Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Why I Am Here

I drifted through college undeclared for my first three semesters. At this point in my life, I was becoming more and more interested in exploring consciousness and mental possibilities on a personal level through meditation, yoga, and other techniques. This interest was becoming the focus of my life, and for a time I was quite sure that I had no direction in college and no interest in pursuing a life of academia or even in the workplace. I wanted to drop out and become a monk. (What fun does a monk have? Nun!) However, my parents persuaded me to continue college (as I had amassed a fair amount of debt by this point) so that I could get a good job to pay off said debt. It was then, in the middle of sophomore year while registering for classes, that I first noticed cognitive science. I read the description for Cog 266 - Brains, Minds, and Consciousness - and I was enthralled. I had not until then realized that Oswego offered a program focused primarily on the study of the mind from a scientific perspective. I thought that such study would nicely complement my interest in consciousness-exploration (as it has), and so it became an obvious choice as to what major I wanted to be.

7 comments:

  1. Have your studies in cognitive science enhanced your experiences in yoga and meditation?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your not alone in having had a difficult time making a choice in what to study. Given your bent on what is considered esoteric subjects not typically taught in school and your interest in the scientific side of the study of the "mind", have you found any relationship bridging the two together? If so, what possibilities and/or opportunities do you think this presents to cognitive scientists?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Do you think that the use of meditation as an approach to exploring the conscious could be as useful as other approaches?

    ReplyDelete
  4. You stated that at one point you no longer had any interest in finishing college and just did not want to work. How does having a degree in Cog. Sci. change that feeling and what do you plan on doing with your degree?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Are you satisfied with the exploration of consciousness and mental possibilities that the cognitive science major has been teaching you?

    ReplyDelete
  6. do you think this major would be useful in law enforcement and if so how?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hello Dylan,
    I was curious what your future plans are with a cog sci degree? Do you still have dreams of becoming a monk?

    ReplyDelete