Conscious presence, whole-body-mindedness and the fallacy of the observer
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Conscious presence, whole-body-mindedness and the fallacy of the observer
What is conscious presence? Conscious presence begins with making the mind aware of what the body is doing.
No more than that and yet, profound and life-changing in its simplicity as the thinking mind and the physical body are brought into the one location and time zone.
And what does that mean?
Instead of the mind being either ahead of or trailing behind the physical body, being in the future or in the past, the two are brought together in the present moment, and moment by moment. And instead of the mind imagining itself (strangely enough always without a body) in another location, whether in the anticipated future or the already lived past, the mind and body come together and stay together in the same geographical location – the mind knows its composition and place; grey matter inside the skull on top of a human body, in the space between the ears. Or so we think. But wait, there is more:
Enter whole-body-mindedness, a move deeper into harmony, joy, stillness, love and truth – the qualities of our co-Divinity. Whole-body-mindedness knows that the body and the mind are one, that the mind is all over and right through every cell of our physical body and that movement precedes thought.
And thus, the best intentions or resolutions will not get us anywhere unless we change our movements.
- Movement begets thought;
- the choice of consciousness (prana or fire) begets movement.
- Movement begets thought,
- etc. etc.
Note that neither conscious presence nor whole-body-mindedness entertain the notion of stilling the mind or stopping thinking. Both know that the mind is there to do a job and that it needs to be given that job rather than be allowed to run amok. In the first instance, conscious presence acts via locating and aligning the mind to move ‘at heel’ with the body. In the second instance, whole-body-mindedness knows that Will, choice of consciousness (or more correctly an alignment) and subsequent movement locate the mind as being one with and right through the physical body and its every cell.
And thus, the unshakeable foundation for conscious presence and whole-body-mindedness is one of union, not just of mind and body but, via Soul, union with our Divinity, the universe, with God. They are inseparable as we are inseparable from God and the universe, are a part of and in truth one with it.
On the other hand, some disciplines engage the notion of the ‘observer’ to try to still the mind. Like a monitoring system that takes note of and marks the mind’s every move, engaging a third function to keep the mind busy in a seemingly fruitful and more wholesome way.
And the fallacy here? An introduced third agent whose job it is to check what’s going on without ever giving credence to the physical body or being moved to take its messages seriously. And thus I might note the fact that I am very if not extremely uncomfortable and that my legs and whole body are aching in an extended meditation session under a prescribed body posture, but that is where the buck stops – I am never moved to change this seemingly inert movement and equally deny life the wholesomeness of my movements and my input as a change agent. I will not bring me to life but rather remain where I am and let life and the discomfort be. Likewise, I will not give credence to or obey my body which is, incidentally, screaming louder and louder.
And so I sit and sit and sit, at war with my body but in union with this third agent, the observer – and all the while my legs are sore and my back is aching. Meanwhile, corruption, torture and crime continue unabated and backed by my proud refusal to move to a different tune, in the world . . . to the tune of conscious presence and whole-body-mindedness.
Filed under
Body awareness, Connection, Conscious presence
