Consciousness, Awareness, Attention
Part Three: Being W.H.O.
“What is important is not a philosophy of life but to observe what is actually taking place in our daily life, inwardly and outwardly.”
Jiddu Krishnamurti, Freedom from the Known
Be Willing
Can we reintegrate the psyche with all three functions of consciousness? Can we be made whole again? These are the questions that came up towards the end of part two. Let’s start with some clarifications.
First, the separation of the three functions of consciousness from the whole of consciousness is apparent, not actual. However, experientially, and effectively, that is our reality.
Our experience is that we are what we think about. And we have animal instincts that we are supposed to manage. We sometimes get unexpected breakthroughs or inspirations that come to us through that mysterious intuition. But who we believe ourselves to be is limited by what we think, and what we think about our feelings. All of that is the product of intellect, an epiphenomenon of attention.
The effect is we have little to no sense of the wholeness of our being. We speak and think as if we are separate from the body. We do not understand or trust our instincts, and intuition is not predictable. We live from the limited perspective of our psyche and experience life through our abstractions. And the psyche is full of contradictions and competing interests. We continually experience conflict within and conflict without.
The task is not to put the pieces together again. It’s to experientially discover how consciousness, awareness, and attention function simultaneously to provide a more inclusive perspective.
To start the exploration, you must be willing to act accordingly. But this is not the kind of will that is generated by consideration through thought. Thought is divided and therefore subject to conflict by nature. Decisions to act made by thought are tenuous at best, based on an estimate of certainty in an uncertain world. The will of thought can be likened to a rock, steadfast and unmovable (until it isn’t).
Genuine will is not at all like a rock. Genuine Will flows like water. Just one look at the Grand Canyon and it’s clear, water cannot be deterred, not even by rock. Genuine Will is generated on a deeper level. It is the Will that drives instinct and can be felt in the gut. The object is not to decide if “you” want to proceed. Rather, it’s time to sense if there is a Willingness to proceed.
Take a few deep breaths and settle back. Let your breathing be natural, and simply observe the motion of breathing, down at the belly, just below the navel. Let your body relax and your thoughts drift by.
When relatively calm, take a slow, deep breath. With the out-breath, silently let the question drop down to the belly. “Is there Willingness to undertake reintegration?” If thoughts pop in, just let them recede. Softly return attention to the belly. Whatever you feel, just be aware. You will wordlessly understand what comes next. You may read on or not. If you do, you will know it is possible and can commit to Be Willing.
The individual is the little conditioned, miserable, frustrated entity, satisfied with his little gods and his little traditions, whereas a human being is concerned with the total welfare, the total misery, and the total confusion of the world.
J. Krishnamurti, Freedom from the Known
Be Honest
To connect with the Genuine Will, on the deepest level of consciousness, as the first step of reintegration is necessary because the commitment to proceed requires honesty. To be honest, requires an unwavering commitment. It is this commitment that motivates the alignment of intellect, intuition, and psyche.
Honesty in awareness via intuition is no issue. Awareness simply reflects the totality of what is.
Intellect provides more of a challenge. Intellect operates through attention which functions to define information into objects and concepts. It takes experiential and convincing evidence to supersede previous conclusions. Fortunately, context matters to intellect. More on that later.
The biggest challenge is posed by the psyche. To understand this let’s look at its genesis and nature.
The psyche is derived from the intellect through the assimilation of concepts and conclusions, including feelings as defined by the intellect. Initially, the role of the psyche could be described as fine-tuning for the instincts to discern and code the nature of phenomena as a potential threat, maybe offering nourishment or protection, or something seemingly insignificant.
Sadly, at some point in human development, the psyche began to take on the role of controller rather than advisor. This led to an inflated sense of self-importance and so became the foundation for what is commonly called the ego. I choose to focus on the psyche because it is easier to understand as a function and not so easily mistaken as a form. We’ll see the importance of that distinction later on too.
For now, it’s enough to see how the psyche links to consciousness through instinct. And the previous exercise was to establish trust that it can be safe to act on an instinctual will to action. In this case, a commitment to Be Honest. This commitment provides a sound and moral stance that serves as a foundation for the psyche as you explore, and it will not be easily shaken.
That being said, because of the automatic feedback loop from intellect to instincts via the psyche as the controller (ego), the instincts have been drafted into action for the defense and nurturing of the ego rather than simply the physical body. This distortion corrupts the data and misinforms instincts, sparking fear when unwarranted, desire when not suitable, or indifference toward important sources of love and connection.
Further complicating all of this is the foundational concept supporting the ego, the notion that it can be the “controller of everything” This includes uncomfortable, undesirable, and uncontrollable feelings. To safeguard the ego’s self-image as the sole possessor of will, instinct is regarded as sub-human and deemed untrustworthy. It is pushed far below a self-imposed threshold of awareness (the id) through habitually distracting attention to “more important or entertaining phenomena.”
To counter this formidable center of resistance we need to access one more quality as we begin the process of reintegration of the psyche with consciousness as a whole.
“If you observe very closely what is taking place and examine it, you will see that it is based on an intellectual conception, and the intellect is not the whole field of existence; it is a fragment, and a fragment, however cleverly put together, however ancient, and traditional is still a small part of existence, whereas we have to deal with the totality of life”
Jiddu Krishnamurti, Freedom from the Known
Be Open
If you’ve made it this far you’ve already demonstrated that you have at least cracked the door open a bit. How so? It’s highly unlikely that you would have even read the first 30 seconds if you were not curious. Curiosity, by definition, implies a degree of openness. It’s admitting that there is something unknown about the subject, object, or situation that has drawn your attention.
Of course, if one is only open to learning if they like my style, my content, or how what I say compares with what they already know, their knowledge may be satisfied very quickly. If there’s something about the topic that aroused their curiosity, and they find my writing tolerable in style and content they may be curious enough to read more. If they like my style they may read right up until they find something that doesn’t fit what they already know, which may end their curiosity and reading stops. That could be the case for one who has read right up to now.
I point this out because curiosity is a lot like the will. When it’s aroused on the level of ego and intellect, it cracks the door open. But that alone is not enough to sustain motivation.
Now, moving beyond a point where there is agreement, pushes the door open a bit more. And to decide intellectually that one can set aside, at least temporarily, one’s beliefs and preconceptions pretty much props the door open. And that could motivate reading to the end of …
How many parts is this going to be?
If so, that’s commendable, and I will not discourage you from reading on. But this is not quite the place where one can Be Open. To cross the threshold requires that you Be Willing to discover what it means to Be Open.
To this end, I invite you to listen to and follow along with what I would term a pointing-out exercise. I published it as an audio presentation on my private YouTube Channel. It’s called, “An Open Door”. It is roughly 13 minutes long and it’s best if you can find a time and place where you are less likely to be interrupted. You can access it here: https://youtu.be/TERjrU0jF-I
If you are unsure, you can learn more about it in the introduction audio about 8 minutes long here: https://youtu.be/80elDH28bMI
If you would rather read a transcript or just have questions, let me know in the comments below.
I will point out that the exercise begins with eyes open. The reason why is explained in the introduction, but knowing why is not essential to the exercise. Also, the introduction was initially prepared for a class I offered on Discovering Genuine Intention. I mention this so you won’t be confused and to let you know that I am not trying to enroll you in any class.
I hope you will take advantage of engaging in this exercise. It will make what follows in the conclusion of this article in part four: “Being the Way” easier to understand.
