Dear instructors,
I would like to seek clarification on the practice of mindfulness and the key of SOL to ensure I understand it thoroughly, since it is a practice that I wish to perform every moment of every day, yet one that I continue to struggle with.
When performing the key of SOL, we divide our attention into three: subject, object, and location.
Let's say I am sitting in the living room of my house in a chair. I should be paying attention to the sensation of sitting, to that physical pressure against my body, to the posture, to pains or other phenomena, just watching. Then, I should expand that to the other two brains, right? I should see the thoughts and emotions as they arise.
Here is one problem I have been having, though. With the body, I have something physical, tangible, with a perceptible location. But this is not the case with the intellectual and emotional centers, right? When I sense a thought, I do not know with certainty its origin. I just perceive the mental chatter in the midst of the silence that preceded it. Should I be trying to perceive a location, as in looking toward my mind and heart as places within my body? I have tried this but without much success.
Then, past the three brains, we hold that awareness and expand it to the environment. What is there? We look at objects all around us, without labels, just looking. At the same time, we have to question where we are, why we are there, in which dimension are we, and so on. Because, obviously, in the example of sitting, everything could "check out" and look as they normally would, yet we could be asleep in our beds.
This questioning is also not something intellectual. It is not a mantra to repeat, but a conscious discrimination enacted through perception and experience. This is also a subtle point that can be very difficult to put into practice. Often times, I lack that penetrating discernment into objects and it just falls into mechanicity.
However, it is when trying to do this all day long that I notice the problems. When I am walking or sitting and not being bothered, I can concentrate quite well, yet around others, I find that I cannot perform this division of attention so easily. I find this is partly because I do not know how to approach the practice around others. It doesn't seem possible to observe our surroundings as easily amidst others, because we are often interacting, performing a job, or some duty in which we cannot freely look around and take the time to do this. Is this okay? Does that mean that we can allocate more attention toward subject and location rather than object and still be awake in regards to our consciousness?
Forgive me for the long-winded post. I am hoping to clear up some of the confusion I have been having for a long time. Thank you so much!!
I would like to seek clarification on the practice of mindfulness and the key of SOL to ensure I understand it thoroughly, since it is a practice that I wish to perform every moment of every day, yet one that I continue to struggle with.
When performing the key of SOL, we divide our attention into three: subject, object, and location.
Let's say I am sitting in the living room of my house in a chair. I should be paying attention to the sensation of sitting, to that physical pressure against my body, to the posture, to pains or other phenomena, just watching. Then, I should expand that to the other two brains, right? I should see the thoughts and emotions as they arise.
Here is one problem I have been having, though. With the body, I have something physical, tangible, with a perceptible location. But this is not the case with the intellectual and emotional centers, right? When I sense a thought, I do not know with certainty its origin. I just perceive the mental chatter in the midst of the silence that preceded it. Should I be trying to perceive a location, as in looking toward my mind and heart as places within my body? I have tried this but without much success.
Then, past the three brains, we hold that awareness and expand it to the environment. What is there? We look at objects all around us, without labels, just looking. At the same time, we have to question where we are, why we are there, in which dimension are we, and so on. Because, obviously, in the example of sitting, everything could "check out" and look as they normally would, yet we could be asleep in our beds.
This questioning is also not something intellectual. It is not a mantra to repeat, but a conscious discrimination enacted through perception and experience. This is also a subtle point that can be very difficult to put into practice. Often times, I lack that penetrating discernment into objects and it just falls into mechanicity.
However, it is when trying to do this all day long that I notice the problems. When I am walking or sitting and not being bothered, I can concentrate quite well, yet around others, I find that I cannot perform this division of attention so easily. I find this is partly because I do not know how to approach the practice around others. It doesn't seem possible to observe our surroundings as easily amidst others, because we are often interacting, performing a job, or some duty in which we cannot freely look around and take the time to do this. Is this okay? Does that mean that we can allocate more attention toward subject and location rather than object and still be awake in regards to our consciousness?
Forgive me for the long-winded post. I am hoping to clear up some of the confusion I have been having for a long time. Thank you so much!!
Accepted Answer
Perception of thought and emotions is not contingent upon the body. This is evident by having an out of body experience, where we can experience the thoughts of the mental body and the emotionality of the astral body without the intervention of the physical brain or grand sympathetic nervous system. Therefore, do not focus so much on allocating thought and emotion to a specific part of the body. Instead, simply be aware. Pay attention to the experience of thought and emotion rather than the body, because thoughts and emotions, while experienced in this physical world, do not originate from the physical world.
However, there is a relationship to it, and this is what it means to be working with the principle of "objects" within the Key of SOL. We need to perceive our psychological states, whether mental, emotional or instinctual, in relation to the objects we perceive. This is a division of attention that is strengthened through practice. It does not mean we need to be like Dick Tracy looking for clues. Instead, it is activity in the consciousness, not the body.
This is why remembering God during our interpersonal relations is difficult, since it requires physical activity and our three brains. In the beginning this type of division is difficult to comprehend. However, what the disciple must learn is to maintain their psychological attention in the midst of activities, which deepens through persistent practice. It is an extension of perception, learning how to remain aware while speaking, eating, working, etc. On one point we learn to remember God within, to observe ourselves as the subject of attention, but we must also extend that out to the objects and people we interact with.
This was one of the original tenets of martial arts: to teach the student how to maintain conscious awareness during physical activities. This is not to say that people who now practice martial arts know this science. That is far from the truth. However, it was an effective practice instituted by the great initiates in order to perfect concentration, meditation and psycho-analysis. The great warrior initiates of Bushido, the way of the samurai, were able to fight tremendous battles with an awakened consciousness, even physically, during a time before the tradition degenerated. While there were initiates who knew how to wage war in defense of their communities, they were able to do so with efficacy due to the training of their mind and the art of war within the psyche: knowing how to direct attention at will.
However, there is a relationship to it, and this is what it means to be working with the principle of "objects" within the Key of SOL. We need to perceive our psychological states, whether mental, emotional or instinctual, in relation to the objects we perceive. This is a division of attention that is strengthened through practice. It does not mean we need to be like Dick Tracy looking for clues. Instead, it is activity in the consciousness, not the body.
This is why remembering God during our interpersonal relations is difficult, since it requires physical activity and our three brains. In the beginning this type of division is difficult to comprehend. However, what the disciple must learn is to maintain their psychological attention in the midst of activities, which deepens through persistent practice. It is an extension of perception, learning how to remain aware while speaking, eating, working, etc. On one point we learn to remember God within, to observe ourselves as the subject of attention, but we must also extend that out to the objects and people we interact with.
This was one of the original tenets of martial arts: to teach the student how to maintain conscious awareness during physical activities. This is not to say that people who now practice martial arts know this science. That is far from the truth. However, it was an effective practice instituted by the great initiates in order to perfect concentration, meditation and psycho-analysis. The great warrior initiates of Bushido, the way of the samurai, were able to fight tremendous battles with an awakened consciousness, even physically, during a time before the tradition degenerated. While there were initiates who knew how to wage war in defense of their communities, they were able to do so with efficacy due to the training of their mind and the art of war within the psyche: knowing how to direct attention at will.
Joyful in hope, suffering in tribulation, be thou constant in thy prayer.
Benedictis, qui venit in nomine Domini. Osanna in excelsis.
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!"
Accepted Answer
Perception of thought and emotions is not contingent upon the body. This is evident by having an out of body experience, where we can experience the thoughts of the mental body and the emotionality of the astral body without the intervention of the physical brain or grand sympathetic nervous system. Therefore, do not focus so much on allocating thought and emotion to a specific part of the body. Instead, simply be aware. Pay attention to the experience of thought and emotion rather than the body, because thoughts and emotions, while experienced in this physical world, do not originate from the physical world.
However, there is a relationship to it, and this is what it means to be working with the principle of "objects" within the Key of SOL. We need to perceive our psychological states, whether mental, emotional or instinctual, in relation to the objects we perceive. This is a division of attention that is strengthened through practice. It does not mean we need to be like Dick Tracy looking for clues. Instead, it is activity in the consciousness, not the body.
This is why remembering God during our interpersonal relations is difficult, since it requires physical activity and our three brains. In the beginning this type of division is difficult to comprehend. However, what the disciple must learn is to maintain their psychological attention in the midst of activities, which deepens through persistent practice. It is an extension of perception, learning how to remain aware while speaking, eating, working, etc. On one point we learn to remember God within, to observe ourselves as the subject of attention, but we must also extend that out to the objects and people we interact with.
This was one of the original tenets of martial arts: to teach the student how to maintain conscious awareness during physical activities. This is not to say that people who now practice martial arts know this science. That is far from the truth. However, it was an effective practice instituted by the great initiates in order to perfect concentration, meditation and psycho-analysis. The great warrior initiates of Bushido, the way of the samurai, were able to fight tremendous battles with an awakened consciousness, even physically, during a time before the tradition degenerated. While there were initiates who knew how to wage war in defense of their communities, they were able to do so with efficacy due to the training of their mind and the art of war within the psyche: knowing how to direct attention at will.
However, there is a relationship to it, and this is what it means to be working with the principle of "objects" within the Key of SOL. We need to perceive our psychological states, whether mental, emotional or instinctual, in relation to the objects we perceive. This is a division of attention that is strengthened through practice. It does not mean we need to be like Dick Tracy looking for clues. Instead, it is activity in the consciousness, not the body.
This is why remembering God during our interpersonal relations is difficult, since it requires physical activity and our three brains. In the beginning this type of division is difficult to comprehend. However, what the disciple must learn is to maintain their psychological attention in the midst of activities, which deepens through persistent practice. It is an extension of perception, learning how to remain aware while speaking, eating, working, etc. On one point we learn to remember God within, to observe ourselves as the subject of attention, but we must also extend that out to the objects and people we interact with.
This was one of the original tenets of martial arts: to teach the student how to maintain conscious awareness during physical activities. This is not to say that people who now practice martial arts know this science. That is far from the truth. However, it was an effective practice instituted by the great initiates in order to perfect concentration, meditation and psycho-analysis. The great warrior initiates of Bushido, the way of the samurai, were able to fight tremendous battles with an awakened consciousness, even physically, during a time before the tradition degenerated. While there were initiates who knew how to wage war in defense of their communities, they were able to do so with efficacy due to the training of their mind and the art of war within the psyche: knowing how to direct attention at will.
Joyful in hope, suffering in tribulation, be thou constant in thy prayer.
Benedictis, qui venit in nomine Domini. Osanna in excelsis.
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!"
Thank you Benedictus. In my retrospection, I have noticed gaps throughout the day where I am not being mindful or activities where I just lose focus completely, so I will continue to strengthen my efforts.
I find one of the hardest things for me is to observe my three brains without changing anything. For instance, if I am having a conversation with someone, I find it difficult to not change the way I speak or what I say. I am in some ways lost for words, because I am unaccustomed to speaking like that. It is as though I feel very alienated, like I am not "myself." I gather this is a good thing in some regards but yet I see it as an obstacle. Could you clarify this experience? I will keep working at it, thank you again!
I find one of the hardest things for me is to observe my three brains without changing anything. For instance, if I am having a conversation with someone, I find it difficult to not change the way I speak or what I say. I am in some ways lost for words, because I am unaccustomed to speaking like that. It is as though I feel very alienated, like I am not "myself." I gather this is a good thing in some regards but yet I see it as an obstacle. Could you clarify this experience? I will keep working at it, thank you again!
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