What Is the Mind?

Science and Wisdom Live Talk by Scott Snibbe at London’s Jamyang Buddhist Centre

Abstract

Science still has no agreed definition for consciousness or mind. But through meditation, we can subjectively experience it and ask ourselves, what is the mind? If the mind is our thoughts, then what is it that observes those thoughts? What are we without thoughts? Do we ever truly see an object, or only its mental reconstruction? And perhaps most importantly, how can we transform our mind toward happiness, presence, and connection? In this lecture, punctuated with short, guided meditations distilled from some of Buddhism’s most powerful ways of penetrating the mind, we explore these questions.

Bio

Scott Snibbe is the Executive Director of A Skeptic’s Path to Enlightenment, a nonprofit organization and popular podcast dedicated to teaching secular forms of analytical meditation. Snibbe is a longtime student of Tibetan Buddhism whose teachers include Geshe Ngawang Dakpa, Choden Rinpoche, Ven. Rene Feusi, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Jampa, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Inspired by his teachers, he leads meditations that infuse the pure lineage of the great Buddhist masters with science, humour, and the realities of the modern world. 

In addition to his work teaching meditation, Snibbe is a digital artist who has created bestselling art and music apps and interactive art installations. He has collaborated with musicians and filmmakers including Björk, James Cameron, and Philip Glass and his interactive art has been collected by both science and art museums, including the Whitney Museum of American Art and New York’s Museum of Modern Art. 

His first book, How to Train a Happy Mind will be released in March, 2024.