Neuroscientist Anil Seth presents how the self is not what it seems — it’s a controlled hallucination created by the brain, just like our perception of the external world.
His video reminded me of some illustrations I’d previously seen on Swami J’s yoga & meditation website, and there are some striking parallels.
1. The self as construction, not reality
Both argue that what we experience as “self” is not a fundamental reality but a construct:
- Anil Seth: The self is a “controlled hallucination” — a collection of perceptual predictions generated by the brain
- Swami J: The true Self cannot be accessed through ordinary perception; what we normally experience as self is composite and constructed from word, object, and knowledge
2. Going beyond sensory experience
Both emphasise that ultimate truth lies beyond normal sensory perception:
- Anil Seth: Our senses don’t provide transparent windows to reality; the brain actively constructs experience from ambiguous sensory signals
- Swami J: “Truth, Reality, Self… CANNOT be smelled, tasted, seen, touched, or heard. Those are merely senses (indriyas).” The practice of sense-withdrawal (Pratyahara) is necessary to know the true Self
3. The problem of fixation on sensation
Both warn against over-identification with surface experience:
- Anil Seth: We mistake our perceptual constructions for objective reality; we overestimate how similar our inner universes are to others
- Swami J: “The fixation or addiction to sensation itself is one of the largest single reasons so few people experience Self-Realisation”
4. Embodiment as fundamental
Both emphasise the body’s central role:
- Anil Seth: Calls humans “feeling machines” rather than cognitive computers; the most basic aspect of selfhood is regulating the body to stay alive
- Swami J: True meditation practice involves going beyond mental senses and recognising that Self “stands alone, subtler than the senses”
5. Colour as mind-dependent construction
Both use colour to illustrate how perception creates rather than reveals reality:
- Anil Seth: Colour doesn’t exist in the external world —electromagnetic radiation is colourless. The brain generates colour by tracking how objects reflect light. We mistakenly project this internal construction onto the world as if it were an objective property. Different people may perceive colours differently, yet we assume similarity because we share the word “red”
- Swami J: Uses the three-part structure to reveal the same truth — the word “red” is just sound (different in every language), the mind creates a specific red object (never abstract redness), and the true essence is formless and colourless, beyond any particular instance
Reflections & learnings
- The conclusion is that neuroscience is backing up what the yogis have been saying for millenia
- Before exploring the science, it wasn’t obvious to me that they were exploring these same conversations so it’s an exciting realisation
- If the “ultimate truth lies beyond normal sensory perception” – I think this signals I need to create art that takes people to that point – for example creating a space which takes the visitor beyond the senses, a more transcendental experience
- Eg. my experience of James Turrell’s immersive space at Copenhagen Contemporary
- Perhaps there’s also an opportunity for me to expand the colour examples in this post to illustrate how perception creates rather than reveals reality?
Next steps
- Research and explore this question: Perhaps there’s also an opportunity for me to expand the colour examples in this post to illustrate how perception creates rather than reveals reality?
- Each time I find some interesting research that I think might works, I’ll sketch how that might appear in a space.
- How could an audience learn about this in a visual setting etc