Welcome

Nearly 15 years ago, I became interested in understanding our perception of happiness and why it appears fleeting in nature. During this time, I ran across a book called Flow written by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. In his book Csikszentmihalyi discusses how finding the right level of attention and challenge can transform one's experience into a heightened state of focus and immersion.

While Csikszentmihalyi's theory of flow gave me my first exposure to the idea of fine tuning one's attention, it was his next book, The Evolving Self, which I found most interesting. Specifically, Csikszentmihalyi explores how reflecting on the nature of evolution, consciousness and the self, can help us direct our attention in ways that advance society and humanity as a whole.

The title of this blog is based on the third chapter of this book, The Veils of Maya, which reveals how our genes, culture and even our concept of self can hijack control of conciseness.

More recently, I've begun studying Buddhism because of it's practical nature and focus on mindfulness. The result is a form of philosophical Buddhism, which lacks belief in reincarnation or a supernatural definition of Karma. As the Buddha supposedly said, "You will not be punished because of your anger, you will be punished by your anger."

I hope to explore these ideas, and more, here on this blog.