Subjective range of action
Who we are define our possibilities just as much as our possibilities define who we are. Two different people encountering the same situation will not only choose to act in two different ways and thus create two different outcomes, their very range of action differs according to their relation with themselves and the world. More concretely, our subjective perception defines the world in which we live. This subjective perception, more than any physical characteristic, determines who we are. The bold businessman encounters financial opportunities in every other corner while the cynical policeman sees darkness everywhere. The answer to the question “Who are you?” as such also tells us what world you live in.
We should like to call this phenomenon for context. People usually harbor many contexts, and they live in their intertwinement. Some are universal, some are cultural, and some individual, with everything inbetween. We might for example contemplate the context of “Pleasure is good”, that driving force of sensuality. Let us be very clear, at this stage we’re solely talking about contemplation. Throughtout the day, then, we keep the context “pleasure is good” at the back of our mind, and try to see how we are shaped by such a lens. How does it affect our intentions, our actions? What about our mood? Thoughts? Only after thoroughly contemplating it ourselves, and seeing the flow (and root) of our intentions as shaped by a particular context, are we free to make a judgement. In practice though, this particular context is the root of all unenlightened intentions, and a contemplation of the sensual context would necessarily be rooted in a sensual undertaking itself. This is a discussion for another time but for now we can understand it as the reason for the necessity of the Dhamma, and keep in mind the motto “going against the grain”.
Through the active upkeep of a certain context, we can influence our intentions, and thus our actions. A good example is the keeping of the 5 precepts of Buddhism. Such an undertaking forces us to filter all of our intentions through it; am I behaving in a way that breaks the precepts? As such it forces mindfulness, which is nothing more than the “awareness of the background”, the context and intentions that endure. Becoming aware of the background, we must stress, is not the same as bringing ‘the background’ into the foreground. Rather it requires, and excercises, an elasticity of the mind. We might also call it peripheral awareness. Thus we might look at the practice of ‘mindfulness of breathing’ as keeping a peripheral awareness of the breath. This is of course not equivalent to being focused on the breath, which would be largely impossible in everyday life. We must instead be attentive to the task at hand while staying aware of our breathing simultaneously. The foreground and the background keeps their position, only now we are aware of both. It is fine to let the awareness drift away a bit as you focus on something else, the task is just to never lose sight of it. This practice necessarily stretches the mind. We take a step back from the screen and realize that our nose is getting a bit of relief. We broaden our view, our perspective. How else would you describe wisdom?
We will of course lose our mindfulness. This is a part of the practice. We should pay extra attention to this phenomenon, as we notice it by finding ourselves, in both the colloquial and literal sense, caught up in something. Here we find the core of our practice. In the beginning, it happens often and for longer periods. We might establish mindfulness during a formal sit, keep it for a while afterwards, and then lose it for several days until we manage to calm ourselves enough to remember the practice again. The importance of consistent formal practice becomes clear as it sets fixed boundaries for the scope of our forgetfulness. As time passes and practice continues, the time of forgetfulness becomes more infrequent and lessens in duration. Eventually we can notice ourselves beginning to slip away as it happens, and reach a certain stability of mind.
Re-establishing ourselves in mindfulness, we shall be very careful not to let negativity get in the way. It might be likened to going to the doctor and being diagnosed with cancer. The doctor does not create the cancer with his words, you are not worse off after becoming aware of it. Rather, you are better off because now you can do something about it. In the same way, finding ourselves caught up, in the midst of chaos, we must be careful not to spiral into the often habitual negativity of past mistakes. Instead, we’re glad that we’re back, and calmly re-establish our practice. We should also note, if possible, what phenomena carried us away, so that we can guard ourselves against it in the future.
A few words on the practice, in practice. It might help to think about mindfulness as a zooming out. Another simile is that of developing an internal watcher, an observer, that is outside of the ‘action’ of experience. Done rightly, mindfulness creates dispassion. We can very obviously feel the difference, if one notices, becomes aware, at the same time as forgetfulness happens. It feels like a clenching of the mind, a grasping. The opposite then, is mindfulness as the practice of letting go. The more we ‘zoom out’, the more we necessarily let things go, as we cannot carry, grasp, phenomena if we are to keep our awareness on the background. The acts of letting go, of developing mindfulness, of zooming out, and of cultivating the observer, are all equivalent. As we start to step back, the foreground starts to more and more run itself. I think it’s important to stress the concreteness of this discussion. When talking about clenching or letting go, it’s a physical sensation that is described, which matches the mental activity. ‘Foreground’ and ‘Background’ are also phenomenological descriptors, they are not abstract concepts. As your practice develops, your knowledge will naturally deepen and the path forward will become clearer, more concrete. Keep in mind that practice is not magic, and unless abstract concepts can be related to your concrete experience and help you find your way, they are just that, abstract concepts.