I am starting a new course on Mindfulness. As with other courses that I have taken, I am going to share with the blog what I am learning. Kain Ramsey is the instructor of this course, so please know that the ideas I present are my interpretation of his insights. That means they are not entirely either of our ideas on their own, but a mixture of what we both think.
First lesson in mindfulness is an understanding of 3 ways in which we “see” the world. I put “see” in quotes because it isn’t just about vision or using our eyes to “see”. It is how we use all of our senses, our minds, and our hearts to “see” and make sense of our world.
The first of the 3 ways we see is with our eyes, and by eyes, I mean physical senses. Kain said see with eyes, but I know that eyes are not our only resource for physical perception. I think he knows that too, but is trying to keep it simple. Just know that “seeing” with your eyes is more than just using your eyes. You use your nose, skin, ears and tongue to “see” or perceive the world around you on a physical level. So that is what I mean here. In the first way, physically seeing the world, we observe with our senses and make a judgment about what we perceive. It is an unconsidered judgment. We perceive it, judge it, and that is it. I see a person, from that vision, I decide they are good or bad. I view what they do, and decide if they are good or bad. I taste food and say it is good or bad. This is without consideration of anything deeper than the physical senses that I use.
With that physical senses and judgments, it is basically all determined by unconscious biases we hold in our bodies and minds. It isn’t thoughtful at all in terms of conscious thinking or reason. It is snap unconscious judgment. This is not bad or good. It is human. We all do this. It is not mindful seeing, though. It is simply physical perception and judgments. Humans are very good at this. All animals are actually pretty good at it. It is instinctual and protective to be able to ascertain quickly when things are dangerous, for example. The downside of this, is that it can also keep us from really seeing things as they truly are. A snap unconscious judgment may or may not actually be true. When we do not go beyond the initial judgments, we limit our understanding of the world around us. If you tend to see many things as dangerous or bad, it might be because you are using animalistic, instinctual, physical perceptions to see the world, and those are attuned to look for danger, and so they tend to see it more often than not. It is the purpose of being able to have a snap judgment, to stay safe.
The second level of how we see is through reasoning. We think about it. Humans are better at this than animals. We go beyond our animalistic instinct to perceive danger and actually try to explain what it is that we perceive. We are more rational about what we perceive and consider it in more depth using rational thought and reasoning. I think many people try to do this without judgments, and many are not super great at that either. Reasoning is still based on our own limited understanding of the world that we have gained through our personal experiences. That limits our understanding to our own view point. We can only understand from our ability to compare what we perceive to what we already know and make sense of it. It can still be a closed view of the world.
The third level of seeing is with the heart. When we see with our heart, we can perceive the world exactly as it is, without needing to judge it or even a need to understand it. We just experience it and appreciate it for what it is. It is about perceiving without prejudice. If there is understanding in seeing with our hearts, the understanding we seek is to just know what it is that we are perceiving, not to know it’s value or to place a judgment on it, but to simply understand what it is. Kain talks about seeking truth. I believe in truth and seeking it. What he and I agree on is that truth is not one way of perceiving something, like saying that I know the truth. Truth is simply and always what is. That is the only truth. The hard part for humans is that we like to create a truth based on what we think about something or feel about something, by comparing to our past and saying, “That is why this is what it is, because I have seen it before, or have not seen it before.” The problem with that is that If I say I know something is true because I have or have not experienced it, that was only my experience of it, and so it is only my truth, not The Truth.
Truth is only what is, at face value, with no judgment. That is hard for a human to see because we are wired to judge everything. We were given egos for the purpose of survival, and we have learned that survival is based on judging and categorizing everything. That is seeing through our eyes, and through our minds and reason. When a person sees beyond the human experience to a more spiritual one, we see with our hearts. We know the truth because the truth is without judgment. Truth is just what is, not good or bad, just is.
Mindfulness is about understanding your past, having a vision for your future and being fully conscious in the present and seeing the world as it is right now. Stepping into the past or future takes you into judgment and out of mindfulness. It takes you out of the present moment and into your story of what is your truth. Being present with what is, just as it is, without judging, just with knowing what it is, is mindfulness. Seeing with heart.
I imagine that this takes a lot of practice. I feel like I might have gotten to mindfulness level 1, meaning I am present a lot more than I used to be, but I also still go off on my own little past and future devolutions quite often.
I hope that this course will help me practice and stay more present with my heart way of seeing. No judgments, just knowing and appreciating what is.
There is a way to take action on what is, by the way. What is right now in my life is that my internet keeps going down. I do not know why or understand it. I am working to not assign a judgment to it as good or bad, just know that the internet keeps going down is what is true. Now, action. I do want the internet to be more stable to watch my video course. I will have to take action to try to do that. That means taking the modem back to the cable company to replace it with a better one. Being present doesn’t mean we don’t act. It means we act without judging or causing ourselves stress. Consider that our internet has been down more than 7 times this month. That causes me stress because I start to believe it shouldn’t be doing that, but it is doing that, and so reality does not match my ideas of what should be happening. So I keep restarting it, which works temporarily. My arguing with reality and judging it as being bad, makes me mad. I don’t act because I just replaced the modem a few months ago and this should not be happening again. Except that it is happening. If I am simply acting on mindfulness, I can perceive that the truth is the internet is not stable. I can then act to do something to change that or not, and I do not have to cause myself stress by arguing with what is. I am now going to go replace the modem again.
Mindfulness practice 1: See with your heart. No judgment. Just notice what is true, not your truth, just what is as it is. See how that goes.
-Namaste