This Matter of Sensation
Food is matter that is not to be taken lightly. From the tiniest sapling tothe hungriest kid in the block, every living thing needs it for sustenance.It is the giver of energy without which physical growth would not be possible.We humans spend a great deal of time and energy making sure that it is readily available at the next congregation around the dinning table. The art of cooking has been developed for two reasons: nourishment & pleasure. Nourishment for the body and pleasure for the mind. The taste buds on the tongue influence the mind in profound ways. For that matter, every sense organ of man has been a willing (or unwilling) partner of the thinking mind that desires to fulfill these two basic wants of man. Wherever one goes on this planet, one sees that culture has been shaped irreversibly by the powerful forces of desire. Sound, light and matter of three kinds are constantly being transformed in the living crucible of the brain, day & night. Sensations and desires work hand-in-glove to ensure that the brain is never idle. It becomes the producer as well as the consumer of sensations.
The human body has six sense organs- the eye, the ear, the nose, the tongue, the skin and the mind; the last one being involved in cognition and volition. Cognition here, is defined as "particularization of perception". Ex: the taste of sweetness in honey, the taste of sweetness in jaggery, the sound of falling water, the sound of wind blowing through a casuarina grove etc. All the sense organs, and through them the body, can be nourished in subtle ways by the objects of their respective consciousnesses. The eye and through it the mind consciousness can be nourished for example, by the sight of a beautiful sunset or a beautiful mountain. The ear by the sound of music. The tongue by the taste of wine. The nose by the smell of rose. The skin by a feather touch, etc.
The senses become the one-way connecting link for the mind and the world of matter. The brain translates this one way flow of information into internalised objects with which consciousness comes into contact. This contact gives rise to sensation. And from there desire begins.....
The following example describes this process. You walk into a rose garden. You see the flower that you like. You smell it. Sensations arise simultaneously from the sight & smell consciousnesses. Then you say, 'howbeautiful!' The word is a movement of thought which says that it likes the sensation. The movement then goes on to, "I want this". This is the basic movement of desire. The process of seeing, contact, sensation is always met by thought in the end. And what is thought? It is images, words, likes, dislikes, right, wrong etc that are stored up in the memory of our brain. Therefore, thoughts that we experience arise from stored matter. So thought is a material process. It is a material process which is dependant on time as a summation of past experiences. So thinking arises from a bundle of memories to which we give tremendous importance. The most important memory is ofcourse the memory of the self as the "greatest", "meanest", "smartest", "best", "superior", "inferior" etc. The self images make up the self, the me,the ego.
There is nothing wrong with senses or sensations. We are born with them. But thought is conditioned by time. We are conditioned entities that carry the imprint of thousands of years- as long as man has lived on this earth.We inherit the culture that we are born into. We speak a language, create things or destroy things based on what is culturally or politically correct.Our society is based on this. So society is based on what we think is right or wrong. Our thoughts over the centuries have created this society. But this society is an ailing society. We kill in the name of god, destroy each other in the name of religion, exploit each other for economic gains, etc. We live in isolation. So our existence is a continuous stream of loneliness and suffering. And we try to escape from this pain and loneliness by amusing ourselves with various things. These things make up the entertainment industry - the world of cinema, sports, sex etc. Thought has created all this. And thought is trapped by all this. So it always meets sensation in a pattern by which it is mechanically conditioned, by what we call culture etc.
As long as sensation is met by the old, nothing new can take place. Can one look at this statement without reaction? Any reaction that occurs is from our conditioning, right? So if there is no reaction, then there is only listening, seeing, smelling, tasting, touching etc. One is fully present in the senses. Then there is no room for thought.
The negation of thought provides the space in which the senses get nourished. Nourishment is space. Without space in the mind, the brain withers and dies. It may take 60, 70 or 80 years, but its death is certain. So the negation ofthought, which is also the negation of time, allows the brain to flower in an extraordinary sense of openness, rooted in the present moment only.
This vast open space in the mind is empty of all thought constructs. It is free to move into unknown territories.
The evening walk by the garden next to the swimming pool was a nourishing experience - unexpectedly. The sun was setting. Its light was on the trees and on the distant hills. A flock of birds flew eastward, their white feathers reflecting the sun's orange. The moon peeped through the branches of a blooming tree in front. Soon it will be dark. All life in this part of theworld will be asleep, except man. And the sleepless will continue to dream of the possibility of another sensational day.
All this is just....food for thought.
The human body has six sense organs- the eye, the ear, the nose, the tongue, the skin and the mind; the last one being involved in cognition and volition. Cognition here, is defined as "particularization of perception". Ex: the taste of sweetness in honey, the taste of sweetness in jaggery, the sound of falling water, the sound of wind blowing through a casuarina grove etc. All the sense organs, and through them the body, can be nourished in subtle ways by the objects of their respective consciousnesses. The eye and through it the mind consciousness can be nourished for example, by the sight of a beautiful sunset or a beautiful mountain. The ear by the sound of music. The tongue by the taste of wine. The nose by the smell of rose. The skin by a feather touch, etc.
The senses become the one-way connecting link for the mind and the world of matter. The brain translates this one way flow of information into internalised objects with which consciousness comes into contact. This contact gives rise to sensation. And from there desire begins.....
The following example describes this process. You walk into a rose garden. You see the flower that you like. You smell it. Sensations arise simultaneously from the sight & smell consciousnesses. Then you say, 'howbeautiful!' The word is a movement of thought which says that it likes the sensation. The movement then goes on to, "I want this". This is the basic movement of desire. The process of seeing, contact, sensation is always met by thought in the end. And what is thought? It is images, words, likes, dislikes, right, wrong etc that are stored up in the memory of our brain. Therefore, thoughts that we experience arise from stored matter. So thought is a material process. It is a material process which is dependant on time as a summation of past experiences. So thinking arises from a bundle of memories to which we give tremendous importance. The most important memory is ofcourse the memory of the self as the "greatest", "meanest", "smartest", "best", "superior", "inferior" etc. The self images make up the self, the me,the ego.
There is nothing wrong with senses or sensations. We are born with them. But thought is conditioned by time. We are conditioned entities that carry the imprint of thousands of years- as long as man has lived on this earth.We inherit the culture that we are born into. We speak a language, create things or destroy things based on what is culturally or politically correct.Our society is based on this. So society is based on what we think is right or wrong. Our thoughts over the centuries have created this society. But this society is an ailing society. We kill in the name of god, destroy each other in the name of religion, exploit each other for economic gains, etc. We live in isolation. So our existence is a continuous stream of loneliness and suffering. And we try to escape from this pain and loneliness by amusing ourselves with various things. These things make up the entertainment industry - the world of cinema, sports, sex etc. Thought has created all this. And thought is trapped by all this. So it always meets sensation in a pattern by which it is mechanically conditioned, by what we call culture etc.
As long as sensation is met by the old, nothing new can take place. Can one look at this statement without reaction? Any reaction that occurs is from our conditioning, right? So if there is no reaction, then there is only listening, seeing, smelling, tasting, touching etc. One is fully present in the senses. Then there is no room for thought.
The negation of thought provides the space in which the senses get nourished. Nourishment is space. Without space in the mind, the brain withers and dies. It may take 60, 70 or 80 years, but its death is certain. So the negation ofthought, which is also the negation of time, allows the brain to flower in an extraordinary sense of openness, rooted in the present moment only.
This vast open space in the mind is empty of all thought constructs. It is free to move into unknown territories.
The evening walk by the garden next to the swimming pool was a nourishing experience - unexpectedly. The sun was setting. Its light was on the trees and on the distant hills. A flock of birds flew eastward, their white feathers reflecting the sun's orange. The moon peeped through the branches of a blooming tree in front. Soon it will be dark. All life in this part of theworld will be asleep, except man. And the sleepless will continue to dream of the possibility of another sensational day.
All this is just....food for thought.
posted by SRK | 6:28 PM
