Notes on the Wandering Mind 1: Does Wandering Make Us Unhappy?

“When this great one was weaned, he began to wander in his mind…”

– Maimonides on Abraham

“The Wandering Mind is an Unhappy Mind,” a widely cited Science study from 2010 glibly informed us. Until very recently, this was taken as confirmation of something largely self-evident: as neuroscientist Moshe Bar noted in his 2022 book on the subject, until a few years ago, “mindwandering” was universally presumed to be “an undesired drift that disrupts our mind, mood, and behavior.” And if all wandering were indeed merely a variation on the theme of (as one dictionary definition has it) “To go astray, deviate from the right path or course, the subject of discussion the object of attention, etc.,” then at least we have a sound moral basis for the Wandering Mind’s purported affective distress. 

We’re not supposed to wander…we’re supposed to be focused! Purposeful! Steadfast! Anything else should make us unhappy. And if it doesn’t…there’s probably something inside us that’s deeply broken and wrong.  

But what if we find it hard to focus, or if we focus differently? What if our focus accrues in non-linear forms, or is distributed at variable frequencies over intermittent, unpredictable time scales? What if our focus looks to the untrained eye like wandering? 

What if purpose is elusive? What if our ever-evolving motives and desires and ideologies need to steep for decades or more before coalescing into a clear direction or momentum; what if they never become a primary engine of self? What if the highest Higher Purpose we can summon is to comport ourselves with basic decency towards the people and commitments of our immediate world? 

What if by temperament instead of steadfast we are sensitive and receptive, what if we are driven by intuition and experimentation, and drawn towards resonance?

What if the way we move forward is by getting lost? 

What if, like Abraham, the way we learn and grow is by wandering into the unknown?