Path Reflections #5: Templates
One hallmark of my journey down this path of spiritual molting thus far has been inconsistency of results with the various methods (and I mean this in a very positive way).
For instance, I may be able to jump right into a prolonged Pure Consciousness Experience1 one day, only to find the same stimulus isn't doing it for me the next.
In these situations, it has been very helpful to remind myself that if I allow myself to get frustrated or discouraged, it is in part because I am chasing a particular feeling or intensity (an effect) that the method generated in me previously - that the brain has created a concept or template based on a very incomplete & naive sense of how I *think* a "good" or "successful" day *should* feel. This strikes me as a way of settling or selling myself short.
When I look back over the trajectory of the journey thus far, had I just taken the first "good" version of an experience I had with a method and shot for replicating that every day, I would have closed myself off to all subsequent breakthroughs and new heights. It feels like being on a hike up a mountain and thinking that every single vista you come across is the most beautiful view possible and can never be exceed, despite intuitively knowing you are still nowhere near the peak (indeed barely out of base camp) and that they can only get better and better as the ascent continues.
So a huge lesson of PCE has been the acknowledgement that every moment has its unique signature, and that waking up one day and trying to get into the same state as the previous day is already overthinking it/creating an object of desire that *cannot* be attained, and fixating on replicating the effect is antithetical to just practicing the method, allowing the method to do its work, and sinking into the experience that results without expecting it to be anything other than what it is. This constant engagement with the new-ness of each moment requires tremendous restraint, but it seems in part to be what opens the door to the freedom for any stimulus to produce joy - even a pile of old laundry, a can full of garbage, some roadkill, perhaps.
Thank you, as always, for reading.
My understanding of pure consciousness experience (PCE) based on the way it was introduced to me (as a follow up to the headless way - a beautiful rabbit hole in its own right), is that it is a method for conditioning the mind to be aware of all of the reflexive filters & categorizations that the brain applies automatically to sensory input data; eg you look around your kitchen, and your brain automatically sees differentiated shapes of "sink", "coffee pot", "oven", "bananas", etc.
PCE is way of trying to "reset" or reframe the sensory experience, where the ultimate goal is I think, to condition the mind to not take things for granted through this process of automatic filtration and labeling, and to cultivate a real pure and innocent sense of "newness", enjoyment, love each moment.
The initial exercise I learned was to just find any pleasurable source of sensory input that we could concentrate on for prolonged periods of time; could be a visual, smell, music, or combinations; eg some people would suggest slow motion videos of things like bubbles forming & popping, bird murmurations, whatever it was, as long as it brought some sense of joy to experience it, but then to really concentrate on the experience of experiencing it; not overthinking it, just really sinking into the raw aspect of how your senses were taking in that information and trying to get behind those filters and just take pleasure in the raw (pure) sense experience.
It dovetails with the headless way nicely, and that the headless way opens up the world and that cinematic "big picture" aspect, and this allows you to slow down and recognize and appreciate the fundamental beauty in all of the very little things that are revealed in that bigger picture. Practiced regularly, it seems to be working towards that effect, anyway. It is pretty interesting.