The limits of perception.

Vipasyana is the practice of looking. It is a practice of seeing directly, gaining firsthand experience. But isn't all perception relative? Doesn't the mere act of seeing mean that others may see things differently?

All perception is limited by our thoughts and ideas about what we are seeing. Concepts define what we experience. Our own bias and value judgements color and shape our perception of the world and what we hold to be true. So if vipasyana is the practice of looking, can we ever see truly or are we simply seeing within the cage of our own confusion?

Vipasyana is preceded by the practice of shamatha because in shamatha we learn to let go of grasping to thoughts and following after trains of thought. The practice of shamatha gives us the skills and familiarity to recognize the limits of thoughts and ideas. Thoughts and ideas are not the thing itself. Concepts are not real. When we recognize this crucial flaw of concepts, we stop investing in them. We loosen the tight knots of limiting beliefs and perceptions.

Our view influences our meditation, and our view is largely formed by concepts and cultural influences that we have rarely examined fully if at all. Coming to a right view is an important first step to approaching meditation, but even more important is learning to engage in a practice that recognizes the futility of thoughts and ideas about the way things are. When we learn to simply look, free from mental elaboration and speculation, then we can start to appreciate what is right in front of us. Then we can start to explore the limits of perception and what is really true.

Grasping at straws.

Where do you turn when you're scared?  When you're tired and you had a bad day?  When you are feeling overwhelmed? 

Do you find yourself scrambling, desperate to find another safe haven?  Do you fall back into old thought patterns and neurosis?  Pour another glass, go to bed?

When things get tough, where do you turn for refuge?

You have to go to refuge.  It's an action, not a belief.  You need to actually go, actually do the practice. 

Most of the time when we feel hopeless or encounter our demons, rather than having certainty in our refuge we turn and run, often looking for another safe haven or someone else to work their magic.  We start grasping at straws, hoping anything will work. 

And the wheel turns. 

Where do you stand?

If you maintain a position, by default you have created insiders and outsiders.  You have people for you and people against you.  You defend your allies and disparage your enemies. 

In order to maintain that position you need to exert a lot of effort.  You need to continually engage in a battle between hope and fear.  Maintaining your position becomes a part of your identity, who you are, you become your position and your position becomes you. 

And yet none of this is real. 

It is only real as long as we continue to invest in the stance and the ground we hold onto.  As we loosen our fixation to our own position, the duality between allies and enemies starts to dissolve.  You see your allies position and can understand it, but you also see you enemies position and can understand it.  You may see that neither stance is right, and for you it doesn't need to be.

Seeing all positions and not fixating on your own, there is a chance that you might do real work.  There is a chance that you might be of some benefit to others and find your own work meaningful.   

Myth.

There is a certain myth that some people are susceptible to regarding their own practice.  It tends to draw people in, hooks them, ushers them along so they keep going. 

It is the myth that your practice will make you a better person.  The myth that you will be redeemed, made to be of value.  It is the myth of the conceivable but not the reality, the fanciful stories we tell ourselves about who we could be as we regale ourselves with stories of immortality.  Many follow that myth for years, working to be better, to fit reality with their vision, to be more happy.  Really they are working to cover up the self-judgement and contempt that pervades our life.

The myth lives on in a self-centered practice.  You are the practice, and the fruition you seek is a more complete you.  But you can't win, because from the very beginning you have created a chasm that cannot be crossed and every misstep confirms your failure.   

The practice you need is the one that makes you human.  The one that enables you to walk with pain, to sit with uncertainty and to dance with fear.  Practice so that you might be more kind to others, that you might extend your hand because you are able.

Let the fairy tale fall apart.  Let the masquerade come to an end.  The myth may have brought you here, but you don't need to keep believing it.

A true practice opens your heart and your mind, and you can experience that to be true.    

The mark of ignorance.

What does ignorance look like?

Is it rigid beliefs or definitions?
Is it incorrect information?
Is it hollow assertions?  Conflated ideas?
Grossly biased perceptions?
Is it the emotionally overwhelmed?
A narrow world view?

The mark of ignorance is selfishness.

It's opposite is compassion, empathy.  It's opposite is to care.

In this way we all suffer from ignorance.  We should strive to recognize it in ourselves and work even harder to bring about its opposite. 

We should strive to care.