The dictionary defines “default” as a failure to act, a sort of inaction. But in today’s world, the expression “default mode” has evolved. It refers to the absence of specific commands or direction, where a system or process reverts to its built-in, automatic functions—like when your mind drifts while you’re on autopilot.
This brings us to a fascinating concept: the “default mode network” (DMN). It’s a term for our brain’s underlying processes—those random thoughts that pop into our heads seemingly out of nowhere. Ever had that moment when you’re enjoying a quiet afternoon, maybe sitting on a park bench, soaking in the sights of flowers, birds, and kids playing, and then—boom!—a completely unrelated memory or thought barges in? Where did that come from? You didn’t summon it. You weren’t trying to recall it. Yet, there it is.
So why does our mind wander off from the here and now, especially when we’re not actively focused on anything? When we’re relaxed or “doing nothing,” like in that park moment, the brain is still buzzing with activity. It’s in these idle moments that our minds often drift and hit upon thoughts or memories from nowhere. It’s like the brain can’t sit still and must entertain itself. And this wandering takes place in that mysterious area known as the “default mode network.”
The brain, by its nature, never shuts down. Even when we’re not engaged in any particular task, it continues to roam. This random roaming brings with it flashes of memories or ideas we didn’t ask for—much like clouds floating by in the sky, sometimes pleasant, other times stormy. These uninvited thoughts are an inevitable part of our mental landscape. Just like those clouds I observe while sitting in the park, they pass by, briefly altering the scenery of my mind before they drift away.
Perhaps the key lies in accepting this cognitive wandering as part of our brain’s need to stay active, even when we’re trying to relax. We may not always be in control of the clouds that drift in, but we can certainly watch them go by.
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Hi 🙏, after a long time Inam connecting to your updated blog 👌. I see style has changed a bit – evolved!
I think it’s not correct to say Brain wandered but mind did. A thought cannot be conjured at will! But when a thought comes, subsequent thoughts can be weaved using will! For example you may say I willed a thought! Then the willing of that thought is the first thought you couldn’t will and hence my logic ;).
This first place where Thought arises or Mind gets its spur is called Parā Vāk state. It’s like Universal Mind. When a thought arises (divine drama) in Universal mind, because our vessels are in it and sometimes contain it, we feel we r getting the thoughts! …..
in this line of thought if we enter your suppositions in this article, I feel we would have an alternative theme to DMN.
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Thanks for your comment. But I don’t know how I can relate it with the article. Mind, which does not have its own physical identity, is basically the activity of brain. In the brain there’re over 100 billion neuron cells active in receiving and delivering messages. They also retrieve thoughts or memories. It is in the latter process based on scientific information that establishes the Default Mode Network, and that is what I’m talking about. There is an article posted here on the website titled: Thought on Thought, that may interest you.
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the relation is as follows:
you mentioned wandering of brain and I see you have corrected the text to mind.
next, you say billions of neurons are at work whose bi product is thought. Science is yet in its infancy to discover consciousness over brain rather than brain over consciousness. https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.3679125 This link will show what I mean. A person missing 90% of his brain still lead normal life.
now what is thought and memory no science has quantified yet except it’s an electrical voltage difference. But then thought of sight and smell have same units of Volts but different feeling. What is feeling? Does matter feel (brain) or does the mind?
coming to relevance of my comment, you asked rhetorically in the article where does thought come from and invoked DMN as an idea to explain emergence of thoughts as “random” as well as conjuring new thoughts. This is where concept of Vak comes explaining why and how Thoughts arise and how we r helpless in their germination – we can only be instruments to capture them. Their randomness is for our eye not for their existence.
So the point I was trying to make was to give a parallel picture to DMN which focuses on brain and neurons than mind and beyond for the existence of thoughts.
that’s all 😅. If you still feel my alternate take is irrelevant to the post feel free to delete (so it won’t confuse other readers. Maybe I lost the “authors intention” in my biased read 🫣
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