The Inside-Out Magic of A Neurosurgeon

Escape Into Present

I was introduced to computers when I was 11 years old. I saw a giant machine in my mom’s office—a bulky TV with a hefty keyboard and a CPU the size of a shoe rack.

Computers were brand new to India, and my mom’s office got one of the earliest computers. They were installed in a massive air-conditioned room. You had to wear special footwear to enter the room, and my mom’s employers provided them with jackets because it got super cold inside.

One day during my summer vacation, my mom took me to the computer room. She plugged in a floppy disk and introduced me to my first game, Prince of Persia.

It took some time to understand how to manoeuvre my way across the keyboard. I quickly understood that there was one key, which was the most important key on that keyboard—escape. If you are stuck in a bad situation where the Prince is crashing down the abyss, hit escape. If the Prince is fighting a monster and his “life” is in danger, hit escape. If the prince is pierced by a stake, escape. If the game hangs, escape. If you are mad and frustrated, escape.

Into The Magic Shop

The book “Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart” by James R. Doty is a story of escape and coming into the present.

One of the great pleasures of reading is an “escape from reality.” This book does a brilliant job of storytelling and is a page-turner. It was the only book in my now-disbanded meditation book club that the members finished reading and enjoyed very much.

The book explores three things in detail using narratives from the author’s personal life and experience, encompassing his childhood, his training as a neurosurgeon, and his work in CCARE. (if you want to know what CCARE is, read the book or google him).

They are

8 reasons why you should read this book

1. It is a well-written memoir, a page-turner. The storytelling is well done, especially in the book’s first half.

2. It showcases four key practices drawn from Buddhist, Hindu, Yogic Practices, Western Relaxation and Wiccan traditions.

3. This book distils these techniques and shows us how they have worked for the author, a neurosurgeon. The author offers insights on how these techniques change the brain and references current research in that space.

4. The book contains fascinating tidbits about how the brain works, which drive home the reason why the practices work.

5. Apart from the brain, the author also showcases how the brain, heart and vagus nerve work together.

6. The science information is presented in an easy-to-read manner. It follows a narrative, so it is relatively easier to understand and absorb than wading through pages of dense information.

7. If you are experiencing a plateau in your meditation practice or are looking for inspiration to start one, this book can provide the impetus.

8. The story is inspirational and, if not fantastical and magical. Oftentimes, I caught myself thinking, is this real? Is this a work of fiction? Apparently, it isn’t.

I am going to describe the narrative flow of the book, so this is a “spoiler warning” alert to all of my readers. If you haven’t read the book and wish to, then stop reading and come back to this article after you have.

The Narrative Arc Of the Book

The book follows Joseph Campbell’s ‘Hero’s Journey’. This is a familiar arc to anyone who reads or writes stories. This arc is well done, and this is what makes this book a page-turner.

1. The Story Begins

The book begins with a dramatic brain surgery that the author performs. It is described in such vivid and gripping detail that you are instantly drawn into the story.

The author then takes us on a journey from where it all began. His childhood, family, and life until the turning point that marks the beginning of his journey.

2. Into the Magic Shop - Ruth’s “tricks” for creating magic

The author meets an old woman, Ruth, who teaches him “tricks” to create magic from within. The four techniques are:

1. Relaxing the Body (Familiar to us as Progressive Muscle Relaxation)

2. Taming the Mind (Three techniques using breath, mantra and candle as an anchor)

3. Opening the Heart (Use of Affirmations and Loving Kindness Practice)

4. Setting an Intention (Popularly known to us as Manifestation and Visualisation)

3. Results of his practice

The author diligently practices the “tricks” taught by Ruth, and he achieves a fairy tale upswing in his life.

1. Becomes a top-class neurosurgeon

2. Becomes wealthy beyond his imagination (and mine!)

3. Becomes a CEO

4. Hubris

What goes up comes down. The author experiences

1. Disconnection from his self

2. Disconnection from his family - both origin and created

3. Loses his wealth

5. Redemption

Realisation dawns, and he goes back to basics. He

1. Begins practicing the ‘magic’ again

2. Becomes involved in community work in hospitals

3. Research in Compassion and Altruism and meeting the Dalai Lama

I’ve read this book twice before writing this article, and I intend to read it a few more times as I write the next three editions, which will be the deep dives into the book. So, I invite you to read this book and share your thoughts, insights, and reflections as we read it together.

Deep Dives of the Book

I would like to explore the techniques presented by James Doty, starting with relaxation, mind practices, and heart practices, in the following three deep dive editions (editions 22-24, available only for paid subscribers). I will close this out with a reflection on the book in the newsletter edition that follows the deep dives (edition 25 available only to paid subscribers).

Thank you for writing back to me!

I am grateful to all the readers who responded to the newsletters with your insights, experiences, comments, thoughts, and appreciation. It means a lot when you write back to me.

I share my innermost thoughts, feelings and experiences in these newsletters, and it makes my day when I hear back. It helps me to know my readers as real people, life and blood, and human.

As a parting thought, I will finish this edition with a story.

Identification is Misery

Junaid was going through the town’s market with his disciples. It was his way of taking any situation and using it to teach.

A man was dragging his cow with a rope, and Junaid said, “Wait,” to the man and told his disciples, “Surround this man and the cow. I am going to teach you something.”

The man stopped. Junaid was a famous mystic, and he was interested in what he would teach these disciples and how he would use him and the cow.

And Junaid asked his disciples, “I ask you one thing: who is bound to whom? Is the cow bound to this man, or is this man bound to this cow?”

Of course, the disciples said, “The cow is bound to the man. The man is the master; he is holding the rope, and the cow has to follow him wherever he goes. He is the master, and the cow is the slave.”

And Junaid said, “Now, see.”

He took out his scissors and cut the rope – and the cow escaped.

The man ran after the cow, and Junaid said, “Now look what is happening! Now you see who is the master; the cow is not interested at all in this man—in fact, she is escaping.”

The man was furious and said, “What kind of experiment is this?”

Junaid said to his disciples,

”And this is the case with your mind.

All the nonsense that you are carrying inside is not interested in you. You are interested in it and you are keeping it together somehow – you are becoming mad in keeping it together somehow. But you are interested IN it. The moment you lose interest, the moment you understand the futility of it, it will start disappearing; like the cow, it will escape.”