'Hummology': attention on the attention - Jan van Delden

[Guest guest]

Has anybody tried this? Any comments on this?

 

Jan Sultan

-----------------

 

'Hummology': attention on the attention

Jan van Delden

http://www.ods.nl/am1gos

 

Water can not become wetter than it already is. In other words: you don't

have to do or not do anything in order to be what you already are. Here

follows a practice for giving attention to the unmanifested part of yourself.

For convenience we will call that unmanifested part 'the knowing' and the

entire manifest world and everything that takes place in it 'the known'. To

say it differently the manifest and unmanifest parts of yourself are the

knowing and the known, the perceiving and the perceived. One never changes,

the other changes constantly. We are used to directing our attention

entirely within the known world and to experiencing the knowing as part of

our personality, but now is it time to direct the attention to the

attention itself.

 

To make it somewhat easier in the beginning, find a place to sit or lie

where you feel comfortable and will not be disturbed. Then, let it

penetrate in you that you don't have to do, or not do, anything to be what

you already are: 'being' is thus accompanied by a logical effortlessness.

Therefore you don't have to adopt any special attitude as if you were

trying to reach some goal.

 

Observe carefully what belongs to the manifest part of yourself and see

that your self — the knowing of the manifest- is the unmanifest. Within

that there is no image of anything represented, no matter how subtle, to be

found. Observe that you cannot use any of your usual capacities, because

your entire, feeling and I-feeling belong to the manifest part. Now you

direct your attention to the knowing of the known and wait until the 'being

there' goes to zero. There is really nothing more to do, and thus your 'not

knowing mind' comes forth; silence arrives. This is the silence that

appears as an answer when you ask the question 'who am I?' consistently.

When that happens a feeling of spaciousness happens and you may for example

hear the singing of birds or other surrounding sounds that you had not

noticed earlier. Allow everything to be as it is and do not direct your

attention to the perceptions (sounds, feelings, etc.) but to the silence in

which they occur. Keeping your attention on the silence is your only

'safety-line' to your unmanifested 'being-there'. Everything else belongs

to the known world.

 

In order to keep the attention on the silence more easily, I use the sound

of the silence itself — the silence is namely not entirely still, there is

a sort of hum or buzz of 'being-there' and you can pay attention to that.

Direct your attention to that hum. The consequence is that your attention

no longer feels tense. Observe that this stillness is always there without

any need to do, or not do, anything. That 'burning' or 'buzzing' of the

silence is the easiest entry to the unmanifest, and by directing your

attention repeatedly to that 'burning' silence the attention grows little

by little towards that silence. In the passage of time this will become

effortless. When you can effortlessly hold on to that 'being there sound',

that humming, and therefore have the taste of the unmanifest as a base, you

can from then on take it with you as a sort of 'floating building block'

while you just allow the manifest to happen. You witness it, you follow it.

In other words you try to 'embody' the practice in your daily life. Slowly

the practice will change into just 'being-there'. See if the hum of the

silence is there when you are brushing your teeth, washing the dishes or

whatever you are doing.

 

Slowly but surely there dawns in you the awareness that you are keeping the

known at a distance because your attention is on the hum of the silence,

and that you are therefore the knowing itself. Just as the background

becomes fuzzy when you look at a droplet on the windowpane, you keep the

known at a distance by paying attention to the silence. You do not have to

do, or not do, anything else. If you practice that, even when you don't

feel like it, you will see slowly but surely that the whole thinking and

feeling is something that is apart from you, you can perceive it, therefore

it belongs to the known. That allows you to see that the thinking is of no

use in this territory and only exists for convenience or for organizing the

known. You will then see more and more that in spite of the chattering of

the mind, everything just happens as it happens. The thinker suffers form

the delusion that he thinks thoughts and is therefore responsible for what

happens. Through the insight that the thinking (just as all other

perceptions) is something that appears and disappears in the silence, the

'being-there' will no longer escape you. Take hold of that, as it were,

more and more. There follows the insight that silence and attention are the

same, and so that 'being-there' comes to its 'being-now' feeling. In this

way the effortless 'being-there feeling' becomes the basis of your life and

the happiness that you have done so much for emerges through the absence of

anything other than what you now 'already are', the eternal, unchanging

being-there is a fact.

 

Finally there remains only to end the delusion that the known part lives

its own life, independent of the knowing. That flows into seeing that the

known and its manifest worlds do not exist as such. Then you can easily

allow your attention to rest at the only thing that actually exists, the

simple, silent being-there. Then you are the undisturbed, unchanging

happiness itself.

[Guest guest]

Yes. A very familiar process.

 

, Jan Sultan <swork@m...> wrote:

>

>

> Has anybody tried this? Any comments on this?

>

> Jan Sultan

> -----------------

>

> 'Hummology': attention on the attention

> Jan van Delden

> http://www.ods.nl/am1gos

>

> Water can not become wetter than it already is. In other words: you

don't

> have to do or not do anything in order to be what you already are.

Here

> follows a practice for giving attention to the unmanifested part of

yourself.

> For convenience we will call that unmanifested part 'the knowing'

and the

> entire manifest world and everything that takes place in it 'the

known'. To

> say it differently the manifest and unmanifest parts of yourself

are the

> knowing and the known, the perceiving and the perceived. One never

changes,

> the other changes constantly. We are used to directing our

attention

> entirely within the known world and to experiencing the knowing as

part of

> our personality, but now is it time to direct the attention to the

> attention itself.

>

> To make it somewhat easier in the beginning, find a place to sit or

lie

> where you feel comfortable and will not be disturbed. Then, let it

> penetrate in you that you don't have to do, or not do, anything to

be what

> you already are: 'being' is thus accompanied by a logical

effortlessness.

> Therefore you don't have to adopt any special attitude as if you

were

> trying to reach some goal.

>

> Observe carefully what belongs to the manifest part of yourself and

see

> that your self — the knowing of the manifest- is the unmanifest.

Within

> that there is no image of anything represented, no matter how

subtle, to be

> found. Observe that you cannot use any of your usual capacities,

because

> your entire, feeling and I-feeling belong to the manifest part. Now

you

> direct your attention to the knowing of the known and wait until

the 'being

> there' goes to zero. There is really nothing more to do, and thus

your 'not

> knowing mind' comes forth; silence arrives. This is the silence

that

> appears as an answer when you ask the question 'who am I?'

consistently.

> When that happens a feeling of spaciousness happens and you may for

example

> hear the singing of birds or other surrounding sounds that you had

not

> noticed earlier. Allow everything to be as it is and do not direct

your

> attention to the perceptions (sounds, feelings, etc.) but to the

silence in

> which they occur. Keeping your attention on the silence is your

only

> 'safety-line' to your unmanifested 'being-there'. Everything else

belongs

> to the known world.

>

> In order to keep the attention on the silence more easily, I use

the sound

> of the silence itself — the silence is namely not entirely still,

there is

> a sort of hum or buzz of 'being-there' and you can pay attention to

that.

> Direct your attention to that hum. The consequence is that your

attention

> no longer feels tense. Observe that this stillness is always there

without

> any need to do, or not do, anything. That 'burning' or 'buzzing' of

the

> silence is the easiest entry to the unmanifest, and by directing

your

> attention repeatedly to that 'burning' silence the attention grows

little

> by little towards that silence. In the passage of time this will

become

> effortless. When you can effortlessly hold on to that 'being there

sound',

> that humming, and therefore have the taste of the unmanifest as a

base, you

> can from then on take it with you as a sort of 'floating building

block'

> while you just allow the manifest to happen. You witness it, you

follow it.

> In other words you try to 'embody' the practice in your daily life.

Slowly

> the practice will change into just 'being-there'. See if the hum of

the

> silence is there when you are brushing your teeth, washing the

dishes or

> whatever you are doing.

>

> Slowly but surely there dawns in you the awareness that you are

keeping the

> known at a distance because your attention is on the hum of the

silence,

> and that you are therefore the knowing itself. Just as the

background

> becomes fuzzy when you look at a droplet on the windowpane, you

keep the

> known at a distance by paying attention to the silence. You do not

have to

> do, or not do, anything else. If you practice that, even when you

don't

> feel like it, you will see slowly but surely that the whole

thinking and

> feeling is something that is apart from you, you can perceive it,

therefore

> it belongs to the known. That allows you to see that the thinking

is of no

> use in this territory and only exists for convenience or for

organizing the

> known. You will then see more and more that in spite of the

chattering of

> the mind, everything just happens as it happens. The thinker

suffers form

> the delusion that he thinks thoughts and is therefore responsible

for what

> happens. Through the insight that the thinking (just as all other

> perceptions) is something that appears and disappears in the

silence, the

> 'being-there' will no longer escape you. Take hold of that, as it

were,

> more and more. There follows the insight that silence and attention

are the

> same, and so that 'being-there' comes to its 'being-now' feeling.

In this

> way the effortless 'being-there feeling' becomes the basis of your

life and

> the happiness that you have done so much for emerges through the

absence of

> anything other than what you now 'already are', the eternal,

unchanging

> being-there is a fact.

>

> Finally there remains only to end the delusion that the known part

lives

> its own life, independent of the knowing. That flows into seeing

that the

> known and its manifest worlds do not exist as such. Then you can

easily

> allow your attention to rest at the only thing that actually

exists, the

> simple, silent being-there. Then you are the undisturbed,

unchanging

> happiness itself.