manipulation-themed pith instructions:
- Pith-of-the-pith:
- Sometimes don't manipulate "bodymindworld" (relax, wait, patience, receptiveness, effortlessness), and sometimes do manipulate "bodymindworld."
- Full pith instructions:
- (an) experience(s) = an experience OR some experience OR experience OR experiences OR...
- sometimes =
- when you're cautiously, minimally, gently experimentally unsure, or
- when it's good, or more good than bad, to do so (as best you can currently tell)
- Sometimes DON'T manipulate (That's "don't" with the lightest of light touches, as light as you can, light as the lightest feather, even lighter, effortless, pure spontaneity, corner of your eye...):
- experience:
- Don't try to generate/create/manifest (an) experience(s).
- Don't try to dispel/destroy (an) experience(s).
- Don't try to find/call-forth/recover (an) experience(s).
- Don't try to bury/push-away (an) experience(s).
- Don't try to control/change the qualities/process/evolution of (an) experience(s).
- Don't try to stabilize/hold-onto/crystallize/keep (an) experience(s).
- Don't try to increase or decrease the intensity/magnitude of (an) experience(s).
- Don't try to add or remove/subtract [(a) particular] thing(s)/quality(/ies)/experience(s)/action(s)/doing(s)/stances/postures/orientations/etc. to/from (an) experience(s).
- Don't try to push, pull, or otherwise manipulate (an) experience(s).
- attention:
- Don't try to stay/remain with (an) experience(s).
- Don't try leave/flee (an) experience(s).
- Don't try to find (an) experience(s).
- Don't try return to (an) experience(s).
- Don't try to avoid (an) experience(s).
- Don't try to resist avoiding (an) experience(s).
- Okay to avoid, okay to find, okay to be fixated, okay to be magnetized, okay to be compelled...
- mind:
- Don't try to know.
- Don't try to not know.
- Don't try to think.
- Don't try to not think.
- Don't try to figure out.
- Don't try to not figure out.
- Don't try to realize.
- Don't try to not realize.
- Let yourself be sure.
- Let yourself be unsure.
- body:
- Let yourself be physically open, receptive, when safe.
- Let yourself relax.
- Don't try to relax/un-tense (pinpoint and in general).
- Let yourself be constricted.
- Let yourself be tight; don't try to mitigate it.
- Let yourself get tighter; don't try to stop it.
- Let yourself be/become still.
- Let yourself move, adjust, readjust, balance, be in equipoise, be comfortable.
- Let yourself BE moved, spontaneous, effortless; find yourself [already in the act of] moving.
- action/doing (including/prefixed to/for all the above and below); Again: "That's "don't" with the lightest of light touches, as light as you can, light as the lightest feather, even lighter, effortless, pure spontaneity, corner of your eye...":
- Okay to find you can...
- Okay to find you can't...
- Don't try to try...
- Don't try to not try...
- Don't try to do...
- Don't try to not do...
- Don't try to not try to...
- Okay to find yourself doing...
- Okay to find yourself not doing...
- Okay to perseverate...
- Okay to not persist...
- Okay to let go of...
- Okay to let go of completely (when it is)...
- Okay to find you can't let go of...
- Okay to forget, to daydream, be in reverie, to go, to return...
- world:
- Okay to temporarily or completely let go of intentions, plans, goals, preferences, outcomes, will, effort...
- Okay to have intentions, plans, goals, preferences, outcomes, will, effort...
- Allow/release/suspend (gently, temporarily, when possible) what the world (planet Earth, the universe, "everything") IS and ISN'T...
- self:
- Relax, let go of, release, drop the "doing ('up') personality"
- Relax, let go of, release, drop the "accumulating ('up') personality"
- Relax, let go of, release, drop the "reactive personality"
- Release, allow, sink, (temporarily) collapse, let your breathing return to "only default* breathing"
- *i.e., autogenic, as opposed to volitional breathing
- Allow/release/suspend (gently, temporarily, when possible) identity-/role-based regrets and aspirations:
- I am (a)...
- I must ((be) a)... / I have to ((be) a)... / I need to ((be) a)
- I should be able to ((be) a)...
- I can't ((be) a)...
- I shouldn't ((be) a)...
- I deserve to ((be) a)...
- I will ((be) a)...
- I would ((be) a) if (only)...
- It would be (so) wonderful to be (a)...
- experience:
- Sometimes DO manipulate:
- Sometimes DO manipulate world, attention, mind, body as you are called to do so, urged to do so, or find yourself doing so. (As in, think, figure out...)
- Okay to find yourself doing the opposite of any of the "don't"'s, for seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years...
- Sometimes cleanly, smoothly INTERLEAVE* manipulating and not manipulating and daydreaming and reverie and movement and walking...
- *Regarding interleaving, this is NOT a "rigorously continuous application" practice, like some classical concentration practices. (Search for maybe "hammer" and "button," in this document, for reasons why.) This practice IS loose, gentle, jazzy, even forgetful. That is, it's actually ESSENTIAL to lose yourself for a time, to think, puzzle, daydream, do some unconceptualized (or conceptualized), unconsidered (or considered) else, etc., and/or nothing in particular at all, amidst meditation. (Search for maybe "reverie" in this document for reasons why.) As just one possible edge case, it's okay to even like set a timer and daydream, instead of meditating, or to get up and wander off.
- So, the three interleaved "parts" of this meditation could be: 1) Don't, 2) do, as per above, and 3) daydream. Or, don't, do, and reverie. Or...
- *Regarding interleaving, this is NOT a "rigorously continuous application" practice, like some classical concentration practices. (Search for maybe "hammer" and "button," in this document, for reasons why.) This practice IS loose, gentle, jazzy, even forgetful. That is, it's actually ESSENTIAL to lose yourself for a time, to think, puzzle, daydream, do some unconceptualized (or conceptualized), unconsidered (or considered) else, etc., and/or nothing in particular at all, amidst meditation. (Search for maybe "reverie" in this document for reasons why.) As just one possible edge case, it's okay to even like set a timer and daydream, instead of meditating, or to get up and wander off.
Note: Regarding "interleaving," interleaving meditation and LIFE isn't particularly recommended, except for cautiously stolen moments, because the ultimate combination of meditation and life is just life. Perhaps keep meditation and life somewhat separate and let them sift into each other naturally so/until only life remains. But also ignore/adapt this, too, if it doesn't feel right.
Note: Don't take too seriously all the "ontology" and "categorization" above. Let it be fluid and playful and provisional, discardable.
See also:
- Not identical, but, if curious, compare with "remain uninvolved" in:
- Awbery, Charlie. Opening Awareness: A guide to finding vividness in spacious clarity. Evolving Ground Ltd, 2023.
- Also compare with Tilopa's "Six Words of Advice" (and lots of similar stuff)