The Monkey Brain

Yesterday on Facebook, I saw a video on meditation by a Buddhist monk.  I had heard the expression "the monkey brain" before, but had never really thought about what it meant.  It's a good expression, giving us an image of the chattering, leaping-around brain that cannot be stilled.  When I took a course in college on Second Language Acquisition, I learned that the language center of the brain is always active; it cannot be stilled; nor can it be turned off.

Anyone who has ever tried to pray will instantly recognize and relate to the monkey brain.  We call it "distraction."  Immediately we sit down and become quiet, and the monkey brain begins to remind us of all the things we have to do.  In fact, we are instantly tempted to get up and do those things right away -- pay the bills, load the dishwasher, call a friend, etc.  Or, if not things to do, the monkey brain will begin to center on past grievances.  We endlessly rehearse situations in which we were hurt, or even slightly disturbed, when conversations did not go our way, or when someone slightly disagreed with our opinions.  We justify our position and mentally dismiss that of the other person.  But no matter how many times we "go over" things, the monkey brain is still not satisfied.  Like a two-year old who wants the same book read again and again, the monkey brain loves to play the same video in our heads, reinforcing the feelings which we may or may not want to strengthen.  The monkey brain controls our thoughts; we do not control it.

St. Teresa of Avila addressed distraction in prayer by telling her sisters to simply treat it as a two-year old child jumping up and down and saying "Momma, Momma, Momma."  Just look over the shoulder of the monkey brain at the Person of Jesus standing quietly behind it.  Just gaze at His Image standing there, and the gaze is enough, even when we cannot formulate a thought.

I remember when my Dad stopped smoking after having smoked all of his life.  As a child, I had no concept of how difficult that must have been, when everything in your body and mind are screaming for comfort and the nicotine rush.  Years later, after I had become so addicted to coffee that I needed it to function and even to think clearly, I asked my Dad how he had successfully given up smoking.  "Every time I wanted a cigarette," he said, "I would say a Hail Mary."

Here's the connection:  the monkey brain and the addictions of the body are very much related to one another:  they crave, even demand, attention, and will not allow us to rest until we cave in to them.  They cannot be stilled, and they cannot be turned off.  On the facebook video, the monk acknowledged that.  He did not advise people to "discipline" or to ignore the monkey brain; instead his advice was to "give the monkey brain a job, something to do."  He tells the monkey brain to pay attention to breathing: breathe in; breathe out.  "Good idea," says the monkey brain, "I will watch the breath."  That occupies the language center and allows us to gaze at God just as we would distract the two-year-old demanding attention by giving him an engaging toy.

The "repeater prayers" of the Rosary have the same effect on the mind.  They are designed to calm the monkey brain by giving it a job -- occupying the language center with something to do -- so that the mind can focus or meditate on something beyond our usual mental occupations: rehearsing what someone said or did to us, or what we have to do today.

[Some of what we call "distraction" may actually be the Holy Spirit, the Helper, putting our lives in order.  I keep a small notebook and a pen beside the chair where I pray in order to jot down things that come to me in prayer -- reminders of things I have to do.  Once the brain is satisfied that we will take care of the business of its concern, it will rest.  And I have put those things under the direction of the Holy Spirit, so I can rest also.]

Whenever I teach the class on prayer in RCIA, someone usually brings up a common objection to the Rosary from the Protestant standpoint -- that is, Jesus' teaching on prayer from Matthew 6:7:  When you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.  And then Jesus gives them the Our Father, a "formula prayer," if you will.  I do not think Jesus is referring here to "repeater prayers," but rather to making a show of prayer.  If we read the context of Matthew 6, it becomes more clear.

St. Paul tells us in Ephesian 6 to "pray in the Spirit on all occasions."  His prayer in the Spirit seems to refer to praying in tongues  (see Corinthians 11-13).  After many years of praying in tongues, I have come to the conclusion that the Rosary and the prayer in the Spirit have the same effect -- both occupy the language center of the brain so that our spirit is free to commune with God without the distraction of words.  A mother speaks to her infant in the womb without words.  Before the child can speak or even understand, parents croon and speak a "prayer language" that the child understands with his/her spirit.  God does not need our words; in any case, the words of the Our Father are really all we need if we dwell on them.  But we need to communicate with our heavenly Father through the Holy Spirit.  And often, the only way to do so is to keep the monkey brain occupied with a task that allows our spirits to soar free!