The quiet art of attention

Situational awareness matters when it comes to claims like this:

> "It is tempting, in moments of ambition, to think that we must change everything all at once, that the path to mastery or peace requires a sudden, dramatic shift. But this is rarely the case. In truth, most lasting changes come from small, deliberate actions."

For people trapped in abusive relationships, drug addiction, or unsustainable economic positions, this is terrible advice - a dramatic shift is precisely what is needed. For those in stable situations where improvement by increment is entirely possible, this is great advice. The challenge lies in figuring out which is which.

Hmm, reminds me of Krishnamurti teachings

> And yet he cannot explain where the impulses come from.

It isn't necessary to explain where they come from to argue they are not, by our definition, freely made. Either they are causal, we can rewind time to the exact moment, where everything is the same, and you would make the same choice again, or there is a level of randomness inserted, which is also not free will.

If you introspect, you will find that you do not have anything that actually looks like free will. If you are asked to pick your favorite philosopher, you will have a few names pop into your mind, but you will not have control over those few names. You could continue to try and summon names, but you don't have control over which ones arrive either.

> As to argument against free will: do you not have the ability to choose between giving the next homeless person you see some money or being rude to them? Of course you do.

No, because the decision to do so is the sum product of all the things that have happened to me. If I choose to give money to the next homeless person I see as a result of this comment, it was not free-will, but the sum of all of those things and my response to this comment.

The flip side of this is that it need not be a negative thing. The will of the homeless person is also not free, the knowledge of which should expand your compassion for them as their situation is not the result of an endless series of bad choices, but the unfortunate chance outcomes of their existence in this environment.

The best we can do with them is to "pay them no mind", i.e. just let them pass though us and then into the void of non-effect. The important understanding is that we can choose to act upon them or ignore them. Ignoring negative impulses is essential for developing compassion as a way of life, and doing so is no less than warfare, the most important we can ever undertake. Of course, if the impulse is "you left the burner on", you should make sure it's not going to cause a fire! Discernment of the flavors of streams that present themselves to our consciousness is sublime and the work of our lifetime.

I made the Bhodisattva Vow nearly 30 years ago, and am now a very happy person with a very happy family, though we have lived in poverty for ~15 years now. Ask me how ;-)

Side note: I lived with yoga practioners and know of the possible dangers therein, so I highly suggest that you add a mantra of positivity to your practice. My experience is that the best are the various two syllable names of our Creator, to accompany your heartbeat. Such mantras are the best baseline for us to fall back into within the busyness of this 21st Century life, but choose what makes you feel happy, for happiness is within the grasp of our every choice.

With love and friendship.

> to live with ADHD is in large parts about managing a fuel tank which is simply much smaller than everyone else’s

Isn't the fuel dopamine? What you said reminds me of this explanation of ADHD from /r/explainlikeimfive¹:

“When you know you have to do something, your brain requires a certain amount of chemicals (including dopamine) for you to start and stay engaged in that activity. A person without ADHD will go "I need to write my essay." And the brain will go "ok, here is 1 unit of "starting a task" chemicals to get you started." A half hour later the person says, "hey I found interesting information on something else, but I need to stay focused on my paper" and the brain will go "you're right. The paper is more important. Here is a unit of concentration chemicals, use them for the paper" And this repeats basically until their task is complete, then the brain goes, "yay! You finished! Here's some happy chemicals, and an extra shot of dopamine" the dopamine hit solidifies a positive relationship with getting the paper accomplished.

A person with ADHD will go like this: "I need to write my paper. Brain, can you give me concentration chemicals?" And the brain says "I'm sorry I don't have any, no." So they struggle with getting focused. If they manage to force themselves to sit, they may see something else and think, "this is really interesting, but I need to stay focused on my paper." But the brain goes "hey I found some concentration chemicals, but you can only use them for this other thing. If you so much as look at your paper I will destroy all the concentration chemicals we have! Plus, I'll send out unhappy chemicals and you will be miserable and possibly even feel pain, but yeah I'm going to dump an ungodly amount of concentration chemicals on this other thing so good luck"

So basically even if the ADHD person WANTS to write their paper, the brain will not produce them chemicals necessary for them to stay focused on it and even if they DONT want to do "the other thing" their brain chemicals won't let them stop focusing on it.”

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/vn1je2/e...