Tag: Vipassana

Phenomenological Analysis of Vipassana Meditation Noema

On By Chris Shuttleworth1 Comment
Originally Written: March 24th 2020

While mindfulness requires diligent effort towards directing the gaze of conscious awareness towards the content of the present moment arising in consciousness, a phenomenological analysis requires much more psychologically rooted tools to perform at a truth revealing level (optimal/accurate/useful in degrees). While we can acquire the benefits of mindfulness through attention to the present, the requirements for a phenomenological analysis require intellectual clarity, knowledge of various scientific disciplines, non-contradictory logical reasoning, causal intuition, time and diligence directed by the mental gaze towards an authentic unravelling of the structure of the psyche, in short they require the ability to concentrate and pursue abstract correlates in their relation to the manifest contents discovered in mindfulness. This necessarily entails work, time, and discipline if one is to uncover the essential foundations for the noeses from which the noema (Husserl’s Terminology) are correlated and initially perceived as inextricably connected.

I wish to pursue the meaning, the noeses, the mode of Being, and its essential attributes for an experiential noema of, namely: entering into a Vipassana present moment meditation (Basic Vipassana Meditation). Now, first and foremost, I must recognize that the experience is of a specific differentiated nature, meaning, that I recognize my transition into a mode of awareness directed upon the present moment which is distinctly different from the previous mode of being, for which I conceptualize in my phenomenological analysis as an experience of mindfulness meditation. The goal for me, here, is to recognize the essence of the mode of Being which enabled and embodied such a subjective experience, and to uncover why.

First I analyze the situation for what it is, through recollection in memory and reflection upon the experiential content. Once I have clearly in mind the content I was experiencing in conscious awareness at the time of the period of mindfulness, I can circumnavigate the experience to get a clear view of the noema with which we are interested in attaining the correlated noesis. The multiple perspective exploration which ensues is the part of the work we must undergo to get a clear and authentic representation of the content. Here a reliance on clear, judgmental, unbiased memory is a preferred indifferent to us, as certain acts of reflection we may be unable to untangle from the truth of the matter. It is preferred in that it directly relates to an optimal outcome, and indifferent in that we recognize that the ability to do so is inherent in our intellectual capacities, and may…unfortunately…be out of our control in the time being, yet ultimately able to be improved through persistence and experience in performing phenomenological analyses, as well as with the increase of wisdom and knowledge in related mental faculties (logic / reason / intellectual concentration). To be able to perform such an endeavor we must “bracket” the “natural world” as described by Husserl, the degree to which we are able to separate the influence of a natural standpoint, or the unmindful mode of being, is crucial to the accuracy of the conclusion acquired. The amount of clarity in our recollection, and the resistance to any narrating and “Ego” driven defining of the content of the noema enable us to better or worse produce a clear, more accurate phenomenological result.

With the noema defined and held in our conscious gaze, that of the Vipassana mediation experience, we probe into our intuition to disclose what the intentionality of the acts performed in the noema are stemming from, or how the noematic content relates to the noetic content, their connection and formulation. For what purpose did we pursue such activity? From what mode of Being did it stem from? Why would we spend time doing such an act? Obviously the answer to these questions are differentiated in response to the individual, his circumstances, and the specific noema in space and time in which we are analyzing. Thus, my uncovering of the phenomena of mindfulness is related to this singular experience, and the work put in is towards the end in direct regard to that singular experience. The results therefore disclose information related to that mode of being intuited as being preliminary and underlying to the noema, but, also, they disclose a possible mode of being which can generally be stated as being able to manifest across the realm of future experience. While we discover the noesis of that singular noema in the analysis, we recognize it as an integral part of our psyche, and thus as having the potential of emerging again as a correlate to any future experience, and more specifically to acts of similar nature to the one inquired upon.

The intentionality in the case described is personally intuited in conceptualizations (word representations of “real” phenomena) based upon our acquired total synthesis of Being, containing specific knowledge with which the individual utilizes in his description and exploration of the phenomenological correlates to the experience. Language and its epistemology in regards to the individual is therefore an important aspect of any abstraction. Different perspectives and explanations are possible as being uncovered, as all being parts of the whole correlated explanation of the mode of Being relevant. Thus, we can expect always a partial conclusion, as the limit of knowledge and the kind of representation used (definition of words used in conceptualization is varied according to the individual). In my personal case I concluded, after work towards unravelling, a number of intuitions which may partially constitute the nature of the noeses underlying the phenomena of Vipassana meditation, in its manifestation and presentation in memory discovered by myself. The implications of such findings, and their relevancy towards further explanation across multiple disciplines, is later to be expounded upon.

I here wish to expound my personal findings to explore what I found, the implications, again, will later be preliminarily sketched out. In looking towards the intention I intuited that a mode of being of intentionality was prevalent throughout the experience. The conscious thought arose in which directed my being towards actualizing a mindfulness practice, and thus I habitually followed previous attempts at actualizing a Vipassana mediation, as I have up to this point acquired. The sitting still, eyes closed, and directing of the gaze into the present moment followed this consciously directed thought of wishing to perform a Vipassana meditation. Attention was focused upon the fleeting, transient contents of consciousness as it presented an awareness of perceptions of sensations and sensory content such as hearing, bodily pressure upon the chair, thoughts used in describing the present, attention brought to non-conceptually arising observation of the breath, sounds, feeling. I witnessed thoughts appear, I witnessed attention change. In retrospect there was always a content to which I could possibly be attentive to, although for brief moments my initial intention of pursuing a constant awareness of the present moment (a general guideline for Vipassana) was broken by forgetfulness of the practice as a thought or mental formation hindered my remembrance of the practice, but eventually was brought back to the attention upon the task at hand of being mindful. The variation in the content of consciousness in pursuing itself, varied in accuracy as it drifted between the awareness of the present, and non-awareness of its own content. These two poles make up a general description of the noema from start (that of entering into the mode of being) to end (that of exiting the mode of being and transitioning to a phenomenological analysis of the noema which had passed). The noema has been roughly, simply, conceptualized.

As there was a content connected to consciousness, there is a content of the underlying mode of being, the noesis, to that noema. Where consciousness was intent on pursuing Vipassana meditation, why was it pursuing Vipassana meditation? The answer lies in a multitude of phenomenological reasons relating to the nature of the mode of being which so desires such an experience (Phenomenology of Desire). This desire we will later expound upon. Several I will here explore as being uncovered in intuitional analyses. The mode of being is characterized by a will for character development, for becoming a better person, embodying the virtues with which to act upon in an optimal way for said character development. Upon investigation I discovered that from a doxological perspective (of my inherent intellectual belief structure) that I believe the pursuit of mindfulness to be relating and influential towards the goal of the improvement of character. Thus, part of the noetic content making up the whole noesis isn’t only of intentionality constitution, but also of doxic positionality (my Being’s relation to what I believe). I, through whatever reason (a causal chain of connectivity leads to our current belief structure), also hold as high in my meaning structure, or value hierarchy, the pursuit of character development (probably a conceptually acquired content stemming from content such as experiential knowledge and practical evaluation of Aristotle’s Nichomechean Ethics).  Thus, the mode of being described as character development has revealed itself as containing noetic content of intentionality, doxic positionality (my relation to my beliefs), and value pursuit (my pursuit of a value which I have personally acquired as something hierarchical more important to me than other experiences). The result of such content in experience being the actualization of the underlying desire for character development manifest in the Vipassana meditation noema which I experienced.

Now we look to analyze why I contain such a doxic, value, and intentional structure. While the noema, the experience itself, is put into the highest position of concreteness, a relation to the recollection in the awareness of the memory of the experience would be in the second order of concreteness (it loses something of the initial concrete experience in the conceptual and mental formation), and in the third dimension of abstraction we have intuited the noetic structure which we believe to underlie the initial 1st dimension experience based upon the 2nd dimension experience (of recollection). The 3rd dimensional conceptual abstraction defines parts of the contents of the noesis available to us through the 2nd dimension and is itself able to be subject to phenomenological analyses, just as much as any other noema. But that’s a side note just to convey two things, namely, that each step in the phenomenological analyses is itself a moment which can be phenomenologically analyzed in its own noematic content, and also from that to conclude that the limit of content available to be phenomenologically analyzed is thus limitless in extension.

Continuing down our analysis we enter a 4th dimension of analysis, as to what purpose the noesis, the mode of being, which contains (in our partial exploration) the content of the underlying mode of being producing the noema, is itself produced by. To this we must enter into much broader and more profound territory, the full exploration of requires much scientific insight, and the space of which is open to further investigation in the fields of sociology, evolutionary biology, formal biology, psychology, and philosophy. As Merleau Ponty points out, there are many senses to which a phenomenon gives, multiple significant attributes that are interrelated and constituting of the phenomenon, many interrelated perspectives from which to gaze upon it, all of which simultaneously constitute the phenomena, yet we can find, that some give a broader defining of its characteristics than others do, although, in actuality, they cannot be separated. On a basic level it is an automatic habitual intuition, for me, to explain the noetic content thus described in evolutionary biological terms. Underlying all intentionality and modes of being, and in their modification, and their discovered content, is a persistent desire on behalf of the organism which I find myself as (Dasein (thrown)), as well as the genetic makeup, to “desire” (in affect) to preserve itself, recreate itself, and accurately recreate itself. By desire here in quotations we are referring to the biological correlate of the anthropomorphic sense of desire and its synonymous connotation of “willing/wanting/striving”, which, in effect, is attempting to achieve something. While we can view acquisition of character traits and thus modes of being underlying them in part to society, culture, past experience, the circumstances, time; I initially look towards the concrete and most fundamental underlying substratum for my personal exploration of this 4th dimension. This biological “desire” evolutionarily is beneficial in its manifestation in the mode of being of character development in that, (I believe), through making myself a better person I can better navigate existence (insight into nature of reality through Vipassana), enabling me to become a stronger, wiser individual (in my reduction of suffering and improving of wellbeing). This biological “desire” underlying the manifestation of the mode of being of character development also simultaneously allows the individual to be better able to avoid death, sickness, injury, in short, that which is contrary to the continuation of my genetic material, and necessarily the individual with which I am. The preservation and safety of the genome is thus satisfied in this explanation. Also, the second characteristic of genetic “purpose”, the procreation and replication of the genetic material, find their explanation in the noema and its coinciding noesis. By embodying what the individual believes to be character enhancing he is simultaneously embarking to become a more viable candidate for procreation, in thus manifesting the mode of being previously described, the individual (in my case unconsciously, yet consciously uncovered) “believes” (proof through action)  in the pursuit of such activities which are produced by a character development mode of being, as being themselves tools towards character development and thus to the replication of his genes. This satisfies the second requirement in the biological imperative.

This rudimentary exploration towards the phenomenological underpinnings of a specific noematic experience is far from conclusive, but has provided information towards which I can use to understand how and why and from what mode of being the content of my experience is possible to be originating in. The conscious pursuit of ever more accurate descriptions of such a nature, indeed the meaning as to why the entire phenomenological investigation can be performed, is found in the insights gleaned by our own self-examination and realization, as well as has its utilization in the various scientific fields; psychology, biology, as well as obviously philosophy. With logic, reason, and intuition as our guides, following a phenomenological methodology, we are able to piece together the underlying characterizations of modes of being from a reduction from the “things themselves” experientially in any given noema. As the intuitions are discovered philosophically, the deeper explorations and explanations of the questions it is able to discover are thus open to pursuance by the various scientific disciplines. The verification of initial insights, the pursuit of answers to novel questions discovered in phenomenological analysis, and the subjective revelation of objective truths intuitive through persistent work in phenomenological analysis is something which can benefit anyone who contains the psychic imperative to seek the truth. The intentionality behind such an imperative leaves itself open to important and necessary research, across various disciplines, of which the answers can be valuable in their usefulness and beneficiality for us all (I believe).

On Phenomenology – Continued

On By Chris ShuttleworthLeave a comment
Originally Written: March 10th 2020

Mindfulness in its traditional application is a mode of being in which the practitioner becomes aware of the awareness of consciousness in the present moment, i.e. the practitioner becomes aware of the contents of consciousness as they present themselves to the field of consciousness. Attention is directed toward phenomena as they arise, and subsequently fade away to be replaced. Important insights are gleaned from such practice, such as the impermanence of mental phenomena and their inherent transitoriness, the lack of a self – as the contents being ushered into consciousness’s gaze are not being determined by the subject (the practitioner) – and the root of such phenomena is found to be in the very general care structure, or ability to desire. Upon closer introspection and further development of the practice, the root of suffering, and the all-pervasive nature of suffering, are discovered. While mindfulness is useful to the realization in first-hand experience of such immutable truths, experientially we solely are limited to insights gleaned from the gaze into the present moment. Mindfulness enables further recognition of the nature of consciousness, but the story is not completed by such pursuits, it is only partially informed. (Mindfulness and Phenomenology)

In practicing mindfulness, or Vipassana, we become aware of the noema (Husserl’s terminology), or the conscious mental manifestation of phenomena as viewed subjectively. The noema is the experiential aspect of the present moment, whatever content may arise is a given noema. It is the act itself of what is intentioned by our conscious directing in the present moment. It is the content of experience, as we are able to view it. We can push mindfulness to a higher resolution image of these contents through retrospective phenomenological analysis of the content manifested in the present moment. This analysis is done through discrimination, retrospectively, upon the mode of Being, the field of consciousness, which gives rise to the phenomena available to be gleaned in mindfulness.

The pursuit of this content, that of the noesis, is purely the job of the phenomenologist, for purposes which range from psychological to metaphysical, from the advance of our understanding to our personal development. In discerning phenomena using a mindfulness process, we direct our attentional gaze using both subjective intuition and logical reduction of the phenomena to find their essence, i.e. we seek to discover the noesis which is present in the manifestation of the noema, which is available to us introspectively. The groundwork for such phenomena can be found tricky to reduce from the neomatic content, which are ever transient in their appearing, yet philosophers such as Husserl, Heidegger, and Hegel have sought to classify, organize, describe, and relate the different modes of being and their progression through their influential works.

While the phenomenological method has been dictated in many forms, the practical implementation of a phenomenological examination in the course of a detailed practice has been lacking in a structure which is available to be practiced by the general public.

This is a topic which I am seeking to pursue, how to conceptualize a process for the identification of noeses behind noema, and for the ability to utilize such information once it is acquired towards the promotion of the wellbeing of the individual, as well as a higher resolution of the truth of our own, of my own, of the phenomenologist’s own, consciousness, and thus of reality. This is truly a task for those who wish to seek the truth of their Being, and while mindfulness meditation and practice opens the door, phenomenological analysis into the groundwork of conscious modes of Bring which lays behind the phenomena is truly stepping through the door. While science can depict aspects of the neural underpinnings of the cortical mass which can be linked to emotion, thought, and relational hierarchical reasoning, and other modes of sensual representation in their displays to consciousness, the phenomenologists and thus the philosopher seeks a task which only he himself can pursue. These grounds are subjectively discoverable and give us an insight into the objective realization of the structure of our consciousness, and our Being. Only through retrospective phenomenological analysis into the information gleaned through a mindfulness practice is it to be acquired.

The implications of such pursuit are vast, what insight and beneficiality there is to be gained through recognition of structural modes of being which lay behind the perceived phenomena arising in consciousness is something to be discovered, which can be discovered, and we would be wise not to ignore them. The directing of our current mode of being towards such content necessarily places us in a new mode of being separate from the (time/content) to be analyzed, allowing for an infinite regress of content to be explored. What immediately is clear is that modes of being can overlap, and several can be present within the present moment, dependent upon the content thus produced. It is the task of the philosopher to parse out the constituent defining characteristics of such modes of beings, and furthermore to the interrelatedness of the modes, viz. how they interact, and how the separate thesis’s which are used to describe them overlay in their totality to form the synthesis which comprised the synthetic unitary mode of consciousness which contains them. This synthetic unitary mode is all encompassing in its definition, and applies to the field of which all modes of Being are connected, yet they are discretionary in their arising, due to causal factors which we can also further elaborate on. It is clear that this enterprise is vast in its scope and deep in its implications, but the utilization of it, and the insights which are possible to be discovered, appear to be ever vaster.

In reference to the beneficiality of such practice, here noted as phenomenological practice, we are going to base the further discussion upon the insights gleaned through Vipassana, or as will further be described as mindfulness (as the insight meditation practice focusing attention upon the contents of consciousness). In mindfulness we learn how certain contents, and habitual formations arise, and in response to what triggers them. We learn how to cope with such phenomena in a way which is beneficial to us, or in alignment with our morals, or preconceived value and care structures. We can apply our value, moral, and care structures to the navigation not only in response to the shifting contents of our consciousness, but to the modes of being discoverable and thus subsequently recognizable in their manifestation through phenomenological practice. E.g. we discover through the exclamation of certain truths, or of conceptual exertions of truth-claims (valued as certain through our doxic (belief) structure) as being contained in a mode of being of certainty. Thus we state something with absolute confidence, perhaps in a conversation, as being categorically true. Upon reflection upon that content which manifests itself in our awareness through being mindful of the moment, we can later reflect upon such memory, or stored representation of the present moment, and seek to reduce the mode of consciousness which we inhabited in the moment of exertion. Of course the topic on hand is relevant to the mode of being we find ourselves in, but we strip that away further, and find that beneath the content, beneath the circumstances, beneath the external and internal causality which conditions the response in us of exerting what we believe to be a truth-claim, that we are inhabiting a mode of consciousness of “certainty”.

If our moral and value structure is thus formulated to be one of fallibility (Intro to Fallibilism), in the spirit of continual progression and abhorrence to dogmatic claims, we find the mode of certainty to be truly dissonant in respect to our value structure. Thus we can consciously direct our efforts to avoid pursuing the mode of being thus recognized as “being certain” and through conscious training become habitualized to act otherwise than the prior causally condition habitual response. We are not looking in grounding our actions to be counter to the manifestation of the content which is elicited by the mode of being of certainty, but instead to be counter to the mode of “being certain” itself. Such an effort in affecting our mode of being will subsequently produce actions and intentions which are directed from a mode of being counter to the original mode of being, and properly in line with our conscious value structure of remaining fallible.

In a similar sense as the Buddhist works at conditioning himself away from unwholesome thoughts and towards the propagation of wholesome thoughts, and likewise in speech, views, and actions, we seek to condition ourselves towards wholesome modes of being, and away from unwholesome modes of being. Thus in the case where such further encounters with the mode of being of certainty, we can quickly recognize the triggers to its manifestation, its formal manifestation, and in response, move away from making neomatic claims (actual acts) and seek to inhabit the mode of being fallible, in order to produce a reactive response which is in line with our moral and value structure, which isn’t overpowered by the “archetype”, so to speak, of certainty, but instead that of fallibility. This mode of being more accurately represents the synthetic unitary mode of Being, to me at least (in this personal example) which is a more authentic representation of the totality of who we are, rather than the one dominant mode being which seeks to overexert itself, namely, that mode of “certainty”.

In this way we can, in addition to mindfulness, consciously direct ourselves towards the implication of a phenomenological practice, the fruits of which can be used in a practical manner not only to provide information depicting a higher resolution image of the truth of our Being, and thus reality, not only towards the beneficiality of our wellbeing in the navigation away from dominant modes of being which we contain yet don’t desire to be prominent, but we additionally can give a more authentic representation of ourselves in our thoughts, speech, and actions, through the practical application of its findings, and work towards habitualized, consciously directed, practice. The progression of our understanding, in our pursuit for truth, and in the realization and authentication of our moral and hierarchical value structures is of paramount importance for the individualization, and progression of the individual, to becoming more fully actualized in his conduct and cognitive apprehension of reality (Value System Instantiation). Thus if we seek to be moral, and seek truth, we should endeavor to push past mindfulness practice into the newly discovered field of phenomenological practice.

In summary, what underlies the present moment act, or mental activity, which presents itself in mindfulness, is the type or mode of acting which is taking place. Here we are defining the content as the noema, and the acting, or mode of consciousness producing the noema, as noesis. (Husserl’s Terminology) The noema is consciously directed toward an object, whether in that moment it be memory, a thought, a perception, a feeling of sensual origination, etc. The mode of being giving rise to such content, is described linguistically as remembering, thinking, perceiving, feeling, etc. What we seek to discover in our analysis is first, the noema, secondly, the noesis, thirdly, the conditions and essential nature of the noesis, fourthly, the causal connectedness of underlying factors producing the noesis (external circumstances, inner disposition, biological/hereditary/cortical processing (neuroscientific explanations)), fifthly, how to navigate the reduction and the instigation of modes of being or noesis in a consciously directed way in order to give an optimal result in our experience of life and the manifestations of our actions, which is dictated by acquired knowledge, and implemented using practical wisdom (phronesis).

Where the intention from which acts in the noema stem from are to be uncovered through discovery of the noesis present in their manifestations, we can also look to what is manifesting the noesis itself. This entails seeing the causal relation between modes of being changing, whether it be directed through conscious instigation, environmental factors, or necessary progression. We can seek to reduce from the given information present to us what are the causal conditions which allow the synthetic unitary consciousness, or the Totality of our Being, to give rise to the mode of being discoverable in the noesis. We can find this to be conditioned through unconsciously formulated pathway of reciprocity to present situations, which has roots in biological processes and, in short, the totality of our experience through life (starting with hereditary and environmental factors).

While these are surely relevant to us, what is more valuable is the course correcting away from sub optimal, or dissonance causing modes of being (in contrast to our consciously formulated value structure). Consciousness is constantly undergoing an updating process as new experience and data is collected through our perspectival horizon, this datum enters into its triage, which is collected through the value system’s discrimination, and in turn the filtration system itself is modified. This modification of the value structures filtration of perceived content subsequently affects the relevant experience presented to us in our subjective experience of consciousness itself. We are interested in how to affect this system consciously, in the most optimal way for our Being, that which we are in our entirety. This is to be done through the aforementioned noesis recognition, a conscious system of noeses which are discerned as more optimal, and the consciously directed self-conditioning of the instigation of modes of being in line with the pre thought-out value structure. Just as we learn anything through experience, practice, and self-training, the same principle applies to the adjustment of our mode of being. Once we learn to recognize the manifestation of an unwanted or wanted mode of being, and are able to conscious recognize such content through the noema present to us in proper mindfulness, we are able to utilize that information towards the cessation of unwanted modes of being, and the arising of wanted modes of being. The desire structure which is inherent in all content is not able to be avoided, or replaced by simply the “denial of the will” as Schopenhauer puts it, as even such a denial is a manifestation of the desire structure – such phenomena as our desire structure we must learn to live with, and utilize to our benefit, through the phenomenological practice directed towards the modes of being which are of greater interest to us in our hierarchical structure. Thus we can utilize the tool which causes us suffering, in order to minimize, or move to a mode of being which contains less suffering, through directing our mode of being in this way.

Where is the proper direction to head? Which modes of Being do we value more than others? How do we manifest different modes of Being? How do we find the synthetic unitary consciousness with which we should seek to authentically represent in our speech and actions through instigation of proper modes of Being? All these questions are relevant and discoverable to the philosopher. And thus an existential question is posited, towards which end ought we head? And using which metric should we follow? It is here that the individual philosopher must make a stand. He must formulate answers to these questions, and seek to embody them, for the development and authentic representation of his being depends on it. We can move in degrees towards the peak of the mountain which we so choose to climb, while one may choose a pathway designated by the current cultural zeitgeist, another may choose the hedonistic peak, while another may follow a whim, it is up to us to decide. There is morality in question, there is truth in question, and there is living in alignment with what we will, there is also, most importantly, that pathway which leads to optimal wellbeing for us. This path towards optimal wellbeing may necessarily involve suffering in its formulation, and is in no way opting for a utopia of the mind which is universal, what is truly the best mode to inhabit for one person, may not be for another, and there is no form in which to generalize such conclusions.

While moral realism holds ground if it is based upon solid foundations, as formulated by Sam Harris, that doesn’t mean that we all will be competent enough to discover what is truly best for us, although our degree of success will always be placed upon a spectrum towards the unknowable height of perfection. What phenomenological analysis enables us to do is to discover the roots of our mode of Being, and what phenomenological practice does is allow us to condition ourselves in the direction we wish to head. While every path objectively is meaningless, and it always is full of meaning to us, subjectively. Thus it is of paramount importance that we discover what is meaningful to us, which modes of being we as the individual who has to subjectively experience this life must further experience. This information, and this uncovering, will allow us to formulate the location in which we are to direct our phenomenological practice towards achieving.

 The expression of our inner state in the form of our actions / content of consciousness isn’tof primary importance to us here, what we are more interested in is the mode of being from which all content stems from. For we can alter our speech and actions within a given domain of Being, and they will all reflect the same state, albeit in slightly altered forms. What we must optimize is the mode of Being which we inhabit given a certain set of problems / circumstances which we seek to oppose. There are better or worse solutions to the problems in our lives, navigable to lesser or greater degrees. What we must seek to find is an optimal mode of being from which the appropriate response can flow from.

I find the danger in strict dogmatism in regards to moving forward with utmost confidence in a frame of mind of infallibility. This, I believe, is a trademark of the modern man, and of utmost importance to be corrected from. The archetype of the tyrant, the man who claims to know the answer, the soul who seeks to dominate reality with his current understanding. This mode of Being runs rampant, and plagues the development of the individual to grow, learn, and optimize his current understanding. It is not merely the claim that we know the best solution, nor is it solely claiming that we simply “don’t know”, which is surely true but inconclusive. The mode of being I think that can best correct, and improve the individual, is to have logically conclusive beliefs, in which harmonize with the conceptual unity of the individuals metaphysical doxic structure, yet, simultaneously, the individual must hold that these beliefs are merely beliefs. This doesn’t mean that knowledge is unattainable, it solely means that whether we have true knowledge, or are ignorant, that there is a possibility that at the very most this information is partial. There is always more “background” truths to be uncovered, there is always more information to be had, more time to be spent, more “wisdom” to be encountered and utilized towards a “better” optimal solution. We may be truly correct, objectively, yet when one maintains a fallibilistic mode of being in regard to truth claims, what happens is that we gain a pragmatic advantage in every area with which we are ignorant, whether it be in areas of known unknowns, or unknown unknowns, yet while passionately holding a belief, we do not resign from action and evaluation, or in decisiveness. We lose certainty and we gain every possibility for ever growing inner expansion. If we don’t hold this mode of being close, we risk losing out, on something we may not even know we are missing. The only knowledge and information we have to work with in response to novel problems arising necessarily stems from experience, and it is natural to seek to move forward with preconceived knowledge in the confrontation with chaos. While we must not stagnant, we must also hold firmly in mind that any decision we make, any truth-claim we state, can be improved upon, can be better informed, can come from a mode of being which altogether transcends our current one. The amount of time taken in pursuit of more optimal solutions, and towards which issues we direct our conscious attention to analyzing, falls under the domain of wisdom. While we must look to overcome challenges, if something is a challenge to us, it necessarily implies an unknown. In order to combat it we must seek to recognize that there is an unknown, and transfer it into our conceptual framework for “known unknown”. This requires relinquishment of the mode of being of absolute certainty.

Benefits of Mindfulness

On By Chris Shuttleworth1 Comment
Originally Written: April 6th 2018

Spiritual progress and expertise in meditation is a skill that can only be developed and cultivated with practice. Practice takes time, repetition, effort, concentration. It is of utmost importance to have this skill, as the development of the mind organizes the chaos of all we experience. The understanding of reality, and the fusion of your consciousness to the present moment, without being led away by delusion, destroys ignorance, destroys suffering, and its causes. To improve in the development of your mind, arguably called “spirituality”, enables experiences of ever increasing insight into the nature of your psychology, reality, “yourself”, that increases in profundity and clarity as you work on the skill.

To work in developing mindfulness in a Theravadan Buddhist sense, or in developing a non-dual state of mind as outline in the Hindu Advaita Vedanta tradition, increasingly enables experiencing the present moment, experiencing every shift in consciousness as its contents arise and fall, as it shifts from object of awareness to awareness itself. It is possible to become so mindfully located in the present moment that you are aware of even the slightest change in consciousness as it moves from one phenomena to another. To do this much practice, much time, effort is needed to cultivate the skill. Certain defilements must be uprooted; distractions must be eliminated. Any form of desire, craving, attachment, to anything – even a state of mind, yourself, peace – must be uprooted. Any type of aversion, blocking, avoidance must also be uprooted. This is the middle path, a pure acceptance of the present moment, with no will to be found. No will as in want, and no will as ability to control, as both are illusions made of the brain by the organism to produce effects.

The ability to experience Being, to experience pure experiencing, is to simply Be. To fully be mindful, is to be mindful of being mindful. It is to be aware of the exact content of consciousness as it constantly is changing, and to see it, watch it, free of motive, free of will, free of denial of will, unbiased, as it is. The effects of such insights lead to a greater understanding of causality as it relates to your psychological state. This includes the causality leading to the un-satisfactory nature of life, and thus to others, and how you and them can be aided. This cause is from the very desire or craving or attachment to anything, even happiness, and from seeing things as permanent, and as something to “hold on to”. Every phenomenon is merely occurring within the present moment, and it is all impermanent, these are truths we should make peace with by letting go of the notions otherwise. From a mode of being characterized by peaceful equanimity, in which the mind is not disturbed by any normally perturbing stimuli, such as those that go against our desire, by anger in others, by misfortune or by aversion, springs all the greatest things we would normally want, truth, happiness, morality. We often find in life that when we are not looking for something, we happen to find it, and in this case, when we are not searching after happiness, or satisfactoriness, but rather pursuing what is right morally, and by maintain a state of mind which is characterized by understanding and virtue, that it naturally follows in its wake.

If you understand how your wellbeing is diminished by the desire that moves us along in the present moment, you can understand how your wellbeing is possible in the present moment, by redirecting those desires towards something that truly has meaning to you, and by eliminating the desires that aren’t in alignment with consciously calculated goals. From this you can use that understanding to move your experience to that of well being, more and more so with more practice, more and more so you move to do what is in your best interest. Then extrapolate outward with the effects of such an undertaking and it becomes clear that you can improve the wellbeing of your family, your coworkers, friends, community, and onward. The key is to developing your mind, and the implications lead to a better present moment, better in every form of the term, not only for you. The more you develop and train and practice in this manner, the better your life can become, the more you can understand yourself, and your lack of self, the more you can acknowledge phenomena as they arise, and then remove defilements such as anger, hatred, jealousy, ill will, laziness, boredom, dissatisfaction, suffering, and so on.

It is natural when an unsatisfactory mode of being arises to not want it to proceed as dominating the psyche, but that very desire often confines us to stay within it. It is by the calm recognition of the arising, and the ability to let go of wishing to be otherwise, while simultaneously not acting in a way which satisfies the unwholesome state of mind, that we are able to overcome it. What skill could be more useful than that which enables you to be better equipped to the misfortune and negative modes of being inherent in every life? What would be a better way of becoming a better person, than developing knowledge of wellbeing, and how to attain it, and then improving the lives of others, by improving yourself? The skill cannot be bought, or shared, or worked on by anyone but you, and you can only develop it, it isn’t quick, and instantaneous, your improving in it is yours alone, and you can not share that. But you can help point others in the right direction so they too can develop it. Spiritual progress is yours alone, and thus shouldn’t be talked about lightheartedly, but to those with true willingness to learn, to improve, with “little dust on their eyes”, we should seek to aid them or answer their cries for help as Buddha was encouraged to do upon attaining enlightenment. Wisdom dictates our ability to decipher who it would be beneficial to share certain ideas with, and we should use our best judgment in discerning the ideas we share with others.  Enlightenment is the most important thing in the world, the most valuable, and it is within you, hidden underneath biological impediments, culture, conditioning, and unwholesomeness, clean up your mind, remove impediments, develop wholesomeness, and become able to be experiencing right here, right now, in this present moment, and every present moment, the potential you contain – actualized.

Basic Vipassana and Samatha Meditation

On By Chris Shuttleworth2 Comments
Originally Written: March 26 2018

Here I want to give a quick differentiation of two basic types of traditional methods of meditation, Vipassana and Samatha. Samatha meditation is concentration meditation, and it was the first “formal” type of mediation. It was developed by the Hindus far before the birth of Buddha, and was common practice by contemplatives and spiritual gurus up until his time. Samatha meditation is the focusing of your concentration on a single phenomenon, this is most commonly practiced as breath meditation, where you focus on the breath exclusively, attempting to bring the attention to it, and back to it any time it strays. Any object can be the object of attention in Samatha meditation, whether it be a deity, a word, or a phrase. The important aspect is that any time your awareness drifts from the object of intentioned perception, you recognize its shift, and bring it back into the contemplation of the object. It is an attempt at minimalizing the distractions, and maintaining a steady awareness. As far as the effects of Samatha mediation, it can bring you into state of jhana (Four Jhanas of Buddhism), which are meditative states of increasingly different conscious states. The jhanas are marked by many aspects, as you move into the higher rungs throughout mediation. While many people state they are reserved for spiritual contemplatives, I believe they are attainable by anyone who is able to practice the mediation sufficiently. Some aspects of the different jhanas experienced during Samatha Meditation are; intense pleasure in concentration, seclusion and removal of distractions, one pointedness of thought, removal of desire and aversion, peace in the present moment, peace in seclusion, and as you get into further states – the abolition of thought, and the fetters of existence. The experience of non self, and equanimity regardless of the minds movement is most valuable here. Through dedicated concentration, and awareness of the minds ability to change from the object, you are cultivating character traits of equanimity, or undisturbedness in the face of misfortune, or fortune. It is cultivating a peaceful mind that is calm and unable to be perturbed, thus the benefits last longer than the actual mediation.

Vipassana Meditation was brought into existence by the Buddha himself, and entailed a further extension of Samatha meditation. Formally, it is translated as “insight” meditation, where the practitioner is developing insight into dharma (Basic Dharma Explanation), or the true nature of things. Rather than singular focus upon a single mental phenomenon, the practitioner here seeks to be mindfully aware of any content entering into conscious awareness, without an attempt to hold on to anything, or revert back to anything, nor to be averse to any unpleasant phenomena. This method of mediation is much more difficult, as many phenomena can distract us from the awareness of their arising. The goal is to be aware of the content of consciousness without judgment or desire for it to be otherwise, yet to remain aware on the present moment. The distraction here isn’t a content that is other than the object of awareness, as in Samatha, but rather a distraction is anything that takes us out of the mindfulness of the contents of consciousness in the present moment. So anytime our awareness breaks and we follow a thought stream without being explicitly aware that it is happening, the practitioner must bring his awareness back to the present moment and maintain that awareness of whatever content is arising. This form of meditation opens us up to some fundamental truths of our psychological state, namely, the inability to alter the contents of consciousness, as there is no controller, there merely is content arising and fading away, outside of any “self” controlling it. This is known as the doctrine of nonself. There merely are phenomena arising, there is no “free will” in determining what content appears next. We merely are motivated to the next thought or content, through desire. We don’t choose the desire. Therefore, whatever happens, is out of “our” control. There are the perceptions, emotions, sensations, thoughts, and mental formations, or habits of the mind, such as language and reactions, these things are the 5 aggregates that make up our experience, and they are arising and fading away.

The next insight to be gleamed from Vipassana is the realization of impermanence, that any phenomena that arises is not lasting, its transitory, subject to change, it is not permanent. This can be extrapolated from mental occurrences to all phenomena, and just like non-self, or any other Vipassana insights, it can be directly experienced and known by the practitioner as a foundational truth of our psychological existence. In addition to impermanence and nonself- we can realize that any phenomena that does appear, is appearing in the present moment. Whether it be a thought about the future, or the past, or any other phenomena, everything that occurs, is only occurring now, in this moment, and it will always be so.

The basic formula for performing Vipassana meditation is; present moment awareness, recognition of impermanence, and then letting go. If this is done sufficiently, these insights will come to the practitioner, and can be directly realized. This provides wisdom into the truth of reality, and allows us to align ourselves with the truth through the destruction of false beliefs previously held, such as the existence of a self and free will, or the existence of something “permanent”. The benefit in these realizations in providing a better equipped psyche in reference to mental phenomena as they arise, in not clinging to the pleasurable, or avoidance of the unpleasurable, but rather excepting them for what they are, phenomena out of our control. We can gain insight into the causal nature of what causes positive, wholesome states, as well as what produces unwholesome, suffering, states. This is through the mindful awareness of the causal chain of dependent origination (Dependent Origination (Buddhist Conditionality)), another insight to be gleamed. This chain is characterized by initial ignorance, and leads us through several successive steps which eventually leads to suffering. If we are able to recognize the processes occurring, in their causal determinacy in leading to unwholesome states, we are better able to navigate and destroy the chain before it propagates into destructive mental states and speech and actions. The ability to gain insight into these chains, allows us to handle ourselves in a wise, calm, equanimous manner, and better enables us to navigate the throes of existence, as well as provides us with insight into how others minds work, so we can aide them, or at least not hinder them, in the destruction of the suffering within their lives. The benefits of this type of insight mediation are honestly exhaustive, and the sill can be constantly improved upon. While Samatha necessarily requires one-pointed concentration on an object in the present moment, and thus, normally, requires quiet, sitting, eyes closed (traditional meditation stereotype), Vipassana, on the other hand, can be practiced in any situation in life, it merely requires a concentration on the content of the present moment, and thus is useful in many situations. It is advocated that a mindful existence, always, is beneficial, but I disagree, which is basically a blasphemous statement in Buddhist circles, but I have my reasons, as explained in the essay “Conscious employment of the Unconscious”.

As with all meditation, I don’t believe they are to be utilized in response to a negative situation, they are not a “fix it” tool for resolving life’s problems. I tend to see them as anticipatory tools. They are the cultivating of character traits, and in Vipassana, realization of truths, which better prepare us for when difficulties do arise in our lives. We shouldn’t perform meditation when life is going horrible for us, in these cases, we should attempt to actively rectify and set our lives in order. When life is going good is when we should meditate, to remind ourselves of the transitoriness of this pleasure and fortune, and to prepare us for when things fall apart, for when bad times do come it is better to be strong and calm minded in order to better deal with them. Vipassana improves our understanding of consciousness and reality, thus providing insight into the true nature of things. Samatha can change our conscious state more directly and dramatically to one of peace, non desire, equanimity, as well as improve our concentration.

Both types of mediation can change our conscious awareness of the present moment to an improved experience, and improve morality by acting/experiencing in a mindful, careful, wise way. Meditation is cultivation, expanding the mind, improving our understanding, morals, actions, speech, thought, beliefs, wisdom, purity, compassion. Say we feel angry or annoyed by something someone says. The effect lingers, we contemplate why they said it, the person’s horrible character, how they are wrong, we’re right, and the general situation that caused our anger/annoyance. To be mindful of the feeling, in the present moment, opens us up to its impermanence, allows us to let it go, and is the best tool to understanding/fixing negative emotions which in turn effects thoughts/speech/actions in effect changing our lives and others. We can become aware in such a way “I feel annoyed at this person, this annoyance sprung up into my Being after he said something. I didn’t choose for the person to say something, neither did I choose to feel this way in response, it just came into my conscious experience, and there is something mysterious yet amazing about its arising. So there was a cause, what the person said, then the feeling, then negative thinking, now I’m aware, I feel the emotion, it’s not me, it’s non-self, it’s causing suffering, and it’s impermanent. Viewing it merely as it is, I won’t crave my previous state of happiness, or be in a state of aversion towards it. I will accept it for what it is.” Merely by knowing our aware of its presence, and that there is no self that created it, it becomes merely part of experience, realizing it’s okay, just part of reality, of a life with an inherit conscious nature to experience suffering like this, we can accept the emergence of the emotion, and let it go, liberating ourselves from its influence, dispassionately, we can be mindful of the whole stream of events and it might occur to us that the whole situation was almost magic like. It’s astonishing in seeing how emotions happen, and we might even laugh/be happy on how we were able to see the emotion as just an emotion, to mindfully witness life happen, understand it, and fix the problem. The most important part of reciprocity is to not manifest those emotions into actions or speech that harbors ill-will, or isn’t useful or beneficial to the other person. This type of reaction to unwholesome, or negative influences, is all too natural for us, but only leads to further suffering for ourselves and the other person. By mindfully being aware of unwholesome states, we can reign back our automatic response in being defensive or going on the attack to the other person, and work to respond in a way that is wise, meaning, beneficial to all parties involved.

In addition to these two types of mediation, there is Advaita Vedanta meditation, and Buddho Mediation, as well as a whole variety of other traditional practices. Advaita Vedanta (Basic Advaita Vedanta Meditation) is a slightly different spin off of Vipassana, where the insight and methodology is slightly different in its focus upon non-duality, but certain insights are gleamed that are unique to it. Buddho meditation is a specific form of Samatha meditation, where the object of concentration is the word, which has significant meaning, and thus inspires us to gain the character traits associated with that meaning.