Saturday, April 9, 2011

Sensation Creation

There is so much to do, and yet nothing to do. Thought feels it is the center of everything. It sees itself as the one who has the power to change, make, control. In the end, the only power thought has is in letting go. Letting what is, be what is. No reaction to the actuality of what is perceived. The perception is the only reality. One can be sure that what is felt is real...not the thing giving the feeling, but the feeling, the sensation itself is a reality. Considering thought has no control over what sensations it perceives, what sense is there in wanting a sensation to be anything different? To desire creates inevitable conflict. Whether it is a desire to recreate a pleasurable sensation, or whether it is a desire to never feel a particular sensation again, desire creates a resistance to the actuality of perception.

There seems to be a very deep and hidden aspect of the mind whose job it has become to interpret the sensations felt on the body. The average person is oblivious to the subtle, constant sensation which the body is undergoing at all times of the day and night. This part of the mind is in constant contact with all the sensations. We give free reign to this part of the mind and the consequences of this freedom are disastrous. This aspect of mind interprets, judges and responds to certain sensations it comes into contact with. It actually generates its own sensation in an attempt to encourage or discourage certain specific sense patterns the mind experiences. However, no aspect of the human mind has control over what sensations it comes into contact with. We may try and limit certain sensations and chase others, but ultimately we have no control. Additionally, this subtle aspect of the mind has a major flaw besides its feeble attempt at control. For example, the mind interprets a sensation it deems highly undesirable, it then generates a feeling overwhelming which the conscious mind becomes keen to and aware of. This feeling which the mind has generated has an effect on the body, the body reacts in a negative fashion. Perhaps the stomach flips, or there is a sensation of intense pain, nausea, tension, anger, fear etc. If intense enough, the reaction the body has towards the sensation which the mind generated is now interpreted as a new sensory event for evaluation. This sensory event which is so obviously unpleasant, can cause the mind to produce another sensation which then may have an effect on the body. This can quickly spiral out of control. This process is known to us as anxiety, and in extreme cases, panic attacks.

If we are to understand this process and see it, feel it, we must become sensitive. We must become aware to not only the large sensations which we are experiencing on the surface level of awareness, but we must reawaken our capacity to feel everything that is happening in the body no matter how small or insignificant we may deem the sensation. If we can see this process unfold; if we can become aware of how this subtle aspect of our mind is constantly trying to grasp at pleasurable sensation and run from unpleasant sensation then we may be able to see that it is not the thing outside of our body which causes us pain or pleasure. Rather it is us. Therefore, we have no one or nothing to blame for our reactions, not even ourselves...because we literally have no control over this small, subtle aspect of the mind. It does not see or understand the totality of the function which it has undertaken. If this part of the mind were to see the chaos it produces, we stand to rid ourselves of all anxiety and perhaps more.