Has consciousness emerged as the immune system for the mind?

[JudyM]

3. Interesting metaphor.

Taken to extremes, clinging and aversion can start running the whole show and keep us from being productive members of society, and Buddhism's salve for our consciousness would work to thwart that.

Also, just as the immune system is an evolutionary adaptation that gets us to the point where our children will survive, a psychological/cultural parallel is if our children are emotionally well adapted they will be more likely to have offspring who will, in turn, reproduce successfully.

There's plenty of discussion about how our lower brain fight-or-flight reactivity is adaptive, and the higher consciousness is a later-evolved overlay in the brain, as I understand it. Training in consciousness allows us to exert mastery over those lower brain reactions.