Colin Wilson & The Mind Parasites
…We have inside us what I call the robot — a sort of robot valet or servant who does things for you. So you learn something like talking French or driving a car or skiing or whatever, painfully and consciously, step by step. Then the robot takes it over and does it far more quickly and efficiently that you could do it consciously. … Now, the robot does all these valuable things like talking French and so on for us. The trouble is he also does the things we do not want him to do. We listen to a piece of music; it moves us deeply the first time. We read a poem, we go for a country walk, whatever, and it moves us. But the second or third time you do it, the robot is listening to the music or reading the poetry or doing the country walk for you. I said I’ve even caught him making love to my wife. And this is our real problem — that the robot keeps taking us over and doing the things that we would rather do. … Do you remember that Sartre said that during the war, when he was in the French Resistance and he was likely to be arrested and shot at any moment, he never felt so free. And obviously you would in these circumstances — you keep your energy so high because of your sense of crisis, that you would feel far more free. Now this is clearly the secret of freedom — keeping your energy so high that the robot is a bit like the thermostat on the wall which turns on quite automatically when your energies drop below a certain point, and then suddenly, without even noticing it, you’re living mechanically, robotically, instead of with the real you. The interesting thing is that it’s only a matter of one degree. Therefore, if it’s just one degree to turn on to the robot, it’s only one degree of effort to turn the robot off.
I think we can all relate to his idea of the robot, just going through the motions of doing something. The question is how can we escape that monotony? We all know thrill seekers whose solution to life sounds a lot like Sartre’s time in war. Must we all become adrenaline junkies to experience transcendent happiness?
Honestly, I don’t know. This seems to be a central problem for many people, especially young people. Should we learn to find happiness in life’s monotony or do we rebel against it? Maybe mindfulness is the key to turning off the robot. Maybe we should constantly seek new experiences to keep the robot on its toes. Maybe there is a time for each.
Emily, thanks for the post.
I haven’t read Mind Parasites yet. However, I have read some of Wilson’s work and I find myself referring to it almost everyday of my life.
Like you I am not sure whether we need to become adrenaline junkies. I suspect not. I think that when Wilson refers to the robot, essentially, he is saying that we need to bring more consciousness into our more important everyday activities, and not to do them mindlessly. Bungee jumping might be thrilling, but it is only a feeling and feelings are fleeting. They come and go. I don’t think that he’s saying we should be looking for new thrills. I do think that he’s saying that if we bring more consciousness into our more important activities, we will have a more fulfilling live. We need to kill the robot, not when we’re driving, or speaking or walking, but when we’re doing significant activities such as playing with children, listening to music, working, etc.
A survey conducted recently found that a majority of women dislike playing with their children. Initially, this statement startled me. The survey cited the fact that women complained about being too busy, and that they could never commit completely to the activities that they were performing with their children because they were always thinking about or wanting to do other more important things (in other words, they were in two places at the same time). When I reflected on how my wife and I spend time with our children, I could see that we could easily fall into this statistic. I realized that when I was doing this with my children, I was robotically spending time with them and never committing myself completely to them. I was letting the robot play with the kids, while I thought or did the more important things. When I bring more consciousness into my activities with my children (or anything else), the experiences are much more fulfilling and complete.
I have become over the last few years and huge fan of John Coltrane (I’m listening to him as I’m writing). In particular, I really enjoy his A Love Supreme, considered by most to be a jazz masterpiece. On many occasions (especially while driving), it would bring tears to my eyes just listening to it, and I never understood why. I began to question why on some occasions, this masterpiece would bring tears while on others, it was just background music. After reading about the peak experience that Wilson discusses frequently, I began to realize that on the occasions that brought tears, I was focusing intently on the music and not on the driving or other things. However, when it was just background music, I was focused on other things (driving, bills, work, etc.). I concluded that when the music brought me to tears, it was because I was focused completely on Coltrane’s mastery and I was in full appreciation of what I believe to be his genius; I was bringing full consciousness to my activity. I wasn’t having a full peak experience, but I was certainly having a mild peak experience. I am convinced that I am killing the robot when this occurs. When I was not brought to tears, it was because my consciousness was diffuse; it was spread around to a number of activities.
Thanks again for writing your post. It’s a subject that I take immense interest in but find very little discussion about.
I think you captured exactly what Wilson was talking about in your experience with Coltrane’s music. We should all try to focus our consciousness on things of beauty whenever possible. Peak experiences like yours help us feel more fulfilled in life. I think they are vital to our personal growth because they inspire us to keep moving forward.
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