This paper introduces the concept of Cognitive Arrest (Brain Stop) as a condition in which the natural flow of awareness becomes interrupted within recorded, repetitive, and conditioned neural patterns. In this state, instead of moving freely in the present moment, awareness becomes trapped in past emotional data, engrams, and anxiety-based loops. Through the selective amplification of stressful events and their repeated representation, the brain assimilates the external world to the past and keeps the individual in a repetitive and low-awareness mode of life. The paper further argues that intense pressure, the collapse of previously dominant neural structures, or psychological pain can create a rupture in this cycle and open the possibility for the emergence of a freer and calmer level of awareness; a level referred to here as pure awareness. This model stands at the intersection of philosophy of consciousness, cognitive psychology, and the phenomenology of awareness.
Ramin Bidari (Fri,) studied this question.
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