Vinaire's Blog

Reference: Mindfulness Approach

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It becomes evident from the exercise in Chapter 7, Free Association in Mindfulness, that some memories take much longer to come up. This happens when the memory is part of an area of the mind that contains chaos. The chaos exists because the mind is unable to assimilate certain experiences in that area. Those experiences did not get assimilated because they contained pain, loss and deep confusion when received.

The chaotic condition in the mind exists due to unassimilated experiences.

To some degree this chaotic condition is being stimulated by “reminders” in the environment. Attending meditation classes or going on vacations serves to calm the mind because the disturbing environment is put in abeyance. But that is a temporary fix only. When a person returns to his usual environment these experiences get activated again. Permanent solution to the chaotic condition requires accessing the unassimilated experiences and assimilating them into rest of the mind.

The calming of the mind requires accessing and assimilating such experiences.

This is what Freud and Hubbard were trying to do. Psychoanalysis tries to guess at the content of unassimilated experiences by analyzing coded manifestations. Dianetics tries to bring up that content by repeating phrases that are thought to be part of it. Mesmer got that content somehow when he accidently affected cures. The methods of Psychoanalysis and Dianetics also work sometimes, but then the mind shuts itself off still harder. That has been the key problem.

It has always been very difficult to access the unassimilated experiences directly.

The unassimilated experiences may be accessed under hypnotism. But the person cannot be made aware of them in that condition. To assimilate those experiences the person must access them with full consciousness. Under hypnotism, anything said to the person just adds to the unassimilated data. Thus hypnotism is not only unworkable but it is also a liability.

Hypnotism is not only unworkable but it is also a liability for the mind.

The unassimilated experiences get buried because they contain pain, loss and deep confusion. They bury themselves under the anomalies (discontinuities, disharmonies and inconsistencies), which may be described as follows.

• Discontinuity is something that simply does not make sense. For example, Joe has a good friend named Bill. Suddenly Bill starts to distance himself. This is incomprehensible to Joe.
• Disharmony is visible in conflicts. For example, Joe and Mary have a relationship that is full of conflicts and making both of them miserable.
• Inconsistency exists between two observations that simply don’t go together. For example, Bill claims to be a successful businessman, but he is often filing for bankruptcies.

Such anomalies are still very uncomfortable. They bury themselves under justifications. And so comes about “running after distractions” and mental conditioning.

The unassimilated experiences get buried under anomalies, which then get buried under mental conditioning.

Evidently, introverting the attention forcefully, or by trickery, only makes the situation worse by stirring up the mind. We must let the mind unwind itself naturally.

As the person sits down and looks at the mind he becomes aware of the things he has been avoiding, resisting, denying and suppressing, and this is keeping his mental conditioning in place.

The discipline of mindfulness requires that one does not avoid, resist, deny or suppress the activity of the mind, but looks at things as they are. As the person applies this discipline, free associations take place. He starts to become aware of the conditioning and the anomalies he has been justifying. As he focuses on the anomalies with free association, they start to resolve one by one.

It is only at this point that the unassimilated experiences start to show up and get assimilated in the refined and complex matrix of the mind.

It is only under the discipline of mindfulness that free association occurs to resolve mental conditioning, anomalies and unassimilated experiences on a gradient.

The first step is to become aware of the mental conditioning. Our thinking, in large part, is conditioned by our childhood environment and the schooling we receive. Our social behavior, in general, is conditioned by the society we live in. Conditioning takes place when proper assimilation is prevented in the mind.

This gradient approach to assimilation starts from observing the mental conditioning. This can be done by most people themselves. The following exercise gets this process started.

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EXERCISE

PURPOSE: To address social conditioning with free association.

PREREQUISITE: The exercise at “Free Association in Mindfulness”.

STEPS:

1. This exercise requires two people. Invite another student of mindfulness to do this exercise with you.

2. Place two chairs facing each other about five feet apart. This distance may be decreased in subsequent sessions depending on the comfort level. The minimum knee to knee distance should be one inch.

3. Sit and look at each other and say and do nothing for at least 20 minutes. Just BE there and not do anything else but BE there

4. As you observe each other, maintain free association under the discipline of mindfulness.

5. Observe the social conditioning that shows up and observe each element of it, such as,

• Need to make conversation

• Need to be interesting

• Desire to speak

• Feeling of embarrassment

• Feeling of discomfort

• Reactions like fidgeting, giggling, twitches, blinks, facial expressions, etc.

• Need to suppress the feelings and reactions

• Sleepiness

6. Focus on the elements of social conditioning in the order they appear.

7. Continue this focus with free association until an element is no longer bothering you.

8. If anomalies shows up address them as above in the order they appear.

9. Focus is important. Your eyes may be open, half-open or closed.

10. If you feel sleepy do not interfere; let the free association continue through sleep.

11. You will complete this exercise when you can comfortably sit in front of another person fully alert with no more reaction and suppression, for straight 20 minutes.

12. You should be able to do this at the closest distant allowed on this exercise. This may take several sessions of doing this exercise at different distances.

13. The hardest part of this exercise is to overcome the conditioning that makes one suppress feelings and reactions. One must overcome this conditiong and recover the freedom to hide, or not hide, one’s natural feelings depending on the situation.

Further exercises to address mental conditioning shall be published in subsequent chapters.

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