Ken Wilber's 3,2,1 practice
- orasis
- Topic Author
13 years 6 months ago #88870
by orasis
Ken Wilber's 3,2,1 practice was created by orasis
Extracted from the devotion thread, Kenneth said:
"I've been working on integrating 3 major points of view, using Wilber's 3,2,1 practice. I may have told you about it last time we talked. It's been almost unimaginably rich over the last couple of weeks.
3rd person: "What's happening?" This gets me touch with all the shameful human emotions like aversion, shame, envy, hatred, despair, as well as the nice ones. Also, from here I can note "pressure, coolness, headache," etc. But the big benefit is in the fact that since it's 3rd person, it doesn't set up a mental conflict with my Buddhist presuppositions of no-self. Assuming that this is all happening to someone else neatly sidesteps the expert Buddhist box.
2nd person: "What would you say to it?" Entering into a relationship with what just came up in the 3rd person exercise allows the balm of compassion and love. It is OK to feel how you feel! I'm noticing that social emotions only exist in relationship. Seems obvious on hindsight, but I'd never thought of it before.
1st person: "How do I feel?" This is the quintessential no-self perspective. I don't feel any way at all; there is no one here to feel anything. Ironically, this leads to great peace and relief.
A mistake I have often made is to privilege the no-self (1st person) perspective over all others, using it as a club to beat down and invalidate the others. Somehow, the 3,2,1 exercise gives license to experience the whole range of phenomena, leading to a much more integrated whole of human experience. I would recommend this highly to anyone as a way to go beyond narrow interpretations of awakening. (I have been leading the narrow interpretation of awakening charge for years, but no longer find it interesting or fulfilling.)
Metta,
Kenneth"
"I've been working on integrating 3 major points of view, using Wilber's 3,2,1 practice. I may have told you about it last time we talked. It's been almost unimaginably rich over the last couple of weeks.
3rd person: "What's happening?" This gets me touch with all the shameful human emotions like aversion, shame, envy, hatred, despair, as well as the nice ones. Also, from here I can note "pressure, coolness, headache," etc. But the big benefit is in the fact that since it's 3rd person, it doesn't set up a mental conflict with my Buddhist presuppositions of no-self. Assuming that this is all happening to someone else neatly sidesteps the expert Buddhist box.
2nd person: "What would you say to it?" Entering into a relationship with what just came up in the 3rd person exercise allows the balm of compassion and love. It is OK to feel how you feel! I'm noticing that social emotions only exist in relationship. Seems obvious on hindsight, but I'd never thought of it before.
1st person: "How do I feel?" This is the quintessential no-self perspective. I don't feel any way at all; there is no one here to feel anything. Ironically, this leads to great peace and relief.
A mistake I have often made is to privilege the no-self (1st person) perspective over all others, using it as a club to beat down and invalidate the others. Somehow, the 3,2,1 exercise gives license to experience the whole range of phenomena, leading to a much more integrated whole of human experience. I would recommend this highly to anyone as a way to go beyond narrow interpretations of awakening. (I have been leading the narrow interpretation of awakening charge for years, but no longer find it interesting or fulfilling.)
Metta,
Kenneth"
- orasis
- Topic Author
13 years 6 months ago #88871
by orasis
Replied by orasis on topic RE: Ken Wilber's 3,2,1 practice
Kenneth, can you please clarify the 2nd person practice?
If I am walking down the street in a 1st person experiencing mode. There seems to be experience arising centered on this body.
If I shift to the 3rd person perspective, the experience can take in the whole scene. So if this body is talking to another person, both parties are viewed equally and somewhat holistically from a sort of neutral space between them. Am I on the right track?
What does the 2nd person mean in this context?
If I am walking down the street in a 1st person experiencing mode. There seems to be experience arising centered on this body.
If I shift to the 3rd person perspective, the experience can take in the whole scene. So if this body is talking to another person, both parties are viewed equally and somewhat holistically from a sort of neutral space between them. Am I on the right track?
What does the 2nd person mean in this context?
- kennethfolk
- Topic Author
13 years 6 months ago #88872
by kennethfolk
Replied by kennethfolk on topic RE: Ken Wilber's 3,2,1 practice
"If I am walking down the street in a 1st person experiencing mode. There seems to be experience arising centered on this body." -orasis
Yes, this sounds right. I would just add a self-enquiry piece: who is this I that is walking down the street? For me, this leads to a non-self perspective.
"If I shift to the 3rd person perspective, the experience can take in the whole scene. So if this body is talking to another person, both parties are viewed equally and somewhat holistically from a sort of neutral space between them. Am I on the right track?" - orasis
Yes, this sounds good also.
"What does the 2nd person mean in this context?" -orasis
The 2nd person is the space that arises between two people when they interact. Or the space that comes up when when "I" interact with "myself." As an example, a friend once told me that there were three entities in her relationship with her partner:
1. Her
2. Her partner
3. The relationship
I love this! It posits a kind of imaginary being that is the interaction between the two of them. So, the 2nd person space is what can only happen in relationship. When I do the 3,2,1 practice, it's the questions themselves that make it work. Without them, it's just ideas. So, here are the questions:
3rd person: What is happening as viewed objectively, as though by a 3rd party?
2nd person: What would you say to it? (Talk to the situation, see what comes out.)
1st person: How do *I* feel? Big emphasis on the I-word, as in "okay I know how you feel about it, but how do *I* feel?
I am new to this practice. The version I'm doing is based on Owen Becker's adaptation of 3,2,1, moving it from writing to noting. Here is the written exercise:
tinyurl.com/777g63x
Yes, this sounds right. I would just add a self-enquiry piece: who is this I that is walking down the street? For me, this leads to a non-self perspective.
"If I shift to the 3rd person perspective, the experience can take in the whole scene. So if this body is talking to another person, both parties are viewed equally and somewhat holistically from a sort of neutral space between them. Am I on the right track?" - orasis
Yes, this sounds good also.
"What does the 2nd person mean in this context?" -orasis
The 2nd person is the space that arises between two people when they interact. Or the space that comes up when when "I" interact with "myself." As an example, a friend once told me that there were three entities in her relationship with her partner:
1. Her
2. Her partner
3. The relationship
I love this! It posits a kind of imaginary being that is the interaction between the two of them. So, the 2nd person space is what can only happen in relationship. When I do the 3,2,1 practice, it's the questions themselves that make it work. Without them, it's just ideas. So, here are the questions:
3rd person: What is happening as viewed objectively, as though by a 3rd party?
2nd person: What would you say to it? (Talk to the situation, see what comes out.)
1st person: How do *I* feel? Big emphasis on the I-word, as in "okay I know how you feel about it, but how do *I* feel?
I am new to this practice. The version I'm doing is based on Owen Becker's adaptation of 3,2,1, moving it from writing to noting. Here is the written exercise:
tinyurl.com/777g63x
- orasis
- Topic Author
13 years 6 months ago #88873
by orasis
Replied by orasis on topic RE: Ken Wilber's 3,2,1 practice
This is absolutely brilliant. No perspective is intrinsically more valuable than any other.
When combined with bright, lucid awareness, this 3rd person perspective is so damn juicy and *functional*. Experience can just be there, holding the whole scene in its embrace and the body just reacts very fluidly with the scene.
I can also see where if you elevated the status of the 3rd person, you might ignore emotions in the 1st person. With this balance, you can go back and make sure the 1st person is nurtured as well.
Huge gratitude!
When combined with bright, lucid awareness, this 3rd person perspective is so damn juicy and *functional*. Experience can just be there, holding the whole scene in its embrace and the body just reacts very fluidly with the scene.
I can also see where if you elevated the status of the 3rd person, you might ignore emotions in the 1st person. With this balance, you can go back and make sure the 1st person is nurtured as well.
Huge gratitude!