INTERLUDE
“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to [us] as it is: infinite.” – William Blake, A Memorable Fancy
Before I articulate my version of the ‘how’ of mindfulness, I offer this opportunity to play with some kind of mindfulness, via some simple experiments in ‘knowing.’
EXPERIMENT ONE
If you want a taste of what I might mean by ‘the immeasurable,’ find yourself a quiet and pleasant spot. Be aware of your arm, then legs, and then your belly. See if you can track, just for a minute or two, the fact that you are breathing.
Then, when you’re ready, when just a little calm has come, ask yourself this question: “Am I?” Just this: ‘Am I?’
Feel into the way the body is, before any answers come. Notice that if you say “Yes, I am” (which you must), this can only point back to (that is, have as its referent) that open, silent, clarity which is the feel that is there in the moment after asking the question. Ask it again, to refresh that hazy, cloud-hidden, open feel.
Play with it. Ask the question several times, appreciating more and more, that silent moment of being. Hit the refresh button, again and again, to prevent the moment from being packaged by concepts. Notice the boundless wholeness of wide-open awareness. Resonate the word ‘suchness’against this simple, open felt quality. Does that fit?
EXPERIMENT TWO
Of course, the ’am’ in ‘Am I?’ is just a way of saying ‘be.’ The expression ‘I be’ long ago used to be standard English; though it sounds quaint now. So, because it is now non-standard, it might, therefore, be able to work freshly. So, try this: say “I be,” and let “I be” point to the whole of your experience, right now, right here.
Check in with the just-so quality of your un-messed-with ‘I be’ experience; that quality which is there before the verbal answer comes. It’s not about measurability or non-measurability, actually – those are only labels. It is about tasting what is.
EXPERIMENT THREE
Try this, a variation on an exercise from Thich Nhat Hanh’s The Miracle of Mindfulness.
Put your earphones on and give yourself three or four minutes of relaxing music. During that three or four minutes, simply relax your cheek muscles and feel the bodily state that comes with the resulting half-smile. –At the same time, be lightly, ten-percent aware of your inhalations and exhalations. Keep knowing that half-smile feel in your body, and the awareness of the breath, until the music ends.
Possibly, it could be said that you are hearing the music, rather than listening to it.
After the song, journal for ten minutes, just starting with the experience of the experiment, and then continuing on.