The Practice of Unlearning
When we think about death. It’s easy to understand this idea: going to sleep and never waking up again. Why it would be as if you never had existed. Not only you but everything else as well. Which is of course the way things were before you were born… So how about waking up after having never gone to sleep?
That’s quite a thought, isn’t it? You might think that’s simply a silly idea that cannot be comprehended. Well, sure, but… we can’t truly comprehend the things before we were born either, they’re outside of our experience, yet we accept them as true. We believe in this world that had been around long before we ever were. History. So what I’m proposing to you now is the incomprehensible after we were born. Couldn’t that also be accepted as true? Can we believe in a world after birth that is unfathomable yet still conceivable? So then what would it be?
Waking up is a flood of consciousness while sleeping in the same consciousness drifting away, so what I’m suggesting is a flood of consciousness that has never drifted away. Beginning without end. That right there is what you call any experience that you do not define. To define is to set limitations and borders to. It’s basically to put an idea to sleep. We had no definitions before we were born, and now I challenge you to have none after.
Let’s start with something simple. Breathing. Go ahead and breathe for me. In… out… what is that? You inhale air into your lungs before releasing it again. That’s too specific though, remember we’re trying to avoid definitions so how about this instead: We do this weird thing with our bodies that makes it get bigger before we stop and let it go so it gets smaller again. A weird vague way to put it because I want you to act as if you don’t understand what’s happening. Think about it like that and try again. In… out…
Did it feel any different? I hope so but maybe not. Let’s get ready to try again. Please suspend your disbelief and do anything you can to treat breathing as alien in nature. It’s kind of strange isn’t it? The way our bodies just do that. In… out… It’s kind of cool? Maybe a little scary. Focus on your body’s sensations for me, but don’t label any of it. Just feel it while ignorant to what any of it is. The sound of the air being sucked in through your nose or mouth. The feeling of your body expanding before you release it again reverting it back to how it was. This is all brand new to you. Now again. In… out…
Any different now? One last time, I want you to have no perspective on this process as if you’re experiencing it for the first time and you don’t even know how to talk with words. All you can do is curiously feel the unknown. In… out… If you do this right it might be kind of exciting. Like it’s this wondrous magical thing that just happens. I daresay fun in a way. It’s fascinating.
It’s tricky to achieve this mindset and takes practice because you must rid yourself of habitual thinking, but breathe as if you’ve never breathed before. Now how can that possibly be? Breathing for the first time? This thing we’ve been doing automatically and instinctually since the day we were born. This thing that we don’t really think about. It’s just always happening and possibly the most ordinary aspect of our lives. How can we have fun doing that? How can it be possibly be interesting? Well if you did this right. Remember, you don’t know any of that. It’s a new sensation… your first breath like a newborn baby, or at least can feel as such.
I know what I’m talking about is a bit out there. Some of you, maybe even most of you have no idea what I mean by this because breathing is the same as it ever was, but if you felt anything odd or funny during this exercise. Anything at all. Even the smallest bit of weird. That’s what I want you to capture and explore. That is where happiness lies.
The idea of unlearning things. It’s a practice and it’s said to be the essence of happiness or even love. It’s a way to fully bring your mind to the present moment and completely immerse yourself in the true form of life as it’s unfiltered by your preconceptions. Any excess thought is a burden or hindrance to here and now.
It’s like always being able to have a first time again. You then experience the world as it is and not as you think it is. Like being a kid again when life was such a marvelous and awe inspiring thing. Back before you determined what any of it was. You weren’t a critic, you just thought things were awesome but you couldn’t explain why. We’re capturing that feeling again.
If you can experience the world without any judgements. No definitions of any kind. You simply take it into your five senses and feel. It becomes almost euphoric. A delight that leaves you thrilled in intensity or at peace in tranquility. You can do this with anything in life as long as it engages at least one of your senses.
If you can reduce breathing to nothing but a funny feeling and get rid of anything you know about it. It should be as if you’re waking up to breathing for the first time even though you’ve been awake. That is how you wake up to something without ever having gone to sleep. That is believed to be the best feeling any human being can experience. That is love.
We all know that this truly isn’t possible. Your knowledge is always there regardless of how much you may master suspending it in your mind, that’s why I defined as unfathomable yet still conceivable at the start of this writing. A world that cannot be, a world always outside of our experience, yet is still able to be accepted as true.
That’s quite a thought, isn’t it? You might think that’s simply a silly idea that cannot be comprehended. Well, sure, but… we can’t truly comprehend the things before we were born either, they’re outside of our experience, yet we accept them as true. We believe in this world that had been around long before we ever were. History. So what I’m proposing to you now is the incomprehensible after we were born. Couldn’t that also be accepted as true? Can we believe in a world after birth that is unfathomable yet still conceivable? So then what would it be?
Waking up is a flood of consciousness while sleeping in the same consciousness drifting away, so what I’m suggesting is a flood of consciousness that has never drifted away. Beginning without end. That right there is what you call any experience that you do not define. To define is to set limitations and borders to. It’s basically to put an idea to sleep. We had no definitions before we were born, and now I challenge you to have none after.
Let’s start with something simple. Breathing. Go ahead and breathe for me. In… out… what is that? You inhale air into your lungs before releasing it again. That’s too specific though, remember we’re trying to avoid definitions so how about this instead: We do this weird thing with our bodies that makes it get bigger before we stop and let it go so it gets smaller again. A weird vague way to put it because I want you to act as if you don’t understand what’s happening. Think about it like that and try again. In… out…
Did it feel any different? I hope so but maybe not. Let’s get ready to try again. Please suspend your disbelief and do anything you can to treat breathing as alien in nature. It’s kind of strange isn’t it? The way our bodies just do that. In… out… It’s kind of cool? Maybe a little scary. Focus on your body’s sensations for me, but don’t label any of it. Just feel it while ignorant to what any of it is. The sound of the air being sucked in through your nose or mouth. The feeling of your body expanding before you release it again reverting it back to how it was. This is all brand new to you. Now again. In… out…
Any different now? One last time, I want you to have no perspective on this process as if you’re experiencing it for the first time and you don’t even know how to talk with words. All you can do is curiously feel the unknown. In… out… If you do this right it might be kind of exciting. Like it’s this wondrous magical thing that just happens. I daresay fun in a way. It’s fascinating.
It’s tricky to achieve this mindset and takes practice because you must rid yourself of habitual thinking, but breathe as if you’ve never breathed before. Now how can that possibly be? Breathing for the first time? This thing we’ve been doing automatically and instinctually since the day we were born. This thing that we don’t really think about. It’s just always happening and possibly the most ordinary aspect of our lives. How can we have fun doing that? How can it be possibly be interesting? Well if you did this right. Remember, you don’t know any of that. It’s a new sensation… your first breath like a newborn baby, or at least can feel as such.
I know what I’m talking about is a bit out there. Some of you, maybe even most of you have no idea what I mean by this because breathing is the same as it ever was, but if you felt anything odd or funny during this exercise. Anything at all. Even the smallest bit of weird. That’s what I want you to capture and explore. That is where happiness lies.
The idea of unlearning things. It’s a practice and it’s said to be the essence of happiness or even love. It’s a way to fully bring your mind to the present moment and completely immerse yourself in the true form of life as it’s unfiltered by your preconceptions. Any excess thought is a burden or hindrance to here and now.
It’s like always being able to have a first time again. You then experience the world as it is and not as you think it is. Like being a kid again when life was such a marvelous and awe inspiring thing. Back before you determined what any of it was. You weren’t a critic, you just thought things were awesome but you couldn’t explain why. We’re capturing that feeling again.
If you can experience the world without any judgements. No definitions of any kind. You simply take it into your five senses and feel. It becomes almost euphoric. A delight that leaves you thrilled in intensity or at peace in tranquility. You can do this with anything in life as long as it engages at least one of your senses.
If you can reduce breathing to nothing but a funny feeling and get rid of anything you know about it. It should be as if you’re waking up to breathing for the first time even though you’ve been awake. That is how you wake up to something without ever having gone to sleep. That is believed to be the best feeling any human being can experience. That is love.
We all know that this truly isn’t possible. Your knowledge is always there regardless of how much you may master suspending it in your mind, that’s why I defined as unfathomable yet still conceivable at the start of this writing. A world that cannot be, a world always outside of our experience, yet is still able to be accepted as true.
