Metacognition is the big buzzword as of late. Somehow "thinking about thinking" has become this great new age realization - plastered across productivity apps, wellness programs, and self-help literature like it's some grand discovery.
While this level of internal perspective is definitely a must in the age of distraction, what is clear to me is that the overall metacog movement is void of any considerate recognition of the "soul.” How can we forget what many ancient schools consider the constant overseer, the witness that observes without judgment or interference? And once you frame it in this light, this "new" school of thought looks more like another case of rebranded philosophy, dressed up in neuroscience terminology and delivered through Silicon Valley's framing of optimization.
This doesn't bother me too much because I understand that in order for some information to be palatable in certain corporate environments, it needs to be served a particular way.
Self-observation or "witness consciousness" is something man has been wrestling with for millennia. The Stoics called it prosoche. Hindu philosophy embedded it in the concept of sakshi. Buddhist meditation traditions built entire systems around it.
But why is it so important for us to step outside of our regular cognitive processes and become the observer of them? The practical answer: when you're caught in the machinery of your own mind (reactive, habitual, automatic) you can't change direction. You're the car and the driver simultaneously, with no way to see the road. Becoming the witness gives you that critical distance, that pause between stimulus and response where actual choice lives...the now.
And why this huge resurgence of the concept today? Maybe because we've finally reached a breaking point where distraction and reactivity have become unsustainable, where the cost of living entirely inside our thoughts has become too obvious to ignore. Just look at the rise in mental health disorders today.
Roughly 42 million Americans (about 1 in 5 adults) report suffering from anxiety, while nearly 1 in 3 adolescents (ages 12–17) now meet the criteria for a mental, emotional, or behavioral disorder. Even with Western medicine's tendency to drastically over-diagnose, these numbers can't be ignored - something has to give. Fragile minds that are constantly in fight/flight don't have the capacity to organize and build with others, and we need each other more than ever.
While the idea of metacognition has some of the answer, it is incomplete without recognizing that external vantage point is more than just "thinking about thinking." It's a step in the right direction, but independent of God it results in viewing life only through the lens of "game theory" (where consumption ALWAYS equals reduction/lack), instead of the ideal environment God created for man - the garden, (where consumption results in potential production). We only gain access to "the garden" when we use the lens of metacognition to learn and attempt to emulate the Infinite.
In closing I'll leave some insight from Grand Master Ibn Sina (Avicenna) aka Al-Shaykh al-Ra’is.
His most noteable philosophical framework, the "Flying Man" thought experiment, was designed specifically to prove that the "Witness" is an independent, non-physical entity.
He argued that if a human were created instantly, suspended in a void with their eyes veiled and limbs separated so they had zero sensory input - no sight, sound, or physical sensation of their own body - they would still be completely aware of their own existence. The "Watcher" exists independently of the biological machine.
Therefore, the self whose existence he asserted is its own unique characteristic, which is other than his body and his organs... the soul is a single substance, distinct from the body.
*from The Book of Healing
Notes:
- Your body (and brain) is not "you."
- Before you go to sleep, visualize a quick 3rd-person replay of your day. This will enforce your tendency to be the "witness."
- Looking back as the observer is the training, being the observer in the "now" is end result.
Peace and Light