The predominant view about how we bring about change is that change has one common characteristic: it is gradual. We could talk about practices that help us change in this wasy “cumulative” practices - that is, a large change is made up of a sequence of smaller changes - the accumulate over time.
Inquiry as a practice works differently - we could call it a “Shift” practice. A shift is when something changes, seemingly in an instant. We’ve all undoubtedly had, “Oh!” moments when we realised we were wrong. Once we realise our error, we cannot go back to our old view. We are, as it were, permanently changed by the realisation. Now this might occur when we realise we’ve taken a wrong turn when driving (as in - something relatively mundane), or it could be something larger, or deeper, for example, something related to our sense of identity - our sense of our place in this world. In this case, the change may be more significant. It is quite common for people to refer to such a change as a “shift”. It does, in fact, feel as if “something has shifted”. We can talk about practices that aim to induce such a shift as “Shift practices”. Inquiry, at least as used within the Odoki Method, is very much a “shift practice” in this sense.
This distinction isn’t new. If we look at the history of Buddhism, there’s an ongoing tension between “sudden” schools and “gradual” schools - this distinction mirroring our take on change practices as described above.
It turns out the neuroscientific theory of Predictive Processing can shed some light here on how these two forms of practice work.
According to predictive processing, we form a “model” of our world, based upon prior experience, and we use this model to “predict” what we expect to be in front of us, and then compare this with sensory experience. Computationally, this is a much more efficient approach than purely processing sensory experience.
We could describe the components of these models as “priors” - previous experience condenses into our model as a prior, and that is then brought to future experience in an attempt to correctly identify what is happening.
In cumulative practice, we are acting in ways that gradually introduce new priors. When sufficient of these priors have been introduced, such that they are more prominent than previous ones, change will have occurred. Thus, repetition is a great way to bring about this change.
When sensory experience causes us to update our model, this is called a “prediction error”. The brain can only sustain so much prediction error (with none, life is dull and tedious, with too much, it is overwhelming and exhausting). Thus, the brain works hard to minimise the errors - by putting much effort into having the right model in the first place.
While cumulative practice gradually lays down new priors, shift practice on the other hand aims to trigger prediction errors. It aims to trigger “oh!” moments. Once such a prediction error occurs, it is impossible to go back. If we can find the right prior to see through, the change can be rapid (seemingly instant), and substantial.
These shifts are, however, not common. This is due to the above mentioned mechanism by way of which the brain minimises prediction errors. We could say the brain naturally protects us from such events.
Shift practices are therefore commonly engaged in in pairs. One person guiding, another practicing. The guide has some ideas where to look, and directs the practitioner into places they wouldn’t naturally think to look. If this works as expected, one or more prediction errors will occur, and the practitioner will exprience one or more “experiential shifts”.
It is important to say, that even though a shift might appear instantaneous, it is common for an individual to need to take some time to absorb the implications of that shift. They need to rebuild the model to take into account their new perspective.
In conclusion, “shift practices” offer a novel approach to change that has broad reaching implications, that can bring about relatively rapid change for people. In a world where costs are rising, this can only be a good thing.