In two minds

George Clark, 29 February 2008

 "One way or another, as with the other senses, our minds often obscure our capacity to see clearly." (Jon Kabat-Zinn)

There is the popular idea that Eskimos have twenty different words for snow. In my version of English there are only two. Language gives us labels which control what and how we see; and also what we hear, smell, taste, touch and think. But we do not have to stay within our linguistic prisons; we can clean our doors to perception.

Most of us most of the time are so lost in thoughts and feelings that we are absent from the present moment. We drift in an imagined past and future on the flimsy boats which are linguistic labels. We are so caught up in our inner world that our perception of the deep ocean of the 'real' world is severely limited.

Experiment: pay attention to the sounds that are present to your ears. What have you not been noticing? Now pay attention to what you are seeing, smelling, tasting, touching and thinking/feeling). Is there stuff going on that 'you' are not normally aware of?

Imagine three friends on a mountain at sunset. Two continue a passionate political debate that began in the hotel bar; they are unaware of their physical surroundings. The third is awake to the present moment and is suffused with the wondrous awe of the setting sun.

To clean the doors to perception we have to rearrange how we come to know the world. It is useful to have labels for two states of mind:

"Phenomenal" refers to the common state of being 'present in body absent in mind'. This is when you are adrift on the ocean with simple labels and limiting, knee-jerk habits of thought and feeling. 

"Numinous" refers to the state of being awake to what is going on in the immediate here and now and having the awe-full experience that William Blake alluded to: "To see a World in a grain of sand, and Heaven in a wild flower, hold Infinity in the palm of your hand, and Eternity in an hour."

So the task is quite simple: we have to be aware of the limitation of the phenomenal (there and then) and make more time and space for the numinous (here and now). To borrow an apt snippet from Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know"

"The true journey of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having fresh eyes." (Marcel Proust)

 

[This post was in part inspired by Jon Kabat-Zinn (2005) Coming to Our Senses: Healing ourselves and the world through mindfulness; ISBN 0749925884]

 

TripleGem - the Buddhist think tank - About Us > about the TripleGem enterprise

TripleGem - the Buddhist think tank - About Us > about the TripleGem enterprise: "TripleGem is a new cooperative venture based in the UK, but inviting global participation, which provides Buddhist based analysis of social issues and contemporary events."

unspeakable oneness

The unspeakable oneness

George Clark, 28 February 2008.

The more that I come to appreciate the interconnectedness of all things the harder it gets to speak about it. Boundaries dissolve.

When I  speak I chop reality into seemingly individuated bits (nouns: subjects and objects) and then make up stories to explain the connections between the bits (verbs).

A cat (noun:subject) sat on (verb) a mat (noun:object)

But, before I speak, stuff happens in my brain (ie there is thinking/feeling). This is obvious when I am fully rational but, even when words are just blurted out, there will have been unconscious causes and conditions for these words rather than those.

So what is going on?

Subject	Verb	Object
Thoughts (and feelings)	have	causes and conditions
Causes and conditions	can be	internal and/or external
Internal processes	create	nouns and verbs
Nouns and verbs	vary	between cultures
Nouns and verbs	do not correspond to	the real reality
The reality which can be described	is not	the real reality

 

And this will be why the Tao teh  Ching reckons that, "Those who speak do not know and those who know do not speak".

But that is perhaps overly robust. Speech may be a finger pointing at the moon but at least it suggests that there is a moon. Silence may not be golden when approaching the interconnectedness. A rough sketch map is better than no map at all: it signals that there is a territory to be explored.

Rhinoceros turning

George Clark, 27 February 2008

If one find friend with whom to fare Rapt in the well-abiding, apt, Surmounting dangers one and all, With joy fare with him mindfully.   Finding none apt with whom to fare, None in the well-abiding rapt, As rajah quits the conquered realm, Fare lonely as rhinoceros. Khaggavisana sutta

Plato reckoned that "When two upon a journey go one sees before the other". But much depends on the nature of the other.

There are Buddhist sutras that reckon that it is sometimes best to "Fare lonely as the rhinoceros." (see box).

So what are the relative merits of company for those who seek to transcend from the life of worldly busy-ness to that of spiritual peace?

Types of company

Most normal people are ill-abiding as licentious and hedonistic consumers. Many are close to pathological in their obsessiveness and addiction to fashionable distractions and stuff.  They have no time to stand and stare. They are on to go in all their waking hours. No respite. Workaholics with long to-do-lists. Busy-bodies. Not apt companions.

However, those who are 'rapt in well-abiding' are not a problem other than that they are hard to find.  They put aside quiet time of a regular basis. Their need for distraction and stuff is slight. These spiritually minded souls can be one-on-one colleagues or teachers. They can also be approached in more or less formal communities. In many parts of the world there are lay groups of aspirants which function without accredited teachers. There are also  increasing numbers of established contemplative centres which cater to those who commit to a more or less 'monastic' life in retreat for various periods of time.

Types of aloneness

We live in increasingly individuated times. Extended families have given way to nuclear families and those to single parent families. More people now live alone than has ever been the case before. But we are by nature social animals. So there may be a pathological side to aloneness which is best dealt with in therapy. Arguably it is modern society itself which needs therapy. Is it desirable to be well adjusted to an insane world?

However,  most cultures have reserved special spaces for their spiritual loners; for their hermits and recluses, their anchorites and ascetics.  There are many long traditions in most parts of the world which allow for and encourage shamans and mystics to explore the arenas of uncommon sense. There is a long standing perennial philosophy which celebrates aloneness as a necessary foundation for achieving extraordinary insight. Going it alone is OK.

The relative merits

The task is to transcend from the life of worldly busy-ness to that of spiritual peace. This involves turning the mind around. This is generally thought to involve two main things (a) living a 'moral' life (eg obeying the ten commandments for Christians, following the noble eightfold-path for Buddhists): this makes it possible to find the peace for (b) reprogramming how the mind works: in essence seeing the illusory nature of the self and the world it presents to us.

A more or less formal community of like minded souls, if well led and managed, would be of great help to most individuals. Failing that a like minded friend would be a great boon. Failing that you had best fare lonely as the rhinoceros and draw sustenance from (a) the inspiring examples of great souls of the past, (b) the literature of the great mystical traditions and, most importantly, (c) the still small inner voice which can be heard once the busy, worldly mind has come to rest and there is abiding in passionless peace.

Free everywhere, at odds with none, And well content with this and that:

Enduring dangers undismayed, Fare lonely as the rhinoceros.

cool transcending

Transcending

George Clark 18 June 2007

• How might transcendence be achieved?
• By using the brain in a particular and relatively uncommon, although not unnatural, way.
• Like what?
• The essence lies in stillness of body and of mind.
• Aha - meditation!
• That is a word for it yes. The essential task is to become consciously aware of what is going on in your head ie to notice what 'you' are noticing and to think about thinking.
• Why the inverted commas around 'you'?
• Because, in this line of thinking the concept of you (or ego or self) is problematic.
• In what way?
• If you are to notice what you are noticing then there are two yous - the you that notices and another you that notices the first you noticing.
• It sounds complicated.
• Maybe - but it is easy to experience and it is not difficult to live with it - especially if you make quiet time to investigate what goes on in your head.
• Can I try it?
• Go ahead - there is no time like the present!
• OK, what do I have to do?
• Sit comfortably with your back straight and try to hold your attention on your breathing. The mind will wander off on thought trains but that is OK. When 'you' notice that it has done so simply switch attention back to the breathing.
• That's it?
• That's it! So simple and yet so powerful in what it can lead to.
• What can it lead to?
• That is for you to find out as a result of practice.
• Can you give me a clue?
• You will realise what a chatterbox the untrained mind is. But with training it stops its chatter and 'you' are then in a position to experience the stillness.
• That doesn't sound very exciting.
• Other words can be and have been used - it is the Oneness, the peace that passes all understanding, satori, nirvana and so on. Once you have experienced it you will realize that it is in fact both ordinary and amazing. There is being without ego in a state beyond space and time. There is a knowing of the greater Self that is the universe. It is hard to speak about it because language was not designed to cope with it. But it can be experienced by anybody who manages to still the chatterbox mind. It is sometimes called wholeheartedness.
• That sounds complicated.
• Well just forget about the explanations and go for the experience - it is then self evident.
• So what good does it do to have that kind of experience?
• Try it and you will see.
• Go on - give us a clue.
• It will be more intellectual words
• OK try me
• Well - there is a knowing that most people suffer because they cannot see beyond the chatterbox ego and this is what drives the violence in the world. There is a realisation that everybody's real nature is in essence good, caring and compassionate. There is also a realisation that there can be an end to suffering and thus to violence. So transcendent people are on the whole peace loving and kind although this does not of necessity mean that they are push overs. Some can be quite heavily into working for peace in themselves and in the world as a whole.
• Fanatical evangelists then?
• Not the transcendents - they make change by their example of being peacefully in the world, not by bombing and violence. More the Dalai Lama than the Ayatollah Khomenei.
• Fair enough. I'll give it a shot. How long should I sit for?
• As long as you feel comfortable. It takes time and practice to turn your mind around. The more you practice the sooner you will transcend but it is best to begin slowly and gradually build up. It might be hard to keep yourself at it in the beginning but before long you will begin to enjoy it and the process will look after itself.
• And all I have to do is sit still?
• Exactly. Just sit and the chatterbox mind will still and the true Self will come to the fore. It is stupidly simple.
• Cool. I will sit right here, now.

BuddhaNet - Worldwide Buddhist Information and Education Network

BuddhaNet - Worldwide Buddhist Information and Education Network

Many passing thoughts

George G Clark, 14 February 2008

Many thoughts pass through your mind each day. But how many, what kinds, and what good does it do to think about them?

How many thoughts do you have each day?

Dharma teachers toy with the figure of 65,000 thoughts per day. On average this would be 45 each minute or one every 1.3 seconds. It is a rough estimate which accepts that it is often difficult to tell when one thought stops and a next one begins.

If that seems excessive we can work it out for ourselves from the bottom up. If we allow for an average of one thought each minute during 16 waking hours there would be 960 of them. Note that some would be short and fleeting while others might hang around for several minutes.

So, either way, whether the figure is 1000 or 60,000, there are a lot of thoughts passing through your mind each day.  This begs the next question:

What kinds of thoughts do you have?

Different people will have different kinds of thoughts but it is perhaps useful to think in terms of categories.

Are they about people, events or ideas; are they rooted in the past, the present or the future; do the same thoughts keep repeating or do new ones turn up?

Are the thoughts about your work or your hobbies; are they about practical affairs or more abstract issues?

And, at a deeper level, are they rooted in personal experiences or on stories from the media; and can you tell if they are rooted in things happening inside your head, on things that are happening in 'the outside world', or on some mix of the two?

What good does it do to think about your thoughts?

If you make the time to sit still for a few minutes you will notice how busy your brain is. 'You' can take the position of 'witness' to the channel hopping movie show which is your mind. This will lead to many insights about your 'self'.

One of the main insights will be that 'you' are not in control of what goes on in your mind. As Blaise Pascal once noted, "The heart has its reasons that reason  knows nothing about".

Another insight will be that you do not have to act like a programmed robot all the time. You are free to choose how you think, speak and act. And the deep 'you' will choose wisely and with compassion. As Eckhart Tolle has noted, "The moment you start watching the thinker, a higher level of consciousness becomes activated. You then begin to realise that there is a vast realm of intelligence beyond thought, that thought is only a tiny aspect of that intelligence."

So it is good to notice what you notice. The ancient Greeks reckoned that, "The unexamined life is not worth living". So why not opt for a worthy life, think about thinking, and be mindful of your passing thoughts?

 

Unthought

George G Clark, 13 February 2008

 Logic suggests that there can be no thought without a thinker. But experience suggests otherwise. When I sit quietly, even if only for a few moments, it is blindingly obvious that 'I' am not in control of what goes on in 'my' mind. Thoughts and feelings arrive as if from nowhere, hang around for a while, and then disappear again. They do not feel like 'my' thoughts:  they seem to have a life of their own. So what is their source? What energy drives them?

The thoughts and feelings will have their causes and conditions which are rooted in my nature (instincts) and nurture (enculturation). So there is most likely a logic behind the appearance of a particular thought or feeling at a particular time: but the logic is buried in unconscious parts of the mind where an ongoing, dynamic churn seems to be the common state.

So it is cute that 'I' should be able to 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.

So the witness is the cool observer of the thoughts rather than the hot thinker of them. So, if 'I' as witness am not the thinker of the thoughts then is there a conscious thinker at all? Logic suggests one thing experience another. 'I' presently 'witness' a favouring of experience! 

 

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 "In (mindfulness) practice, attention is developed such that thoughts, feelings, images, sensations and even consciousness itself can be observed as an endless fluctuation characterising the human mind and body process. A series of insights into the temporary, unstable and impersonal nature of the personality are said to occur as the path of insight is traversed, culminating in the experience of enlightenment." (p28)

"… mindfulness is not a means of forgetting the ego; it is a method of using the ego to observe its own manifestations. (p52)

Mark Epstein (2007) "psychotherapy without the self: a Buddhist perspective" ISBN 9780300123418

pre-trans fallacy

Getting to grips with the non-rational(s)

Since the Age of Reason we in the West have put rationality at the high point of human evolution - this is unnecessarily limiting.

Rational = good; non-rational = bad?

But there are two levels of non-rationality - before (pre) and after (trans).

non-rational	rational	non-rational
pre-rational	rational	trans-rational
infantile	mature	spiritual/ mystical
dependent	independent	inter-dependent
body	mind	soul
instinct	intellect	intuition

Ken Wilber has noted a pre-trans fallacy which involves using a simple two point system where the infantile state is assumed to be the same as the mystical state (Freud) OR vice versa (Jung). The three point system, as drawn out in the above table, sees the high point of human evolution as being the trans-rational. This embraces rationality and carries it forward. Note that there is need to steer clear of fuzzy fallacious thinking that promotes non rationality as an indiscriminatingly good thing. This can so easily lead to the "the black tide of the mud of occultism!" (Freud).

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For a short intro to the idea see - http://www.integralworld.net/index.html?fallacy.html

Hear Wilber himself on the theme - http://www.praetrans.com/en/ptf.html

 

The message is stunningly simple – it is the practice that is tough.

So what is the stunningly simple message –

• It is possible to change your mind

How?

• Simplify your lifestyle
• Notice what your mind gets up to
  
• Accentuate the positive, let go the negative
• Stick with it (begin small and work up)
• Support is not essential but it helps (commune with like minded souls and avoid those who drag you down)
• Then you will know the 'peace that passes all understanding'. Being made aware of the possibility of knowing it should be one of the Universal Human Rights