Reference: Book III: What is the Mind Really?
The Main Ideas
- A person, when overwhelmed with anxiety, may descend into depression.
- Depression involves a sustained low, empty, or irritable mood and/or a loss of interest or pleasure.
- In depression a person’s attention is overwhelmed by too many anomalies (doubts and confusions).
- The safest way out of depression is to reorganize attention, so it can properly address anomalies.
- Attention is the allocation of processing resources of the mind to selectively concentrate on the environment.
- Attention is reorganized by withdrawing it and then redirecting it consciously to sense the environment.
- The environment enters our mind as sensations that assimilate into perceptions.
- A person can consciously train his attention to assimilate sensations into perceptions.
- As he does so he starts to spot simple anomalies, which further improve his control of attention.
- Very soon, the person starts to spot and address more complex anomalies that overwhelmed him earlier.
- This chapter provides exercises from Extroversion & Orientation for this purposes.
- These exercises get a person to start consciously controlling his attention.
A person who becomes overwhelmed by persistent anxiety may gradually descend into depression. Depression is marked by a sustained low, empty, or irritable mood, and/or by a loss of interest and pleasure in ordinary life. When these symptoms are severe, prolonged, or accompanied by thoughts of self-harm, professional mental-health support is important.
In the framework developed here, depression may be understood as a condition in which attention is burdened by too many unresolved anomalies—doubts, contradictions, confusions, and disturbances that the mind cannot presently organize or address. Attention then becomes fixed, scattered, or withdrawn from the immediate environment. The person may feel mentally exhausted, disconnected, and unable to act. This chapter offers attention-training exercises as a supportive practice for regaining orientation; it is not a substitute for medical or psychological care.
Attention and Anomalies
Attention may be understood as the allocation of the mind’s processing resources: it selectively concentrates on some aspect of the environment while leaving other aspects in the background. When attention is free and unobstructed, it tends to move toward areas where perception or understanding has slowed down. This can be useful, because such areas may contain an anomaly—a belief, assumption, or interpretation that does not fit its broader context.
In depression, however, attention may be overwhelmed by many anomalies at once. The safest initial direction is to restore the person’s ability to direct attention deliberately. This begins by temporarily withdrawing attention from overwhelming mental content and consciously redirecting it toward immediate sensory experience.
The environment enters the mind as sensations—touch, sight, sound, smell, and taste—which can gradually assimilate into clear perceptions. A person can train attention by noticing and distinguishing simple sensory details. For example, one may compare two textures, two colors, or two sounds without demanding that the mind solve a larger emotional problem. This reduces the immediate burden on attention and re-establishes its basic function: observing what is actually present.
As attention becomes steadier, the person begins to notice simple anomalies: a tension in the body, an assumption, an avoided feeling, a conflict between an expectation and reality. Addressing these simpler anomalies improves confidence and control. More complex anomalies that previously felt overwhelming can then be approached one at a time.
Do the following exercises, as much as possible, for 20 minutes, twice a day, for two weeks at least.
EXERCISE # 1: EXTROVERSION
PURPOSE:
To bring attention outward by consciously exploring the five physical senses. The exercise is designed to make attention more stable, present, and responsive to the environment.
Touch
Go to a place where you can explore touch without distraction.
Touch two nearby surfaces, such as wood and fabric.
Notice how they differ in temperature, texture, pressure, hardness, and shape.
Continue with other surfaces, observing each one without rushing.
Keep aware of mental activity in the background without trying to suppress or analyze it.
- Continue until touching objects feels natural and free of strong internal resistance.
Sight
Look at two objects nearby.
Notice their shapes, colors, outlines, size, distance, and details.
Continue looking until you can clearly distinguish the uniqueness of each object.
Expand your observation to additional objects in the environment.
Let thoughts and feelings arise and pass without interfering with the act of seeing.
- Continue until attention is comfortably engaged with visible surroundings.
Hearing, Smell & Taste
In a pleasant environment, notice two sounds and distinguish them: their volume, rhythm, pitch, direction, or duration.
Notice two smells and distinguish their qualities without judging them as good or bad.
If appropriate, notice two tastes and distinguish their qualities.
Cycle gently through hearing, smell, taste, sight, and touch.
Continue until attention feels more outwardly engaged than it did at the beginning.
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EXERCISE # 2: ORIENTATION
PURPOSE: To rebuild a clear sense of location, direction, and distance in the environment.
This exercise follows extroversion. If orientation feels difficult or destabilizing, return to the sensory exercise above.
STEPS
Choose a quiet place where you can observe objects around you.
Select your present location as the reference point.
Look at two objects and estimate their distances from you.
Notice their directions relative to where you are: left, right, ahead, behind, above, or below.
Compare the objects: Which is nearer? Which is farther? Which is more to the left or right?
Repeat with other objects until their relative positions become clear.
Let thoughts and feelings remain in the background without resisting them.
Continue for up to 20 minutes, stopping earlier if tired or distressed.
The Orientation exercise trains attention to distinguish directions and distances while maintaining awareness of mental activity without interference
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