RE: [-empyre-] Raquel Paricio opening statement

["raquel" <raquel@clonclon.com>]

Dear Luigi,

>>I do agree with that! 
Good!!


>>But, pardon me, this (in my opinion, of course) represents only one way we
can acquire new levels of consciousness.
Oppositely, the other one consists in relaxing attentional processes by
neglecting the multiplicity of stimuli and try to perceive reality as thing,
as a whole (and, as far as I understand this practice is in use for most of
the meditation disciplines).
Can it be?

Great Luigi! This is the main point about the attention process. I'd like to
answer you with my own words, because perhaps we are thinking about
different things when speaking about the attention process.
The meditation practice -in any discipline- works with the question to make
"internal silence", it is, leave out all the mental "noise". 

All the meditation practices are based on attention methods whose goal is to
achieve the internal silence and let then come in the light that join us
with the cosmos, that reveals us new wisdoms, that refers us to a non-linear
space-time, that permits us to share a new consciousness level.
For this purpose we have to understand the perception as a conscious step
(some cultures, like the Buddhism, refer to the "concentrated attention", as
a previous non automatic step that is not integrated in our memory, but that
is present every second). To make the moment present, to perceive it, to pay
attention to it and then to be present in what happens in our mind. There is
a word in the taoist tradition that clearly defines this phenomenon: wu-wey.
Even if the direct translation of this word means doing nothing, it really
means doing without expectations, just being.
It is in this "just being" where nothing is accidentally, where, as Jung
would say, things happen in relation to something, things are synchronous,
they are not accidental, but causal. There is where we can feel that
everything in the cosmos is interrelated, that the cells of every living
being are just an extension of ours, and in understanding this we can
achieve a higher level of consciousness.

With this I'm meaning that the point is not to "relax the attention" but to
lower the "mental noise" in order to increase the attention. Attention to
other spaces in our mind; attention to more inputs, or quality of inputs
that happen inside and outside us. That is called "QUALIA".
Well...next step...have the experience :-)

Cheers
Raquel Paricio 

-----Mensaje original-----
De: empyre-bounces@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
[mailto:empyre-bounces@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au] En nombre de Luigi Pagliarini
Enviado el: jueves, 08 de diciembre de 2005 15:25
Para: 'soft_skinned_space'
Asunto: R: [-empyre-] Raquel Paricio opening statement

Hi Raquel!! 

> The first point of our research is to facilitate the 
> development of attention, i.e., to be conscious of our 
> attention or of our perceptions (that is what Leibniz termed 
> "apperception"). In my opinion this is the previous step to 
> acquire new levels of consciousness.

I do agree with that! 
Indeed, I've always thought of attention like an "inputs selection" process
which is necessary to the brain to cope with the complexity of the
environment related to its computational power limitations.
Therefore, in my opinion, exploiting the attentional processes means to
enlarge the inputs correlation analysis, and therefore increasing our
consciousness of the world and ourselves.
But, pardon me, this (in my opinion, of course) represents only one way we
can acquire new levels of consciousness.
Oppositely, the other one consists in relaxing attentional processes by
neglecting the multiplicity of stimuli and try to perceive reality as thing,
as a whole (and, as far as I understand this practice is in use for most of
the meditation disciplines).
Can it be? 

> We are living in a historical moment in constant change and 
> acceleration.
> Social structures more and more require from us more complex 
> and faster adaptation abilities. How can the field of art and 
> science evolve on this context? How can we help to evolve 
> human consciousness?

Well I must confess I do really like the question! : )
I think that art and science could, to start with, help by selecting the
number and the right inputs to focus at.
Further, I'm pretty sure that the two disciplines can help evolving
consciousness by inventing (or trying to) new ways of represents incoming
data relations with an acceleration similar to that of the technological
growth.


Ciao!
	Luigi 

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