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3rd Gear, The Direct Path, Eckhart Tolle, and the PCE
The Actual Freedom puzzle comes increasingly into focus for me and I am able to see better how it fits into the overall picture of contemplative practice. Much of the confusion has come about because of the idiosyncratic language used by AF founder Richard. Nonetheless, the mode of perception he is pointing to is a natural and harmless one and is in no way antithetical to developmental enlightenment. In fact, what I would call the "direct" mode of perception (the "PCE" or "pure consciousness experience"), arises spontaneously for many yogis, can and should be cultivated, is neither new nor strange, and may in fact be exactly what "direct path" teachers like Adyashanti and Eckart Tolle are teaching. In other words, the PCE is what I call a 3rd Gear practice.
There are two modes of perception. One we could call "direct perception" and the other is filtered. In the former case, it's a matter of "being the wave," and in the latter it's a matter of creating interference patterns in the wave in order to illuminate the wave. Both are good, legitimate ways of experiencing the world. Filtered perception includes developmental meditation, the Four Paths, the recognition of awareness as awareness, and the skill of being free in heaven and free in hell. Direct perception is simple and instantaneous and does not include suffering.
3rd Gear can be seen from either point of view. In filtered perception mode, 3rd Gear has to do with recognizing awareness as awareness as in Tilopa's Mahamudra Instructions to Naropa. In direct perception mode, 3rd Gear is simply to be as you are, undivided, in this body, without judgement or agenda. This is what Tolle and Adyashanti are pointing to. When you continuously ground the emotional charge that is part and parcel of anger, anxiety, giddy happiness, longing, etc., those coarser emotions cease to arise, leaving only simplicity and a deep abiding happiness. In Buddhist terms, you could say that once the craving and aversion are overcome, only the Brahma Viharas (metta, mudita, karuna, and uppekha) remain.
As always, once the so-called PCE is removed from the quirky religious worldview of Actualism, it is revealed as harmless, valuable, accessible, and not particularly a big deal except to say that like all modes of perception revealed by contemplative practice it isn't a free lunch and must be cultivated if one hopes to become adept.
Consider, if you will, Eckart Tolle's "pain body." I submit that this corresponds to Richard's "affective faculty." Same phenomenon, different language?
Also see Adyashanti's observation that if you want to "embody" your awakeness, there is a price: you must give up, in this moment, all of your resentment, fear, anger, anxiety, etc. This sounds very much like the Actualist instruction to practice with "pure intention."
Actualism is about cultivating the direct mode of perception, a mode that does not include the somatic/emotional charge and in fact depends upon grounding that charge in the body. "Actualism" is nonsense, in my humble opinion. The direct mode of perception, on the other hand, is one essential aspect of enlightenment and performs exactly as advertised; it is the end of suffering in this moment.
The direct mode of experience is the perfect complement to the filtered mode. To return to the wave metaphor: in filtered mode, you skillfully create interference patterns in the wave in order to observe specific aspects of the wave. This is how jhanas are accessed, for example, and this is how you systematically investigate experience, setting up one part of the mind to look at another. In the direct mode, however, you simply *are* the wave. No interference patterns are allowed. It turns out that interference patterns are part and parcel of what we normally think of as emotions, so emotional charge does not/cannot arise during the direct mode of experience. Without this emotional charge, there remains only a sense of simplicity and well-being. I see no reason to value one mode of experience over the other, although you cannot do both at the same time.
To access the direct mode of perception, first consider the metaphors of the sun spot and the lightning rod:
The sun spot:
A sun spot is an immense jet of plasma shooting out into space from the core of the sun. You can think of it as a leak, a disruption in the energy of the sun. If you could put a giant finger in the dike, plugging the leak, the sun would return to its proper form, symmetrical and round.
The lightning rod:
A lightning rod planted into the earth can ground any amount of energy as it flows from the sky in the form of lightning. The earth is big and solid enough to ground it all. Your body is the Earth. Your attention is the lightning rod that grounds your energy.
The technique:
Feel your body, all at once. Don’t pick it apart, just let it be whole. Notice that anxiety, anger, resentment, aversion, or agitation, no matter how subtle, can be experienced as energy disruptions in the body. You might notice a hardness or seeming blockage in the neck or shoulder, for example. Don’t try to fix it. Just rest your attention on it gently and continuously as you might rest your hand on the shoulder of a loved one to reassure them. Notice that this gentle application of attention grounds the energy like a lightning rod. The lightning goes to ground and is made harmless. Resting your attention on the energy disruption plugs the leak. The sun spot stops shooting plasma into space. The body feels whole and seems to straighten out a bit. Don’t expect the hardness or tension to go away; that is not the point. Notice, though, that the anxiety, anger, or resentment is completely grounded and resolved in the body. You are not suffering in this moment of grounding the emotions continuously in the body.
Now look around. See like an artist. Notice the brightness and immediacy of colors. See how shapes and patterns captivate the attention. Wood grain patterns are fascinating. That translucent green plastic yoga ball is a visual feast. The visual texture of fabrics is delightful. Feel your body again and ground the anxiety. If excitement arises, see it as an energy disruption. Ground it by placing your attention on it. Speculation arises; is this practice valuable? Ground it in the body. Look around at the clarity of the colors and the shapes. Feel the anxiety. Ground it. Doubt? You just sprung a leak. Feel it in the body and ground it. Panic that the simplicity of this experience calls into question everything you thought you knew about enlightenment? Feel it in the body and ground it. If you are suffering, you are not doing this practice. Ground the suffering as a sensation in the body and be as you are. This practice doesn’t go anywhere. It’s over. You are the happiness you seek. You are enlightened in this moment and there is nothing further to be done. This is the direct path. Feel the panic? Ground it...
Kenneth Folk
September, 2010
There are two modes of perception. One we could call "direct perception" and the other is filtered. In the former case, it's a matter of "being the wave," and in the latter it's a matter of creating interference patterns in the wave in order to illuminate the wave. Both are good, legitimate ways of experiencing the world. Filtered perception includes developmental meditation, the Four Paths, the recognition of awareness as awareness, and the skill of being free in heaven and free in hell. Direct perception is simple and instantaneous and does not include suffering.
3rd Gear can be seen from either point of view. In filtered perception mode, 3rd Gear has to do with recognizing awareness as awareness as in Tilopa's Mahamudra Instructions to Naropa. In direct perception mode, 3rd Gear is simply to be as you are, undivided, in this body, without judgement or agenda. This is what Tolle and Adyashanti are pointing to. When you continuously ground the emotional charge that is part and parcel of anger, anxiety, giddy happiness, longing, etc., those coarser emotions cease to arise, leaving only simplicity and a deep abiding happiness. In Buddhist terms, you could say that once the craving and aversion are overcome, only the Brahma Viharas (metta, mudita, karuna, and uppekha) remain.
As always, once the so-called PCE is removed from the quirky religious worldview of Actualism, it is revealed as harmless, valuable, accessible, and not particularly a big deal except to say that like all modes of perception revealed by contemplative practice it isn't a free lunch and must be cultivated if one hopes to become adept.
Consider, if you will, Eckart Tolle's "pain body." I submit that this corresponds to Richard's "affective faculty." Same phenomenon, different language?
Also see Adyashanti's observation that if you want to "embody" your awakeness, there is a price: you must give up, in this moment, all of your resentment, fear, anger, anxiety, etc. This sounds very much like the Actualist instruction to practice with "pure intention."
Actualism is about cultivating the direct mode of perception, a mode that does not include the somatic/emotional charge and in fact depends upon grounding that charge in the body. "Actualism" is nonsense, in my humble opinion. The direct mode of perception, on the other hand, is one essential aspect of enlightenment and performs exactly as advertised; it is the end of suffering in this moment.
The direct mode of experience is the perfect complement to the filtered mode. To return to the wave metaphor: in filtered mode, you skillfully create interference patterns in the wave in order to observe specific aspects of the wave. This is how jhanas are accessed, for example, and this is how you systematically investigate experience, setting up one part of the mind to look at another. In the direct mode, however, you simply *are* the wave. No interference patterns are allowed. It turns out that interference patterns are part and parcel of what we normally think of as emotions, so emotional charge does not/cannot arise during the direct mode of experience. Without this emotional charge, there remains only a sense of simplicity and well-being. I see no reason to value one mode of experience over the other, although you cannot do both at the same time.
To access the direct mode of perception, first consider the metaphors of the sun spot and the lightning rod:
The sun spot:
A sun spot is an immense jet of plasma shooting out into space from the core of the sun. You can think of it as a leak, a disruption in the energy of the sun. If you could put a giant finger in the dike, plugging the leak, the sun would return to its proper form, symmetrical and round.
The lightning rod:
A lightning rod planted into the earth can ground any amount of energy as it flows from the sky in the form of lightning. The earth is big and solid enough to ground it all. Your body is the Earth. Your attention is the lightning rod that grounds your energy.
The technique:
Feel your body, all at once. Don’t pick it apart, just let it be whole. Notice that anxiety, anger, resentment, aversion, or agitation, no matter how subtle, can be experienced as energy disruptions in the body. You might notice a hardness or seeming blockage in the neck or shoulder, for example. Don’t try to fix it. Just rest your attention on it gently and continuously as you might rest your hand on the shoulder of a loved one to reassure them. Notice that this gentle application of attention grounds the energy like a lightning rod. The lightning goes to ground and is made harmless. Resting your attention on the energy disruption plugs the leak. The sun spot stops shooting plasma into space. The body feels whole and seems to straighten out a bit. Don’t expect the hardness or tension to go away; that is not the point. Notice, though, that the anxiety, anger, or resentment is completely grounded and resolved in the body. You are not suffering in this moment of grounding the emotions continuously in the body.
Now look around. See like an artist. Notice the brightness and immediacy of colors. See how shapes and patterns captivate the attention. Wood grain patterns are fascinating. That translucent green plastic yoga ball is a visual feast. The visual texture of fabrics is delightful. Feel your body again and ground the anxiety. If excitement arises, see it as an energy disruption. Ground it by placing your attention on it. Speculation arises; is this practice valuable? Ground it in the body. Look around at the clarity of the colors and the shapes. Feel the anxiety. Ground it. Doubt? You just sprung a leak. Feel it in the body and ground it. Panic that the simplicity of this experience calls into question everything you thought you knew about enlightenment? Feel it in the body and ground it. If you are suffering, you are not doing this practice. Ground the suffering as a sensation in the body and be as you are. This practice doesn’t go anywhere. It’s over. You are the happiness you seek. You are enlightened in this moment and there is nothing further to be done. This is the direct path. Feel the panic? Ground it...
Kenneth Folk
September, 2010
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| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | ||
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| kennethfolk | Comments about 3rd Gear, The Direct Path, Eckhart Tolle, and the PCE (page: 1 2 3) | 58 | Jul 20 2011, 8:49 AM EDT by WSH3 | ||
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Thread started: Sep 18 2010, 9:21 PM EDT
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This is a place to discuss my essay, "3rd Gear, The Direct Path, Eckhart Tolle, and the PCE:"
http://kennethfolkdharma.wetpaint.com/page/3rd+Gear%2C+The+Direct+Path%2C+Eckhart+Tolle%2C+and+the+PCE Let the flaming begin! (Just kidding! Please show restraint and try to keep all of this within the larger context of everything we know about various contemplative practices and views of enlightenment. Above all, let's be careful not to create our own crab bucket culture.) Thanks! Kenneth |
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