Thanks for taking the time to offer these reflections on the intimacy with life that is found in the only moment we have. "In the end it is only the world we tend to" is a beautiful reminder! Take good care, Rupert
Thanks Rupert, this really means a lot (and sorry for the inordinate delay coming back to you.. has been a full-on few months). I also wondered, if you’re the Rupert I suspect you are (! -- but also if you’re a different Rupert🙃) what you might think of my second post - on meta-cognitive awareness. Specifically, whether the three fruits of that practice align with your own experiences (which, again if you’re who I think you are, are far greater than mine with this luminous and mysterious practice). Much warmth.
I'm glad I found your writing. I do think a phenomenological attitude that is sensitive to the body is sorely missing from mindfulness practice nowadays.
I would like to ask you: how do you find your practice has helped you, and what do you seek to gain from it going forward?
One quick question for you -- you say that sensitivity to the body is sorely missing from mindfulness practice nowadays... curious about this as I find that a great many mindfulness teachers place an inquiry into the body at the very centre of the practice?
First, thank you for your thoughtful reply. And apologies for _my_ belated reply!
To answer your question: perhaps my point could be best illustrated by discussing an example. When I first started getting deep into meditation, it was through paying attention to the breath. Important here was attention to the sensations of the breath. It was also key to develop the ability to sustain attention on these sensations for longer and longer durations. So this type of meditation might be a form of being "sensitive to the body", but the kind of sensitivity I'm after is different now.
In particular, I am interested in understanding what the body signifies. So my practice isn't so much about paying sustained attention to sensations so much as it is about inquiring into the meaning that is revealed as an already-inscribed aspect of experience by reflection on the body. So nowadays, I like to consider the following question: what do my body and my mind (including the sense faculties and the associated phenomena) imply about my attitude towards experience, and how can I undo my harmful assumptions about experience in order to cultivate a way of abiding that is less prone to suffering? This is my (very condensed) reading of satipaṭṭhāna as described in the Sutta Piṭaka.
Rabib, I’m really sorry for taking so long to reply. It’s definitely that attitude (body-sensitive phenomenological) that moves me to write these posts... your final question is a hard/big one that I need to rest with. Well the first question is a big one too(!!) but I would say that among many other things, my practice has given me the option to be curious and receptive towards whatever is manifesting -- within and without. And with this, open up both to the uniqueness of every moment-to-moment experience (incl every breath☺️) but also the multiple ways of seeing every situation (again, internally and externally!). I talk about this a bit in my latest post -- “On learning to notice thoughts (without serving them tea)”
Thanks for taking the time to offer these reflections on the intimacy with life that is found in the only moment we have. "In the end it is only the world we tend to" is a beautiful reminder! Take good care, Rupert
Thanks Rupert, this really means a lot (and sorry for the inordinate delay coming back to you.. has been a full-on few months). I also wondered, if you’re the Rupert I suspect you are (! -- but also if you’re a different Rupert🙃) what you might think of my second post - on meta-cognitive awareness. Specifically, whether the three fruits of that practice align with your own experiences (which, again if you’re who I think you are, are far greater than mine with this luminous and mysterious practice). Much warmth.
Hi Dan! Welcome to Substack! Thanks for letting me read you here :)
Thanks for reading my first post, Carolina :)
I'm glad I found your writing. I do think a phenomenological attitude that is sensitive to the body is sorely missing from mindfulness practice nowadays.
I would like to ask you: how do you find your practice has helped you, and what do you seek to gain from it going forward?
One quick question for you -- you say that sensitivity to the body is sorely missing from mindfulness practice nowadays... curious about this as I find that a great many mindfulness teachers place an inquiry into the body at the very centre of the practice?
First, thank you for your thoughtful reply. And apologies for _my_ belated reply!
To answer your question: perhaps my point could be best illustrated by discussing an example. When I first started getting deep into meditation, it was through paying attention to the breath. Important here was attention to the sensations of the breath. It was also key to develop the ability to sustain attention on these sensations for longer and longer durations. So this type of meditation might be a form of being "sensitive to the body", but the kind of sensitivity I'm after is different now.
In particular, I am interested in understanding what the body signifies. So my practice isn't so much about paying sustained attention to sensations so much as it is about inquiring into the meaning that is revealed as an already-inscribed aspect of experience by reflection on the body. So nowadays, I like to consider the following question: what do my body and my mind (including the sense faculties and the associated phenomena) imply about my attitude towards experience, and how can I undo my harmful assumptions about experience in order to cultivate a way of abiding that is less prone to suffering? This is my (very condensed) reading of satipaṭṭhāna as described in the Sutta Piṭaka.
Rabib, I’m really sorry for taking so long to reply. It’s definitely that attitude (body-sensitive phenomenological) that moves me to write these posts... your final question is a hard/big one that I need to rest with. Well the first question is a big one too(!!) but I would say that among many other things, my practice has given me the option to be curious and receptive towards whatever is manifesting -- within and without. And with this, open up both to the uniqueness of every moment-to-moment experience (incl every breath☺️) but also the multiple ways of seeing every situation (again, internally and externally!). I talk about this a bit in my latest post -- “On learning to notice thoughts (without serving them tea)”