The State & The Meditation

Let’s talk about and follow choiceless consciousness, a specific meditation state by which we quit management of our consideration. That is additionally a meditation follow in its personal proper, and we’ll take a look at a few styles of it.

I usually see choiceless consciousness talked about as a philosophy or doctrine. However to me it’s far more fast than that. It’s a first-person meditative state. You don’t should imagine that it exists: you simply have to expertise it for your self.

That mentioned, this work is greatest suited to folks with some expertise with meditation, significantly mindfulness or vipassana-style practices. This can be a delicate, nuanced artwork. When you’re a newbie, be happy to take a look at my free articles on the right way to meditate and my guided meditations.

Take a look at my episode on Choiceless Consciousness and skip to 11:30 for the free guided meditation.

Let’s begin by speaking about choiceless consciousness as a state or a specific mode of experiencing the senses.

Choiceless Consciousness: The State

On one hand, choiceless consciousness is a state that we are able to faucet into moment-to-moment, wherever we’re. It’s not an endpoint of coaching, however a mode of expertise we are able to contact if we all know what to search for.

Caveats

Earlier than I describe choiceless consciousness as a state or endpoint, we have to make clear one thing.

There are two phrases which are usually used interchangably: open consciousness and choiceless consciousness.

• Open consciousness means taking note of all phenomena within the sensory discipline directly, an open embrace;
• Choiceless consciousness means choice-less consciousness, or no-choice consciousness.

On this article, we’ll speak about choiceless or no-choice consciousness and make sure you distinguish it from open consciousness.

I additionally wish to remind you that this uncooked state goes past philosophy and intellectualising. Until you contact choiceless consciousness, you don’t perceive it. Direct expertise is essential, and all the things on this article depends on it.

The State

Because the identify suggests, it is a state of no-choice.

The physique is relaxed and equanimous. This permits internal and outer expertise to fluidly seem and disappear, because it naturally tends to, even when it seems restricted or dense. We let our consideration spontaneously drift from object to object, whereas absolutely experiencing every one whereas it lasts.

There’s a breaking down of the sense of solidity and rigidity of being a self that’s observing a stable, separate world round you. You see the self as merely one other phenomenon, one other “selection” within the discipline of consciousness.

It additionally takes you past the tendency of focusing your consideration on sure phenomena to the exclusion of others. We are likely to single out objects in accordance with our judgments and evaluations of them. We concentrate to what’s salient, attention-grabbing and helpful to us, and ignore the remainder.

That is wholesome and crucial as a talent in its personal proper, however when it turns into our solely mode of experiencing the world, it retains us contracted and hinders contact with the greater states of consciousness, by which all the things within the senses is a part of “one style”.

Choiceless Consciousness: The Meditation Observe

When you have some expertise with meditation, this one will really feel like a pure extension of your earlier work.

Typically in meditation, we consciously direct and redirect to a specific object of focus, be it the breath, our physique, our ideas, sights and sounds, or some other sensory phenomenon.

However in choiceless consciousness, the item of focus is fluid, and we don’t determine it. It naturally adjustments as phenomena come and go within the senses.

Observe these steps to do choiceless consciousness meditation:

• Select your place, observe the steps for excellent posture, and have your eyes open or closed,
• Let consideration freely float all through the complete sensory discipline, together with the physique and thoughts,
• When it falls on to a sight, thought, sound or sensation, run these two steps: 1. make it your momentary object of focus, and a couple of. pour your consideration into it, attempting to understand it as absolutely as attainable,
• Stay with that phenomenon for just a few seconds, then let your consideration float once more, or run the cycles with the identical phenomenon,
• Repeat till the top of the session.

You’ll style choiceless consciousness once you let your consideration float freely all through the senses, absolutely expertise no matter your consideration momentarily rests on, then let your consideration float once more. It feels flowing, open, easy, spontaneous, even if you happen to’re working with disagreeable materials.

Take a look at my episode on Choiceless Consciousness and skip to 11:30 for the free guided meditation.

Objection

You may need an objection at this level: I mentioned that is no-choice meditation, however aren’t we nonetheless exercising some management?

Sure, we’re. We’re selecting to let our consideration relaxation on a phenomenon once we’re drawn to at least one. We’re additionally attempting to understand this phemenon as clearly as attainable. That undoubtedly entails management and intention, so in a way this isn’t absolute no-choice meditation.

However throughout the paradigm of mindfulness, by which we try to expertise sensations as absolutely as attainable, and repeatedly convey our consideration again if it wanders, that is near no selection. Consider it as no-choice mindfulness.

There’s a meditation that will get you as near absolute non-control as attainable. We’ll cowl that in a minute. For now, let me speak about labels.

Further Step: Labels

You even have the selection of utilizing labels on this meditation. You’ll doubtless discover this helps you preserve consideration and make clear what you’re experiencing.

There are three attainable labels, and we are saying them to ourselves mentally after we have now made a phenomenon the item of our focus:

• for visible experiences (from the world round you, or a psychological picture), the label is See,
• for auditory experiences (from the world round you, or psychological chatter), the label is Hear,
• for physique experiences (emotion, muscular, temperature, heartbeat, respiration, facial sensations, discomfort), the label is Really feel.

Generally it’s not clear what class a phenomenon belongs to. When you’re undecided, go to your greatest guess. Don’t fret an excessive amount of!

Let’s take a look at our second approach.

Absolute Choiceless Consciousness

Let’s follow the purest type of choiceless consciousness I’ve found: Shinzen Younger‘s Do Nothing approach. There are solely two directions:

That’s all there’s to it. Although there are solely two steps, it’s value explaining a bit extra.

There’s no try to meditate within the mindfulness sense. We don’t attempt to make clear what we’re experiencing, or absolutely expertise it, or maintain our consideration on it. We’d fall into peculiar meditation, however we’re not attempting to. When you discover that you simply’re attempting to meditate, drop that intention. However you don’t have to intentionally hold observe of your intentions, both. Don’t attempt to discover or realise.

Even if you happen to’re misplaced in monkey thoughts for half-hour, that’s completely allowed underneath this method. Don’t attempt to management your monkey thoughts or come out of it. When you discover you’re attempting to do this, drop it.

The objective of Shinzen’s instruction is to have us drop (with out attempting to drop) our continuous efforting and manipulating. We let go, and if we realise we are attempting to manage our consideration in any approach, to do something, to get anyplace, we let go once more.

The directions would possibly nonetheless appear complicated to you. If that’s the case, I counsel you follow it just a few instances. That approach, you’ll glimpse the “state” that we attain in Do Nothing and perceive the subtleties by way of expertise.

Why do the “Do Nothing” Type of Choiceless Consciousness?

After working towards a number of types of meditation in varied traditions, I’ve usually been left confused. You’re imagined to let go of management, but additionally have some management on the identical time, and sometimes the directions are given in obscure language.

Shinzen has created a method that may be a crystal-clear choiceless consciousness follow. That’s no imply feat, as a result of the state of choiceless consciousness has varied levels and is difficult to adequately describe. He has gone to the highest, to the “most choiceless” kind I’ve ever discovered.

When you contact this Do Nothing state, you’ll discover it takes away reference factors, frees the stress introduced by attempting to direct and manipulate your expertise, and loosen up the self-contraction. There’s an opportunity you’ll contact pure, open consciousness, however don’t make {that a} objective.

It can be deeply purging since you’re disengaging the surface-level, acutely aware self, that means hidden materials can freely come up from the unconscious.

Finally, I like to recommend you follow these two sorts of choiceless consciousness. Maybe spend per week or a fortnight on one, then swap to the opposite. Solely by way of follow will you perceive this state.