The Zen of Perception: Mastering Suffering and Pain | Ven. Hyon Gak Sunim | TEDxBerlin

Perception and Reality

• Perception creates our reality, and it is a predictive model based on our previous experiences and expectations.
• We are constantly hallucinating, and when we agree on that hallucination, we call it reality.
• Some individuals, like Olivia Farnsworth, have unique perceptions that can be seen as superpowers.

Pain and the Witness

• Pain is a perception that can be controlled through breath and awareness.
• Turning to the witness, the one that sees and hears, can help us experience a non-dualistic reality where there is no inside or outside.
• This experience is available to all individuals and is not limited to religious traditions.

Trauma and Meditation

• Traumatic memories are processed as present experiences, collapsing time and triggering a cascade of neurochemicals.
• Meditation is not about blocking out or forgetting perceptions but staying at the infinitely quiet root of perception itself.
• Conscious modulation of the breath can give us powers of calm and lower heart rate and stress levels.

Modern Science and Perception

• Modern science supports the use of techniques like Wim Hof breathing, holotropic breathwork, and CO2 retention to interface with the world in a calmer and more deliberate way.
• Our reactive system is not designed for the modern world of constant stimulation, and we can become masters of our perceptual experience rather than mere pawns of it.