What to write about?

Flat back meditation

This morning there is energy to write. What about? About one of the topics that appeared in the attention centre while flat backing. There were many topics rolling past in thought trains so why did the focus land on this one rather than on another? In other words what caused the decision?

There is no awareness of an answer in consciousness. Presumably the answer lies in the unconscious.  But, to ‘my’ ‘I’, that is forbidden territory – by definition. If ‘I’ knew the answer then it would no longer be in the unconscious.

BUT – an approach to finding the answer can be made by the act of writing. While sitting at the computer there are so many ideas passing through the attention centre than there is no time to record them all. Most will get away; but a few can be captured.  So what was the question again?

What caused the decision to write about deciding what to write about?

The unconscious might deliver some answers into up-front consciousness, especially if the mental mud in the up-front areas is allowed to settle. So sit up straight with eyes closed and put attention on the breathing. The unconscious will divert attention from the breath to all manner of other things, often with feelings attached. The more ‘interesting’ ones can be mentally labelled and the label words can be typed to give something to refer to when the sitting ends and the writing begins.

Four themes emerged while the above paragraphs were being written. A few words can be put together on each of these and on other robust themes that appear.

It was a conscious decision to use the passive voice and to avoid the use of personal pronouns in this article. This makes sentences seem more powerful and authoritative. There is the impression that dealings are with ‘the’ truth rather than with ‘my’ truth. (Skill in editing out the active voice was developed while tutoring more than twenty Lesotho counterparts on their Master dissertations.)

The passive voice can be used to hide or at least fudge the matter of agency. Frank Sinatra famously noted that “I did it my way” rather than “it was done according to a personal code of ethics.” 

All effects have causes and, especially in the human realm, these can be thought of as behaviours having intentions: and these take the form of automatic reactions (due to hard wired instincts) or thoughtful responses (due to flexible learning)

brainstorming

Most people know something about brainstorming but they don't always appreciate how it can fit systematically into a larger concept of ‘interactive mind mapping’ which can be managed through communicating in groups. The mind mapping is a three stage process that involves helping people to better understand what they already know by brainstorming, categorising , and linking. (for details see http://www.toonloon.bizland.com/tot/brainsto.htm) The process is also suited to individualised mind mapping.

There has been writing for many years. There are many recurrent themes, and considerable repetition of words, phrases and even sentences. The conscious brain is hopeless at keeping track.

For a time there was a feeling that the unconscious brain had an understanding of what was going on and that it was guiding the overall process of generating integrated viewpoints and world views. So work was being done behind the scenes. Something from nothing? Is this Magic? Perhaps not. A three page paper on “Language and Uncommon sense” is dated 20 November 2011 and it reads as if it had been written yesterday. See at http://www.scribd.com/doc/73564521/Language-and-Uncommon-Sense

 

So is there now an indication of how it was decided what to write about? Not really. There is some more writing about the writing process. But this is not original and stand alone. Three compilations of articles were put together in 2011. There is a hypothesis that nothing fundamentally new has been written since then. But there is presently no appetite for gathering the evidence to test the hypothesis.

The compilations are available at http://www.scribd.com/george_clark_25/

 

May 2011: With agency in mind – on the road to easy peace
June 2011: Witnessing the attention centre – switching on the light
June 2011: Muse flows in the zone – below the tip of the iceberg.

An angst ridden and despairing lecturer at the University of Sussex once suggested that, while it may be theoretically impossible to know of, or to speak of, ‘the truth’, there is still the possibility of being convincing. At least 80% of communication is non-verbal.  What matters is not so much what is said as how it is said. 

Viewpoints and world views are mind made and therefore illusory and unreal –but this does not stop people being willing to die defending them. Thich Nhat Hahn’s Order of Interbeing invites people to climb the mystic’s mountain. The Order has fourteen precepts the first of which is: “Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory or ideology, even Buddhist ones. All systems of thought are guiding means; they are not absolute truth.”

Everybody lives with ongoing mental churn. Some people pay attention to the churn and think, speak and act accordingly.

The ongoing mental churn is the source of both conscious and unconscious  common ‘sense’. It is also potentially the source of that form of uncommon sense that has been known to mystics through the ages.

The case can be made that the ‘spiritual’ frame of mind is nothing special. It is hard wired into all our brains but in most cases it is buried beneath potent layers of cultural indoctrination which serve to keep most people in ignorance so that they do not get fancy ideas above their servile social stations.

So what is to be done? Be still and let the mental mud settle. There will then be the clarity that is our birthright. Nothing is missing. And words are the weapons of choice in the struggle for freedom, compassion and the peace that passes all understanding. 

That seems like a wholesome and noble topic to decide to write about.