How to Train in Attention and Awareness
You want to explore your mind, and you may even decide to train it, but for now you will be going in blind. Unfortunately there is no way around this. We will, however, do our best to help you find your way about. We will begin by exploring the two modes of experiencing things: attention and peripheral awareness. Let’s first use a visual analogy from the external world to help us with this.
Take a moment to pick out an object in the room.
Now focus on it.
Notice that while you can maintain your focus on this one object, you are also aware of many other things in your peripheral vision. That one object is the object of your attention. All other objects you can see are objects of your peripheral awareness.
Spend some time noticing the difference between attention and peripheral awareness. Do they have different qualities? What can your attention do that your awareness cannot? What can your awareness do that your attention cannot?
If you think about it, you will realise that we frequently direct our attention to objects we wish to analyse, think about, compare and so forth, while relying on our peripheral awareness to keep our actions appropriate to the world around us. When we talk to a friend in the street, for example, our attention is focussed on her, but our peripheral awareness takes in the traffic, the passers by, and her small child nearby. An actor or dancer will focus his attention, often with some intensity, on a fellow performer, but his peripheral awareness will prevent him from bumping into the set, or falling off the stage.
Depending on the task in hand, we can vary the amount of energy we put into either attention or awareness.
Attention is selective and conceptual, allowing it to identify, categorise and evaluate, but on the other hand it is energy intensive and relatively slow. Peripheral awareness doesn’t reason or analyse, but it is is perceptual and direct. It is less energy intensive, and processes information much faster. It is more aligned with reality, and more ‘in the moment’. For this reason a martial artist, a boxer or a samurai will choose to hold their attention very lightly, while ramping up peripheral awareness.
The processes of attention and peripheral awareness operate in much the same way in our internal world. The obvious and crucial difference is that mind and matter are very different substances, with very different qualities. The mind is not like any material object: it cannot be measured, it cannot be weighed, it cannot be portioned out over the counter. And more to the point right now, we can’t get our mind out and have a look at it. This is one reason why we don’t usually have much of an idea of what our mind is doing, much less whether it is serving our best interests or not.
This is unfortunate because it means we just can’t see that the way we relate to the world is overwhelmingly dominated by attention. Our attention, directed inwards, is nearly always either neurotically flitting between objects, lost in mental images, stories, fantasies and thoughts, or tuned out, dissipated and dull. A samurai conditioned in this way would quickly lose his life. We modern day ‘samurai’ are constantly taken by surprise by mental events. We are lost in, and distracted by, countless daily objects of attention. Every day of every year we live in our heads, in our own little bubbles. We don’t really taste what we taste, we don’t really hear what we hear, smell what we smell, or see what we see. We are constantly distracted, always on to the next thing, lost in dreams or memories while the richness of life passes us by. Like the distracted samurai, this is how we lose our lives.
I need to get away from it all...
I don’t have a moment to myself...
No time to think...
I need to wind down...
I’m so stressed out..
I didn’t mean that..
I wasn’t thinking...
I need some space..
I need a drink...
It came out of nowhere...
What was I just saying?...
This is the language of a culture that mis-uses attention.
The sad fact is that without training, we only have so much energy to go around. If we invest heavily in our attention, our awareness of what is going on around us suffers. We can get so caught up in what is going on in our heads, on what we want, or on how to get something, that we fail to see whether or not our actions hurt those around us. Because our attention is so strong, our awareness of ourselves and others weakens, and we lose touch with the bigger picture.
It is not that attention is the enemy, not at all. It is just that for it to be a positive force in our lives, it needs the context, the perspective that peripheral awareness brings. With skill and training we can strengthen both attention and peripheral awareness. By working on them together, we can increase the overall power of the mind, and then we no longer have to choose one at the expense of the other.
Take a moment right now to close your eyes and follow your breath. Try to sustain your attention on the sensations of the breath at your nostrils. In other words, by anchoring your mind on the breath, take a moment to enjoy some peace of mind.
How long did you manage to sustain your attention for?
Was it peaceful?
Believe it or not, when attention and awareness are perfectly balanced, it is possible to sustain your attention on any object for hours rather than seconds, while at the same time experiencing highly pleasurable mental and physical sensations and exceptional peace of mind. Step by step, our courses will train you to strengthen both attention and awareness, and in the skilful use of the two.
As a result, the overall power of your mind will gradually increase, allowing you to take full advantage of a powerful attention and a powerful awareness in every activity you do.
Take a moment to pick out an object in the room.
Now focus on it.
Notice that while you can maintain your focus on this one object, you are also aware of many other things in your peripheral vision. That one object is the object of your attention. All other objects you can see are objects of your peripheral awareness.
Spend some time noticing the difference between attention and peripheral awareness. Do they have different qualities? What can your attention do that your awareness cannot? What can your awareness do that your attention cannot?
If you think about it, you will realise that we frequently direct our attention to objects we wish to analyse, think about, compare and so forth, while relying on our peripheral awareness to keep our actions appropriate to the world around us. When we talk to a friend in the street, for example, our attention is focussed on her, but our peripheral awareness takes in the traffic, the passers by, and her small child nearby. An actor or dancer will focus his attention, often with some intensity, on a fellow performer, but his peripheral awareness will prevent him from bumping into the set, or falling off the stage.
Depending on the task in hand, we can vary the amount of energy we put into either attention or awareness.
Attention is selective and conceptual, allowing it to identify, categorise and evaluate, but on the other hand it is energy intensive and relatively slow. Peripheral awareness doesn’t reason or analyse, but it is is perceptual and direct. It is less energy intensive, and processes information much faster. It is more aligned with reality, and more ‘in the moment’. For this reason a martial artist, a boxer or a samurai will choose to hold their attention very lightly, while ramping up peripheral awareness.
The processes of attention and peripheral awareness operate in much the same way in our internal world. The obvious and crucial difference is that mind and matter are very different substances, with very different qualities. The mind is not like any material object: it cannot be measured, it cannot be weighed, it cannot be portioned out over the counter. And more to the point right now, we can’t get our mind out and have a look at it. This is one reason why we don’t usually have much of an idea of what our mind is doing, much less whether it is serving our best interests or not.
This is unfortunate because it means we just can’t see that the way we relate to the world is overwhelmingly dominated by attention. Our attention, directed inwards, is nearly always either neurotically flitting between objects, lost in mental images, stories, fantasies and thoughts, or tuned out, dissipated and dull. A samurai conditioned in this way would quickly lose his life. We modern day ‘samurai’ are constantly taken by surprise by mental events. We are lost in, and distracted by, countless daily objects of attention. Every day of every year we live in our heads, in our own little bubbles. We don’t really taste what we taste, we don’t really hear what we hear, smell what we smell, or see what we see. We are constantly distracted, always on to the next thing, lost in dreams or memories while the richness of life passes us by. Like the distracted samurai, this is how we lose our lives.
I need to get away from it all...
I don’t have a moment to myself...
No time to think...
I need to wind down...
I’m so stressed out..
I didn’t mean that..
I wasn’t thinking...
I need some space..
I need a drink...
It came out of nowhere...
What was I just saying?...
This is the language of a culture that mis-uses attention.
The sad fact is that without training, we only have so much energy to go around. If we invest heavily in our attention, our awareness of what is going on around us suffers. We can get so caught up in what is going on in our heads, on what we want, or on how to get something, that we fail to see whether or not our actions hurt those around us. Because our attention is so strong, our awareness of ourselves and others weakens, and we lose touch with the bigger picture.
It is not that attention is the enemy, not at all. It is just that for it to be a positive force in our lives, it needs the context, the perspective that peripheral awareness brings. With skill and training we can strengthen both attention and peripheral awareness. By working on them together, we can increase the overall power of the mind, and then we no longer have to choose one at the expense of the other.
Take a moment right now to close your eyes and follow your breath. Try to sustain your attention on the sensations of the breath at your nostrils. In other words, by anchoring your mind on the breath, take a moment to enjoy some peace of mind.
How long did you manage to sustain your attention for?
Was it peaceful?
Believe it or not, when attention and awareness are perfectly balanced, it is possible to sustain your attention on any object for hours rather than seconds, while at the same time experiencing highly pleasurable mental and physical sensations and exceptional peace of mind. Step by step, our courses will train you to strengthen both attention and awareness, and in the skilful use of the two.
As a result, the overall power of your mind will gradually increase, allowing you to take full advantage of a powerful attention and a powerful awareness in every activity you do.