#744 Consciousness - Some Finer Points

     "'There is nothing we know more intimately than consciousness, but there is nothing harder to explain.' 

 

     ... cognitive psychologists tend to define consciousness as the awareness of internal and external events (e.g., mental phenomena and stimuli in the environment, respectively).

     ... common to all definitions of consciousness is the implicit distinction between consciousness and the content of consciousness. 

 
     'When people are conscious, they are always conscious of something. Consciousness always has an object.'

     In contrast, a so-called state of consciousness (SoC) tends to be defined as '[the set] of mental episodes of which one can readily become directly aware'. ... (this) definition represents a theoretical confusion of consciousness and its contents by explicitly stating that a SoC is the content (i.e., mental episodes) available to conscious awareness. That is, when the qualifier 'state' is affixed to consciousness, 'it' [consciousness] is held to be content. Consequently, the term states of consciousness rests on a conflation of consciousness and content whereby consciousness is erroneously categorized in terms of content rendered perceptible, presumably, by itself. Again, we refer to this as the consciousness/content fallacy.
     Implicit in the consciousness/content fallacy is the fallacious notion that during a SoC, consciousness may observe its own qualities.

     (But) consciousness cannot directly experience 'itself' as a perceptible object, for then it would cease to be the subject. ... analogous to a sword that cannot cut itself...  

 

     Definitions of altered states of consciousness (ASCs)... postulate that it is the shifts, deviations, or differences in subjective experience, psychological functioning, or mental functioning that constitute an ASC. 

     If one accepts the definition of consciousness as being conscious of something, then it would seem to follow that during an ASC it is the altered phenomenal properties (e.g., visual mental imagery, body image, time sense) that consciousness may be aware of, rather than the state of consciousness. 

     (The) definition of phenomenal field as 'absolutely anything that is in the total momentary experiencing of a person, including the experience of the self' is adopted and applied to 'phenomenal properties.' It is arguable that if one defines phenomenal properties in this way, then an altered pattern of phenomenal properties encapsulates what has been referred to ... as phenomenal and non-phenomenal objects of conscious awareness, that is, the content that a privileged observer may be aware of during what (has been) referred to as an ASC. One may then recommend that the term altered state of consciousness be supplanted by a new term, 'altered pattern of phenomenal properties.' It would seem that by reconceptualizing the notion of an ASC in this manner, the confusion of consciousness with the content of consciousness is avoided. 

      (In conclusion) when the qualifier 'state' is affixed to consciousness, 'it' [consciousness] is held to be content. This is referred to as the consciousness/content fallacy. It is also contended that the consciousness/content fallacy is avoided if one reconceptualizes an ASC as an altered pattern of phenomenal properties."

        Rock AJ, Krippner S. "Does the concept of 'altered states of consciousness' rest on a mistake?" International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 2007; 26(1): 33–40. http://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/ijts-transpersonalstudies/vol26/iss1/5

 

 

Alpujarra by Alice Mason   https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/AliceMasonArtist?ref=l2-shopheader-name

 

#743 Existential Loneliness

     "Loneliness is one of the most common of all human conditions, but it is largely misunderstood by the general population and clinicians alike. In this article, I draw sharp distinctions between 'pathological loneliness' (what people usually mean when they say they are lonely) and 'existential loneliness,' the central focus of this paper. I briefly review the former in order to differentiate it clearly from the latter, arguing that pathological loneliness derives from the unsuccessful resolution of existential loneliness. The two are fundamentally inseparable, constituting different manifestations of the same human condition. 

     Existential loneliness springs from our very nature as human beings. It speaks to the fundamental emptiness & disconnectedness we feel as we grapple with the profoundest questions of the uncertainty of life and death. I argue that we must come to grips with our existential loneliness if we are to fully embrace our humanity and that love is the only healthy response to our dilemma.

     Finally, I discuss our need to resolve our existential situation by adopting an alternative epistemology - unitary consciousness - an epistemology that understands the fundamental oneness of being." 

       Booth R. “Existential Loneliness: The Other Side of the Void.” International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 1997; 16(1): 23-32. 

La Femme en Bleu by Alice Mason   https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/AliceMasonArtist?ref=l2-shopheader-name

 

#742 Health Care Professionals, Compassion Fatigue & MBSR

     "Health care professionals are particularly vulnerable to stress overload and compassion fatigue due to an emotionally exhausting environment. Compassion fatigue among caregivers in turn has been associated with less effective delivery of care. Having compassion for others entails self-compassion. In Kristin Neff’s research, self-compassion includes self-kindness, a sense of common humanity, and mindfulness. Both mindfulness and self-compassion involve promoting an attitude of curiosity and nonjudgment towards one’s experiences. Research suggests that mindfulness interventions, particularly those with an added lovingkindness component, have the potential to increase self-compassion among health care workers. Enhancing focus on developing self-compassion using MBSR and other mindfulness interventions for health care workers holds promise for reducing perceived stress and increasing effectiveness of clinical care."

        Kelley Raab. "Mindfulness, Self-Compassion, and Empathy Among Health Care Professionals: A Review of the Literature." Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy 2014; 20(3): 95–108.

#741 Clear, Accurate, Unbiased Perception?

     “We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.” Anais Nin

     “Every one of us has a different set of unconscious beliefs and assumptions about how things are, and the thing is that they’re not real. They’re constructed. 
     But because they’re unconscious, we don’t realize their conditioned nature. So when we encounter situations, we don’t encounter them freshly. We encounter them through the veil of what in psychology is called implicit memory, which means I’m looking at you, and I think I’m seeing you, but actually what I’m seeing is all the memories of my past, memories that come from the beginning of my life. It’s a memory, but I think it’s really happening now. 
     In trauma theory, they make a big point about how a war veteran is having a flashback and thinks he’s back in Iraq, and responds according to how he did or should have responded in Iraq. And he doesn’t realize that this isn’t Iraq. But the thing is this happens to all of us, all of the time. We’re always responding to situations based on memory, and we think we’re talking to our mother, we think we’re talking to our father, we think we’re talking to some important impactful person in our life, but we don’t know that we think that. And we think the person that we’re talking to is the person we’re talking to, but we’re not. We’re talking to our memory. Our whole life is consisting of one flashback after another. We’re not here. We’re gone. 
     And there’s a fundamental social consensus of normalcy, so that we all kind of get by as human people. And then when one of us steps out of the normal range, then we become noticed, and then somebody says ‘Oh that person is having a trauma response,’ or ‘that person is in a trauma field’ or ‘that person’s implicit memory is activated.’ But the thing is it’s going on with all of us, all of the time. So we’re never responding to the situation at hand."

Reggie Ray - Journey of Embodiment - January 1, 2016

#740 Goals, Failures & Paradox

"Nothing to do,

Nowhere to go,

No one to be."

     What a perplexing koan, riddle - or - statement of fact? It sure sounds like a corrective for us goal-oriented workaholics, anxiously struggling with time-poverty, low self-esteem, etc. Below Jon Kabat-Zinn clearly expands on this theme:

     “The goal of mindfulness practice, if there can be said to be a goal at all (since the practice emphasizes non-duality and therefore non-striving) is simply to experience what is present from moment to moment. Thus, emotional reactivity, and the full range of emotional states available to human beings are as much a valid domain of meditative experience as experiences of calm or relaxation. 
     The cultivation of mindfulness is an arduous challenge, in which one learns to face and work with the full range of emotions and mind states. Frequently, relaxation in the way it is usually formulated, would be an entirely inappropriate response to human situations and problems. If it is offered as the ‘solution’ or the heart of a meditative approach to stress reduction, it will introduce inevitable conflict because of its emphasis on a desirable endstate to be achieved. If one one fails to experience or ‘achieve’ relaxation, then one has failed, and the practitioner has either to conclude that she herself is somehow inadequate, or that the technique is lacking. In either case, there has been a thwarting of one’s goals and expectations which can lead to a sense of inadequacy and an arrested trajectory of development. 

     In contrast, it is impossible to ‘fail’ at mindfulness if one is willing to bring whatever it is that one is experiencing into the field of awareness. One does not have to do anything at all, or achieve a particular state in mindfulness practice. We sometimes tell our patients, in the spirit of the paradoxical nature of the non-dualistic approach, that ‘we will teach you how to be so relaxed that it is OK to be tense.’ ”  
       Jon Kabat-Zinn. “Mindfulness Meditation. What It Is, What It Isn’t, and Its Role in Health Care and Medicine.” Chapter 12 in: Ishii Y, Suzuki M, Haruki Y, eds. “Comparative and Psychological Study on Meditation.” Eburon, 2007.

Courtesy of Buddha Doodles www.buddhadoodles.com

#739 Changing States - in Meditation & Psychotherapy

     During formal sitting meditation practice, we become aware of the many different states of mind that we encounter - like the endless parade of cloud formations floating by in the vast blue sky. Some of these states may be discontinuous with the ones that preceded and follow it. It is not just that we feel more or less, or better or worse: the way we go about feeling may be qualitatively different.
     Of course meditation doesn't cause such changes directly, we are simply able to observe our mind more clearly in the laboratory-like conditions of meditation practice. The statement, "Awareness in and of itself is healing" by psychiatrist Fritz Perls is intriguing.

     I strongly suspect that the state changes meditators experience are similar to what patients experience during accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy (AEDP), the major difference being the manner in which therapists and meditation teachers recognize & deal with these changes.

     In AEDP, "State 1 functioning" is described as being "dominated by defenses and inhibiting affects, such as shame and fear, which block the person’s direct contact with his or her own emotional experience. ... Aloneness in the face of overwhelming emotions is seen in AEDP as being at the root of psychopathology."
Meditators readily recognize this very common state as restlessness, distractedness, "monkey mind." Why do we compulsively try to escape the present moment? Safety issues? Is some history of trauma almost universal? The harder we push against all these forms of 'resistance' to meditation, the more struggles we create for ourselves - "What we resist, persists!" Gradually we discover that acceptance, and gentle perseverance are the keys.
     In AEDP "State 2, with defenses and inhibiting affects (minimized), the patient is viscerally in touch with bodily-rooted emotional experience. ... patient and therapist ... working together to help the patient access, deepen, regulate, and work through emotional experiences until their adaptive action tendencies can be released. Instead of feeling disrupted and overwhelmed by emotions, the patient, aliveness enhanced, feels stronger and more resilient."  
Meditators intentionally accept the physical feel of emotions, either generating curiosity & leaning in towards it and using it as the object of meditation ('physical processing'); or if its too aversive, letting the physical feel be for now, returning to the primary object of meditation ('touch-and-go').
     In AEDP "State 3 - core state, the patient has a subjective sense of 'truth' and a heightened sense of authenticity and vitality; very often, so does the therapist. As in state 2, defenses or anxiety are absent in the core state. But whereas the turbulence of intense emotions defines state 2, calm, clarity, and centeredness prevail in state 3. Work with core state phenomena culminates in the assertion of personal truth and strengthening of the individual’s core identity and sense of (true) self. In core state, AEDP joins with spiritual traditions and traditions of mindfulness."  
Meditators mercifully do encounter periods of effortlessness & joy during practice. This is usually temporary, though the trajectory is toward a state that is progressively less dependent on the constantly changing, & largely uncontrollable, external circumstances. "When all the layers of false identity have been stripped off, there is no longer any version of that old self. What is left behind is pure consciousness (rigpa). That is our original being. That is our true identity."  Anam Thubten


       Diana Fosha. "Quantum Transformation in Trauma and Treatment: Traversing the Crisis of Healing Change." J Clin Psychol: In Session 2006; 62: 569–583. 
       AEDP overview with Diana Fosha: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HasX4sW3mRw

Courtesy of Buddha Doodles www.BuddhaDoodles.shop

#738 Mindfulness in Context

     "Mindfulness is the ‘heart’ of the Buddha’s teachings and is the core of, and namesake to, a class of intervention aimed at alleviating common forms of suffering—Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBI’s; originally, Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction [MBSR]; later Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy [MBCT]; and other related programmes). 

     Among Buddhist scholars and Western scientists, both separately and communally, there is a lack of agreement about the specific definition of mindfulness. However, a common basis of understanding exists among Buddhist scholars, although interpretations and descriptions of mindfulness range in emphasis. Some, for example, accentuate aspects of attention, whereas others more explicitly acknowledge the complex and dynamic interplay of numerous factors including the cognitive, emotional, social and ethical.

     Mindfulness within Western psychology is generally assumed to reflect the Buddhist construct. However, definitions of the term vary greatly from that of a simple therapeutic or experiential technique to a multi-faceted activity, which requires practice and refinement. Certainly, a more elaborated definition appears to have greater support from contemplative texts, modern explanations of consciousness, and the functioning of the nervous system.       
     When attempts are made to integrate its traditional roots with modern theories of consciousness and psychological function, mindfulness is also promoted in the West as part of a broad set of practices embedded in a transitional path away from ordinary modes of everyday functioning. It is within the context of this transitional path, which includes affective, behavioural, cognitive, ethical, social and other dimensions, that mindfulness is believed to contribute to the promotion of wellbeing and amelioration of suffering. Given this contextual complexity, it may be difficult, if not impossible, to separate mindfulness from the other components woven together into the fabric of this transitional path.

     Conventional scientific methods may not easily lend themselves to a refined exploration of mindfulness. As Christopher & Gilbert wrote, based on the writings of the Thai monk and teacher Buddhadasa Bhikkhu: ‘Western psychology mandates that constructs must be explicated and operationalized to be accurately assessed. However, most Buddhist traditions dictate that mindfulness cannot be easily extracted and analyzed in isolation from inherently interrelated concepts.’ If this is true, scientists need to embrace new approaches for studying mindfulness, and merely linear, additive models that sum putative markers related to mindfulness will not suffice. Thus, attempts to delineate discrete components of mindfulness are not likely capture the inherent interrelationships mentioned by Christopher & Gilbert, seen as synergistic and mutually reinforcing."

        Grossman P, Van Dam NT. “Mindfulness, by any other name: trials and tribulations of sati in western psychology and science.” Contemp Buddhism 2011; 12(1): 219–239. doi: 10.1080/14639947.2011.564841