I promised a thread on Yogācāra and causation, so here it goes—but it’s neuro-Yogācāra ...There’s a problem lurking in the background, which is going to show up for anyone who tryies to work within a Yogācāra framework: 1/21

1) the experience of self and world are always enacted through complex networks of causal processes; but, at the same time 2) according to the Yogācāra framework, *everything* that can be encountered as part of a world is just presentation of content (vijñaptimātra). 2/21

This second claim is a core Yogācāra commitment, but it seems to entail that every attempt to specify an account of causation will unfold within the domain of experiential content! And that might suggest that the view will end up being a kind of causal idealism. 3/21

Perhaps unsurprisingly, many people have tried to turn the Yogācāra framework into a kind of idealism. But I think this is the wrong path to walk down, as a more interesting possibility opens up in thinking about how these two two commitments regarding causation interact 4/21

The key insight, which is ultra-compressed here, is that the causal structure of the world always outstrips our capacity to *designate* specific causal pathways. We can capture pragmatically relevant, as well as biologically and socially salient structures with causal claims 5/21

We can even do so in ways that generate extra-cognitive constraints on causal claims; but in every case, we select the pathways that matter from our current perspective, we highlight the causes that matter to us, and we tell a partial and incomplete story 6/21

Consider a Yogācāra-friendly network of causal claims. When we want to uncover the pathway leading from a particular seed to a particular fruit, we start by specifying the outcome that is relevant to our purposes (fruit), and then work backwards to see how it was produced 7/21

Along this pathway, we must specify various kinds of causal interactions. But this is a process-based ontology; so causes aren’t separate entities from effects, and these interactions will be better understood as *constraints* that condition the flow of activity in a system 8/21

In thinking about these constraints, early Yogācāra philosophers built upon models of causation that were developed by Abhidharmikas (Noa Ronkin’s *Early Buddhist Metaphysics* offers a helpful overview of these frameworks). 9/21

For my purposes, the key thing to notice is that causation is never simple. When we think about what it takes for a seed to develop into a plant, which will eventually yield a fruit, there will always to be networks of complex goings-on inside the relevant causal pathway 10/21

and complex networks of support that sustain the unfolding of the process. Even if we can say something plausible about a seed’s contingent nature (it’s a Guajillo chili seed), and it’s power to produce a specific kind of change (e.g., it will yield a ~3-6in long fruit 11/21

that is ~2-5k Scoville in ~85 days), there will be many interacting factors that shape the unfolding of this process. For example, there must be *enough* nitrogen in the soil, nitrate transporters must be able to modulate the availability of nitrogen in the plant 12/21

*within viable bounds*, there must be *enough* water, there must be *enough* light when the plant matures *enough* to engage in photosynthesis, mycorrhisal networks must be *robust enough* to sustain the transfer water, carbon, phosphorous, nitrogen, and more, etc., etc.). 13/21

From my neuro-Yogācāra perspective, all of these kinds of factors should be seen as part of the causal network that organizes and sustains the relevant developmental pathway, but so should the internal variability of each constraint. And here’s where things get cool. 14/21

At any point along that pathway where we can isolate an event, there will be numerous cross-cutting pathways, which we can also identify for different purposes, giving rise to distinct causal networks, and generating different kinds of causal patterns 15/21

None of this is really surprising, but when you start thinking about the causes of action and experience, which are really what’s at play in the Yogācāra framework, you notice that that the only way to trace the cause of an action will be to designate a specific 16/21

behavioral or mental event (the fruit), and attempt to uncover a plausible pathway linking it to the complex behavioral sediments that have been laid down by previous actions—both in neural pathways, and in the material sediment of culturally structure worlds. 17/21

And at any point along that pathway, there will be many additional, cross-cutting pathways, which we can identify for different purposes, and modifying them will give rise to distinct causal networks, and will generate different kinds of patterns. 18/21

The main reason I’m interested in this is that the structure of experience, as well as the structure of the world we inhabit, are flexible precisely because there are always other pathways to discovered, and there are always multiple ways of tweaking the parameters. 19/21

Critically, I think the this is where explorations of dreams, hallucinations, prayer practices, and meditative spaces can be useful: opening up novel pathways, and revealing that the world is ALWAYS richer and more complex than we realize. 20/21

That’s the thread . I’m sorry if it’s underwhelming...but I guess I’m outing myself as a buddhistish enacts is...and there’s so much more to say! I just couldn’t figure out how to make it all twitter friendly 21/21

Addendum...I hope that this generates conversation, it’s not intended as a final word more as a picture to nudge an opening into a fun discussion space

Also, I would say that Yogācāra has a really plausible story, about why experience shows up as it does. But that requires pulling apart the processes that store the seeds, the processes that treat those seeds as "mine" and as the basis for "me", and the operating processes...

...which generate various forms of sensory experience, including thought. I think that once you see how their architecture works, it gives you a sense of how to intervene on it, and transform it...but none of this is in the thread above...that will be the book, eventually