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The quiet art of attention

(billwear.github.io)
865 points billwear | 1 comments | 13 Oct 24 15:01 UTC | HN request time: 0.245s | source
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desertraven ◴[14 Oct 24 13:12 UTC] No.41837215[source]▶
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.

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padraigf ◴[14 Oct 24 14:27 UTC] No.41837855[source]▶
I meditate a good bit, an hour a day, and it doesn't stop thoughts arising, so I've had some time to think about this.

My guess is, it's just an evolutionarily useful thing, for your brain to keep pinging you about various things.

It doesn't mean of course that meditation is not useful. But you want to have control over these thoughts. Without a meditative practice, it's all too easy to allow your consciousness to be consumed by these impulses (which can lead you astray).

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MrMcCall ◴[14 Oct 24 15:29 UTC] No.41838428[source]▶
The best we can do with them is to "pay them no mind", i.e. just let them pass though us and then into the void of non-effect. The important understanding is that we can choose to act upon them or ignore them. Ignoring negative impulses is essential for developing compassion as a way of life, and doing so is no less than warfare, the most important we can ever undertake. Of course, if the impulse is "you left the burner on", you should make sure it's not going to cause a fire! Discernment of the flavors of streams that present themselves to our consciousness is sublime and the work of our lifetime.

I made the Bhodisattva Vow nearly 30 years ago, and am now a very happy person with a very happy family, though we have lived in poverty for ~15 years now. Ask me how ;-)

Side note: I lived with yoga practioners and know of the possible dangers therein, so I highly suggest that you add a mantra of positivity to your practice. My experience is that the best are the various two syllable names of our Creator, to accompany your heartbeat. Such mantras are the best baseline for us to fall back into within the busyness of this 21st Century life, but choose what makes you feel happy, for happiness is within the grasp of our every choice.

With love and friendship.

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desertraven ◴[14 Oct 24 15:41 UTC] No.41838573[source]▶
How?! Sometimes I feel a family is a path to more busy-brained activity. Less inclination to actually look what the mind is doing at a given moment. So I’m interested in that. But also logistically, what is a life of poverty for you, and how did you come to achieve it?
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1. MrMcCall ◴[15 Oct 24 06:16 UTC] No.41845463[source]▶
Well, first off, let me just say I've been busy-brained my entire life. What I can say about that is that how we tune our heart is far more important than dealing with our thoughts. Sure, disposing of negative thoughts by not adding energy to them is an important in-the-moment aspect of the spiritual path, but that is really just about letting them go into nothingness at their appearance. One of the great (IMO) teachings of Buddhism is the notion of non-attachment, and, while an excellent strategy for addiction (though non-trivial in implementation), it is more easy to apply to the stray thoughts that are projected into our headspace. As I've mentioned elsewhere in this thread, it is best to just let them go, but I say that as someone who has already begun the process of heart transformation, so I've got some protection in that area via the very nature of how our hearts are transformed, which happens in lockstep with transforming how our mind and perception deals with our world and the events we experience.

Heart transformation is the process of cleansing and purifying our soul's heart of its susceptibility to vice, thus transforming it by stages into being solely a conduit of virtuous action. Even a person who has achieved a 100% virtuous soul, where they no longer act upon vicious ("towards vice") impulses will still have intrusive thoughts that suggest they perform acts of a selfish, vice-oriented nature -- they will simply no longer be inclined to act upon them. This is why I do not put much emphasis on our thoughts, as they never end. What we can put an end to is their ability to actually affect our resulting behaviors, by doint practices that physically transform our beings moral compass. Without carrying out an impulse towards vice, we have stamped out their negativity in the real world, which is what sin/selfishness really is and is the sole source of negativity in the world. If the thoughts try to persist in our headspace, we must simply return to our mantra to drown them out; if that is not effective, then that could be indicative of physical pollution in the body, which I would suggest fasting and prayer to the Creator to help remove. My feeling is that such a problem is usually (to my knowledge) a by-product of having not taken the most important step in the spiritual path, which the rest of this reply concerns.

At some point, most every person will be presented with the opportunity to beseech our Creator to help effect their spiritual transformation. Then, and only then, is our heart turned towards that Unfathomable It, and our transformation really begins. This is where our repetition of some sacred mantra literally "enlightens" our soul's heart, filling it with sacred light which replace its ability to conduct suggestions to vice with their opposite tendency to be amenable to suggestions of virtue. What used to be a susceptibility to hatred becomes, by (usually) gradual degrees, an affinity to love, to name but a single of the vice/virtue pairs in the human heart. This is a literal enlightenment of the soul's heart, where we are purified by degrees until, should we see the path to its end, we become immune to negative suggestions towards selfish behavior and become true servants of goodness, and are finally authorized to become a teacher of students.

I am certainly not at that level, but I can share the teachings I have learned and the successes I have had in my life so far, yet I am not authorized to take on students. It's not that I feel I would act selfishly or betray my students, but I would not want to make any mistakes that would inadvertently lead a person to vice, thereby accruing negative karma for us both. No, there is a final graduation for such a teacher, and that is to spiritually see the Creator in its glory from what Bob Marley calls "Mount Zion". It is also mentioned in Castaneda, and MLK experienced this right before he was martyred, and is referenced in the Beatitude "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." They are few in this world, but they are always available for every culture/language, to unerringly lead the seekers of truth to the goodness we are each capable of, should we choose the endeavor. I'm pretty certain that such a one has achieved why the Buddhists call "Buddha Nature". Each form of religion (whose source is God, not selfish men such as Hubbard) has teachers of this Nature, who serve only God by serving the seekers of truth and goodness.

Each person has their own path, destined to join up with a specific path of spiritual practice, and if we choose to undertake submission to the Divine Will of Love, we will be guided to an appointed Teacher of Buddha Nature, whatever it is called in that religion's nomenclature. Finding our specific path and requisite Teacher is part of the spiritual path. It all begins with begging the Creator to begin that transformation by taking our Spirit (conscience) back into Itself so that the heart of our energy body (soul, trapped within our body while we are awake) can be cleansed and purified of its vice-conducting nature so that it shines like the Spirit (which is of pure nature, but is not our own, being just a guide to counterbalance our soul's tendency to vice). This is the mystery behind the 1st Beatitude "Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs shall be the Kingdom of God."

Making such a wish, with ALL one's heart, to the Creator to achieve Buddha Nature, will effect the beginning of such changes. It is a struggle to see that path to its end and be fully purified of our various tendencies to vice/selfishness, but is the most important step we can take. It is also the beginning of being impervious to the suggestive thoughts towards negativity we all encounter in this spirual environment we inhabit. Yes, most people are ignorant of this struggle -- called by Sufi mystics the "Great Jihad", i.e. the person versus their inclination towards selfishness -- and is called by Castaneda's Don Juan "the path with heart", but it is fulfilling beyond expression.

The path of love is uniting across all humanity, within an effortful vision for harmony and peace across all sentient creatures and the Earth herself. It is forgiving and gentle for those not yet as far upon the path as we have been granted grace enough to reach, but it is also uncompromising for those who refuse peace and instead fight against it and its abiding compassion for others, and who choose mischief in order to manifest their selfish desires via lies and oppression of others, and who take pleasure in -- or just care not one whit about -- the misery of others. History is rife with examples of the deeds and nature of the dark-hearted fools who serve the enemy of peaceful harmony for all mankind.

My mind has been quiet for all of 1.5 seconds in my entire life. It was just after I decided to contemplate what my (as-yet-unfounded) company's mission statement would be. After that brief pause, it came to me: "Lasting peace and happiness for ALL human beings." I understand that to have come to me as a result of my having made the Bodhisattva Vow some years before, then having joined with Sufis, first Jewish who then led me to Muslim Sufis. There are many of us who have hearts tuned to this goal to end suffering across this magnificent Earth, by uniting our hearts in that one communal goal. Pray to our Creator with all your being to begin this transformation and your meditative practice will grow more powerful and you will transcend your concern with stray thoughts into the realm of Right Action with proper discernment and an abiding peace in the midst of our eternal struggle to manifest selfless light in this ocean of selfish darkness.

Peace be with you. I am at your service. Thank you for inspiring me this day. I love you and wish you all success in your endeavors, for that is what this universe and its Unfathomable Creator wishes for you, but It awaits your choosing It. By Its grace have my family become an island of happiness in a sea of miserable selfishness that plagues the good people of our world. Seek our Creator's path for your enlightenment each and every day and you will be helped even more than you already are. And always return to your mantra, in the small moments in the busyness of your day.