Metacognition is the experience of thinking about your thinking. If you say, I can barely put two thoughts together, better get some coffee, that’s metacognition. If you meditate and learn how to hear your thoughts and quiet them down, that’s a more sophisticated form of metacognition.

I had a metacognitive experience the other day in my acting class. The point of this acting class approach is to focus entirely on your partner — it’s about them. Blame them, love them, attack them, persuade them… In other words, it’s not about your feelings. Feelings happen, because we’re human and will just have feelings; can’t avoid that. So why focus on them? Instead, what are you doing, what’s your action? And whatever your action is in that moment, it’s about your partner. So, I’ve been working on that approach (wish I had discovered that in my 20s instead of the Method angle, which is all about your feelings; quite seductive for a young sensitive person).

The scene I was working on was a quiet one, just a conversation. In the quiet and calm, I became aware of a little engine in my consciousness that was continually scanning the people around me and adjusting my appearance, behavior, voice, stance, expression, to maximize social acceptance. Once I noticed that, I could quiet it down. Remarkable!

When I brought this up in class, my teacher said, Right, you don’t need that, you never need that. Which surprised me… this little engine has been running in my consciousness continually since… forever. It’s a lifelong habit, and probably was for my parents as well. But it’s unnecessary and actually detrimental to me as an actor.

Noticing this little independent engine in my not-quite-subconscious reminded me of the great book by Marvin Minsky, Society of Mind, in which he posits that our mind is made up of hundreds (probably not thousands or dozens) of agents, each with a simple job. Combined we end up with our vaunted consciousness of which we are so proud.

⁂