Neuroscientists and philosophers refer to consciousness as "the hard problem." The most fundamental questions are still open to debate. What exactly is consciousness? How does a phenomenon that seems so immaterial arise from that wet ball of glop we call a brain? (Indeed, does it arise from matter at all or arrive from somewhere else?) While Carter, who probed the "easy problems" (emotion, perception, and thought) in her acclaimed Mapping the Mind, does not claim to have solved these dilemmas, she argues that empirical findings point toward an answer. Her goal is to provide an overview of those data for nonspecialists. In this she succeeds admirably, rendering difficult material both interesting and comprehensible.

Detachment

Experiencing those rare moments of Consciousness as in being detached from our own thoughts is a function of the "higher brain.”

The definition of detachment could be confusing to an ordinary person. He/She may understand a detachment as a careless state.

It’s kind of like replacing the thought "I am angry" with the thought "I don't care,” which is basically creating the belief "I shouldn't care about anything.”

Let's assume that our ordinary, automatic thoughts (beliefs) are a lower basic layer of the thinking process in our brain. Then having the second layer of thoughts on the top of the first layer would create a state of detachment.

Those thoughts are processed by the brain at the same time, simultaneously. The second layer of thoughts is not prominent at first, but rather, very subtle and short lived: "I am thinking that I am angry.”

Don't confuse it with the thought "I am angry,” the lower layer of thinking. The basic thought happens automatically, we are not conscious of it, we are totally associated with it. Being angry is all that we are doing at that moment. Sometimes, in addition to the thought "I am angry," we might think "but I can't show it, I need to control (suppress) my angry thoughts.” This is still the basic lower layer of thinking; it is the liner.

It is the second simultaneous layer of thought "I could see my thinking that ‘I am angry’," without any judgments, allowing the anger to be as it is, that creates an experience of witnessing your thoughts. This is expanding your Consciousness and knowing yourself!

Meditation is the key to the "higher brain functions.”

Meditation or mental training is a process of familiarization with one's own mental life, leading to long-lasting changes in cognition and emotion.

Understanding and accepting that you are not your thoughts is the first step to practicing a detachment!