Interacting mindbrains

No blogposts these last few days. There have been visitors. So there has been an exchange of world views. Interacting mindbrains. Mutual sharing of mental chatter. Or, as they describe it in the Sangha, “talking and listening from the heart”.

The Sangha uses a talking stick. A person who feels moved to share picks up the stick, holds it while they speak, and lays it down again when they are done. Other people in the circle listen without expressing or even making judgements. It is enough to realise that most people are suffering most of the time. After the formal meeting we go to the café and revert to customary, cultural chit-chat.

Some of the recent visitors were on their own, some were couples. All were skilled at chit-chat such that there were no awkward silences - and relatively few enlightening ones.

When on my own I often catch myself paying attention to my inner, idle chit-chat. The response is either to ‘just sit’, or to focus attention.

Dogen Zenji recommends that we ‘just sit’ and ‘drop off body and mind”. Meditate while facing a wall and the chit-chat of the monkey mind fades away. Then there is peace.

I can focus attention while philosophising or when washing the dishes. The goal is to operate in a non-egoic ‘flow’ state which is outside space and time. These days I often focus attention on reading about the modern dharma, writing these short stories, and doodling.

As with a singular mindbrain, so with two or more interacting mindbrains. There is the possibility of doing it with grace and without grudge. ( Ref http://naesaebad.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/grace-and-grudge-revisited.html)

Focus, flow and flourish. Ref Goleman, Csíkszentmihályi, and Seligman in turn.