The quiet art of attention

In regard to watching the mind, one thing I’ve observed is a little strange, and I was hoping to get other’s experiences.

I like to watch the movement of my attention. Nothing abstract, just to observe where attention is aimed - it takes a mere 30 seconds of watching.

What I’ve noticed, is it moves around, seemingly without my input, and lacking any conscious intent (a concept the blog post makes a point to reclaim).

The light of attention shines throughout the physical scene, but it is sensorily multidimensional. It might move to the pain in my back, or the sound of the frogs, or the mug on my desk, a random memory, or more relevant to the article, the latest arising thought.

I am watching this movement of ‘my’ attention, and yet I seem to be playing no part in the neither the objects of attention, or the movement of attention itself.

This isn’t to say I cannot decide right now to move my hand in front of my face and observe it, but this arising of intention is itself mysterious too.

In Buddhism this is linked to the central concept of Dependent Origination: things arise in dependence on other things, everything is conditioned by something else.

This includes movements of attention: attention is drawn to a sound perception because a frog makes a sound, then conditioned on interest being high interest dwindles, conditioned on that plus nerves shooting in the back a sensation catches the attention, it goes to a thought of planning that appears conditioned on you having a deadline tomorrow...

Even the arising of intention to move the hand arises at that moment conditioned on other things (that include you playing around with your perception a moment ago, pre-existing view around how decision work and wanting to prove it, having a hand...)

Looking for conditionality in everything we might identify with - thoughts, perceptions, intention... - is a central practice in numerous schools of Early Buddhism, and can lead to a deep, deep sense of letting go, inhabiting a flow of things "just unfolding", and classical insights around what our sense of self actually is.