Reference: The Book of Subject Clearing
Mindfulness provides the discipline for looking and contemplation. The core of mindfulness may be described as follows:
1. Observe without getting influenced by your expectations and desires.
Desires make one want certain outcomes. This leads to speculations that have no basis other than one’s expectations. But it is only when you know what is there can you predict future in a reasonable and consistent manner.
2. Observe things as they are, without assuming anything.
Familiarity makes one assume certain things to be there. Such assumptions can take the form of beliefs, convictions, biases, fixed ideas, etc. The visualization is already there in the mind, and it gets superimposed over what is actually there. However familiar something may be, it is never permanent, and it may not actually be there.
3. If something is missing do not imagine something else in its place.
If something is missing, then recognize that it is missing. Do not imagine something in its place. If someone asks you a question and no answer come up in your mind, then do not feel obliged to make up an answer. Accept that you do not have an answer.
4. If something does not make sense, then do not explain it away.
If something does not make sense, then recognize that it does not make sense. Do not try to justify it. Justification simply puts the blame somewhere without resolving the inconsistency. When you are faced with an inconsistency, and you feel an impulse to explain it away, then be alert to what you might be taking for granted. At times it may take some out-of-the-box thinking to realize what is going on.
5. Use physical senses as well as the mental sense to observe.
We associate the idea of sense organs with eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body. We use them to observe physical objects, such as, chair, car, house, etc. However, the mind is also a sense organ, which senses ideas, thoughts, feelings, emotions, etc. These are mental objects. When being mindful, recognize both physical and mental objects for what they are.
6. Let the mind un-stack itself.
Let the mind un-stack itself naturally through patient contemplation on whatever comes up. Observe the issue uppermost in the mind, and then the next, and the next. Let the mind deal with issues in the order it wants to. There should be no effort to recall, to dig for answers, or to interfere with the mind in any way. Simply look at what is right there in front of the mind’s eye at any moment. The mind will never present anything overwhelming when allowed to un-stack itself.
7. Experience fully what is there.
Experiencing is the deepest form of mindfulness. A person is deeply mindful of his feelings, emotions and impulses when he is experiencing them. So, dive into the very heart of whatever arises in the mind without resisting. If the mind is racing, then experience it racing without contributing to it.
8. Do not suppress anything from yourself.
Not suppressing anything from yourself is being totally honest with yourself. Follow your attention wherever it goes and do not suppress. Do not avoid something just because it seems shameful or painful. It is the suppression of perceptions, memories, knowledge, visualizations, thinking, etc., that causes all difficulties in life. By not suppressing you establish complete integrity of your perceptions.
9. Associate data freely.
In order to practice mindfulness, you will have to let your mind associate data freely. Mindfulness is being comfortable with the very activity of thinking itself. So, let the mind associate data freely on its own.
10. Do not get hung up on name and form.
Name acts as a broad reference point to something. Form is one of the many ways that a thing may be represented. The knowing of a thing goes beyond its name and form. Fixation on name and form may act as built-in judgment of what is there. To know something, one must go beyond name and form and look at it more closely including all its associations.
11. Contemplate thoughtfully.
When mindfulness is practiced, thinking becomes contemplation. Problems are solved by looking at them non-judgmentally and recognizing the relationships. One looks around to get the missing information instead of trying to “figure it out”.
12. Let it all be effortless.
When you let it be, it becomes effortless. Effort comes into play only when there is resistance to letting it be. It is completely safe when you let the body and mind unwind gradually on their own. Trouble occurs only when you become anxious and start to dig for answers.
The examples for these 12 aspects are provided in the following exercises. Practice these exercises until they become a natural part of your attention:
- Observe without Desires
- Observe without Assuming
- Observe what is Missing
- Observe the Incomprehensible
- Observe all Senses
- Let the Mind Un-stack
- Experience Fully
- Do not suppress
- Associate Data freely
- Observe beyond Name and Form
- Contemplate thoughtfully
- Let it be effortless
The above exercises should then be followed by the following exercises.
13. Handling Introversion
14. Powerful Mindfulness Exercise 1
15. Powerful Mindfulness Exercise 2
Mindfulness seems to be fundamental to all scientific observation, meditation, prayer, and other forms of spiritual practice. Incorporate mindfulness in your life as much as possible.
The following is an excellent lecture: Meditative Mind
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