I come across many articles when researching new material for this site.  Most times I keep opinions to myself.  However as most of my friends might tell you, “John definitely has an opinion.”  So I decided to throw together some ideas you may enjoy, agree, disagree, or just flat out hate.  Anyway, try not to take it too seriously.  I really put this new column together for fun and possible clarity and catharsis to lighten up your day.  Hey, even Jesus had a sense of humor.

Just on Observation…

‘Breaking habits of perception-a skill that changes everything’ Pt. 1

While looking for an image for a recent article (Breaking Habits) I had written I came across a website which was attached to the image I chose.  I am an information-junkie, so I couldn’t resist checking it out—especially since it talked about, “Breaking habits of perception”.  It was an article titled, “Habits of Perception”—it was right up my illusory alley.  I am a big believer that we can be our own worst enemies when it comes to creating drama in our lives.  Perception is everything.  It’s not so much what we think, as to how we think.  The article had to do with developing the skillful [italics added] perceptions that lead to freedom.

So this article (first of four) has intermittent commentaries on the original article.  If you would like, please add whatever your views are on the subject or maybe on what I have said.

The main idea of the article from Thanissaro Bhikkhu is all you have to do is work on how you’re perceiving things in the present moment.  When things finally click, you don’t have to worry about what other people tell you, worry about the world, worry about the self, you don’t have to worry about what you’ve done in the past, for you’ve learned a new habit, you’ve developed a new skill—and development of that new skill changes everything.

(From this point on Thanissaro Bhikkhu will be referred to as ‘TB’ and his text will be in bold print/ commentary follows bold printed paragraph)

Habits of Perception

TB: What have you got here in the present moment? You’ve got the body, you’ve got the breath, you’ve got thoughts, and you’ve got your awareness. But you’re also carrying a lot of habits. In fact, this is the main issue in the meditation. If you didn’t have certain habits of perception, you wouldn’t be creating suffering for yourself right now. You may not seem to be suffering much, but there’s always some stress that you’re creating through a lack of skill. And this is precisely what we’re trying to uncover as we meditate.

I once read in a book on Existentialism that for many of us, we are just reacting to our reactions.  Anytime I mention that statement to most people, I get this funky, “Whaaa?”  When you think about it, it can be quite jarring to the ego to find out it doesn’t know everything there is to know about being “happy”.  Maybe this could be another way to understand what Thanissaro Bhikkhu (from this point on, ‘TB’) is talking about.  When TB says, “What have you got here in the present moment?”  Literally speaking, it sure ain’t our past.  We could search the whole world (and maybe the Universe :p) and never find our past.  Everything is really seen in and through our imagination—creation, if you will (but that’s another article).

So we think we see/ understand “reality”.  I mean, TB is getting down to what I like to call the ‘Rocky’ perspective.  Not the movie, a dog I use to have.  Rocky was a great existentialist. I would watch him just move with the moment—everything and anything would grab his attention.  He was always happy and loved me unconditionally.  I know this is nothing new.  But if you watch animals, they do pretty much exist in the present moment.  I mean I have never seen a depressed squirrel, or a bird that had self-esteem problems and lacked motivation.  My girlfriend has a cat that’s totally content in the present moment—a really Zen cat.  It stares endlessly at the air, moving its head around like everything is super interesting.

So why aren’t we like this?  We’re supposed to be “higher-thinking” beings, right?  I mean when you think about it (or don’t), taking animals for example, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to survive.  As Eckhart Tolle once put it, “You wouldn’t eat food that makes you sick.  Why have thoughts that make you sick?”

TB: Some of the baggage you’re bringing into the present moment consists of issues you’ve picked up in the course of the day: things this person said, that person did, things you yourself said or did. In some cases it’s as if you’ve been a garbage collector, gathering up the day’s trash. If you’re going to get any peace in the next hour, you’ve got to throw it out.

Oh no, not throw it out!  I will admit I like to save “stuff”.  There are people reading this right now saying, “No sh**, John”.  I’ve gotten better over the years, though.  But I think that some (not me of course) people hang onto their habits like children hang onto their blankies for security.  There can be a sense of security in predictability.  If we do things/ think things in a certain way we can feel safer in knowing the outcome.  No doubt it’s a complex issue, but there are elements of truth which you can hardly ignore.  Well, you could I guess.  You can choose to be what I call “purposefully ignorant”.  You’re ignorant on purpose, for a purpose, to suit your purpose.  Purposeful ignorance can maintain boundaries you don’t have to cross—afraid of crossing.  You choose to not know.

TB: But the issues also go deeper than that. If that were the only issue, you could go off and live alone where you wouldn’t have to interact with people, and that would be the end of the problem. But it’s not the end of the problem. When you go off to live by yourself, the habits of the mind start looming even larger. The less contact you have with people, the more likely your habits are to go out of bounds. You can get into some really weird feedback loops when you’re living alone.

I guess that can be true for those relying on their past in the present.  I mean, if we live by our “labels” sometimes we live up to the labels.  So the “feedback loops” could make us a mess if we don’t allow ourselves the understanding that our minds are highly plastic—meaning when we learn new things our mind kind of shifts in perspective, creating new neuropath ways. This can broaden our understanding and abilities to handle better what comes our way.  I would have to say though that I believe that sometimes we need to be challenged in what might seem to be “life-threatening” ways.  More times than not though it is not life-threatening, just ego threatening.  Sometimes we need to be forced so to speak, to just let go to see what we got regarding innate talent and strength of character—”cojenes” if you will.

TB: So the Buddha sets out maps, he sets out instructions, for how to cut through those feedback loops and to understand how your perceptions shape things in a way that brings suffering. He also shows you how to perceive things in a new way that will end those habits and cut through that suffering, so that ultimately when there’s a perception of the breath or any of the sensory input you have in the present moment, there’s no suffering added on. The input is the only disturbance you have. There’s no greed, anger, or delusion to muck up the works.

Always good to have a plan.  So if we just focus on our, let’s just say our breath, this in a sense I guess doesn’t allow the self-defeating thoughts to come in.  Just focusing on the experience of the breath can allow us to be centered in the simplicity of existence.  Kids are great at this—say maybe 2-3 years old.  They have no past to refer to as their ‘go-to’ or default for current emotions.  Their default is in the present experience, always looking forward.

TB: As the Buddha said, the problem all comes down to ignorance. Ignorance of what? Ignorance of the four noble truths — and he’s not talking about not having read about the four noble truths. All of us here have read about them and thought about them. Ignorance means not seeing things in terms of the four noble truths. We see things in other terms, the big ones being our sense of self, our sense of the things that belong to us, and our sense of the reality of the world out there — what exists, what doesn’t exist out there.

Oh the ignorance.  Could this be an example of the “purposeful ignorance” I imposed on you earlier?  As BT puts it, “All of us here have read about them and thought about them. Ignorance means not seeing things in terms of the four noble truths.” So if we have read about them and thought about them, why are we “…not seeing things in terms of the four noble truths”?  I don’t know but it seems to me that when you know about something, and then ignore a better way to do things, or just a different way to do things…well I guess that’s why it’s called, ignor-ance.

TB: Once we place our faith in these perceptions, we become a slave to them. Our idea of objective reality places a lot of imperatives on us. Our idea of who we are places a lot of imperatives on us, and these are the imperatives that make us suffer.

“Imperatives”: what a great word.  One of those words I had to check with my thesaurus.  I think what BT is talking about here are constraints, needs, obligations, necessities and/ or my favorites which really push my buttons of being a slave to—a ‘must’ or a ‘have-to’.  Ouch.  Are ya feeling me?

This is kinda like my pinball machine analogy.  Have you ever felt like your daily existence was that of a pinball just being bounced around in the game (of life) from one rubber bumper to another, never feeling fulfilled, always trying to catch up, gaining points, losing points, yada, yada, yada?  ‘Nuff said.

TB: So the Buddha teaches us to learn how to question those perceptions. There’s a passage where he talks about how people are a slave to a duality or a polarity between existence and non-existence: Does the world out there really exist? Does it not really exist? He advises learning how to avoid that polarity by simply watching things arising and passing away in the present moment. Stay just at that level and don’t get involved in the question of whether there’s anything lying behind the mere experience of arising and passing away.

Why do I suddenly get the image in my mind of the movie Easy Rider, where Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson are sitting around the fire smoking a joint?  It’s like, “Dude, Does the world out there really exist? Does it not really exist?” Kidding aside, I get it.  However, it seems that we lose out anxieties, our “imperatives” of the world mainly when we are self-medicating (i.e. booze to pot to drugs).

So in essence BT is maybe saying it is possible to attain this euphoric state without the mind-altering substances—addictions?  There is something oddly familiar about the state he’s describing—“by simply watching things arising and passing away in the present moment.” I don’t know.  A friend of mine is somewhat an eccentric musician (is that redundant?).  Anyway, he said he goes through “withdrawal” when he doesn’t get to play or listen to music.  Where am I going with this?  Once you attain this state BT is speaking of, is it another addiction or the end of addictions for a carefree, ethereal life?  Just asking.