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"The world in which a man lives shapes itself chiefly by the way in which he looks at it, and so it proves different to different men; to one it is barren, dull
by lallysingh 3y ago
"The world in which a man lives shapes itself chiefly by the way in which he looks at it, and so it proves different to different men; to one it is barren, dull, and superficial; to another rich, interesting, and full of meaning."
- The Wisdom of Life, Arther Shopenhauer.
To enjoy life you have to pay attention to it.
- Jeff_Brown 3y agoEveryone, 24-7, is paying attention to something. The trick is not to regret the choice.
- swayvil 3y ago>Everyone, 24-7, is paying attention to something Not to nitpick but that ain't necessarily so. In meditation we study attention and do neat tricks with it. One trick is a refinement of plain old concentration. The other trick is breaking the habit of always paying attention to something. That second one is especially neat.
- Jeff_Brown 3y agoWhen you meditate you are aware the whole time, right? What do you define as the difference between awareness and attention?
- swayvil 3y agoI guess I'm aware the whole time. I fall into distraction sometimes too tho. I'm not sure exactly what you mean. I use the terms (awareness , attention) synonymously. To put it another way. It's like a flashlight. I shine the beam upon a river of experience-stuff (sights, sounds, thoughts...) When I pay attention to a thing, I direct the beam at that thing. When I concentrate, the beam narrows. When I refrain from all directing and concentrating, the beam widens.
- tomjakubowski 3y agoI've felt the beam widen a few times on long runs: I'm seeing while not looking at anything, hearing it all while listening to none of it. It's really quite nice
- Jeff_Brown 3y agoAh, so "awareness" for you includes the option of "everything" while "attention" does not. For me "everything" is an option for attention. I agree that broadening the beam is, among other benefits, enjoyable.
- metalcrow 3y agoNot necessarily. One of the Jhanas (states of mind attainable through meditation) is "Neither perception nor non-perception". This can be described as not being aware, but it's complicated.
- Jeff_Brown 3y agoLike Christianity, I think there are a lot of important ideas in Ayurvedic wisdom, but I'm not convinced everything they have a word for exists. Enlightenment is another one.