Neurons in the brain
Right Mindfulness, Attentiveness, and Concentration are three ‘folds’ in the Eight Fold Path of Buddha. Now, just what is the difference between these virtual synonyms? Over the years I’ve parsed out my own ’splitting of hairs’ to solve this puzzle. All the same, don’t they all refer to closely related states of mental awareness? A recent article in Science News, on cognitive research and magic delves into inattention blindness, a phenomenon which sheds light on this issue.
As one researcher puts it: “We’re good at focusing attention. It’s what the visual system was built to do. Inattentional blindness is a by-product, a necessary consequence, of our visual system allowing us to focus intently on a scene.” I reckon this “necessary consequence” causes much of our difficulty.
This makes the idea of ‘being in the moment’ a bit ironic, at least on the face of it. Surely then, Buddha’s ‘Right Attentiveness’ is not be the same as “being good at focusing attention”, as the researcher put it. So what is ‘Right Attentiveness’? It liken it to peripheral vision. Consider the following correlations that help illustrate this point:
| Positive | Negative |
| focus | edge |
| conscious | oblivious |
| forward | backward |
| mainstream | peripheral |
| clear | obscure |
| active | passive |
| straight | circular |
| recent | past |
| narrow | wide |
| part | whole |
| hard | soft |
| certain | tentative |
| life | death |
This tells me that the ‘attentiveness we are good at’ is: focus, conscious, forward, mainstream, clear, straight, active, certain, narrow, part, hard, certain, life. This leads one to think that one knows.
On the other hand, ‘Right Attentiveness’, is: edge, oblivious, backward, peripheral, obscure, passive, circular, past, whole, soft, tentative, death. This more likely leads one to think that one does not know.
One thing I notice right away is how language is not the best way to communicate or even ponder a ‘taoist’ point of view. Language is an outgrowth of our biology. As such it is heavily biases toward survival. Being conscious and certain are seen in a positive light, and being oblivious and tentative are often seen in a negative light. Correlations gradually help you notice this biological hoodwink of language, and how trusting what you think will lead to difficulty. (At least that is my experience.)
Finally, did I make the connection between inattention blindness and Buddha’s view? Read the article and think it over. Briefly, consciousness blinds us to ‘under consciousness’. Under? Under correlates on the magical mysterious sameness negative side of reality.
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