Please summarize what you read. After summarizing, you can reflect on the following questions to guide the rest of your writing, but you should not just list and answer them. What did you find most interesting? Most confusing? What do you want to learn more about? Is there any information that you find dubious or that you are suspicious of? You do not need to explicitly answer these, rather, I'm interested in your summary, and ultimately your thoughts and insight on these readings.
Please list the main key words you used in your post.
In this week’s readings, I found the You Don’t Need to be Special section of the book the most interesting. Observations and experiences today have shown that many people attempt to be special or build others up as being special. Special is usually always portrayed and viewed as a good thing; be different from those around you but in a good way such as being smarter than average or exceptionally good at sports or music. The problem that most people don’t see is that some individuals are setting themselves up to fail as the book describes. Not everyone is exceptionally special and trying to become special in an unrealistic way can cause anxiety and feelings of inadequacy. Of course people can set goals and work toward them however attempting to accomplish an unrealistic goal or trying to be someone you are not will ultimately fail and leave behind an unhappiness. The book states not to over focus on being special rather love the person that you are. I completely agree with that statement. I think everyone is special in their own way but trying to become special to please others is unhealthy.
I thought the chapter on “self” was rather strange and I’m not sure how much I agree with it. I understand that the book is attempting to get people to focus less on the “me” phenomenon and more on the world but I think it is important to establish a sense of self as well. The book describes the “self” as surfacing in response to certain stimuli and that we should learn to take the stimuli as it is not how the self perceives it. I however, think we should do both. The self surfaces to certain stimuli in a way that reflects what we have learned from it and adapted to it. For example, if I see a friend at the grocery store my “self” comes out in which I remember fond memories we shared, what a great person he or she is, and the type of relationship we have. Vice versa, if I see someone I do not get along with I approach that person with caution or perhaps just avoid the person overall. The chapter is simply implying that we should learn to let go of the past or perceptions of stimuli and just react as things occur. I agree that one should not worry or pay too much attention to certain stimuli however using what you’ve learned (your “self”) can be very beneficial and should still be taken into consideration.
The concept I thought was most confusing was when the book compared the self to a unicorn. The section basically stated that the self is like a unicorn, a mythical being whose representations exist but the self itself does not exist. How can someone claim that the self does not exist? The book describes the self as interacting with changes and stimuli within the environment, how is that not a self? A “self” is what determines the type of reaction and interactions based on experiences, adaption, and emotions. Our selves consist of our personalities intertwined with our thoughts, beliefs, and dreams. The self is a very abstract concept but to deny that any exists seems ignorant to me.
Overall I thought these readings were very intriguing and broadened my perspective on the self as well as concentration. I will definitely attempt some of the tips the book provides on increasing concentration as well as avoid using me and I often. In addition I would like to learn more about what qualifies as the self and how it is measured.
Terms: the self, special, stimuli, concentration, anxiety, perceptions, love, inadequacy
In this week’s readings they went very deeply into the subject of the “self” and how the sense of self can cause us to suffer. They also talked a lot about meditation itself and different ways you can learn to clear your mind. I think the most challenging part of meditating is staying focused. I know I have what the text calls “monkey mind.” My mind is constantly going and never really focusing on one task at a time. I learned that there are five key factors that I can use in order to help fix my focusing problems. The five factors are: applied attention, sustained attention, rapture, joy, and singleness of mind.
I also was interested in the section about Keeping Attention on its Object because it talks about the biology of the brain and what sections of the brain control certain behaviors. The anterior cingulate cortex is most involved in applying and then continuing attention. This section also brought up a breathing exercise that you can do in order to calm down. This exercise seems both easy and useful so I plan on trying it the next time I meditate. Not only does it help to be calm, but if you do receive the thoughts floating into your head it’s okay to confront and accept them because that just makes it that much easier to then send the thoughts away. It takes a lot of concentration to meditate and your concentration improves slowly as you use it more and more often.
I really found chapter 13 interesting because it spoke about the self in different situations. It talked about the reflective self which attempts to solve problems. It is located in the anterior cingulate cortex along with a few other locations. I particularly thought it was interesting when the text expanded on the self-as-object because I know that I am constantly observing my own behaviors and asking myself why I do what I do, react how I do, etc. After this the text talks about generosity and how possessiveness can actually help the self to grow. The goal in this chapter though is to be able to understand how the self can be harmful and how you should respond.
I enjoyed chapter 13 because it almost seemed like a self-help chapter that talked about not worrying what others think about you and not considering yourself so different from everyone around you. I really loved a particular line in the text that started off by saying, “believing that you need to be special in order to deserve love and support sets a really high bar…” This line jumped out at me because it seems like something I would hear in a Sunday morning sermon. If I had to pick from everything I read in these two chapters that line is probably the one I’d remember. I say that because I take my relationship with God very seriously and I know that I’m reminded over and over that I’m loved by Him simply because he created me and sacrificed himself for me. I don’t have to put a show on for Him every day or prove to Him that I’m still worthy of his attention. There are some similarities in the meditation mindset and Christian values.
Overall, I think these two chapters really dug into looking objectively at the “self” and understanding why it does what it does, and even attempting to understand it across situations and conditions. It also went further in depth about how to meditate without being distracted and how to handle distractions that do arise by incorporating them into your meditation. The book made meditating look like a piece of cake which I don’t believe it is but it also gave a lot of helpful ideas and hints on how improve on meditating and use it to one’s advantage in everyday life.
Terminology: self, meditate, reflective self, anterior cingulate cortex, breathing exercise, concentration, monkey mind, applied attention, sustained attention, rapture, joy, and singleness of mind
It’s really unfortunate that these later chapters have turned into a “how to” rather than an explanation and research backing view of meditation. The two chapters we read kind of put a little bit of a sour taste in my mouth because I had a hard time really getting involved in the reading like try to do. With that set aside though, I did like some of the more “personal experience” parts of this week’s readings. Chapter 13 talked a lot about the self and how the control of the self can affect how we experience the world. There were some bold claims that I wasn’t sure about, like “The less ‘I’ there is, the happier you are”. I think it’s incredibly bold to say something like that. In my experience being happy hasn’t ever been that linear and is affected by too many other variables to just be “do X, get happy”.
I must have been in a bad mood when doing most of my reading, because I seemed to have spent most of my time being very skeptical, rather than diving into the material and comparing it to my own experiences. I did want to address open awareness meditation a little because it is something that I have started to incorporate into my meditation sessions. I had about a 2 and a half week spurt of really bad meditation sessions. I couldn’t get into deep meditation, and if I did, it was interrupted by someone. Recently I have been allowing my brain to produce random thoughts, but I just don’t give them any attention. The thoughts are very fleeting and almost relaxing because it’s like watching a short movie. It has been very helpful because these segments of my meditation are becoming shorter and shorter; I’m finally getting back into the swing of things.
Our first chapter talks about walking meditation, which originally didn’t think was valid. But this weekend I went on an unexpectedly long cross country skiing trip. We originally wanted to go 3 miles total and ended up with somewhere around 9-10 miles. Since this was such a long trip, I had a lot of time in the back of the line (I am the newest to the activity out of my group of three) and found myself getting into a meditative state. The tracks had been set by the two people in front of me, so my skiing was a very repetitive motive of left foot/right hand, right foot/left hand. 20 minutes had passed before I realized what was going on and actually ran into the person in front of me because I was paying no attention to outside stimuli. It wasn’t just me zoning out either, I was completely relaxed, warm, and moving at the same time. This really made me think because it broke my schema of meditation being very stationary. It also made me think back to high school where I used to swim competitively. Back in those days I remember long practices becoming so second nature that I had so much time to just enjoy myself and feel totally relaxed while swimming.
Unfortunately this is where my positive feelings about the reading ended and I started to look at the reading from a “devil’s advocate” point of view. One of the things that really bugged me was the constant bashing of the self. Our reading seems like it’s trying to make you feel bad for having an internal self because it can cause so much distress. While I agree with the general message of eliminating “me” and working more towards “us”, the “I” shouldn’t be ashamed of. The self is something to be proud of and personally gives me a lot of joy. I like noticing that “I” have made an improvement or that “I” have done something well. It isn’t to be happy with things you have done, but “I” shouldn’t be your only motivation. So I had a hard time really reading through this second chapter.
I do sort of agree with the wholeness of this chapter, I just wish they would have went about it in a better way. I think that there is something to be said about the wholeness of people and the power of a community. It’s amazing what people can do when they are interconnected with each other. For an example, look at a long and healthy relationship between two people. They have managed to overcome hard times together, learn from each other, and grown with each other. Their journey has become 1 adventure rather than two separate experiences. Another example would be that of a team sport. The team does things individually, but accomplishes something as a whole, rather than separate parts. I’ll be making an attempt to look at things from a more wholesome point of view, but I don’t think it is a cut and dry as the book makes it.
Terms: meditation, self, “I”, walking meditation, open awareness meditation, wholeness.
These two chapters focused on concentration and the sense of self. I found the chapter on concentration to be the most interesting. The book discussed that concentration can have two main effects in meditation, you can focus intently on one specific thing or you can have an all-encompassing focus. It then moved on to the five factors of concentration: applied attention, sustained attention, rapture, joy, and singleness of mind. Applied and sustained attentions are fairly self-explanatory. Rapture is described as an intense interest in an object and is equated with a feeling of bliss. Joy is explained as happiness or tranquility. Singleness of mind is experiencing everything as one and living truly in the present. The book gave some walkthroughs on how to experience each of these aspects of concentration. I found this part of the chapters to be very informative because I have issues with concentrating both during meditation and during everyday activities.
The second chapter focused on sense of self and how to reduce “I” thoughts/statements. I found this chapter incredibly off putting and pompous. In my opinion, sense of self is not inherently bad. Nevertheless, the book focused on the fact that the “self” isn’t necessary for most activities. I found this confusing because I consider my “self” to be all-encompassing with my thoughts, actions, etc. It went on to state that equating actions with a self is what causes suffering. There was an activity called taking your body for a walk. I didn’t mind this activity as much, and I found it relaxing to reduce my sense of self for at least a small amount of time. However, I found this activity to be relaxing in the same exact way as meditation is so I’m not sure how it is uniquely helpful. The book gave scientific examples of how self isn’t necessary to complete activities, but I felt as if the authors were just trying to aid science in this section to distract from the fact that their main point, you should reduce your association with self, did not have significant scientific backing.
There were sections in the sense of self chapter that I did agree with. The self is constantly changing and can’t be pigeonholed. The self also changes depending on context; I think this can be thought of in the same way as a person’s personality can change depending on context. A person who swears like a sailor usually doesn’t during a job interview. Overall, I still don’t understand the downside of the self. Ownership over your actions holds you accountable for them. There is no one with the same brain as you and no one with the same self as you. I think it’s important that we embrace these differences and diversities because we all may not be special, but we are all unique.
Terms: Concentration, sense of self, applied attention, sustained attention, rapture, joy, singleness of mind, body walk
This weeks reading continued the scientific downhill slide while ramping up the anecdotal fluff. The foci this week were concentration and relaxing the self.
Concentration leads to wisdom seemed to be the theme of chapter 12. The ability to bring focus and concentration will increase mindfulness and thus provide the platform for wisdom. H & M go on to discuss attention and the difficulties that accompany focused attention. It is difficult for people to maintain focused attention, especially today with the hectic pace of life and constant distractions. Training the mind to push out or block these extraneous thoughts will eventually allow a person to reach rapture, where they can truly focus and find bliss in an object. Rapture is one of the 5 factors of concentration defined in the chapter. The five are: applied attention, sustained attention, rapture, joy, and singleness of mind.
Singleness of mind helps tie chapters 12 and 13 together. Chapter 13 is about relaxing the self. This is more clearly described as letting go of the sense of self or “I” and embracing a worldly and holistic view. First, H & M identified different types of “self” and where that “self” comes from. Such as the reflective self arising from neural connections in the ACC and PFC, and the emotional self coming from the amygdala, hypothalamus, striatum, and upper brain stem. These two selfs are then incorporated into the core self (the common feeling of “I”). This chapter then goes on to discuss the releasing of those feelings of I through practiced meditation and embracing the whole.
To release this overwhelming feeling of “I” H & M discuss topics like generosity to embrace the feelings and help others. As well as, attempting to reduce your concerns about what other think and not needing to feel special. Each person will experience unique situations and have unique experiences. However, we should not be struggling to make these. Instead we should accept the world and begin to experience it as opposed to trudging a new path.
I found this last section of taking a holistic view and embracing the world to be most interesting. I find flow in times when I can just sit back and enjoy nature and the Earth. However, I did not find any scientific merit or evidence in these passages. H & M have gone away from providing evidence and sources. Instead they have focused on stories and opinion along with entirely unscientific terminology like mystic experiences utilized earlier in the book. So I will end this post with a quote “Self is like a Unicorn”.
Terms: concentration, wisdom, mindfulness, attention, applied attention, sustained attention, rapture, joy, and singleness of mind, ACC and PFC, amygdala, hypothalamus, striatum, and upper brain stem, core self
The two topics covered in this week’s readings were concentration and sense of self. The authors wrote about how the task of concentrating completely on a single thing (AKA focused attention) is in conflict with our evolutionary nature to quickly be able to change your attention to all the different stimuli around you (AKA monkey brain). The five factors of concentration were discussed, which to me seemed to be more like the stages of concentration people pass through in meditation. It included applied attention, sustained attention, rapture, joy, and singleness of mind. In my personal experience with meditation, I feel that I’ve experienced all of these stages in some way, with the exception of rapture. I definitely feel the contentment and peace that the joy stage is supposed to bring, but not the “rush of blissful sensations” of rapture. The idea to sustain positive emotions during meditation in order keep the gate for working memory shut to increase concentration is very interesting though.
Parts of Chapter 12 were a review, like how counting and bringing a non-judgmental attitude to incoming thoughts can improve the experience. Another interesting part of this chapter was the idea to increase the stimulation of meditation if concentration is difficult. I could see how this would still be beneficial since you’re using your mind in a very specific way and how it could appeal to people who have a high need for stimulation neurologically. It gave such suggestions as being hyper-aware of each sensation or walking while meditating. I have the hunch that I have a lower stimulation need because walking while meditating seems like a challenge to me! Another helpful suggestion to aid us to experience singleness of mind is to imagine a figure, such as a guardian angel or a great meditative figure like Buddha, guiding your attention back whenever it wanders. Just the act of visualizing something separate from my mind giving me feedback seems like a useful tool.
I had mixed feelings on the ideas in Chapter 13. I understand how being too strongly attached or focused on one’s sense of self could be detrimental and that meditating without a sense of self could be really rejuvenating. However, aiming to detach from one’s self concept seems strange to me. The authors write about how the attachment to the self connects us to impermanent things, which can cause us to suffer. According to Hanson and Mendius, there are many forms of self and basically they all differ in their usage of “I”. The interesting thing is how they attribute these different forms of self to different areas of the brain and how collectively they form our self concept. One way they put it is that our sense of self is fabricated from a bunch of different sources. This idea reminded me of a discussion we had in class about how knowing the answers to everything doesn’t have to mean that something loses its impressiveness or wonder. To me, if this explanation of self is true, it doesn’t change how I cherish each unique personality.
This is an area that gets confusing in the reading. The authors have separate meanings for person and self, which to me these are very similar things. I also wish that they would’ve explicitly brought up how personality fits into these constructs. There did seem to be some crossover between these two subjects though. Like how the self, and I would say personality too, is constantly being created and changing depending on the context. Everyone acts differently depending on the environment they’re in and the social cues they’re picking up on. The book goes so far as to say that the self is fictional. While I can believe the self is comprised of several different components, based on how people’s personalities do have some pattern over time and situations, I tend to think that the self is more concrete than what the authors lead the reader to believe. It seems like the reading is also trying to treat the self as if it’s like any other incoming thought and that to deal with it we must accept it and let it go from our consciousness. While this seems like a skill I definitely wouldn’t want to use all of the time, it does seem like it could of substantial use for counselors in letting go their sense of self to decrease biases.
The reading was also confusing in that it seemed to contradict itself in parts. Like how the author has cultivated a healthy level of personal worth over the years, this seems to be in conflict with holding on to a sense of self. I did like the end where they write about the reassurance and peace that can come when you release the sense of self and need to be special and just exist as a single piece of the puzzle. I’m certainly looking forward to hearing everyone else’s interpretations of how the self and person are different on Thursday to help me make sense of some of this confusion!
Keywords: focused attention, sense of self, concentration, monkey brain, five factors of concentration, applied attention, sustained attention, rapture, joy, singleness of mind, stimulation
Chapters 12 and 13 were about concentration and the self. The first chapter I found to be the most interesting and able to relate to the most. I have an extremely hard time concentrating on just about all tasks that I do because my mind is always racing and thinking of different things all the time. When the term monkey mind came up I immediately thought of an article I had read a few years ago that talked about how ADD and ADHD formed and how it may have benefited our ancestors in survival. Today with ADD or ADHD it is seen as bad because you get more distracted easily and its harder to focus on a specific task but the article talked about how this was beneficial to our ancestors because we were able to notice threats or objects more easily which aided in their survival. I’m not sure how true this actually is but it is an interesting theory of how concentration works in different individuals. Although the chapter was again more “self-help” than past chapters since it was a topic that affects me and I'm interested in I enjoyed it a lot. Reading the different techniques and influences of gaining better concentration were fun to go through and try out. Chapter 13 I found to be difficult to read. There were some good points I thought on the concept of “self” and “I” but there was also a lot that I didn’t agree with. A sentence that I found interesting and reminded me of a show I had seen was “even when it seems like the self has made a conscious decision, that choice is often the result of unconscious factors” this reminded me of an episode from the show “Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman” about if we actually have free will. The episode was really interesting and interviewed many scientists on both points. The only other topic I enjoyed from this chapter was the section on Healthy Humility. This section talked about being good to yourself, which is extremely important but what interested me the most was the part about relaxing about what others think. This concept is one that I have lived by for a long time now. It’s also where I found the chapter to be contradictory in saying forget the “I” then it says to focus on doing the best you can. But back to topic I personally don’t care about other people’s opinions of me except for a few select group like my grandparents. Besides that if someone doesn’t like me it’s not going to affect me personally or make me change who I am to please them. That’s not to say I don’t want people to like me because everyone enjoys being liked but I’m not going to let others opinions of me bother me. I think that this is a big issue in todays society of people trying to always please others or change who they are to be in the “in” crowd and it’s bullshit that society is set up to make this happen more often. This is where the whole topic of getting rid of the sense of “I” and being special was confusing to me. I’m not sure if special is the right word to use in this situation because I’m not sure if people are trying to be special or more so change who they are to be liked. Over all the chapters were at some points very interesting to me and at other times extremely boring. I wish there again was more citations and science used in these chapters.
Key terms: concentration, self, conscious decision, attention, monkey brain, perceptions.
These last two chapters were very 'self-helpy' and thus I did not like them as much. Admittedly I kind of let my mind wander while listening to these chapters, which is a little ironic as the first chapter was about attention. This chapter talked about using meditation to increase mindfulness, and using that mindfulness to gain wisdom. The concentration that one gets from this attention can be used to gain insight into the causes of joy and suffering. Knowing the causes of joy and suffering allows one to put themselves in positions were they are more likely to experience joy and less likely to experience suffering. They talked about the five factors of attention, which included applied attention, sustained attention, rapture, joy, and singleness of mind. The three components of attention involve holding on to the individual thought, filtering out distractions, and managing the desire for further stimulation. They mentioned something about rapture and joy both producing a steady flow of dopamine, which keeps the gate to working memory shut. I believe this was to say that it is easier to pay attention to something that you enjoy. The second chapter talked about the self. I liked this one better than the other chapter, but it was still pretty dry. There was the occasional part that had me very intrigued however. They talked about how there actually is no self, and that what we perceive to be the sense of self is a mechanism of the brain to make sense of the ever changing neural activity that governs all of our cognition and behavior. They compared consciousness to a movie, because in a movie there are a series of still frames shown in succession that make the illusion of movement, and when put together make the entire movie. This is a concept that I found pretty fascinating and that I could easily sit down and find myself lost in thought about the concept. That was the cool part. The rest of the chapter talked about ways to reduce your focus on the self, as the apparent self is the greatest source of suffering. They said holding on to the sense of self is the same as holding on to possessions, in that one day those possessions will break or be taken away from you and you will suffer. They also mentioned that the sense of self isolates you from all other things and promotes a feeling of loneliness. They talked about practices such as taking your body for a walk and trying not to use words like ‘me’ ‘my’ or ‘I’ for a set period of time. They then talked about how the sense of self is there for a reason, because there was an evolutionary reason for us to develop it and we should not shun it entirely. Although I found this weeks chapters to be a bit dry, I enjoyed the section about consciousness, and I would like to look more into it. I am glad that we are done with this book, and a little sad that we aren’t going back to Nataraja’s, as that was my favorite book of the three.
Terms: mindfulness, wisdom, meditation, concentration, attention, apparent self, consciousness, applied attention, sustained attention, rapture, joy, and singleness of mind
Although this week’s readings didn’t have much scientific substance, some parts did get my mind thinking. I’m really struggling to decide what to do with the rest of my life so lately I’ve found myself trying to apply everything I learn to my life, and I was able to do that with this week’s readings as well. Chapter 12 mentioned tips for focusing better which I think would have been more helpful if included in the beginning of the book. While reading, I found my mind and my focus going to other things. I read the same paragraph at least four times and still didn’t know what I read. I tried to apply the focus tips the text mentioned and the most helpful tip was to acknowledge the distracting thoughts rather than trying to ignore them. Once I stopped to address the things nagging me such as what to respond to a certain email, I found it much easier to focus on the reading. I tried to apply other ideas from chapter 12 to my life including applied attention, sustained attention, rapture, and joy. I applied these concepts to careers people choose. Often people pick careers and jobs based on how much money they will be able to make and usually those are the people who hate their jobs most. In order to have a happy and successful career, we need to do something that incorporates the five traditional factors to steady the mind. We have to do something that interests us, keeps our interest, and makes us happy. Only when all of those things are satisfied do I think we can be successful and truly happy.
Chapter 13 talked mainly about the self. The sense of self can often cause us suffering which I was able to relate to when the authors mentioned generosity. I realized I’m not a very generous person and after reading this chapter I understand why. I have a very strong vision of “me vs. them” and I don’t like when “them” wins or is more successful than “me”. It’s completely irrational and trivial and embarrassing when I stop to think about it. For example, my roommate’s hair straightener broke about three months ago so she has been using mine. She said she was going to buy a new one when it broke but still hasn’t. A very petty part of me is upset and wants her to buy her own because I had to pay money for mine and now she is using it for free. Other similar, stupid examples exist in my life every day and I’m only now noticing them and how trivial it all is. I make being generous way too difficult. In my mind, “them” is winning and “me” is losing which is absolutely ridiculous. The chapter closed by making me think about how insignificant my life is in the grand scheme of things. I am only one organism out of 6 billion in a species that has only existed for a tiny fraction of Earth’s existence. The world existed before me and it will exist after I am gone. That helped me put my petty issues in perspective. Overall, chapter 13 convinced me that the self is a bad thing but it’s also very central to everyone’s life. For example, everyone likes to have people compliment them and listen to their ideas and stories; it makes us happy to be ackonwledged. Everyone likes to be the center of attention sometimes and everyone looks out for number one sometimes. As humans, we have a strong sense of “I” and, especially after reading chapter 13, I think everyone will be happier when they lose that sense of self.
Something I kind of scoffed at in the reading was when the author mentioned his friend experienced a significant difference in meditation after he stopped washing ants away after he went to the bathroom. I know they were probably just mentioning that to illustrate how humans need to stop putting ourselves above everything else in nature, but I think a more serious example could have been used. Although the book only briefly mentioned it, I would like to research gamma wave synchronization. It was one of the few scientific topics mentioned which will be easier to find solid research on. Overall I think these chapters were very metaphysical.
Terms: applied attention, sustained attention, rapture, joy, sense of self, gamma wave synchronization
Chapters 12 and 13 dealt mainly with concentration and the self. Though I found the chapters somewhat interesting, I can’t say I really agreed with the latter. The “self-help book” level was at an all time high, and there weren’t as many scientific topics. Instead, both chapters mainly dealt with ideals. I can’t blame the book, seeing as it is A) a self-help book and B) based on a religion, Buddhism, which though it is a more grounded type of religion is still based on faith and not evidence.
Chapter 12 focused mainly on concentration. In the chapter they broke concentration down into five factors: applied, sustained, rapture, joy and singleness of mind. Applied concentration referred to focusing on one topic or subject. Sustained concentration then was remaining focused over long periods of time. Rapture was described as an intense interest in an object that is connected to a feeling of bliss. Joy signifies happiness and tranquility. Finally, singleness of mind was about remaining in the present and experiencing the world as a single unit. The book then gave a step-by-step, similar to previous chapters, about how to obtain and experience each type of concentration. Training the mind to obtain these five factors leads to the gain of mindfulness and eventually true wisdom. This is where the self-helpiness gets a little off-putting for me.
Chapter 13 then seemed to expand on the idea of singleness of mind by discussing the relaxation of the self. Essentially, the book discussed how the world needs to be seen as a community or a whole, and we need to stop thinking about the “I” and instead consider the “we.” Once again, this part is a little hokey, but it does tie into one of the main teachings of Buddhism. In Buddhism, the greatest achievement is enlightenment and through enlightenment, you can obtain nirvana, which is essentially leaving behind the materialism of the world. Nirvana actually means extinction. By obtaining nirvana, a person leaves behind their existence in this world, thus leaving behind suffering. In order to obtain enlightenment, one must cut all ties to this existence, bringing us back to this chapter. By decreasing the self, we are leaving our own existence on Earth behind. However, the book made it seem like a sense of self could only be detrimental. Perhaps this is my American individualistic culture talking, but I never saw having a strong sense of self as a bad thing. It means knowing what you want and going after it. To Buddhists however, I can understand that desiring materialistic things is detrimental to obtaining enlightenment.
One section that did strike a chord with me was the section about being special. The book talked about how a person does not need to be special in order to feel successful. Instead, success comes from accepting and loving who you are, not from being better than someone else. I think this is an excellent point to live by. Especially in our culture, where there is constant struggle between natural talent and hard work to achieve success, we need to understand that we are not all built the same way. I will never be an Olympic athlete. Not because I don’t like sports enough or that I would not have the work ethic for it, but because I don’t have an athletic build or the resources needed to obtain Olympic skill. That is something I must accept and love about myself. I think this is an especially important lesson for young girls. With things like make up and brand name clothing and all that stupid shit we are taught is important, girls need to understand that (and forgive me for sounding like an after-school special) beauty comes in many forms. You have to love who you are before you can hope to expand upon yourself.
Overall, I thought the readings were interesting and gave a very insightful opinion on the human condition, but they were much more fluffy than my skeptical side wants to entertain.
Terms: Buddhism, concentration, self, applied, sustained, rapture, joy, singleness of mind, mindfulness, wisdom, relaxation of self, enlightenment, nirvana
Much of H&M’s Chapter 12 would have been helpful if it was one of the first chapters we read because it directs more of how to concentrate, given beginners have a difficult time concentrating. I know we read the last boxed-part at the beginning of the year, but I thought the entire chapter was helpful. The part of the reading that stuck out to me was about inviting distractions in because then they go out sooner instead of consistently “knocking at the door.” I have noticed that trying to push something out of your mind makes it worse so it is best to acknowledge the thought and it will pass quicker. The chapter helps strengthen the five traditional factors that steady the mind, which includes applied attention, sustained attention, rapture (an intense interest in an object provoking bliss), joy, and singleness of mind. By strengthening all these areas, I know my overall well-being, happiness, and wisdom will increase.
Chapter 13 in H&M guided the process of letting go of the self. The self creates suffering for individuals because it separates itself from the world, when in fact, everything acts in correlation to one another. When you begin treating everything else in the world and wish it well, like you wish yourself well, it is easy to feel comfortable and fulfilled within life. When you think of the self separate from the world, a whole begins to widen within the heart. Fill in the whole brick by brick by remembering all your good qualities and accomplishments. Those who have a strong sense of self look to validate it through others and when the self is not validated, one often feels worthlessness and despair. Although it is evolutionary to think about the self in the sense of reputation for survival, it is important to not intensify the self and to let it relax and disperse.
The Appendix is very resourceful, yet short and to the point. It is useful to keep this book to help strengthen many aspects of the human body, including the nutritional neurochemistry. I’m glad I own this book so that I can go back and re-read many parts, especially that of the supplements and what they are useful for. My grandfather had Alzheimer’s so I like to inform my dad on what supplements may help keep him from developing the disease. I was surprised to read about how food allergens is an enemy of the brain and is linked to a variety of neurological disorders. For example, even if someone doesn’t show signs of an allergy, increased consumption of milk correlates with an increased risk of Parkinson’s disease. It’s helpful to know that vitamins do not only improve physical health, but also mental health, such as decreasing symptoms of depression by increasing serotonin and other neurotransmitters.
Key terms: concentrate; applied attention; sustained attention; rapture; joy; singleness of mind; wisdom; self; nutritional neurochemistry; neurological disorders; serotonin; neurotransmitters
Chapter 12 and 13 focused on mindful concentration and the inner self. Out of the two, the first was most enjoyable to read. This chapter seemed to focus on all of the benefits of meditation and how it helps the mind and body on more of a spiritual? level. I put a question mark after spiritual because of the lack of research and scientific back round. Like many others noted in their posts, these last two chapters really brought out the “self-help” in our self-help book. Though it was very self-help like, I still liked the content. Even after practicing mediation (not exactly religiously and vigorously as I should be) I still feel like I am not as focused as I need to be. Reading this first chapter has been help for tips on focused attention practices . I also like reading more about Buddhism and the 5 factors of steadying the mind: applied attention, sustained attention, rapture, joy and singleness of the mind. I reread the Filtering Out Distractions part of this chapter multiple times because I really wanted it to sink in and tried the suggestions while meditating. What helped the most was acknowledging the problems or the distractions. The book referred to this a person knocking on a door. If you don’t, they keep knock but if you do answer, they leave you alone sooner. This seems dead on and effective.
The last chapter talked about focusing on the self. Being more in tune to you and your own experiences. I found the differentiation between the “I” and the “self” interesting. Thinking though the “I” perspective causes suffering and sense of aloneness. I thought of it as a “me against the world” feeling. With the “self” mentality, there is a sense of fulfillment. I like this differentiation because it makes sence. It seems similar to sympathy vs empathy. Empathy takes consideration whereas sympathy is a go to feeling. Though I like this idea, the chapter really seemed stuck on it as well. I though the concept of each paragraph was similar to the overall theme of the book. I say that lightly because though it may have been repetitive, the two chapters were a great ending to book. I think I would like to research more on meditation as a whole. I want to see what research is out there on meditation and narrow it down to a specific branch on mediation.
Terms: mediation, mindful, concentration, self, mind and body, self help, Buddhism, applied attention, sustained attention, rapture, joy and singleness of the mind, “I”, empathy, sympathy
The last section of the book is focused on wisdom. Chapter 12 focuses on concentration and how concentration increases mindfulness and how mindfulness brings insight. According to Hanson & Mendius, concentration is a natural ally of insight. The best way to increase mindfulness, concentration and wisdom is through meditation. It also mentions that Buddhism has identified five key factors for optimizing the mind. These factors in include applied attention, sustained attention, rapture, joy, and singleness of mind. Hanson & Mendius explore the development for these five factors.
Applied attention is the initial directing of attention to an object, such as the beginning of the breath and sustained. Sustained attention is staying focused on the object of attention, such as remaining aware of an entire inhalation from beginning to end. Individuals have different weaknesses with applied attention and sustained attention. These include these three aspects of attention: holding onto its object, filtering out distractions and managing the desire. The book provides suggestions that can help overcome these three issues with attention. For example, for “holding onto its object” an individual must deepen their engagement with the contents of awareness and thus help keeping the gate to working memory closed. For “filtering out distractions”, one must preserve a relatively quiet space in their mind to keep out distracting intruders. The book provides methods in which an individual can increase the stimulation of meditation to help “managing the desire.”
After that they discuss the aspects of rapture and joy. Rapture is the intense interest in an object or objects; sometimes experienced as a rush of blissful sensations. Joy is the gladdening of the heart that includes happiness, contentment and tranquility. Positive feelings like rapture and joy help with a person’s concentrate and attention. The high amounts of dopamine caused by feelings of rapture and joy keep the working memory shut so you can become increasingly absorbed with what’s inside. Finally, they explore single-mindedness. Singleness of mind is the unification of awareness in which everything is experienced as a whole; few thoughts equanimity; a strong sense of being present. The book gives suggestion such that encourages the state of single-mindedness, these include whole body awareness, surrendering to the moment, and relaxing the sense of self.
Chapter 13 is about “the apparent self”, which in my opinion, is one of the most important (if not the most) chapter in the book. I think that it is the most important chapter because of the fact (pointed out in the previous chapters) that suffering is mostly cause by the self. According to Hanson & Mendius, when a person identify with something as “me” or try to possess something as “mine”, that individual set himself or herself up for suffering, since all things are frail and will inevitably pass away. When an individual stands apart from other people and the world as “I”, he or she feels separate and vulnerable, thus bringing sorrow and misery.
The section that I found the most interesting was entitled “Healthy Humility.” Not to sounds like a broken record, but I really enjoy social and health psychology. This section discussed how showing humility towards people brings fore good health. A person that shows humbleness means that her or she is being natural and unassuming, not being a doormat, ashamed, or inferior, but not putting oneself above others. The book also states that people who show more humbleness and humility towards others have healthier relationships, as well as a healthy sense of psychological soundness. Over time the self goes through many hardships, such as misinterpretation of identity and pride and separating/disengaging from their source of social support. It is pointless to goes through this suffering brought upon by one ’s self. People need to learn to relax and grow. I believe that this book was very helpful in many ways. It was really interesting to learn about the teaching of Buddhism. I am proud to say that I have been applying these meditation techniques and teaching into my life and I am very happy with the results. I can’t wait to explore the other books and research more about meditation.
Terms: wisdom, concentration, mindfulness, insight, meditation, applied attention, sustained attention, rapture, joy, singleness of mind, happiness, contentment, tranquility, attention, holding onto its object, filtering out distractions, managing the desire, self, humility, humbleness
Chapter 12 begins by explaining how mindfulness can lead to great wisdom and that the best way to achieve such a great state of mindfulness is thought meditation. It explains the power of meditation, what it can do for you, and the mindfulness it will bring you. It also explains that the greatest challenges many face while practicing meditation, which as we all know one of course is focusing your attention, and the other being awareness. Of course both of these is a challenge when you have multiple thoughts racing though your mind at one time. Another topic this chapter covered was Buddha’s five factors for relaxing the mind. These were applied attention, sustained attention, rapture, joy, and singleness of mind. It explained how to shut out things that may distract you or how to be mindful of them and just let it in, and then go. Or how to include an annoying noise in your practice. Another interesting aspect this chapter covered was how to deal with your body’s need for stimulation. I especially have a problem with this so I enjoyed reading about ways to help cope with this terrible urge I come across when practicing meditation. I was excited when it mentioned yoga as a solution to this. Towards the end of the chapter it provided a “how too” meditate session. I tried to follow along, however I already have my own way of performing meditation. So I was quick to give up on it. Chapter 13 went in depth with “the self”, The main thing I took in from this chapter was everything about the simplest word “I”. So simple, yet terrible. The book explained that by using this work it separates you. It can make you feel down, and make you feel discouraged from your surroundings. The book has an exercise that helps you to veer away from the term. It explains the self is just part of the person, not the person as a whole. Actually the whole concept of self has me pretty confused. It is described as being a whole separate aspect of who one actually is.
Terms: mindfulness, wisdom, applied attention, sustained attention, rapture, joy, and singleness of mind, stimulation, yoga, the self, I
I really enjoyed “Blissful Concentration” (chapter 12) because the instructions given were the gaps in the previous instructions. I felt like this chapter was written specifically for me, and the problems that I face during meditation. Two evolutionary problems with meditation were brought up in this chapter; focused attention versus open awareness. Both are two forms of conscious awareness that helped produce sensory awareness that have allowed us to evolve. However, these awareness aspects provide problems while we are attempting to meditate, and focus our attention away from our physical awareness. Five tactics for combating focused attention and open awareness are; applied attention; directing your attention on a specific stimulus, sustained attention; focusing on all stimuli that present, rapture; eliciting a blissful sensation to shift your focus, joy; focusing on happiness, contentment, or tranquility, singleness of mind, being aware, but unchanged by the stimuli around you. While I meditate I focus on my breath, slowly breathing in and out, with conscious awareness of these bodily stimulants. Henderson also urges those struggling with meditation to focus on the meditation experience, ignoring distractions. However, if this is not obtainable, focus equanimity on the stimuli that is stealing your attention. It is this point that I find particularly helpful because the noises around me are constantly drawing my attention towards them. Focusing on the interrupting stimuli will prove to be a mindful awareness that can potentially elicit equanimity. This chapter really tries to show that meditation has multiple side effects including lowered anxiety and stress levels. Relaxing the self (chapter 13) really drives the point that focusing on worldly possessions can promote unnecessary anxiety and stress in your daily lives that can hinder your health. This chapter stresses keeping “the self” in check, using the “I” viewpoint over the “me” or “my”. The “I” is less wanting, and relies on worldly possessions less than the “me” and “my”. By identification of the self, and “I” you can grow you spiritual mind, and rely less on worldly possessions.
Terms: I, Self, Me, Open/Physical Awareness, Focused Attention, Stimulus, Attention, Equanimity
This reading was more interesting than the previous ones. I enjoyed how it went more in-depth into the benefits regarding meditation which include productivity, learning, and health. It also help with concentration and supports insights to the causes of individual suffering. In Buddhism there are five factors that steady the mind. Those are applied attention, sustained attention, rapture, joy, and singleness of mind. Buddhism help explore way to strengthen these neural substrates and help bring peace of mind. There are difficulties with both sustained and applied attention that are filtered through three different aspects of attention. Those are holding onto its object, filtering out distractions, and managing desire for stimulation. The rapture and joy part of Buddhism concentrate attention by causing the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine.
The next part leads into why it is important to relax. When a person is relaxed they tend to feel more satisfied and happy with their surroundings as well as their self. The key is to push out the “I” desires that cause worry inside of us. Self-related neural networks make up only a small part of our brains, and even smaller parts of the nervous system. The self is always changing depending on various conditions. Whether it is pleasant feeling of not this affects how the self will react and change in the future. This can come from the relationships we surround ourselves with. The self is not independent, but it grows through identification, possession, pride, and separation from the surrounding world and life in general. It is through the self that we strive to learn goodwill and have content relationships with others.
Terms: meditation, Buddhism, attention, sustained attention, rapture, joy, singleness of mind, dopamine, “I” desires, relationships
Chapters 12 and 13- H and M
As the rest of the book discussed, these two chapters discuss the importance of mindfulness and the necessity of losing the self.
The first of the two chapters focuses on how mindfulness leads to wisdom, wisdom leads to enlightenment and enlightenment is the end goal of life. Essentially, mindfulness is applicable to all things. Like the rest of the book, however, there is a shocking dearth of validity and evidence to support these claims. Don’t get me started on the unicorn.
The last chapter, specifically, drives me crazy. At least from my lens of being brought up in individualism, I don’t understand their concept of the self. Well, I don’t understand why they take it as far as they do. Admittedly, it makes sense that if you separate yourself from things like petty desires and insults, then you won’t take things personally and act as selfish. If I don’t consider an “I” there is no one I could be offended when someone hurts me. I understand the benefit of that.
However, if you withdraw yourself far enough, one does not begin to feel the pleasure of being loved, of having someone give you a compliment, of working towards a goal, of enjoying a favorite pleasure, of relaxing, of conversing with a loved one, of accomplishing the aforementioned goal. There is no sense of self, so I can’t enjoy the pleasure of that. I’m sure the argument is much more nuanced than the one I am sensing, yet I cannot begin to fathom exactly how one can think losing a sense of self can be a good thing.
Lack of evidence notwithstanding, the conclusion to this book does provide an excellent conceptual framework from which to live. Though they take the argument of losing oneself a bit too far (okay, far too far), selflessness is a laudable aim and could make strides towards ameliorating the interactions of those in our society. I’m beginning to think incorporating meditation into the classroom and our educational system needs to be researched. Well, after meditation itself is more empirically researched. Additionally, the idea of being mindful, paying attention to where you are in the moment and not getting caught up in the hustle and bustle of our frenzied, chaotic society, could add even further benefits to our society. Beyond the already discussed benefits of mindfulness and meditation, the effect of several people doing that, perhaps even to the point of having a majority mindful society would be wondrous. A society with people focused on where they are and other people would almost be utopia
Terms: self, meditation, mindfulness, bliss, enlightenment, attention