Witnessing the attention centre - switching on the light
June 2011
You can download a copy of the full document from http://www.scribd.com/doc/58808935/Witnessing-the-attention-centre-switching-on-the-light
This compilation uses a range of figures of speech to deal
poetically with the subjective experience of (a) an attention centre
inside your head and (b) the enlightening possibility of a conscious witness
to the contents of that attention centre[1].
It is as if:
(a) there
is a space inside my skull that acts as a playhouse for passing thoughts
and feelings
(b) the
process can be more or less effectively witnessed and thus more freely
and wisely managed, and
(c) finding
the freedom to wisely manage the mental stuff involves switching on the light
The main simile is of a large, ever-active television
screen taking up most of the right half of the brain’s space. The screen
shows a wide ranging and dynamic through flow of mental stuff. Sometimes the
screen is filled with one main image but most of the time there are several sub
images running simultaneously - with those furthest from the centre being the
most flimsy and ephemeral.
A common simile is of the monkey mind that leaps from
branch to branch as if it was neurotic, hyperactive and had fleas. There is
also the image of a chaotic waterfall that energetically spews thoughts
and feelings from the unconscious. We can imagine a thought train whose
carriages are laden with a wide range of cargo that changes with every passing
thought moment[2]. Or the
mind can be seen as a hotel where the noisy guests drown out the
peace-loving host.
Another image is of an everlasting line of advertising bill
boards whose images capture and manipulate the thoughts and feelings of the
unwitting consumers that happen to pass bye. Advertising products attack
our senses (eyes (sights), ears (sounds) and nose (smells)) as we go down the
main street and into its shops. And there is no escape when we get home unless
the house refuses entry to newspapers, magazines, radio, TV and the internet.
And that is not easy because of packaging and branding. Think coke and nike.
Anybody
who slows down is immediately aware that
·
“my mind has a mind of its own”,
·
“‘I’ am not in control” and
·
“I am a robot, a zombie, driven by forces
beyond my control”
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Most people do not realise (a) how many thoughts and
feelings pass through their heads every minute of every day[3]
and (b) that life is an erratic journey from one thought moment to the next.
The mind is a place of much busy-ness driven by external stimuli in the present
moment and by internal stimuli from memory as we selectively reinterpret the
past and conjure up all manner of crazy futures.
The attention centre is a busy playhouse that is driven more
from the unconscious than from consciousness. Anybody who cares to slow down
for a few moments is immediately aware that “my mind has a mind of its own” and
that “‘I’ am not in control” and that “I am a robot, a zombie, driven by forces
beyond my control[4]”.
But then there is the image of the witness. The Hindu
tradition sees two birds sitting on a branch - one eats the fruit while the
other watches. I sometimes have the image of a Buddha statue on the left side
of my brain space calmly bearing witness to what is going on in the attention centre[5].
It is as if there is a mini me that acts as a remote, aloof, unattached
observer. There may be a traumatic roller coaster crashing through the
attention centre; but the witness coolly registers the goings on from a
distance. There is the ordinary me riding the roller coaster and the witness
me watching.
Note in passing that this suggests two egos (existential
agents) - the ego that is caught up in the thinking/feeling (the zombie
who is an automaton (a thoughtless reactor)), and the ego that notices (the
witness who is a free agent (a thoughtful responder)).
But, you might wonder, who or what witnesses the witness
witnessing? This raises the problem of infinite regress back to first cause.
But we can let that go. The concept of the zombie versus the witness is an
oversimplification that has it uses in the early stages of a meditative
practice. In time there will be a realisation of ‘no-self’ and the imagery will
drop away. When you reach the far shore you can abandon the raft that carried
you across the river. When you have passed through the gateless gate the
illusory nature of the gate is apparent.
It might be useful to think in terms of a progression in the
process of becoming aware of, and awake to, what is ‘really’ going on in your
head; the process of moving from the zombie’s darkness into the witnesses’
light.
We can begin with your skull as a gloomy garden shed. On the
right side is the large cinema screen on which the zombie thinks what he had
been programmed to think. On the left side the witness is sitting quietly but
there is a problem. It is as if there was a veil or curtain separating the two
sides of the shed. It is as if the sky was cloudy and the sun could not be seen
(although in reality it is everpresent). These obscurations need to be actively
identified and removed so as to let in the light.
Another image. It is as if the zombie agitates a large jar
of muddy water and makes the inside of the shed obscure. The cure in this case
is to be still so that the mud settles and clarity returns[6].
It then becomes apparent that there is no garden shed, nor a
garden, nor a country nor a planet. There is only the dynamic and indivisible
cosmic Oneness wherein there is the fearless peace of the no-Self beyond space
and time.
Language cannot easily deal with the later stages of the
progression - but we can summarise with the thought that the task is not to
switch on the light - it never goes out.
The task is rather to remove the obscurations such that the
zombie and the witness become aware of and awake to their illusory nature and
can thus exist/ not exist in the vastness of space and time that lies beyond
the shed.
By witnessing the
non-existent attention centre,
the non-existent you
the non-existent you
will switch on the
non-existent light.
Form is emptiness
Emptiness is form
Emptiness is form
(The Heart Sutra[7])
1.
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The Emptiness of Form
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060305
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The ‘thing as it is in itself’ cannot be known via the
sense organs alone. It takes form, feeling, perception, intention and
consciousness (ie the five Skandas)
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2.
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Letter to H
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060329
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If I am not mindful the attention centre becomes infested
with feelings of boredom, guilt and low self esteem. If I am mindful there is
only the egoless serenity of the here and now – la belle indifference. Some
might call it an existential cop out into laziness. I see it more (on a good
day!) as a transcendence into bliss.
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3.
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Anxiety and Contentment
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070320
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What is the nature of material and spiritual anxiety and
contentment in the modern world? ... If people were less anxious and more
content then the world would be a better place – less greed, frustration and
anger. For this to happen three broad groups of people need to transform
their material and spiritual anxiety into contentment ...
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4.
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From Enthralment to
Release
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070321
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In a nutshell – how to find peace of mind and contentment
in this life. The box marks the stages
in the mental move from egoic enthrallment to non-egoic release
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5.
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Transcendental
Intentionality - what it is and why you might want some
|
070405
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Intentionality is about motivation and purpose. It can be
at a mundane and constraining level or at a transcendent and liberating
level. When at the latter level the individual soul can fly and the world can
be a better place.
|
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6.
|
The Host and the Noisy
Guests
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070425
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The Rinzai Zen tradition uses the image of the mind as a
hotel with true mind as the Host and ordinary mind as the noisy Guest. A
meditator might go through a progression of states of mind in moving from
being a Guest (who is lost in unmindfulness) through to being the Host (who
is found in mindfulness).
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7.
|
10:36am in Early Spring
|
070611
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About ten years ago I decided to become part of the
solution by ‘turning my mind around’ so that there would be a balanced
relationship between its more rational and its more intuitive aspects. This
meant cutting back on hard hearted rationality so as to leave more space for
open heartedness and compassion. In practice this has meant setting aside
time to be still in body and mind using techniques associated with
mindfulness meditation. It has been a roller coaster ride.
|
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8.
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Paying Attention
|
080118
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Who pays attention to what and why? It is interesting to
compare (a) a parent paying attention to the whims of a child and trying to
direct attention this way rather than that, and (b) you paying attention to
your own whims and trying to direct them this way rather than that.
|
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9.
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Sudden Death
|
080202
|
Yesterday there was news of a double suicide bombing in a
pet market in Baghdad. More than 70 people were killed and many more were
injured. Had a religious adept been one of the mortally wounded would their
last thoughts have been different from those of ordinary people?
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10.
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Unthought
|
080213
|
It is cute that ‘I’ can act as ‘witness’ to the thoughts
and feelings that are churned out by ‘my’ mind. This means that ‘I’ can be
less captured by the thoughts and feelings than I might otherwise be. This
means that I am less of a programmed robot than I might otherwise be. This
means that I can be more free than I might otherwise be.
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11.
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Good News about Bad News
|
080226
|
If we are what we think then it makes sense to think
‘well’. This will involve, amongst other things, regulating our exposure to
‘news’. There will be good news and bad news. Good news leads to feelings of
generosity, compassion and peace while bad news leads to selfishness,
anxiety, and dis-ease. So how can we influence the inputs to, and contents
of, our attention centre?
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12.
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Delicious Stillness
|
080303
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Most days I make time to just sit ... Sometimes there is a
move to stillness and a great peacefulness. This is best described by saying
what it does not involve. It is free of I, me and mine thoughts with their
associated cravings and aversions. It is free of the past and future and
abides in a sense-less present that is independent of time and space.
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13.
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Don't Panic
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080715
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A degree of equanimity comes into being when mental space
develops in association with the ‘witness’. You are then able to entertain
the concept of “Welcome my little friend panic attack. What are you going to
teach me about myself today?”
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14.
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Witnessing the Robot
|
081201
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The paradox of dual agency – (a) the secondary agent that
is immersed in the mental proliferations (the robot) and (b) the primary
agent that observes the immersion (the witness). Who is the real agent – the
robot or its programmer? And what is
the nature of the programme that runs the witness?
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15.
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Stillness after
Breakfast
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090412
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A period of stillness after breakfast and I am aware of
many vague thought threads. I get the impression that the inner censor is
vetoing many of them - or is that being paranoid? One of the thought threads
wonders how many ‘agencies’ are contained in such a concept? There are
perhaps three main ones ...
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[1]
The articles for this compilation were chosen by searching for ‘attention
centre’, ‘witness’ and ‘enlightenment’in my archived collection of over 600
articles.
[2]
What are the relative merits of multi-tasking? How many tasks can you deal with
at the same time?
[3]
See Clark (080214) “Many Passing Thoughts” in “Muse flows in the zone - below
the tip of the iceberg”
[4]
Julian Jaynes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Jaynes
) reckons that before the pivotal age of dawning self consciousness, people
actually heard the voice of God or the Devil (= the right hemisphere
(subjectively wise) communicating with the left hemisphere (objectively clever)
via the Corpus Callosum. SO (?) schizophrenia gave evolutionary advantage?
[5]
Sometimes there is the image of a garden gnome shut in the garden shed watching
poor quality morning TV
[6] technical hint. Fill a jam jar with muddy
water and sit looking at it till clarity returns. What is the mud?
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