Free will again (Humans)

by BBella , Friday, March 16, 2012, 06:06 (4634 days ago) @ dhw

You say we should focus on the object or situation instead of on what you call mind chatter, -I'm not actually telling anyone what they "should do". I am explaining what it sounds like she did and what I experienced, in awakening from a habitual tuned in focus on an inner world of destructive mind chatter, to focusing away from the mind to observation (without judgment) on the world outside my mind chatter. Seeing/feeling/being myself and seeing life around me as if I had never witnessed it before. With my addicted focus on the mind chatter, I didn't even have a balanced focus on my own body. Everything was blown out of proportion from reality, including myself. ->and I say we can only do that by wilfully (carefully chosen adverb!) suppressing the level of consciousness that makes us watch ourselves instead of looking at the object or situation.-I have to slightly change the way you put that sentence above. Maybe this is saying the same thing - we will see with your response: With my will, I chose to turn all my senses away from the mind chatter. In my sentence, there isn't any suppressing. In my particular instance, my mind chatter only quieted because I directed my focus, including my senses (ears, eyes, feelings, etc,) away from the mind chatter. Metaphorically, I remember saying, I turned my back on my mind. As we agreed before, there is no controlling thought (mind chatter) - only "willfully" changing our focus away from it.->that makes us watch ourselves instead of looking at the object or situation.-And, to address the last bit of this sentence to express how I see it in a slightly different way: What I've been talking about is not about watching ourselves or myself, but having an addictive focus on mind chatter or the film that runs thru the mind 24/7 (and believing the mind chatter as me). But in reality, the mind chatter isn't "real" or even within reality, in the sense of being tangibly true (even if it was a memory..it's no longer true - now). This non-reality was not me, therefore, not ourselves. It is something not of ourselves. -When I think how the term "watching ourselves" is used - I think of becoming self-conscious, as in, catching our reflection or looking in the mirror or watching or wondering how our legs look when they are crossed, or when we sit or stand...or how our fingernails look or our butt looks, etc. To me, that is what I consider self-conscious, or watching ourselves. Again, it's probably just two different ways of how we see terminology. ->We may be using different terms, but I think we're moving along the same track.-I agree...