Develop 3D awareness

[LambdaDelta]

I've been reading Ralston's "Zen Body Being" – a fantastic book, synthesis of body and mind yields the best results for both, and a particular insight struck me – 3D awareness. It's shockingly simple, essentially a reminder that we exist in 3 dimensions, which stretch evenly and infinitely in all directions. Yet we're largely unaware of the fact, usually only seeing what's right in front, at most together with left and right, but no attention is given to what's behind, below, above, or diagonal of us. Even our use of the word 'lateral' is often limited to just left and right, as if our perception was one-dimensional, like on a line. But lateral, in its broadest sense, can be expanded to include all directions in 3D. I symbolically tie this in to big picture thinking, but at the body level. How can you hope to have the highest understanding if you only see what's in front of you?

The original passage is as follows:

Quote

The primary characteristic of space is that it is three-dimensional. Although this fact is taken for granted, our awareness of the nature of space is usually so simplistic that it results in a quite linear and incomplete spatial sense. Space is cubic, meaning it exists in every direction equally, and so our awareness must reflect this fullness. People rarely note that space is necessary for the existence of objects. Without space, how could objects exist? Space provides the possibility of objects, since objects—including our bodies—are also three-dimensional. Space also provides the possibility of movement and interaction. If there were no space, how could we be located? If there were no space, how could there be “someplace else” and so the possibility of movement? Being an object in space resting on the ground is a constant for us, and how we relate to this fact makes an enormous difference in our effectiveness

To get into that state, I like to picture a really cool panoramic zoom in shot from an anime. One could also visualize a massive star sitting in space, balanced under its own gravity, with forces pulling evenly in all directions, keeping it in equilibrium. Or a dragonfly's amazing spheric vision, or a 360° camera scan – get creative. Having triggers like this helps with entry and re-entry if you lose focus.

          

Some techniques that came intuitively to me – these are just pointers, tweak or make new ones that suit you best, feel into it.

• Begin by simply letting your field of vision always be a complete semicircle, track your head movements to adjust, and always be conscious of the relativity of "sides" – what's to the left or right changes hundreds of times a day. In other words, solid peripheral vision.

                                                 

• From the eye level, attempt 360° perception. When glancing to the sides, draw an arc with your gaze across and behind yourself, completing the circle clockwise or counterclockwise. Similarly to passing a ball from one hand to another behind your back, the movement starts with one eye, and at the end the 'sensory information' picked up along the way is passed to the other eye.
• Standing on the ground, feel your feet, and then the rest of the body merge with whatever surface you're on. If it's something moving, like a bus, feel all the subtle shifts, maintain balance. This also works when sitting or lying down, but all of these are done the easiest while standing or walking. If stationary, you could get in touch with the fact that you are actually moving - you're on Earth which is flying through space at incredible speeds. You're not distinct from Earth, so you're also moving that way. Taking this to the ultimate conclusion will have you merge with absolutely everything and enter a consciousness of complete Stillness, where all movement is seen for the illusion that it is, but for the purposes of this exercise that's unnecessary. 
• To account for particularly difficult blind spots, typically what's above, try a visualization exercise such that as you look in front of you, you attempt to replace the visual information you're receiving with an image of what it would look like if you were staring at the blind spot. It feels weird and artificial at first, but as you become more sensitive it gets better. Preferably do this while safe and stationary.
• Sit in front of a mirror and observe what's behind, above, and to the sides of you. Play with angles and perspective. Isn’t it amazing that all of this is just light bouncing off surfaces, feeding your brain a secondhand reality?

You may notice it's been all about vision, imagery, and so on. It is our primary sense, so it makes sense to start from there. But the ultimate goal is of course to sharpen all modes of perception, getting progressively more ephemeral – moving on to feeling slight temperature shifts, detecting and processing tiny sounds and other vibration from all sides, and then pure intuition. Ralston's books are some of the best resources for this. 

Other tangential practices can also synergize with this – for instance I'm currently training ambidexterity (use of non-dominant hand/leg), and the two compliment each other nicely.

Combine this with whatever you're already doing – visualization, meditation, concentration, journaling, contemplation, psychedelics... I guarantee it will pay off, if not majorly, then at least in small, everyday tasks. Mastering this doesn’t just improve agility or baseline consciousness (which I can already feel rising from the few days I've been doing it). It rewires how you experience reality itself – the world stops being a collection of fragmented images and becomes a seamless, living space that you flow through effortlessly.
Looking forward to expanding this further, i.e. being in a dissociative void, but in this mode of perception. Should yield some interesting results. 

Added bonus for self-conscious people or guys that stare at girls in the gym, you'll be too busy focusing and interpreting all the new data points to leave any attention for that crap. It's basically a form of meditation that can be done almost anyplace anytime for extended periods. 

Edited Wednesday at 10:23 PM by LambdaDelta