at a time. (3) It is born with a body. It must reside in a body and once it leaves the body,”