#736 Words, Concepts, Definitions ... Limits of Language

     When we directly engage with reality, there is wonder, gratitude, silence, stillness, timelessness, peace, and joy. We all know & love this as an aspect of consciousness, yet don't experience it nearly often enough. And when we do experience it, we may inadvertently start talking to ourselves or to others to describe it, to "capture it" in words - which immediately ends the transcendent experience. Words can indeed get in the way!
     Though we crank out far too many words (rather than listening attentively), we do sometimes need to say something. Here's an interesting discussion about the great difficulty of capturing complex, important concepts (such as wisdom) using words, word-based concepts & definitions:

     "Philosophers have debated definitional issues for centuries, and even today lament that, in the words of the Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 'The problems of definition are constantly recurring ... no problems of knowledge are less settled than those of definition ...' In fact the French philosopher Jacques Derrida argued that 'nearly every term is an aporia' (an irreducible puzzle) that 'admits of no settled solution or clear resolution.'
     Eastern philosophies agree. One of the central themes of Buddhist Madhyamika philosophy is that all phenomena are shunyata: a difficult term to translate, but implying that all phenomena are inherently transconceptual. Likewise Radhakrishnan, one of India’s greatest philosophers and also its second president, pointed to 'the inadequacy of all intellectual categories ...” Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism, put it poetically:

          Existence is beyond the power of words to define:
          Terms may be used but none of them are absolute.

     So defining wisdom, or anything else for that matter, turns out to be a deep linguistic challenge. We cannot expect absolute certainty or agreement from our terms nor from our definitions. However, we can try to use them carefully and skillfully, remembering that, as the philosopher Huston Smith put it, 'all human thought proceeds from words. As long as words are askew, thought cannot be straight.' "
       Roger Walsh. "What is Wisdom? Cross-cultural and Cross-disciplinary Synthesis." Review of General Psychology 19(3); 278-293: 2015.

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#570 What Remains When Self-talk is Released?

     In Mindfulness practice, as we gradually, gently learn to let go of identifying with incessant self-talk (“thought proliferation”), and become more engaged with the physical experience of the present moment ("just this"), we experience interesting shifts. 

     This (or any other) statement / concept, in itself as a thought, is merely equivalent to self-talk - "blah, blah, blah ...". 
     BUT how are you experiencing this? How does it impact your one, fleeting, precious life?

#525 Bare Attention Cultivation

     "... keep your attention focused on the tactile sensations of the breath, which change from moment to moment. ... let your mind be as conceptually silent as possible ... during the out-breath, release any involuntary thoughts that have cropped up. ... arouse your attention (counteracting laxity) during the in-breath, and relax your attention (counteracting excitation) with each out-breath. But don't relax so much that you become spaced out or dull. In this way, with each complete breath, you remedy the two major defects of attention.
     Meditation is a balancing act between attention and relaxation.
     The kind of awareness cultivated here is called bare attention, in which the mind is fully focused on the sensory impressions appearing to it, moment to moment, rather than getting caught up in conceptual & emotional responses to those stimuli."
 
       B. Alan Wallace. "The Attention Revolution. Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind." Wisdom, Boston, 2006.  

     Wondering about your ability to meditate? See: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2014/04/519-feeling-of-im-no-good-at-meditating.html

 

Jimmy Chin, National Geographic   http://photography.nationalgeographic.com

#411 Concepts, Autopilot & Living Consciously

     Why do so many appreciate the concepts of mindfulness and ethics (a critical though seldom-mentioned component of mindfulness), yet so few consistently put these into practice? Is it because we tend to process concepts in real time, but our behavior tends to run on old scripts? The longer we actually practice mindful living - actually bringing mindfulness concepts into daily practical life - the more clearly we experience the radical difference between our usual autopilot trance, and alert, real-time life.

     "... ethical choice cannot be captured completely in general rules because of the nature of ethical life. As with navigation and medicine (analogies Aristotle uses to make his point), “it is a matter of fitting one’s choice to the complex requirements of a concrete situation, taking all of its contextual features into account”. Ethical practice requires the application of general principles, but only insofar as they fit the particular situation at hand. There is not, and cannot be, a general formula for all occasions. Ethics requires, rather, the cultivation of the wisdom to be responsive in a morally imaginative way to the particulars of therapeutic encounters. One does not 'arrive' at being an ethical practitioner, code book in hand. Ethics is an ongoing demand that is always present, never-ending, and often confusing."

         Austin W, Bergum V, Nuttgens S, Peternelj-Taylor C. A Re-Visioning of Boundaries in Professional Helping Relationships: Exploring Other Metaphors. Ethics & Behavior 2006; 16(2): 77-94.

#372 Direct Perception of the Flow of Experience

     “… healing occurs as we learn to move from the realm of concepts to the world of direct experience. Our mental concepts and ideas about things, about people, objects, or feelings, are static and unchanging. But the reality of experience is an ever-changing river. Direct perception drops beneath the names of things to show us their ephemeral, mysterious nature. When we bring our attention to the direct perception of experience, we become more alive and free.”               Jack Kornfield

#327 Ideas about Happiness vs the Real Thing

     We all hold ideas about what it takes to make us happy. These concepts are cultural, familial, as well as those that are unique to us as individuals. We are constantly comparing current reality with this potent ball of 'must haves' - the closer the match, the greater our happiness ... and vice versa.
     To the extent that these requirements for happiness are unexamined, unconscious, and thus NOT of our own choosing, they have a stranglehold on our life.
     My late aunt repeatedly said that as long as her only daughter remained with her partner (whom my aunt disliked), my aunt could never be happy. This type of vow is common and effective. My aunt died unhappy.
     This is tragic AND completely unnecessary. We need to become consciously aware of all the barriers *** we ourselves erect to keep us from embracing life fully. We need to become consciously aware of all the hounds that chase us, as if we were rabbits - and - all the rabbits that we chase, as if we were hounds. Most of us, most of the time, without any apparent choice in the matter, are in fact flipping between hound and rabbit roles. This is both exhausting and miserable.
     Fortunately, we know the PHYSICAL FEELING of chasing, and also of being chased. When we become aware of this common form of being OUT OF CONTROL, of "being driven" instead of doing what we want to do, we can pause, center ourselves with the feel of our breath in our belly, bring ourselves into the present moment, and choose to do what is appropriate to the present circumstances. FRESHLY EMBRACE THIS VERY MOMENT. This is the definition of sanity by any standards.

***      "Growth fundamentally means an enlarging and expanding of one's horizons, a growth of one's boundaries, outwardly in perspective and inwardly in depth. ... Growth is reapportionment; re-zoning; re-mapping; an acknowledgment, and then enrichment, of ever deeper and more encompassing levels of one's own self."
        Wilber K. "No boundary. Eastern and Western approaches to personal growth." Shambhala, Boston, 1979.

Wong Heng Meng   http://travel.nationalgeographic.com