Subjective, Intersubjective And Objective

Subjectively, each sighted person sees colors.

We learn words for colors when we learn to speak.

Thus, we learn to recognize and respond appropriately to particular colors.

Stop at red lights; go at green lights; people with pink skin and coffee with milk in are "white."

 

Intersubjectively, we agree about colors.

Grass is green; the sky is blue.

Objectively, scientific instruments detect and measure electromagnetic wavelengths.

Electromagnetic radiation causes color perceptions in sighted organisms.

Longer wavelengths correspond to red; shorter to blue.

Cause and effect exist and are not identical.

If only the objective existed, the nothing would be subjective.

Then there would be no distinction between subjective and objective.

 

Neurons cause consciousness.

If only neurons existed without any effects, then there would be no consciousness.

Subjective And Objective

Neuronic interactions cause consciousness.

Behavior demonstrates consciousness.

However, neither neurons nor behavior are identical with subjective experiences.

Consciousness is a relationship between subjects and objects.

It involves a qualitative difference between subjective and objective.

Nothing that is objectively observable is a subjective experience or vice versa.

An organism with a central nervous system is a subject and object of consciousness.

Each subject observes other subjects but not their experiences.

Subjective experiences are not invisible objects.

They are what it is like to be a conscious organism.

We know an organism's subjective experiences by being that organism, not by external observation.

Experience is present in each conscious organism, not elsewhere in an immaterial realm.

The relationship between objectively observable brain states and subjectively experienced mental states remains mysterious.

The relationship is not explained by reifying mental states.

To reify mental states would be either to identify them with brain states or to objectify them in an immaterial realm.

We must avoid either mechanistic reductionism or mind-body dualism.

The emergence of consciousness was a qualitative transformation.

Quantitatively increasing sensitivity was qualitatively transformed into sensation.

This created the distinction between subjective and objective.

Personification And Reification

 It is anthropomorphic to personify transcendence.

"God" is personification.

"The transcendent" is reification.

Transcendence is a process, not a substance.

A person is a subject-object.

"Soul" is reified subject.

Or at least, so I think.

Draft Talk On Zazen, Part III

It might not be possible to prevent natural thoughts from arising spontaneously in the mind. However, even if this is possible, it is not what we are trying to do in zazen. Thoughts have to arise so that we can practice nonattachment to them. But it is possible:

to think that the purpose of zazen is to prevent thoughts from arising;

to continue to think this even when we have received instruction and have been told that it is not the case;

to practice meditation while misunderstanding it;

to think that we are failing to meditate because thoughts arise;

to realize that we have been mistaken about the purpose of meditation yet still to feel as if spontaneous thoughts are failures to meditate.

Maybe continued practice brings better understanding.

Draft Talk On Zazen, Part II

To minimize inputs, we sit in a quiet room, facing a wall. Because we want to remain awake and alert and not to go into a trance, we keep the eyes open but we see only an unchanging wall. One guy told me that he could see the quality of the light changing on the wall during evening meditation but I am not that observant. We hear silence and maybe an occasional faint background sound. However, any loud or persistent noise would interfere with meditation.

Practicing nonattachment to natural thoughts means:

sitting without deliberate thought;

remaining relaxed and alert;

noticing that a thought has arisen unbidden;

letting it come and go;

not holding onto it;

not continuing it or adding to it;

not getting caught up in it;

not trying to suppress it;

sitting with it, accepting its presence, until it passes;

not changing natural thought into deliberate thought.

 

Practicing does not mean always succeeding but does mean persevering. Most of the time, all that is present in meditation is you and your thoughts, not anything else, so why do this? If you see no point in it, then you will not do it. My job is not to tell you to do it but to say that, if you would like to approach some understanding and control of natural thought processes, then zazen might help.

Draft Talk On Zazen, Part I

Many inner practices are called "meditation." I will speak only about zazen, just sitting meditation. I will not give instruction in the practice of zazen because I am not qualified to do that but, if anyone would like to receive instruction, then I can tell them where to go for it. You will pick up some idea of what zazen is about from what I am going to say. 

Zazen is not trance, concentration, visualization, mantra or koan. It is a normal state of consciousness. We are aware of our surroundings while we meditate. If the fire alarm goes off while we are sitting for zazen, then we hear it and respond. We do not sit in a trance and burn to death. So, if zazen is ordinary consciousness, then why do we call it a meditation practice? That is the central question, to which I will return.

In every waking moment, a conscious mind receives inputs from the external world and outputs from the unconscious mind and thinks about them so here are three processes: inputs, outputs and thought. However, we must complicate the description slightly in order to differentiate between two kinds of thought. 

Inputs are what we see and hear. Outputs are natural thoughts, arising spontaneously, becoming conscious, entering consciousness from unconscious memories and mental processes. When we think about inputs or outputs, that is deliberate thought. Thus, we are making a three-fold distinction not between inputs, outputs and thoughts but between inputs, outputs (which are natural thoughts) and deliberate thoughts.

In zazen, we address all three processes. We minimize inputs, practice nonattachment to outputs and temporarily suspend deliberate thought.