The Beginner’s Mind is a state of mind that is neurologically primed for tremendous learning. The Beginner’s Mind is not a mere metaphor. It is a neuro-cognitive state associated with the firing of a learning hormone termed ‘Brain Derived Neurotropic Factor (BDNF).’ 

When one engages in learning for the first time, specific neurons fire together to facilitate the activity. BDNF consolidates these neurons and makes them available for future use. The next time the activity is performed, the specific neurons fire together thanks to BDNF. BDNF also strengthens the neural networks by insulating them with myelin or white matter. BDNF activates the nucleus basalis that allows the focussing of attention and sustains it throughout the learning period. The nucleus basalis also helps in differentiating the brain maps in the sense that it serves as a sorting mechanism to keep activity centres catalogued. This learning period is known as the critical period and once it is over the BDNF shuts down. The charm disappears from the activity because it is no longer neurologically necessary. It may be necessary for the person for other purposes but not neurologically. 

So BDNF is responsible for the Beginner’s Mind and so also Beginner’s Luck. It endows the brain with joy and enthusiasm for the learning. One could say it is Beginner’s Joy. It gives the thrill of the chase and remains as long as the learning is not complete. And once the learning reaches a plateau, it stops. That is why the beginning of learning is always so enthralling. So, the brain has BDNF built into it as an evolutionary mechanism, to cause learning to happen or equivalently, to incentivise increase in ordered complexity.

This is also the reason why a beginner’s mind can make such discoveries that a mature mind cannot. A beginner’s mind is full of unlimited possibilities and in it the BDNF is in full command supplying tremendous energy. The energy leads to insight. A mature mind cannot command the BDNF as it has reached saturation and is too full of bias, prejudices, assumptions, prejudgements and predilections. A beginner’s mind is a cup that is empty for the learning to fill it with new knowledge. That is why the phrase “empty the cup,” is not just a metaphor. It means, to unlearn. And unlearning is not the same as the reverse of learning or even relearning! It is neurologically different from learning. Two very different hormones are involved in unlearning and learning respectively.

Given this background from neuroscience it becomes clear that the nurturing of a beginner’s mind needs a dramatically different approach than that of a mature mind. Because of the BDNF the beginner’s mind is vastly superior to a mature mind. Also associated with this state are all the learning emotions like curiosity, surprise, wonder, awe and mystery. The emotional brain or the mammalian mid-brain is the most powerful of the triune brain present in the human being. As is well known, the human brain unlike the of reptiles and mammals consists of three sectors, the survival or reptilian hind-brain, the emotional or social mid-brain and the thinking self-aware or human fore-brain. Of these sectors the emotional brain is endowed with the highest possibilities and its coupling with the forebrain during the learning phase makes learning spontaneous and effortless. What inhibits this possibility is again learning but done subversively. As the psychologist Martin Seligman first brought to light, learning can happen in both positive and negative ways. Positively, when it brings about optimism and negatively when it brings about helplessness. Learned helplessness is when one learns to inhibit one’s natural capabilities by ‘learning,’ to diminish them. 

A mature mind attempting to instruct a beginner’s mind often falls trap to this fallacy. It most often endows the beginner’s mind with a learned helplessness. This is because a mature mind looks askance at the youthful ambitions, excitement and fascination that are the hallmark of a beginner. The beginner’s mind and a mature mind also differ dramatically in their preferences and approach to choice of subject matter. The beginner’s mind looks for strangeness and novelty as that is exactly the function of the BDNF. The mature mind looks for familiarity and sameness as the BDNF has most often shut down the learning phase. The mature mind looks for consistency. The beginner’s mind looks for contradictions in a given paradigm. The mature mind maintains the paradigm. The beginner’s mind shifts the paradigm. The mature mind maintains the status quo. The beginner’s mind questions the status quo.