Attention, Bondage, and Liberation

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In consciousness there is movement; awareness by

itself is motionless and timeless, here and now.

-Nisargadatta Majaraj

 

Attention as Bondage

 

The movement of attention is what defines the " movement in

consciousness " .

 

There is not consciousness without attention. Where there

has not been " attention to " (whatever) there is not

" consciousness of " . What is outside the scope of attention

is effectively unconscious.

 

Bondage is the " restlessness " entailed in the movement of

attention. It is not so much identification with a fictional

" self " that is the root of bondage, but the *ongoing*

identification with the movement of attention.

 

Note that:

 

Attention typically has a *compulsive quality*, as if the

movement of attention were entirely compelled by the

succession of presented stimuli.

 

The restless movement of attention has a sense of " seeking "

to it, as if it were *going somewhere*.

 

Attention and Liberation

 

If there is any freedom of choice at all, it would seem that

it is in regard to attention. If there is *no choice* in

regard to attention then there certainly can be no choice

whatsoever (will assume this is obvious for now).

 

So *is* there any choice in regard to attention?

 

Typically that question will be regarded as pertaining to a

choice about the *direction* of attention, i.e. about what

attention is *to*. Here I will reject that as a viable option

without much explanation. Briefly, any choice about the

direction of attention must be based on *something* and

whatever that is can only be conditioning, so there is no

basis for any true freedom of choice in terms of the direction

of attention.

 

There is another way that choice can be applied to attention,

and that pertains to *relaxation* of attention. Attention can

always be softened, expanded. This possibility rarely occurs

to anyone. But it is a possibility always available.

 

In fact, when gone into and deeply explored, it will be

discovered that attention can be expanded in a limitless way.

 

Consider this passage from Krishnamurti:

 

Have you ever sat very silently, not with your

attention fixed on anything, not making an effort to

concentrate, but with the mind very quiet, really

still? Then you hear everything, don't you? You hear

the far off noises as well as those that are nearer and

those that are very close by, the immediate

sounds—which means really that you are listening to

everything. Your mind is not confined to one narrow

little channel. If you can listen in this way, listen

with ease, without strain, you will find an

extraordinary change taking place within you, a change

which comes without your volition, without your asking;

and in that change there is great beauty and depth of

insight.

 

There he describes an attention that is not localized in any

way, but in a sense " everywhere at once " . It is attention that

is not bounded or constrained.

 

And when attention is so fully expanded, there is movement of

a different kind from the restless movement of the

seeking/searching of constrained attention. The movement is

now everywhere at once; it is a sparkle, a vitality that

pervades all of experience.

 

 

 

Bill