The Alien

This was part of a conversation regarding the process of getting to 4th path with Kenneth last night. He asked me to post it.

----

I've been pondering for the last month or so why I moved through the paths as quickly as I did. One of the exercises I was doing constantly, and I mean *constantly* from 2-4 was this:

During any period that I didn't need to focus on something for work, I would pay close attention to the bare sensations that made up my immediate experience. I was just doing basic noting practice, but I was doing it all the time. I made a game out of it, so there was no pressure. I pretended that I was communicating with an alien, and that alien didn't understand any concepts. What it did understand was the language of sensations, emotions, thoughts, and my job was to keep up the noting for as much of the day as was possible. I got pretty obsessed with this after a while. This had the happy effect of increasing the momentum between formal sittings until I popped. Dirt simple, and almost a child's game, but it worked.

"This was part of a conversation regarding the process of getting to 4th path with Kenneth last night. He asked me to post it.

----

I've been pondering for the last month or so why I moved through the paths as quickly as I did. One of the exercises I was doing constantly, and I mean *constantly* from 2-4 was this:

During any period that I didn't need to focus on something for work, I would pay close attention to the bare sensations that made up my immediate experience. I was just doing basic noting practice, but I was doing it all the time. I made a game out of it, so there was no pressure. I pretended that I was communicating with an alien, and that alien didn't understand any concepts. What it did understand was the language of sensations, emotions, thoughts, and my job was to keep up the noting for as much of the day as was possible. I got pretty obsessed with this after a while. This had the happy effect of increasing the momentum between formal sittings until I popped. Dirt simple, and almost a child's game, but it worked.
"

This doesn't surprise me at all and I'm glad that it matches beliefs about this practice. I talk to people all the time about keeping the momentum of noting sensations/objects between sits and a lot of people either don't buy that it is important or claim that they can't do it for whatever reason.
I have a friend who says he can't do it because he has to concentrate too hard at work, at the keyboard, doing some kind of programming. Isn't that what you do?
Could you describe how you did this while still working? If you could I'd really appreciate it.
THANKS

Yeah, when working at the computer witness is awesome as is just having an eye to bare sensations. You gotta stop and think sometimes, but I really don't get the problem.

I just read a little closer Owen and realized you said "anytime I didn't need to focus on something for work." oh well.
I've always been able to stay with my sensations while working by just keeping track of an anchor, such as my chest/abdomen area and paying attention to the changes there as I move about my day. Even while talking to people, writing memos, etc.

Anchor = awesome idea! I used to really pay attention in the chest area throughout the day. It allowed me to be aware of my emotional life in a way I hadn't been for a long time.

Thanks Mike.

The idea is not to focus on any one part of the body, but absolutely *anything* that comes into awareness. Imagine raw awareness is a container for the world, the game is to just note each sensation within it. If it comes through the eyes - seeing, if it comes through the nose - smelling, if it comes through the mind - thinking. If you get obsessed enough about the game, you will dis-embed from your experience and be free. The more time you spend accurately noting, the more momentum you build. The more momentum, the more samadhi, the more samadhi, the faster you get enlightened.

There is a wonderful line from the Invisibles comic book:
"Try to remember, you are playing a game disguised as everything"

For me, I am never at work when I am not *working*, trying to transfer my thoughts into code, or figuring out why something is not working as intended. Rarely, if ever, am I just sitting around waiting for something to happen, and in those moments I would hop on here and see what is going on. I wish I could figure out a way to do exactly as you suggest here.

I like to note very intensely when going to get tea and things like that.

I used to do this thing back in the day,(I can send you a program I had my friend write for it if you like - it's a countdown with a green background which switches to a red background when you should stop). It's from 42folders (a bunch of getting things done guys). Anyways, it's called 10 + 2 * 5. In that mode, you work intensely for 10 minutes and take a 2 minute break. Do that 5 times and then an hour is up. Perhaps a method like that would work for you (when circumstances permit). You could do a noting drill during those 2 minutes. And in the end you'll have an 83% productivity rate (which is way above average).

Just a suggestion, again it worked for me, but I'm not you. I also didn't do noting back then, it was more a way of not burning out.

"For me, I am never at work when I am not *working*, trying to transfer my thoughts into code, or figuring out why something is not working as intended. Rarely, if ever, am I just sitting around waiting for something to happen, and in those moments I would hop on here and see what is going on. I wish I could figure out a way to do exactly as you suggest here."

I'm with you on that. I'm actually a sysadmin.

To clarify, what Mike said about the anchor is good, and I was actually using something like that. When I would get up to stretch or walk, I conditioned myself so that the using of my legs was a trigger to start noting. I would continue to note until I had to get absorbed into a task, then I would allow myself to get absorbed in the task. Narrow focus isn't bad, it's just narrow focus. As long as you can keep a tiny thread of awareness so you know what you are doing, it is fine.

The other little game I played was trying to figure out how many total minutes of noting I was able to do during a single day, then the next day I tried to beat that. If you can get more that two hours of noting done per day (not counting formal cushion time) you should be able to get a path in at least a month. Monks have monasteries to encourage practice, I played noting games.

Owen that is a fascinating exercise --- I've definitely decided to do it all the time now, and I'll get back to you on how it develops.

It seems that the act of noticing, and "explaining it to the alien" makes the dis-embedding so automatic! It is as if you were looking at a movie and, despite maybe the movie having an action scene where the main character is being brutally beaten, you have to kind-of pause the scene, and explain "taking a beating" in a whole different (dispassionate) context. I mean, not that one actually imagines the alien with mental imagery or anything, but just noting "as if" one is "dispassionately explaining to a 3rd party who is just curious and non-involved in what is happening" seems to make noting subtly different than how I usually do it, and much more powerful!

What is curious is that I discovered today that I should be noting dispassionately (which is how I took it to mean "dis-embedding" from things), and now I read your post.

I'll definitely give it a serious try, and tell you how it goes (btw disclaimer for all this enthusiasm, I seem to be in A&P right now, can't you tell? ).

That's really cool, I actually have my own game too. I call it "music video". I'll sometimes listen to a series of pieces of music (ones without precussion) and play a game like I am recording an experiencial component to go along with the music that someone will watch later in a mind-video of sorts. Not sure how that came about, but it's very simple and luminous.

Just out of curiosity does anyone have any other experience games?

What a fun, useful approach! Quick question: Does the alien understand basic actions (like stepping, sitting, etc.)?

"What a fun, useful approach! Quick question: Does the alien understand basic actions (like stepping, sitting, etc.)?"

I would go with everything you would normally note during a sitting, think bare sensation. Just make sure it is enough to dis-embed from it.

"I would go with everything you would normally note during a sitting, think bare sensation. Just make sure it is enough to dis-embed from it.
"

Fair enough, thanks!

I read, here or DhO, that we should be noting between 1-5 times per second. I'm new to this but that seems pretty damn hectic. I can't even say "thinking" 5 times per second. Do you slowly work up to this frequency?

If you can note just one sensation that arises in your awareness per second, you are doing fine. The trick is to do it consistently for the entire sit and use up enough mental processing power so that you are forced to stay in the present moment. If you do that long enough, you will, with no other action on your part, naturally move through the layers of mind and dis-embed from them.

For walking around, noting 1-5 sensations per second will make you wander into, say, streetlights. Not like I've ever done that myself... no sir. Never.

" Just make sure it is enough to dis-embed from it.
"

Can you say more about that distinction? Thanks! Looking forward to trying this.

"Can you say more about that distinction? Thanks! Looking forward to trying this."

Sure. If you can be aware of something and label it, you are not embedded in it. You know from direct experience, not from a theoretical or intellectual place that it is NOT YOU. What seems to happen if you do this enough, and I mean get completely obsessed with it, is that you will eventually have nothing left to stand on. That's when the fun begins.

Wow.
The starting post and the entire thread is really inspirational.
Thanks a lot, Owen.

"Wow.
The starting post and the entire thread is really inspirational.
Thanks a lot, Owen.
"


I concur. Especially that latest post.

Thank you for this useful method, Owen.

This together with one of the suggestions offered by Brianm2 on the 'Cutting the Grass Mindfully' thread are concretely helpful to me right now.

[the suggestion from that thread: "It can help a lot if you can rouse genuine interest in experience. For instance, vision-- can you imagine how endlessly fascinated you would be with colors and forms if you'd been blind all your life, up til just now? You don't need to have been blind to be that fascinated, you just have to notice. " -brianm2]

Nigel

So, that's how you've joined 'The Invisibles', Owen.
Great stuff, many thanks!

"
So, that's how you've joined 'The Invisibles', Owen.
Great stuff, many thanks!



"

I know I've got a blank button around here somewhere

"If you can be aware of something and label it, you are not embedded in it. You know from direct experience, not from a theoretical or intellectual place that it is NOT YOU."

How do you stop yourself from noting the noting? Disembedding from noting practice kinda spoils it*

Also, noticing the noting gives the previous presupposition, that if you can notice it then it's not you, rather shaky legs.

[Edit] *Noticing the noting leads to an awareness that you have noticed the noting and stepped out of noting which leads to a recognition of this awareness being a bit like noting itself, at which point noting practice changes into disemmbedding practice, which recurses a little, and rather quickly, until I seem to go through the concentrative point in my head and am poured out into the world to find myself embedding in awareness instead of the previously noted content of awareness.

At this point however I can always start again, but it's difficult to summon any urgency. And it takes a bit of trouble to get the noting to feel oppositional.

Hi Tazmic,

You don't have to note it as "noting" because they could get confusing, but as "looking", "observing" "watching". "curiosity", "confusion", "seeing", "witnessing" etc. Don't stop yourself from noting whatever is centre stage. If you are experiencing "seeing" the noting take place then note it as "seeing" etc, not as "noting" because it really isn't "noting" now. It is "seeing", "witnessing", "observing" "observing-thought", or even "hearing" (if you are noting outloud) the noting. That could help.


Nick