Witnessing The Attention Centre - Switching On The Light

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Witnessing the attention centre - switching on the light

An SRDS compilation document
George G Clark June 2011 http://www.srds.co.uk
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Preface
The articles in this compilation form part of a stream of material produced during the authors interaction with education over many years in many countries1. The central themes build on early materials concerned with The School Ethos2 (Scotland, 1986) and Moral and Spiritual Learning Needs3 (Belize, 1990). The articles in this compilation were selected by searching for key words in a folder of over 600 one-page articles4 on a hard drive. The key words were attention centre, witness, and enlightenment. Concern is with figures of speech that describe the concepts of deepening your self perception through making room for stillness and thus taking a fresh perspective on your fleeting thoughts and feelings. The introduction offers a brief overview of the main ideas and the extended contents list (on pages 7-8) offers tasters of the individual articles. Thinking evolved over the four years covered in this compilation: and given that most of the articles were written partly in flow there are some themes that appear more than once, and they are sometimes recombined in various, hopefully useful, ways. Each article might be viewed as a single pebble that you can drop into your oceanic mind and watch the ripples run away. If there is continuity between the articles (and there is?) then the unconscious can be held responsible! The compilation consists of 15 articles. They have been grouped more or less chronologically with most of them being from 2007-2008. There are just over thirty footnotes that might help the eager reader to dig deeper although - given the internet (especially Google and Wikipedia) - not so much help is needed these days. This is true even at the various cutting edges where words take on new meanings and have to be put inside quotation marks. The Microsoft clip art on the cover suggests a larger agency witnessing ever smaller agencies. The large the agency, the greater the light. The agents are sitting at desks this suggests academics and bureaucrats. I am as I am! Enjoy George G Clark B.Sc. (Hons), Cert. Ed., M.Sc., M,A. 27 June 2011 Email Twitter Facebook clark@srds.co.uk http://twitter.com/dodclark http://www.facebook.com/dodclark
1 2
Scotland, Jamaica, Zambia, Sudan, Belize, Lesotho, Tanzania, Zanzibar http://www.scribd.com/doc/56967591/ 3 http://www.scribd.com/doc/56747762/ 4 one-pager is a loose label applied to the short articles; they sometimes take up two or three pages in the present layout - but they are never very long!
Contents in brief
Preface............................................................................................................................2 Contents in brief.............................................................................................................3 Introduction....................................................................................................................4 Content tasters................................................................................................................7 1. The Emptiness of Form..............................................................................................9 2. Letter to H - 29 March 2006.....................................................................................11 3. Anxiety and contentment.........................................................................................12 4. From enthrallment to release....................................................................................16 5. Transcendental Intentionality What it is and why you might want some.............18 6. The host and the noisy guests...................................................................................22 7. 10:36am in early spring............................................................................................25 8. Paying attention........................................................................................................27 9. Sudden Death...........................................................................................................29 10. Unthought ..............................................................................................................30 11. Good news about bad news....................................................................................31 12. Delicious Stillness..................................................................................................33 13. Dont panic.............................................................................................................34 14. Witnessing the robot...............................................................................................35 15. stillness after breakfast...........................................................................................37
Introduction
This compilation uses a range of figures of speech (see box) 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 centre5. Figures of Speech Simile - a figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared, as in she is like a rose. Metaphor - a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in A mighty fortress is our god.
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 Analogy - a similarity between like effectively witnessed and thus features of two things, on which a more freely and wisely comparison may be based: the analogy managed, and between the heart and a pump. (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 brains 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 moment6. 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. Most people do not realise (a) how many thoughts and feelings pass through their heads every minute of every day7 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
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The articles for this compilation were chosen by searching for attention centre, witness and enlightenmentin my archived collection of over 600 articles. 6 What are the relative merits of multi-tasking? How many tasks can you deal with at the same time? 7 See Clark (080214) Many Passing Thoughts in Muse flows in the zone - below the tip of the iceberg
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 control8. 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
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 centre9. 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 zombies 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.
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? 9 Sometimes there is the image of a garden gnome shut in the garden shed watching poor quality morning TV
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 returns10. 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 will switch on the non-existent light. Form is emptiness Emptiness is form (The Heart Sutra11)
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technical hint. Fill a jam jar with muddy water and sit looking at it till clarity returns. What is the mud? http://www.thebigview.com/buddhism/emptiness.html
Content tasters
1.
060305 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)
The Emptiness of Form
2.
060329 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.
Letter to H
3.
070320 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 ...
Anxiety and Contentment
4.
070321 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
From Enthralment to Release
5.
Transcendental Intentionality - what it is and why you might want some
070405
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.
6.
070425 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).
The Host and the Noisy Guests
7.
070611 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.
10:36am in Early Spring
8.
080118 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.
Paying Attention
9.
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?
Sudden Death
10. 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. 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? 080303 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. 080715 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? 081201 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? 090412 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 ...
11. Good News about Bad News
12. Delicious Stillness
13. Don't Panic
14. Witnessing the Robot
15. Stillness after Breakfast
1. The Emptiness of Form

Thich Nhat Hahn often refers to the Heart Sutra12 that notes that things are empty and that emptiness is a thing. Things are empty of what? of independent and abiding substance. Our common sense notions of reality result from the five skandas13 - but these also are empty. My present14 understanding of what this might mean is outlined below. The Five Skandas
Form The thing as it is in itself form The thing as represented by the sense organs and the brain feeling Conditioned reaction pleasure, neutrality, pain perception Blend of thought about the thing and your feeling towards it intention (mental formations) Urge to crave, ignore, or reject. (type of action response) consciousness The resultant that appears in the attention centre as reality Conscious The apparent reality independent and abiding
Subconscious The real reality no abiding substance interbeing
The thing as it is in itself cannot be known via the sense organs. The sense organs are limited by (a) the range of stimuli to which they can physically respond and (b) the manner in which they have been conditioned (by culture and language) to identify sensory objects. The brain has the task of interpreting the nervous impulses coming from the sense organs. We still know very little about how this process works but there are innate elements (nature) that can be hugely influenced by conditioning (nurture). It is open to all people to perfect their wisdom and to transcend suffering. All that is required is going beyond common sense. It is never too late to change your mind. The catch phrase is GONE BEYOND.
http://www.srds.co.uk/begin/heart.htm The degree of correspondence to the thing as it is in itself is limited to (a) what the senses are able and trained to sense of its physical attributes and (b) what the brain chooses to add by way of non physical attributes. Feelings related to a form are conditioned at three often interacting levels (a) innately (hard wired), (b) culturally and (c) as a result of individual experience. The feelings can be pleasurable, neutral or painful. Perceptions, while still subconscious, are an output from the process of linking forms and feelings. They feed into the intentional process. Intentions are what drive actions. They can be based on craving (the pleasurable), ignoring (the neutral) or rejecting (the painful). Intentions are the root of all suffering (through not getting what you want, or getting what you do not want).
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For an earlier attempt at explaining the Heart Sutra see http://www.srds.co.uk/begin/heart.htm For an earlier attempt at explaining the Five Skandas see http://www.srds.co.uk/begin/skandhas.htm 14 05 March 2006
Consciousness happens when an intention manages to occupy your attention centre. Few people can control this process. There is an ongoing waterfall of thoughts and feelings which come out of nowhere and then return.
After the perfection of wisdom the mind has no hindrances or obstacles and therefore has no fear. Having gone beyond troublesome thoughts the mind is at peace. http://www.srds.co.uk/begin/heart.htm
While present in consciousness they give a strong impression of being real ie of having an independent and abiding nature. The process is particularly evident during the early stages of meditation. When thus viewed it is obvious that the contents of consciousness have a very weak relationship to things as they are in themselves. No wonder that Taoism reckons that the reality which can be described is not the real reality! SO is reality knowable? According to the meditation masters the answer is yes. But the way of knowing involves turning the mind around and short circuiting the process as outlined above. There is an ongoing waterfall of thoughts and feelings which come out of nowhere and then return.
Beyond the ordinary (and scientific) way of understanding common sense phenomena there is the extra-ordinary (and mystical) way in intuiting an uncommon sense of the numinous. Beyond the narrow limits of common sense lies appreciation of Interbeing in the Oneness that is everything. Words cannot do it justice. But it can be experienced. Be still and know. Imagine yourself as a quantum physicist looking inside your own brain. The microscope is on full power and there is nothing to be seen but minute swirls of substanceless energy. OK, now look back up through the microscope - what is the quantum physicist made of? Who is looking at what? Aargh! http://www.srds.co.uk/begin/skandhas.htm
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2. Letter to H - 29 March 2006

I am presently between paid jobs. It is interesting to observe what this does to my head. The Presbyterian work ethic does not like it. The devil finds work for idle hands to do. If I am not mindful (as in Buddhist mindfulness) the attention centre becomes infested with feelings of boredom mixed with guilt and associated low self-esteem. If I am mindful there is only the egoless serenity of the here and now the peace that passes all understanding la belle indifference. Some might call this an existential cop out into laziness. I see it more (on a good day!) as a transcendence into bliss. There are still calls to action but the roots of the intention behind them are radically different. Less ego. Ah yes three levels of conditioning: (a) innate (instinct and hard wiring), (b) cultural (social) (you the same as others around you) and (c) experiential (personal) (you as different from others around you). This begs the question of the nature of the innate conditioning. From a biological point of view it is pre-linguistic and suited to small group living in a hunting/gathering context. Those wise meditators who (purport to) have stripped away (seen the illusory nature of) the experiential and cultural bits reckon that the innate bit is by nature non-egoic and thus compassionate. Back to the innocence of the garden of Eden(?) So how come we modern and post-modern people are so screwed up? Because cultural evolution outstripped biological evolution. We live in a new world with an old brain. BUT - it is flexible. It can turn around and go home. So at least say the wise meditators. I have had brief glimpses. It is a pre-linguistic form of intuition it is not thus easy for rational academics and busy-ness workaholics to get a taste. Ah me what hope for the planet? If reality does not look good then change how you look at it.
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3. Anxiety and contentment

Great Wealth Even with a small bank account, the one who is contented finds himself with great wealth. The quote15 prompted me to think about the nature of contentment in the modern world. This led to the matrix of options as shown in Box 1.
This in turn led to thoughts about spiritual as well as material contentment. The matrix for action options in Box 2 then followed. This first box recognises four stereotypes involving contentment and anxiety linked to the presence or absence of wealth. Box 1. Feelings about wealth Great wealth Contentment 1 2 No wealth 1. Great wealth and contentment is not theoretically impossible but the trappings of wealth and power are such that rich people may not have the time to attend to their spiritual welfare and are thus potentially less content than they might be. 2. No wealth (or at least just enough to get by) and contentment is conventionally thought of as an ideal state that is achievable by those saints who, free from worldly attachments, have the time to get their spiritual act together16. 3. Great wealth and anxiety is again a common stereotype where the rich man fears losing what he has acquired. What is the good of wealth if you need security guards to hold on to it? And you cannot take it with you! 4. No wealth and anxiety describes a large section of the worlds people. Is it really true that the poor will be with us always? The relatively poor perhaps; but the absolutely poverty stricken? And what of the poor in spirit? 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 :Box 2: Towards material and spiritual contentment
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3 4
Anxiety
It came to my email as a Thought for the Day from Brahma Kumaris - the World Spiritual University The best known version comes from the Hindu tradition and the sannyasin
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Anxiety Contentment Material Great Wealth Middling Wealth No Wealth 1 2 3 Spiritual 4 5 6
The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. This is true within nations, between nations and in terms of transnational corporations. It seems reasonable within democratic systems that a proportion of the planets wealth should be dedicated to meeting the basic needs of the poorest people. This would be reasonable if only to prevent revolutions by the peasants and workers. An element of redistribution might also be seen as a moral obligation. So how might material anxiety be transformed to contentment in the three categories listed on the table? The key is to think of wealth as being that which allows you to afford whatever you want. The easy way to be wealthy is thus to want less or to want different (non material) things. 1. Great Wealth material anxiety transforms to contentment The answer is captured in one idea philanthropy (love of people). This links to other ideas such as stewardship and corporate responsibility. Those who control the wealth must use it to promote social justice and protect the environment. This calls for a change of heart (see below) in those who control the use of wealth but, while we wait, it could generate good PR and promote the corporate brand. Feel good factor = I am a responsible and philanthropic steward working for the greater good of all people, the planet, and my shareholders. 2. Middling Wealth material anxiety transforms to contentment Here the answer lies in enlightened consumerism. Those with wealth to spend on extras (ie beyond the basic needs for survival) must become more aware of the causes and consequences of their patterns of fashionable spending and then rechannel their resources accordingly. This is a huge field with a lot happening. From a political point of view the key idea is of coordinated consumer action that raises the concerns and voice of the ordinary people (civil society) against the power elites17. Feel good factor = I am an enlightened consumer who is socially active in working for the greater good of all people and the planet. 3. No Wealth material anxiety transforms to contentment Here the answer lies in poverty reduction (or eradication). There is a vast literature associated with the changing meaning of the idea over the last few decades. Top of the list at the moment is to let the free market work its transformative magic but with mechanisms to ensure that some of the
17
the apocryphal speaking truth to power www.caledonia.org.uk/papers/Policy-making.doc
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economic wealth reaches the poorest and most vulnerable members of society. Other than some limited welfare spending the main thrust is to create enabling conditions for a huge blossoming of entrepreneurship and thus of small to medium enterprises which take advantage of increasing exposure to the global market place. Feel good factor = I am no longer powerless and dependent on charitable handouts from the state. In the distance I can dimly see the first rung of the ladder that will lead eventually to success in my own business and thus in life. Spiritual anxiety is rooted in the mental dis-ease caused by the worldly and fearful approach to life in general and to sickness, old-age and death in particular. These are common to rich and poor alike. Spiritual contentment is rooted in the peace that passes all rational understanding. It is built in, we have it already, but it is obscured by our cultural baggage. It is possible for all people to re-programme their minds such that they know this peace. In fact peace of mind might be thought of as a Human Right that was left off the original charter! The route to finding spiritual contentment is common to all be still and know18. But there are some subtle differences depending on your level of wealth. 1. Great Wealth spiritual anxiety transforms to contentment The super-rich must adjust their work-life balance such that they make time for stillness. This will enable clear and holistic thinking. There is the single bottom line economic (profit). But there is also the triple bottom line economic, environmental and social. And there is the multiple bottom line of STEEPS social, environmental, economic, environmental, political and spiritual19. The leadership challenge is enormous. But the good and great who are the shakers and movers can rearrange their minds to take a more deeply holistic and systems approach to what they do20. They will thus nourish both their own and the planets soul and widespread contentment will follow. 2. Middling Wealth spiritual anxiety transforms to contentment The middling rich must also adjust their work-life balance. They need to spend less time doing and having and spend more time being21. They can learn to spend less mental time in the selectively remembered past and the imaginary future and spend more time with the numinous wonders of the immediate here and now22. By making time to stand and stare they will better appreciate their birthright in peace that is buried beneath the hectic intrusions of modern living. Re-union with the life force will lead to rethinking what is really valuable and really worth doing in the brief interval between our coming to the planet and leaving it again. Contentment will follow. 3. No Wealth spiritual anxiety transforms to contentment Those who are poverty stricken in the developed world face much the same
18
There are modern reworkings of the earlier concepts of prayer and meditation especially as these fuse with medical (ref Kabat-Zinn) and psychotherapeutic practices (ref Mark Epstein) 19 For my more up to date thoughts about STEEPLES see http://sites.google.com/site/steeplessrds/ 20 The Dalai Lama is an excellent example of a world leader who takes time out for stillness on a very regular basis. 21 Ref Erich Fromm 22 Ref Thich Nhat Hahn
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challenges as the middling rich - except more so. They are forced to renounce that which the richer people choose to renounce. This can create bitterness and make it hard to find inner peace. On the positive side there is less unethical consumption to renounce. And there is welfare as witness to state compassion. Those in developing countries who are poverty stricken are not a uniform category. Some are self sufficient and not yet sucked into the monetary economy. Many still have safety nets based on tribal and family links. I find it hard to generalise about the soul of developing nations. I think of the apparent contentment, and great spiritual wealth of Gandhi, Nyerere and Mandela - and words fail me. There is (nearly) always more misery among the lower classes than there is humanity in the higher. - Victor Hugo
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4. From enthrallment to release

In a nutshell this article is about how to find peace of mind and contentment in this life through mind change. Box 4.1 marks three stages in the mental move from egoic enthrallment to non-egoic release. Box 4.1: From egoic to root consciousness in three stages Stage 1 - enthralled Egoic consciousness Everyday consciousness Root consciousness I totally involved major player Stories dominate attention Not apparent in consciousness Stage 2 releasing I as witness Stories on display Glimpsed now and again Stage 3 - released Non egoic Stories on the margins Major player
Ego consciousness seems real but ultimately has no abiding reality. At stage 1 all thoughts are on me and mine and attention is totally taken over by the stories (feelings and thoughts) that reinforce the illusion of ego which is in fact a product of root consciousness. At stage 2 it is as if there were two birds on a branch. The first eats the fruit while the second watches. It becomes apparent that the ego is not unitary and the role of the subconscious (root consciousness) begins to become apparent. At stage 3 it is apparent that the ego is just one of the stories and all the stories remain on the margins of attention unless they are will-fully called in. The physical person (with body and brain) is now released from habit energies and operates authentically, freely and with spontaneity. Everyday consciousness is known to all of us but has no abiding reality. At stage 1 it is made up of a never ending stream of stories relating to the things we like, dislike or are neutral about. Lifes rich tapestry! Stage 2 begins when people make time to be still. It then becomes apparent that everyday consciousness is far busier than we had previously imagined. Thoughts and feelings appear, hang around, and disappear to whence they came at a fantastic rate. Through sitting in stillness it becomes apparent that I am not (or not only) my thoughts. Stage 3 begins when the I as witness concept is known to be just another story. The experience is of unity and Oneness outwith space and time. The stories that were once such powerful driving forces now lead a flimsy existence on the margins of consciousness. There is mental spaciousness suffused with peace.
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Root consciousness is energised by the one great life force that drives cosmic, biological and cultural evolution. It is populated partly by our genes and partly by our life experiences. It contains the wisdom of all our ancestors. It is benign, amoral and the source of all creative and destructive forces. At stage 1 the illusory I knows nothing of the root consciousness that is nonetheless its creator, its maintainer and ultimately its destroyer. At stage 2, during periods of stillness, egoic consciousness dims or switches off for a few moments and there is awareness of root consciousness. Depending on the maturity of meditative practice these numinous moments of bliss may be more or less noticed and valued. How can there be a noticing and a valuation when there is no I to notice and evaluate? Stage 3 can be experienced but nothing meaningful can be said about it because language cannot cope with the unitive state where there is no subject, verb or object. The rest, as they say, is silence!
Stage 1 enthralled I am a conscious being in a material universe - and I know what I like and dislike. Stage 2 releasing I am amazed at what goes on in my mind when I make the time to look. I am much more than the I I used to think I was. Stage 3 released The reality which can be described is not the real reality. Those who know do not speak. OM shanti, shanti.
Root consciousness is energised by the one great life force that drives cosmic, biological and cultural evolution. It is populated partly by our genes and partly by our life experiences. It contains the wisdom of all our ancestors. It is benign, amoral and the source of all creative and destructive forces.
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5. Transcendental Intentionality What it is and why you might want some.

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. In this article we first look at intentionality then at transcendence and finally at how we might become unstuck.
Intentionality
Intentionality is about why an organism or a person behaves this way rather than that and there are two ways of investigating it (a) What shifts thee aimless spirit from the outside looking in and (b) from the inside looking out. We will look at these in turn. What panic drives thee so In reaching ten perspectives Being on the outside looking in is the role of Why not accept the flow? science with men in white coats wielding thermometers. They observe stimuli impinging on people and the responses that are made. There is an assumption of an internal, intentional mechanism - but it is unknowable from other than a subjective point of view. The classic behaviourist school within psychology studied those bits of the system that could be studied with certainty and steered away from the contents of the black box. Being on the inside looking out we are dealing with very personal points of view. It can be argued that it is only with human beings that there is the possibility of being conscious of consciousness. Only we can know our intentions, but only if we think seriously.
Plant intentions
When you think about it from a behaviourist point of view you could assume intentions in a plant. If you put a seed in the ground the seed knows to send its roots down and its stem and leaves up there is positive and negative geotropism. So plants are not totally unreactive, not totally immune to what is happening in their environment - but we wouldnt say that they really know what they are doing.
Animal intentions
The various simple and more complex animals have more sophisticated ways of dealing with the outside world. Take the case of nest building birds. Eggs are taken from the parents and the chicks reared in a laboratory. That generation breeds without building nests and the eggs are taken away and the chicks reared in the lab. They are then given nest building material and they know exactly what to do. The knowledge is built into their genes. It is a hard wired skill. It is what we call instinct. It is now common to suppose that behaviour in fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and most of the lower mammals is driven by blind instinct. They are hard wired to behave in particular ways. But there is plasticity in the system so they can take inputs from the external environment and do something about them. But they are not conscious of what is happening. They are robots.
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Human intentions
The wonderful thing about being human is that we have the potential to be conscious of our consciousness. We can be aware of the stimulus arriving and, before the response is made, we have the option of choosing how to respond. But not always and not perhaps as often as we might. We are often driven crazy by particular types of stimuli the smell of fish and chips, the sight of the busty female in the wrapping paper etc In being conscious of our consciousness we are noticing what we are noticing and thinking about what we are thinking and feeling. This may happen to a limited extent in most people at the present stage of human evolution. But the potential for doing more of it is ever present and that is where the desirability of transcendence comes in.
Transcendence
Intentionality is evolving. As we saw above, there are two major ways of looking at it objectively as science does and subjectively as ordinary people, artists and meditators do. The present evolution is driven by the east going west with meditation and renunciation and by the west going east with its civilised brand of rationality and consumerism.
All Quadrants, All Levels

Ken Wilbers All quadrants, all levels (AQAL) model23 helps to systematically map the options in considerable breadth and depth. He divides human ways of knowing into four groups by forming a matrix where objective/ subjective is crossed with individual/ collective. The objective individual way of knowing is classic hard science where the view is from the outside. The objective collective way of knowing features the social sciences (psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics and political science) which again involves neutral observers looking from the outside. The subjective collective way of knowing is the social, cultural way and includes those feelings and emotions that dictate the communal oughts and shoulds. The subjective individual way of knowing is what drives artists, meditators and most aspects of the mind set of ordinary people. This is the ordinary you feeling what you feel (for whatever reason) from the inside. But each of these quadrants can be at all levels. Wilber labels these as soul, spirit, mind and body but I find it useful to think of them in terms of the cosmic zoom (see Box 5.1) with expanding and contracting horizons. The cosmos began with the big bang and is to all intents and purposes infinite and eternal. But it is a totality of the great churn and flux that makes evolution possible. Universes, solar systems and planets come and go with wondrous regularity. Our solar system with our planet has been around for so many billions of years and will be gone again before too long in the cosmic time scale.
23
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Wilber#AQAL:_.22All_Quadrants_All_Levels.22
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The planet began as an inanimate mass but selfreplicating molecules came into being and evolved as cells and then multicellular organisms and then as humanity. We spend most of our evolutionary time as hunter gatherers with no language. Then we learned to speak and deceive, and civilisation with division of labour was soon to follow. So cosmic evolution gave us the planet, biological evolution gave us life, and cultural evolution gave us inequality and the internet. Fundamental to cultures and civilisations are the tribes, communities and families that between them programme individuals to survive long enough to contribute to the next generation. We can look at the INDIVIDUAL as a turning point in the cosmic zoom. Individuals are small parts of bigger structures and at the same time composites made of smaller structures. Note that despite this being self-evident there is still the amazing egotistic feeling of being the centre of the universe!
Box 5.1 Cosmic Zoom Cosmos Universe Solar system Planet Life Humanity Culture Tribe Community Family INDIVIDUAL Organ Cell Molecule Atom Subatomic thing Quantum entity
Imagine a camera pointing to you as an individual then zooming out to show your family, then your community and tribe; as it zooms out further we see the whole culture of humanity that is obviously an integral part of the life that hugs the surface of the planet. And as the camera zooms out to the far reaches of the cosmos the fact that we are not the centre of the universe becomes abundantly clear. We inhabit the surface of the third rock from a very minor sun on the edge of a very small galaxy. It is an immensely humbling experience so let us zoom back in again Zoooooooom. Having zoomed to the bigness let us now zoom to the smallness. Inside the INDIVIDUAL are organs and tissues made of cells. These can be seen as having their own intentionalities the intestines want food, the gonads want sex and so on. The eyes want to see but are limited to visible light, the ears want to hear but are limited to audible sounds. The soul wants company and status because we are social animals. These organs and tissues pick up various external stimuli, codify them and send them down nerve cells to particular parts of the brain where they are interpreted and made manifest as thoughts and feelings that create our worldview and govern our actions. When we zoom beneath the level of cells we come to molecules and notably genes made of deoxyribosenucliec acid (DNA). Arguably human beings are just cute ways for DNA molecules to make copies of themselves. The DNA is made of atoms that are made of sub atomic particles which, as quantum entities, are simultaneously waves and particles. Quantum physicists reckon that the stuff of the universe is more like consciousness than like anything as tangible as particles. But this is the post-Newtonian world where new rules apply and where language has difficulty coping so we will leave it for the moment.
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Let us zoom back to the INDIVIDUAL level and to you and me as commonly understood by ourselves.
Becoming unstuck
Are you happy to be stuck with a simple plant-like or bird-like instinctual way of having intentions and behaving or are you going to transcend and, if so, are you going to do so in an integrated way ie in all four quadrants and at all levels? You have the options of transcending intellectually like a scientist with a white coat and a thermometer (the academic route) and/or in a more spiritual way like a meditator with loose clothing and a cushion (the route of mindfulness). At the individual subjective level there is much excitement about where thought is going at the beginning of the 21st century. A marriage is taking place. West goes east with materialist science but without deep interiority and east goes west with its ancient psychology of perception and holistic grasp of the nature of reality. Taoist, Hindu and Buddhist meditation has been practised for 2,500 years. It involves being still. Sitting quietly doing nothing. You pay attention to what goes on inside your head. You can then be objective about your subjective experience. This enables a transcendence beyond the petty world of egoic consciousness in the here and now. The mind becomes non egoic - there is a reunion with the Oneness which is everything and a knowing beyond space and time. The human mind returns to the cosmic mind. You are no longer exclusively tied up in your family and your culture at a particular place in this particular time in history. You are no longer exclusively locked in small, parochial, constrained space/time. Using techniques that come partly from western psychotherapeutic traditions and partly from eastern meditative traditions, you can transcend your low level intentionalities. You change everything and become an infinite being simultaneously at the centre and all peripheries of the cosmos. And a curiously wonderful thing happens. When people get their heads into this space, into this cosmic consciousness, then life is not nasty, brutish and short. Human nature is experienced, and known to be, peaceful and compassionate. So there is enormous potential for transcendental intentionality to broaden and deepen your worldview. Light can be thrown on whatever issues or topics face you, your society or the planet. We all have a brain that has been programmed in a particular way. It can be reprogrammed to be less parochial and selfish and more holistic and compassionate. The potentials are limitless. Youll find plenty question masters Making quagmires of their brain. The man said, There is no answer. They said, you are insane.
Transcendent intentionality - why might you not want some?
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6. The host and the noisy guests

The Rinzai Zen tradition uses the image of the mind as a hotel with true mind as the peaceful Host and ordinary mind as the noisy Guest (see Box 6.1). The following table maps out a progression of states of mind24 that a meditator might go through in moving from being a Guest (who is lost in unmindfulness) through to being the Host (who is found in mindfulness). Awareness of sensory inputs Unmindful 1 Unmindful 2 Unmindful 3 Mindful 1 Mindful 2 Mindful 3 + + + Lost in discursive thought + + + View from host + + + Found Intermediate Lost
Unmindful 1: this is the normal state of mind for most people. They are aware of sensory inputs and they react to them. There is very little deliberate background thought. They behave as their conditioning dictates. Unmindful 2: This is similar to the first state except that there is some inner reflection on what appears to the senses. In the first state the thought is, I see a bird. In the second state there is discursive thought such as, How does it find its food, and where does it sleep at night?
Box 6.1: Lin Chi (Rinzai) urged his disciples to distinguish clearly between host and guest in order to avoid confusion in their meditation. According to his dharma, relations between Host and Guest are classified into four positions: that of guest looking at host; that of host looking at guest; that of guest looking at guest and that of host looking at host, so that students can be clear about the absolute Self and relative illusions. Luk (p68)
Unmindful 3: This can follow from the 2nd state. In some cases the inputs from the senses (sights, sounds etc) will be ignored. The mind wanders off into an imagined past and future and makes up stories that include great concern over me and mine. Note, however, that when this state focuses on the concept of self there is a beginning on the road to being found. Mindful 1: This is similar to unmindful 3 with one great difference; in this case the intentionality centre that might be called the host or witness begins to be an active
24
The progression is based on my personal experience as a novice meditator as this relates to the images and theories set out in Thomas Cleary (Translator) (1991) The Secret of the Golden Flower; HarperSanFrancisco; ISBN 0062501933, (p143) , and in Lu Kuan Yu (Charles Luk) (1964) The Secrets of Chinese Meditation; Rider; ISBN 0091550912, (p69/70). The latter source outlines the five stages of self cultivation.
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agent. The key change is a move from thinking, I am sad to There is sadness. There are the beginnings of detachment. The illusory nature of the self begins to be apparent. I have no deep, personal experience of the next two mind states but their characteristics according to the literature suggest that they might be as follows. Mindful 2: This is the mind state of an adept sitting in meditation. Inputs from the senses are ignored, the discursive mind is still and thus the host, the true mind, is the root of attention. Note that the host is the source of all mental activity and thus of the false notion of an individuated self. The true mind is ever present. It is like the sun behind clouds. It is still there but clouds hide it. The state of resting in the true mind (when there are no clouds) can be viewed as enlightenment that is the target of spiritual practice. This is the peace that passes all understanding. It is infamous that normal speech cannot do justice to this mind state. Mindful 3: This is everyday Zen. The idea is that the adept gets up from meditation and goes back into the real world of phenomena - but the phenomena are appreciated numinously. There is also commonly thought to be a moral dimension. The true mind is compassionate. Adepts thus want to help other people (indeed all sentient brings) to get to know their true minds of peace. The unmindful state is one in which there is only up-front consciousness. In the mindful state people are conscious of their consciousness and become increasingly aware of the subconscious also. There is the image of the mind as a hotel with a host and guests (see Box 6.1). Unmindfulness is when the noisy guests take what they imagine to be control. The spiritual task is to allow the host to reassert control. Note that the image is limited in that the guests are manifestations of the true mind (the host) so they are never really separate there is only the one Oneness. Box 6.2: The Golden Flower practice can stop thought temporarily, but it does not warp reason. It enables one to think deliberately rather than compulsively. This use of mind opens a wider space for thought, with the ability to think and observe thought with detached clarity, so that one can put aside useless thoughts and take up useful thoughts by means of independent discernment and will.
The speed of its direct perception can also There are six types of sensory objects see at a glance where a train of thought sights, sounds, tastes, smells, touches will lead, conserving untold mental and thoughts/emotions. These put their energy. mark on six organs of sense eyes, Cleary (p150/151) ears, tongue, nose, skin and mind. These organs encode information and pass it to specialist areas of the brain. The brain associates the inputs from the sense organs with feelings and memories and builds them into ongoing stories in the conscious and subconscious mind. Unmindful people react to particular stimuli in particular ways. They are thus like robots. Mindfulness involves influencing the nature of the stories that the mind tells itself. This involves responding to stimuli by choosing and encouraging healthy ways of thinking and feeling. The goal is liberation from conditioning. The task is to discipline the noisy, robotic and selfish guests such that the agency of the spontaneous, creative and compassionate host might be prime. 23
The good news is that the benevolent host is already there. There is nothing that needs to be added. All that is required is to discipline the noisy guests. Mindfulness is the way. Stillness is the practice theory alone does no good. Be still and intuitively know. Be still often. It is never too late to know the secrets of the golden flower (see Box 6.2). To have the host viewing the host, and to know the true mind.
The unmindful state is one in which there is only up-front consciousness. In the mindful state people are conscious of their consciousness and become increasingly aware of the subconscious also. The key change is a move from thinking, I am sad to There is sadness. There are the beginnings of detachment. The illusory nature of the self begins to be apparent.
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7. 10:36am in early spring

- a progress report on turning the mind around I trained, and functioned for many 10:36 am refers to rational, conscious years as a hard-nosed, no-nonsense, DOING which happens in clock time rational scientist. The cold, clear light while early spring refers to creative, of reason made me effective and subconscious BEING that happens in felt efficient but essentially hard hearted. I time. worked in various parts of the world as a school teacher, education advisor, management consultant and as plain language author. I was part of the aid and development set. As such I was propping up the inequitable status quo and was thus part of the problem rather than part of the solution. The problem being in essence poverty in its many linked dimensions25. About ten years ago I determined to become part of the solution by turning my mind around such that it could establish 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 hearted intuition 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 ride26. Cultural and sub-cultural truths have been seen to be but partial viewpoints. Doubt and uncertainty especially of my own expertise - have become major mental factors. At first these new insights were grasped only intellectually27 and their existential significance was thus slight; but with an increasing quantity and quality of mindfulness the deeper truths became apparent and I entered a phase of world weariness and low self esteem which led to burn out, anxiety and depression. For more than thirty years I have quoted the Buddha as reckoning that all life is suffering. Physical suffering in terms of sickness, old age and death were obvious enough as were the suffering caused by famine and civil unrest. But now I am aware of what might be called existential suffering in myself and thus, through compassion, in other people. My heart goes out to the multitudes of people who suffer terribly but put a brave face on things and carry on regardless. In terms of progress the news is that I When a blue coloured thought train hoves have been in a down curve on the roller into view the good humoured, curious coaster for some time28 but that there witness pops up to greet it and thus might now be the beginnings of an prevent it from fully occupying the upturn thanks to mindfulness entering a attention centre. new phase. When a blue coloured thought train hoves into view the good humoured, curious witness pops up to greet it and thus prevent it from fully occupying the attention centre. By thus remaining in
25
Social, Technological, Environmental, Economic, Political, Legal and Spiritual (STEEPLeS) http://sites.google.com/site/steeplessrds/ 26 George Clark (Nov 2000) The roller coaster ride to peace of mind centering attention http://www.srds.co.uk/begin/coaster.htm 27 see the home grown section of http://www.srds.co.uk/begin 28 poetically a dark night of the soul
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some ways detached from the thoughts and emotions there is at least partial liberation from their debilitating effects. Much work remains to be done in finding an answer to the problem of poverty; but there are clues within the spiritual dimension where this involves disseminating knowledge of mindfulness meditation especially amongst the shakers and movers of the world, but also amongst all of those who work for peace and social justice at all levels within all societies. Let there be peace on earth And let it begin with me Here and now (there is no other time and place) Note that the title of this article draws from an earlier article dealing with time consciousness29. 10:36 am refers to rational, conscious DOING which happens in clock time while early spring refers to creative, subconscious BEING that happens in felt time. The idea is to find a good balance between the two forms and functions of consciousness.
29
George Clark (11 June 2007) Time and the flexible brain.
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8. Paying attention
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. Anyone who tries to sit at peace for more than a few moments is soon aware of how busy their mind is. A continuous stream of thoughts and feelings appear in the attention centre and it is not clear where they come from or where they go. The stimulus may be from the outside world (through the sense organs) or from the inside (from bodily sensations and memory). The range of thoughts and feelings and the speed at which they change will vary from person to person and from time to time but there is no getting away from the fact of dynamic churn. There is past, present and future. How long is the present moment? Is it more than the life of a particular thought or feeling? A young child is continuously responding to external and internal stimuli. The parent seeks to encourage good stimuli and responses and to discourage bad ones this is an essential part of socialising the child. The parent has three ways to deal with the situation: prevention: the stimulus/temptation can be removed before the child has a chance to experience it (eg rearrange the furniture and knick knacks so they are childproof); reaction: during the experiencing the parent can encourage desirable responses to good stimuli and distract the childs attention from undesirable ones; and recommendation: line up desirable stimuli to capture attention as it moves on.
In a similar way you are continuously responding to external and internal stimuli. There is the dynamic churn. You have the option of just going along with it (and thus with your conditioning to date) or of trying to win an element of control over the process and thus of reconditioning your mind along more desirable lines. Note an interesting philosophical niggle. There has to be an intention to pay attention. What is the source of this intention (motivation). If it is due to past causes and conditions then you are no more than a robot. If it is due to you own free will then where does that come from? Can a robot rewrite its own programme? Either way there are some useful rules of thumb. As with children there are the before, during and after measures of prevention, reaction and recommendation. You must deal with the process yourself but we are social animals and that makes it possible to arrange suitable environments. The basic principle is to keep company with spiritually wise people and to avoid the spiritually foolish. You can go into solitary retreat, take up residence in a monastery or stay within the everyday world. The latter option is the toughest but the most common; it might involve:
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avoiding the stimuli pointing to consumerism (adverts and the media) decorating your living and working places with reminders to be mindful ie posters, statues, wisdom books etc, and talking to your immediate companions to win acceptance or at least tolerance for what you are trying to do. SO who pays attention to what and why? Various people to various things for various reasons. But there are more or less noble options and the greatest of them involves self watching. The moment you realise you are not present, you are present. Whenever you are able to observe your mind, you are no longer trapped in it. Another factor has come in, something that is not of the mind: the witnessing presence. Eckhart Tolle (1999) The Power of Now (p45)
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9. Sudden Death
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? Perhaps. It is said that when Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated, he raised his hands in prayer, inclined them toward his attacker, recited his mantra, and died such presence of mind. I think of these things as I lie in bed avoiding the Saturday morning snow. I am not in control of the thoughts and feelings that pass through my mind. But I may have graduated to the stage of being a sometimes watcher. Meditation does not involve trying to change your thinking by thinking some more. It involves watching thought itself. (Kabat-Zinn (199430)) This morning I have been watching re-runs of my various near death experiences motor bikes crashes, potentially fatal tropical diseases, the bombing incident in Zambia. But memory is a poor guide to the past. I have no clear and certain view of where my mind went during those crisis times. There is only speculation. Let it go. Awareness is not the same as thought. It lies beyond thinking although it makes use of thinking, honouring its value and its power. Awareness is more like a vessel which can hold and contain our thinking, helping us to see and know our thoughts as thoughts rather than getting caught up in them as reality. (Kabat-Zinn (1994)) The time will come when the last thought will occupy my attention centre. Will I be present for it? I might avoid suicide bombers and assassins and more or less graciously slip into old age. But, one way or another, the time is coming when the off switch is flicked. We all face sudden death.
30
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wherever-You-Go-There-Are/dp/0749925485/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2? ie=UTF8&s=gateway&qid=1201953671&sr=8-2
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10. Unthought
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 that 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! 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 31
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http://www.amazon.co.uk/Psychotherapy-Without-Self-Buddhist-Perspective/dp/0300123418/
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11. Good news about bad news

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? In what follows we note the difference between media news and real experience news: this leads to thoughts about nurturing the intention to pay wise attention to what is going on in ourselves and in the world. Mental states are all mind-made. If you speak or act with a harmful mind, trouble follows as the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart. If you speak or act with a harmonious mind, happiness follows like a shadow, never leaving. (Dhammapada)
Media news
The modern news media can be viewed as part of a power system that sells ideas and stuff. It entertains and educates and this can be seen as enculturation or even brainwashing. The relative merits of the news media depend on the degree of genuine press freedom. This varies from place to place. Newspapers and magazines have been with us for some time: as have radio and TV. More recently there has been access to real-time news via the internet which also allows you to add your comment (or even to be an amateur reporter/journalist). Most news involves variations on a limited set of themes that can be dealt with at the local, national or international level. Major themes include politics, celebrities, natural and man-made disasters, crime and sports. Different news channels focus on different themes. Most radio and TV news items are given a limited number of minutes. The items are presented at a cracking pace and do not thus stay in the conscious attention of consumers for long: although they may hang around in the unconscious for some time.
Real experience news

You live with real experience on a 24/7 basis. When you are asleep your dreams are experienced as real. When you are not sleeping you might (a) be drifting on a fuzz of daydreams that wander in the past or future or (b) be focussed and alert to what is going on in the present moment. You might feel locked in thinking habits (mental ruts) such that there is not much that is new: or you may be creative and original and thus have lots of new thoughts and feelings turning up. Most of your real experience news will be rooted in friends and family and work and leisure. You will be conscious of some of this but most of it will be in the unconscious parts of your brain. There can therefore be something of a news blackout which means boredom. You then seek out mind changing, and attention grabbing distractions. These can be good or bad.
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The intention to pay wise attention

If you take time out for stillness you are quickly aware of how busy your mind is. There is a never ending stream of thoughts and feeling flowing through the attention centre. You are free to go with this flow or to try and direct it. When you are awake to what is going on you can gravitate towards the good news and away from the bad news. That is the good news about bad news. Self Test How much media news are you exposed to each day? Might it be better to cut back a bit or to be more selective? How much of your real experience news is good or bad? If you tend to run in habitual patterns what are they and can you change them? Do you see a need to pay wiser attention to how your mind is fed? Are you going to do something about it?
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12. Delicious Stillness

A little while alone in your room will prove more valuable than anything else that could ever be given you. (Rumi) Most days I make time to just sit. I use the mobile phone to measure 20 minute sessions. I usually have two or three of them at a time. Sometimes the sessions are noisy and full of worldly chatter and there is no escape from what might be thought of as normal, free-flowing, ego-besotted consciousness. The wild beast that is normal mind. Sometimes, however, 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. But there are still some thoughts and feelings. The dynamic churn of the unconscious is still there; but the mental stuff it presents to consciousness is flimsy and in a light mist. It flows past like dry leaves on a peaceful river. Clock time is condensed and the 20 minutes are soon over. The wild beast has been tamed. So what is such a mind good for? Two main things. I find that (a) it offers a welcome break from the ego-besotted, time-framed, roller coaster ups and downs of the normal mind and (b) sometimes useful new ideas emerge spontaneously from the stillness. These might otherwise have remained buried in the unconscious. (This story is an example of such an emergence.) Just sitting is a form of mindfulness meditation. There are many variations on the process of stilling, stopping and taming the wild beast that is normal mind. I have recently found it useful to aim and sustain attention on half a breath at a time. This is an easy way to gain the encouragement of quick wins and to keep attention centred on the breathing. Aim attention at the in breath and keep it there. Aim attention at the out breath and keep it there. Once the wild beast has been tamed it is safe to let go of the breathing and to rest in that delicious aspect of mind that is peaceful stillness. Our purpose is not to follow the heart; It is to train the heart. (Ajahn Sumedho)
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13. Dont panic

I am increasingly aware of what awareness is about at least from the Buddhist perspective. The key is to existentially inhabit the now ie the present moment. Anything else (ie past and future) is daydream and nothing more than mind stuff. This is obviously true while sitting on the cushion but it can also apply to everyday existence as when washing the dishes or converting documents to plain language. There is the possibility of dealing with the present situation rather than having the chatterbox mind run off at tangents and make up all manner of what if stories. And the what ifs tend to become habits of mind that take on a life of their own: they feed on themselves such that they get stronger and can develop into panic attacks. It is then that awareness is most needed and is most difficult to evoke. The panic situation is mind made and its reality can evaporate instantly given a change of mind. But it can be tough, especially for those with no cushion time behind them, to affect a change. So how is it to be done? You need to be aware of two things (a) what is going on in your mind and (b) that mind change is possible. (The wisdom literature can help to develop this awareness at an intellectual level.) That type of awareness makes it possible to remember and apply counter measures: these can be as simple as taking a deep breath and thus bringing the mind back into the body. (Experienced meditators might take three deep breaths and thus evoke the equanimous state that they know from their cushion time.) 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? This is an example of what might be called existential jujitsu. The harder and the more frequent the mental upsets, the stronger you become through overcoming them. If you are suffused by mundane pleasures or subject to only mild fits of ennui then you will not be jolted into existential action and your spiritual life will remain flabby. Lotus eaters are existential losers. Get real. Join the neurotic nihilists in their existential vacuums. Blast through to the fearless peace that passes all (rational) understanding and dont panic!
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14. Witnessing the robot

Extract from daily diary of 01 December 2008 There are the pros and cons of distraction. When they lead you from the good to the bad they are undesirable but when they lead from the bad to the good they are desirable. The No! post-its32 are my bells to mindfulness they distract my mind from wandering in the past and future and bring me back to the present moment. (This needs to happen a lot if there is to be significant re-programming of consciousness) Distractions are bad when they lead you out of mindfulness33 but they are good when they lead you back to it. (A distraction34 is from something to something else) So what is the essence of mindfulness? Being embodied35 in the immediate here and now. Being free of mental proliferations (papaca) and thus of dis-ease36. Dis-ease is a result of being ego-conscious when this involves attention being filled with my story that has an imagined past and future: and when there is seemingly no end to imaginings whether they bring pleasure or pain or are neutral.
Thus the need for discipline and practice. And thus the paradox of dual agency: the secondary agent that is immersed in the mental proliferations (the robot) and the primary agent that observes the immersion (the witness).
Who is the real agent the robot or its programmer? And there is the infinite regress37 problem when thinking about who programmes the programmer. And what is the nature of the programme that runs the witness? There could be a story about witnessing the robot that deals with: creative writing = letting rip with papaca harnessing the dis-ease writers block = the inner censor putting road blocks in the way of papaca and why the inner censor? The fear of what might emerge from the depths of mind.
So why fear the mind stuff (the papaca)? Because you may take it seriously; you may get caught up in its web and this will give rise to all manner of unacceptable thoughts and emotions. These may be useful to novelists as sources of fictional story lines but they are scary to ordinary folk whose worldview and comfort zone tends to be highly constrained. Thus the need for discipline and practice.
32
Yellow post-its with No! written on them and located at strategic places around the house. When I notice one the challenge is to say No to (let go of) whatever is in the attention centre. 33 Mindfulness is concentrated awareness of one's thoughts, actions or motivations 34 A condition or state of mind in which the attention is diverted from an original focus or interest. 35 Being aware of the bodys reactions to the thoughts and emotions that govern attention 36 The state of not being comfortable in your skin 37 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_regress
35
Confront the mind stuff and tough it out. Spend more time on the side of the observing witness and less time as the programmed robot. Develop new mental habits. There are lots of books and audio materials to guide you along the way and it definitely helps to belong to a sangha - a community of like-minded souls. Look them up in the small ads or search the internet you might find weirdos but that is life. If you dont find suitable companions on the first go then try again. You will know they are suitable because they make you feel better about the practice and more inclined to keep it up. Stillness speaks for itself just give it a chance.
36
15. stillness after breakfast

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: Generating thought threads. Most thought threads arise from unconscious causes and conditions - external and internal - many and varied - noble and ignoble - habitual and creative. The inbuilt life force doing its thing. The mind has a mind of its own! Vetoing by the inner censor. This is a result of other unconscious causes and conditions. There is a tendency to try and maintain a consistent self concept by limiting attention to the familiar and parochial - note that the self concept can be robust or weedy!) Panic attacks are part of the arsenal. Dont even go there! Witnessing the above. By consciously noticing thought patterns (with their associated feelings) you thus become, to some extent, unattached to them. You are thus potentially able and willing to look into some mental stuff that might normally be avoided. Aha, so this is what anger, greed, compassion, generosity etc is like!
Note that the third agency is the one that enables insight and thus liberation from reflexive habit. By being truly aware of what is going on in your head it becomes possible to choose for or against particular patterns of thought and feeling. Aha - it pays to have periods of stillness after breakfast. Be still and know!
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Witnessing The Attention Centre - Switching On The Light

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Witnessing the attention centre - switching on the light

George G Clark June 2011 http://www.srds.co.uk

The Emptiness of Form

Anxiety and Contentment

From Enthralment to Release

Transcendental Intentionality - what it is and why you might want some

The Host and the Noisy Guests

10:36am in Early Spring

11. Good News about Bad News

12. Delicious Stillness

13. Don't Panic

14. Witnessing the Robot

15. Stillness after Breakfast

1. The Emptiness of Form

Subconscious The real reality no abiding substance interbeing

2. Letter to H - 29 March 2006

3. Anxiety and contentment

Anxiety Contentment Material Great Wealth Middling Wealth No Wealth 1 2 3 Spiritual 4 5 6

the apocryphal speaking truth to power www.caledonia.org.uk/papers/Policy-making.doc

4. From enthrallment to release

5. Transcendental Intentionality What it is and why you might want some.

All Quadrants, All Levels

Transcendent intentionality - why might you not want some?

6. The host and the noisy guests

7. 10:36am in early spring

11. Good news about bad news

Real experience news

The intention to pay wise attention

12. Delicious Stillness

13. Dont panic

14. Witnessing the robot

15. stillness after breakfast

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