Here are a few running notes on exploring “Layers of Mind” so far.\u00c2\u00a0 I am appreciative of Jack’s additions to the practice, since I think they are very useful.\u00c2\u00a0 However, they also set my mind to turning in directions that introduced a little confusion at first as I set out to practice.\u00c2\u00a0 Thinking about tuning into the “subjective field” rather than focusing on particular objects (content), I realized that a number of the “elements” of that field are not likely to disclose themselves to the phenomenological investigaton that this exercise invites.\u00c2\u00a0 For instance, I see the subject field as potentially shaped or informed by cultural patterns of thought, my relative level of cognitive development, gender-specific or other “type” issues (Enneagram, Myers-Briggs, etc), the limitations and biases of my own “background knowledge,” “shadow” and unconscious motivations, and so on.\u00c2\u00a0 From various courses of study, therapy, tests, etc, I believe some of these factors do inform the subjective field, but they are not the sorts of things that are immediately detectable, in my experience, through straightforward phenomenological inquiry.\u00c2\u00a0 Other approaches appear to be necessary to get at them.\u00c2\u00a0 So … how to proceed?<\/p>\n
I wanted to come to terms with this before getting into the practice.\u00c2\u00a0 My tentative thought for the moment is just to acknowledge that these things are likely there, shaping what unfolds in various ways, without insisting on encountering them directly.\u00c2\u00a0 My expectation is that some of these patterns or currents in my subjective field will be highlighted intersubjectively, as I relate to other members of the program:\u00c2\u00a0 through our communications (and miscommunications), maybe some of these things can come to light.\u00c2\u00a0 So, I look at this forum-based, note-sharing exercise as an extension of the “Layers of Mind” practice, a further way to uncover and explore these layers, rather than simply a space where I report what was already seen.<\/p>\n
Regarding my first attempt to inquire into layers of mind actively and phenomenologically, I did so this morning on a walk during a break at work.\u00c2\u00a0 I noted a number of things — various spots of discomfort in the body, a positve affect nonetheless, a bit of fatigue clouding my thought, as I walked along and thought about various topics related to work.\u00c2\u00a0 I noted a shifting among these things, but didn’t discern any patterns among or between them at first.\u00c2\u00a0 When I thought about Jack’s fourth point, Background, or the overall context of “what’s going on,” I had the impression of several concentric circles:\u00c2\u00a0 the biggest (for the moment) was “being in a TSK class”; the next was “taking a walk at work”; and the next was the “immediate” circle of sense impressions.\u00c2\u00a0 As I was noting how the background of “being in a TSK class” was influencing the unfolding of my subjective experience on the walk, I had the somewhat startling sense that this current in my subjective field was not-me.\u00c2\u00a0 Interesting, how my “subject” is also not-mine!<\/p>\n
That’s all for now.\u00c2\u00a0 Looking forward to continuing to work with this, and to sharing with all of you.<\/p>\n
Best wishes,<\/p>\n
Bruce Alderman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here are a few running notes on exploring “Layers of Mind” so far.\u00c2\u00a0 I am appreciative of Jack’s additions to the practice, since I think they are very useful.\u00c2\u00a0 However, they also set my mind to turning in directions that … Continue reading