Active Contemplation - What is focus?

[Brahman]

Focus seems to be a very important part of spiritual practices. "Focus on the breath. Focus on bodily sensations. Focus on your third eye. Focus on nothingness. Focus on impermanence. Focus on your fleeting thoughts. Focus on energy/prana running up the spine." The list continues, and thus I think it's important to really define: what is focus?

 

I recently had a shrooms trip where I experienced pure insanity. In the sense that I could not focus on anything because nothing was staying still. Everything was morphing from my visuals and sounds - to my thoughts- to my body -to my sense of self and even my breath. The one thing I thought I would always have. And it wasn't necessarily gone but the power of all the ever changing stimuli i was experiencing left me without a ground, without an identity, and without the strength to focus on just one thing for even a full second. And i was fucking scared out of my mind. This lasted about an hour and a half until I started to chant a mantra aloud - "just breathe and breathe and breathe, all you can do is breathe" I chanted this for a long time (abt 30 mins) and it brought me back to center. And I finally was able to just stay with that motion and leave everything else behind. 

 

All of this really got me thinking what is focus really? How do I cultivate this? Is it a muscle? Is it innate? Because technically we are always focusing on something, maybe it's not what we want it to be on or one-pointed necessarily, but focus still remains right? Or is it ultimately completely unimportant and a distraction to even try to focus? 

 

I would love to hear any and all thoughts. Please share your understanding of what focus is below.

Edited February 24, 2021 by Brahman

[How to be wise]

@Brahman Focusing on something is becoming aware of it. And as Leo said, awareness is everything.

[EddieEddie1995]

6 hours ago, Brahman said:

All of this really got me thinking what is focus really? How do I cultivate this? Is it a muscle? Is it innate? Because technically we are always focusing on something, maybe it's not what we want it to be on or one-pointed necessarily, but focus still remains right?

Yes, we are always focusing on something. But the problem is that most of our time our focus is on our thoughts, which is a problem hehe (Do nothing technique helps you disindentify with your thoughts)

Fore example, focusing on your breath helps you to uncondition your focus on your thoughts. And after you divelop that muscle, you are then able to see reallity as it IS. But the problem is that  even if you see what it IS, and you do (and you are IT),  you are not impressed by that. You have a more interesting expectation in your mind, which is a problem hehe  ? 

Writing all this I assume that you are seeking enlightenment. ?

[nistake]

Attention + awareness.

[Vibroverse]

Focus on ease and peace. 

[mandyjw]

 

[snowyowl]

Focus, attention, is what creates the idea of separate 'things'. If an area is not in our focus, it's in the periphery, the background, the environment, and it doesn't have 'separateness'. Move our focus onto it, and something pops out distinctly from 'the rest'. Eg is that a forest over there, or a collection of individual trees? It's up to you!

This is part of how I understand the idea expressed often in the forum, that we create reality. At least this is what I've seen in my awareness, but credit also to The Mind Illuminated for describing the attention / peripheral awareness distinction. 

[Nahm]

Focus isn’t something you culminate. It’s about getting everything else out of the way, by letting it go, not by figuring it out. Focus is the delight, the natural experience, of an emptied body mind. 

[Brahman]

On 2/25/2021 at 4:43 PM, mandyjw said:

 

Great video thank you. 

Especially like the part about paradox of focus in meditation.

Are you the video creator?

[Brahman]

On 2/24/2021 at 10:50 PM, nistake said:

Attention + awareness.

How would you separately define attention vs awareness?

On 2/26/2021 at 4:58 AM, snowyowl said:

Focus, attention, is what creates the idea of separate 'things'. If an area is not in our focus, it's in the periphery, the background, the environment, and it doesn't have 'separateness'. Move our focus onto it, and something pops out distinctly from 'the rest'. Eg is that a forest over there, or a collection of individual trees? It's up to you!

This is part of how I understand the idea expressed often in the forum, that we create reality. At least this is what I've seen in my awareness, but credit also to The Mind Illuminated for describing the attention / peripheral awareness distinction. 

Yes that is true to my experience as well. Anything that is focused on will ultimately start to fractal into more distinctions. However subtle it may be. Pretty amazing. A cool meditation I've been doing is just starring at a single object like a rock for about 10 minutes and trying not to let my focus shift. It's a curious investigative type of attention. Naturally you'll start to notice more and more and more distinctions in the rock. Certain patterns, shades, markings, edges, colorings, etc. At first it feels like these are already there and you're just becoming aware of them now. But after a while. Sometimes in as short of a timespan as 5 mins you can become conscious of how you are in fact creating these distinctions not only on the rock but in all of reality. Pretty crazy

Edited February 27, 2021 by Brahman

[Brahman]

On 2/26/2021 at 6:59 AM, Nahm said:

Focus isn’t something you culminate. It’s about getting everything else out of the way, by letting it go, not by figuring it out. Focus is the delight, the natural experience, of an emptied body mind. 

I like this response but have to ask for some elaboration.

Let's say you are attempting to focus on the breath. I understand that letting go of distracting thoughts and stimuli that attempt to grab your attention is important here. Mainly achieved through disidenification with thoughts and the mind. This certainly increases focus on the breath, but isn't there an initial effort required to go to the breath in the first place? And to stay there? Otherwise the focus just naturally shifts to whatever grabs it most. For example you see a beautiful woman and naturally your focus shifts there. 

If there's a truly emptied body mind then there would be no particular object of focus and this turns into awareness now doesn't it?

So how is focus different from awareness?

[Nahm]

@Brahman

By appearing as the spheres of the word & lens, awareness refers to the experience of it’s creation which is itself, as ‘focus’. You might say, the relevance of focus, in creating the life you want to create, is that there are no objects. 

1 hour ago, Brahman said:

Mainly achieved through disidenification with thoughts and the mind.

Similarly, turning the channel from 2 to 4 on a tv (analogy for thoughts & the breath) doesn’t require disidentifying with channel 2. With focus upon channel 4, there is no channel 2. 

[zeroISinfinity]

@Nahm One thing you said. 

Think about Awareness. I was like....

What da????? I can't!Never realized that or even considered. 

OMFG clear mind instantly. 

[Nahm]

@zeroISinfinity

? omg yeah. The cosmic punchline of no mind. 

[zeroISinfinity]

@Nahm Have one objection on Jesus or being Leo 2.0 thing.

It looks like playing police vs criminals thing. 

What I found out as solution atleast for me is taking full authority not helping them.

Like I said I don't want to see any member of my family (all devils every single of them). 

Helping them turns me into one of them. 

Did he sayed thank you after his ass got saved. No. 

All of them are like that. People 

Now my bro is going to Germany. 

Oh yes baby please no more help. 

Humans who cares. They will always be devils. 

Edited February 28, 2021 by zeroISinfinity

[mandyjw]

21 hours ago, Brahman said:

Great video thank you. 

Especially like the part about paradox of focus in meditation.

Are you the video creator?

Thanks! yes, I made it.