Author Archives: vinaire

I am originally from India. I am settled in United States since 1969. I love mathematics, philosophy and clarity in thinking.

Filter in KHTK

August 26, 2014 – 9:21 AM

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A filter is a porous device for removing impurities or solid particles from a liquid or gas passed through it. We borrow that word and use it in KHTK in a more general sense as follows.

Filter is a device that is selective in what it lets through. It is designed to block out things that are supposedly unwanted.

A colored glass acts as a filter in that it is selective about what frequencies of light it lets through. It blocks all other frequencies. Similarly, our thinking may act as a filter and it may let only those thoughts through with which there is some agreement. In KHTK, anything that influences perception is looked upon as a filter.

When the viewpoint influences the perceptions of a person it is acting as a filter.

A viewpoint consists of a person’s physical location as well as his mental position determined by  experience, education, thinking and considerations.

A physical location obviously influences the angle from which one perceives. The experiences get stored and interpret incoming perceptions. Education from home, school and culture provides ideas with which to assess incoming information. Thinking makes one associate the data one has in a certain way. Considerations sets themselves as bias, prejudices, fixed ideas, etc., that directly filter one’s perception.

Thus, the world might appear very different to a person from what it actually is. The actions one takes may not be optimum for the situations one encounters in life. This may have a lot to do with the conditions a person finds himself in.

Examining the contents of this filter may help resolve unwanted conditions in one’s life.

The components of the viewpoint are tightly interwoven into each other like many strands in a rope. Mindfulness exercises can help one look at this filter objectively and become aware of hidden influences.

Hidden influences lose their power as they are brought into awareness.

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Inconsistency Defined

August 24, 2014 – 11:21 PM

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Reference: Patanjali Sutra 1:7 as explained in Patanjali 1:3 – 1:7

When a person is running into problems with relationships, finances, or in living, he has a gut feeling that something is not right somewhere, but he can’t put his finger on it. Similar feeling haunts him in school when he cannot understand a subject, such as mathematics. We may refer this gut feeling as an inherent sense of inconsistency.

An inconsistency is characterized by incoherency or lack of harmony, which comes about when there is doubt, confusion, or simply a lack of understanding.

When a person is faced with inconsistency, it does something to his attention. It has been noted that,

“Attention is aberrated by becoming unfixed and sweeping at random or becoming too fixed without sweeping.” ~ L. Ron Hubbard

Normally we can freely direct our attention and put it wherever we want; but when a person is faced with inconsistency he cannot do so. In KHTK, we make use of this observation as follows.

Fixed or dispersed attention is a powerful indicator of where one should be looking.

Here is an example form Hubbard’s writings. “Engineer on duty, normal but experienced perception. Is observing his area. Hears a hiss that shouldn’t be. Scans the area and sees nothing out of order but a small white cloud. Combines sight and hearing. Moves forward to get a better look. Sees valve has broken. Shuts off steam line.”

One looks more closely at the area that is causing the attention to become fixed and/or dispersed and narrows down to the inconsistency.

Inconsistency is likely to be found in the area holding undue focus or which is difficult to focus upon.

As one becomes aware of the reason underlying the inconsistency, one’s attention gets freed up. One can now act to handle the problem.

Pursue non-optimum attention to discover what is amiss and handle the problem.

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To resolve non-optimum attention fully one needs to look at the factors stacked up in the mind. These factors are interwoven with other factors in a complex manner. Complexities of the mind cannot be resolved through thinking alone.

However, it is possible to un-stack the mind by letting it do so. Mind is like a coiled spring. It uncoils itself when it is not interfered with. This principle is violated when one makes assumptions and pushes the mind. A much safer approach is to:

Allow the mind to un-stack itself. It is like letting a coiled spring to uncoil itself.

All one has to do is to follow the points of non-optimum attention without forcing the mind. Let the mind operate freely in a broad context.

Let the mind associate freely in a broad and unrestricted context to un-stack itself.

When left to itself the mind will bring up data that needs to be looked at. As one looks, questions may arise, and one may consult appropriate references, or carry out experiments to resolve the inconsistency.

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Loss

August 19, 2014 – 9:32 AM
Little Girl

Little girl with her doll sitting in the ruins of her bombed home

London 1940

Reference: Mindfulness 7: Experience fully

In this exercise one contemplates over one’s loss. This is not easy. Therefore, before you attempt this exercise, make sure you have completed the twelve exercises for mindfulness.

Loss is something very close to heart. The emotions are usually very intense and they get suppressed. Such emotions may reemerge during this exercise. It can be very unsettling.

When intense emotions come up, courageously dive into the very center of them and experience them without resisting. Make sure you do this exercise in your privacy. There should be no interruptions when you are deeply absorbed in the exercise.

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Exercise

Purpose: To contemplate over a loss with mindfulness.

  1. Look at an instance when you lost somebody you loved, or some other loss.

  2. Contemplate over that loss with mindfulness.

  3. As feelings and emotions come up address them one at a time as follows:

    (a) Spot the location of the emotion in, on, or near the body, if possible.

    (b) Dive into the very center of that emotion. Experience it fully without avoiding, resisting or suppressing it. 

    (c) Look at the location of the emotion with mindfulness, and notice if there are any messages or flows coming to you from there. 

    (d) Let that location know that the messages or flows have arrived. CAUTION:   No approval, disapproval, make-wrong or anything else. Just  give a courteous indication that the message was received.

    (d) Take as much time as you need to stay with the feeling or emotion until it starts to discharge.

  4. Once all emotions connected to a loss are discharged, review the loss with  mindfulness until nothing is suppressed and you can be with it comfortably.

  5. You may now take up another loss and repeat this exercise.

  6. Wrap up the session with the exercise Mindfulness 12: Let it be effortless

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Further references: KHTK Mindfulness

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Things Avoided

August 19, 2014 – 6:21 AM
Little Girl2
Reference: Mindfulness 7: Experience fully.

Here is a quick exercise,

If done honestly, it wakes one up quickly.

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Exercise

  1. Find something that you have been avoiding looking at.

  2. Observe the feelings or emotions that appear as you start to face it.

  3. Experience those feelings and emotions without resisting or suppressing them.

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The Intention to Harm

August 18, 2014 – 5:25 PM
Mental Hindrances
Reference: Rightness

The intention to harm is morally so unacceptable that when not fully confronted it gets buried deep in the psyche. It then causes anxiety and unhappiness.

Some of the forms of this intention are as follows:

(1)    SELFISHNESS.  One thinks of the satisfaction of one’s own desires without caring of the effects it creates on others in its wake.

(2)    EXPLOITATION. Any action that exploits others for personal gains has the intention to harm underlying it.

(3)    SEXUAL DESIRES. This is a special instance of the above when it leads to actions that cause suffering to the object of one’s affection.

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Exercise

Purpose: To fully understand and release the “intentions to harm.”

  1. Read the introduction to this exercise. Make a list of “intentions to harm” as they appear in your mind without effort. These do not have to be your intentions.

  2. Add to this list, intentions that you have encountered in your life. These do not have to be just your intentions.

  3. Contemplate on the following question letting the mind associate freely.

    Meditation Question: “HOW DOES [an item from the above list] APPEAR TO MAKE SENSE?”

  4. See if there is some response that appears on its own. Please note that the response may not be an exact answer to this question.

  5. No matter what the response is, take time to inspect and experience it fully without resistance.

  6. Let the mind associate freely whatever follows, until the attention frees up enough to look around.

  7. Ask this question again per step 3, and follow it up per steps 4, 5, and 6.

  8. Keep on asking the question as long as responses are appearing in the mind. In other words, let the mind un-stack itself naturally on this subject of “intention to harm.”

  9. When there is no more response, take up the next item on the list with the question in step 3.

  10. Continue this procedure with subsequent items on the list until some persistent thought, emotion or impulse has just left. NOTE: This may not always occur.

  11. Continue this procedure until you can BE THERE comfortably with a deep understanding of “intention to harm” on a first-hand experiential basis.

  12. Follow up with the exercise per Mindfulness 12: Let it be effortless, and let the mind complete the review of this session as necessary.

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Further references: KHTK Mindfulness

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