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The quiet art of attention

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Re: The quiet art of attention

#271

Post by MrMcCall »

eightysixfour wrote: post #261
MrMcCall wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. Free will is not about choosing what comes into one's head after sending an inquiry out into the universe, it is solely about what we do with our physical body. That is part of why choosing to focus on the highly cerebral work of programming is so difficult. > because…

I believe we are talking past each other. > So a three-pack-a-day smoker cannot quit? A lifetime racist cannot jettison those beliefs and choose to understand the truth that we are all just human beings? A believer in selfless love cannot become a child molester or otherwise oppress others? I did not say a single one of those things, what I am saying is that each of those things happening were not done as a result of…

I apologize for treating you as I like to be treated. I like to learn and, as such, I share what I know to be true. That is what makes me the expert I am. And that is the deepest meaning of the Dunning-Krueger study: only in humility can we grow to reach our potential.

If you ever want to ask a question, I will do my best to answer you honestly, if that means to only to say that I don't know. Seeing as how you already know everything, you aren't asking any questions, so my work is done here. I am quite sure that the non-experts in D-K had no idea that the experts were experts; that is because they did not actually do the steps necessary to actually become an expert, their only development was in their confidence, choosing that instead of doing the humble, difficult work.

There are no unconfident flat-earthers because their overconfidence precludes their seeking the truth. There is a level of knowledge where one knows that one knows a truth. It's intrinsic to the universe and our integral place within it, but that's a different conversation altogether. Suffice it to say that once a person sees Jupiter rotating, it no longer became necessary to hear a flat-earther's arguments. All you have to do is contact the Creator of this marvellous, unfathomable universe, to learn how to get greater access to deeper truths. You are free to deny that you, yourself, have that access, too, but denying that human ability has only robbed you of your access, not mine. It's your choice, my friend.

"The Way goes in." --Rumi

Re: The quiet art of attention

#272

Post by MrMcCall »

space_oddity wrote: post #253
desertraven wrote: post #188

In regard to watching the mind, one thing I’ve observed is a little strange, and I was hoping to get other’s experiences. I like to watch the movement of my attention. Nothing abstract, just to observe where attention is aimed - it takes a mere 30 seconds of watching. What I’ve noticed, is it moves around, seemingly without my input, and lacking any conscious intent (a concept the blog post makes a point to reclaim).…

The mystery of intention and attention also invites reflection

Yes, indeed, but a study of the streams of thoughts and feelings that barge into our attention is more obviously fruitful to our improving our personal and collective well-beings. Learning how to discern negative/selfish/callous/viceous impulses from the positive/selfless/compassionate/virtuous ones is at the heart of the meaning of life and the purpose of our mind's abilities, as well as the human race's future.

I can't recommend Castaneda's work, but it does present interesting perspectives on intention and attention, even if I'm not sold that he was an honest or accurate or even well-intentioned narrator. That said, the character of Don Juan conveys much wisdom, but are the books allegorical fiction or fantastical non-ordinary-but-actual reality? I don't know yet, and maybe I never will.

Re: The quiet art of attention

#273

Post by latentsea »

hu3 wrote: post #56
d4mi3n wrote: post #13

[flagged]

You're getting disproportionately criticised and having uncharitable replies but, you're right. Any serious psychiatrist will confirm that medication is immensely helpful to the majority of ADHD cases if not all. Our brains are just different, chemistry-wise. I don't know why people get so offended by this notion.

> immensely helpful to the majority of ADHD cases if not all

Definitely not all. Medication doesn't work for something like 10% ~ 20% of us. In my case it worked well for 6 months and gradually I acclimated to it and the effects went away, I switched medications and had the exact same experience. I gave up after that.

Re: The quiet art of attention

#274

Post by mistermann »

keybored wrote: post #230
mistermann wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cutting off access to an entire region of potential upward utility...perhaps permanently if no one is willing to fight the consensus.

I don’t understand what you are saying.

Contradiction is socially disruptive, and ignored/policed quite thoroughly, denying access to Humans of pretty substantial portions of reality which is instead represented by illusory proxies/heuristics.

Re: The quiet art of attention

#275

Post by me-vs-cat »

eightysixfour wrote: post #225
MrMcCall wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet he cannot explain where the impulses come from. 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. You are also free to believe and then claim that the world is flat, but that don't make it true. We can each choose to be compassionate, callous, or cruel -- to whomever we choose, to whatever…

> 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 no…

Why would you encourage another person to expand their compassion while you simultaneously believe that person doesn't have free will?

Re: The quiet art of attention

#276

Post by dataexporter »

raveren wrote: post #138
kn81198 wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vipassana Meditation formalizes this to a large extent and is extremely approachable. I would highly recommend anyone looking at guided meditation to give this a try: https://www.dhamma.org/en-US/index

The single best decision of my life was to attend one.

Can you provide some additional details? In what ways has it helped you? Would you have gotten the same benefits had you done a immersive meditation session outside of that structure?

Re: The quiet art of attention

#277

Post by vonnik »

hackernewds wrote: post #120
vonnik wrote: post #17

Cognitive control is one of the most important issues of our era, IMHO: https://vonnik.substack.com/p/how-to-take-your-brain-back There are many techniques to increase our CC. The ADHD community is a trailblazer in this respect.

what is CC?

cognitive control, apols.

Re: The quiet art of attention

#278

Post by djtango »

kukkeliskuu wrote: post #257
djtango wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In sports/competition isn't what you've described the ability to both execute technically extremely precisely while having presence of mind to dictate the flow of the game?

This is a complex question. I have found the book "Inner game of tennis" very interesting in this regard. The book is by a coach for world-class athletes. If you try it for yourself, you will learn that your analytical mind cannot micromanage your body to even lift a spoon from the table.

Yeah when I was watching young family learn to walk it became clear that even things like walking we take for granted and its very complex and isn't meant to be learned analytically and most of us lack the fundamental understanding of what is involved to teach it under an analytical model and yet most of us walk everyday without a given thought

Re: The quiet art of attention

#279

Post by d4mi3n »

greggyb wrote: post #41
d4mi3n wrote: post #13

[flagged]

I will note that you are not responding to what you have quoted, but to an extreme re-interpretation. The OP says "exert some mastery over", which is a far cry from the "full control" you say some people cannot have.

You raise a fair point. I think some of this is likely reactionary to some degree. Very often the response to a person struggling with a condition is "just try harder", so it's really, really easy read statements like the one you quoted as being more prescriptive than they are likely intended.

Re: The quiet art of attention

#280

Post by ananth99 »

kvetching wrote: post #78

I've found cannabis to be extremely helpful. It adds a tinge of paranoia - so if you're paranoid about not reaching your potential, it can kick you into gear.

nah I found cannabis to be counterproductive in my case. It was never only a "tinge" of paranoia. It always comes up in bouts. And it was a slippery slope. I'd often keep getting distracted with other things like YouTube, games and social media to keep the anxiety and paranoia away.

Took a while to kick it out.

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