concentration vs clarity vs equanimity

[levani]

so I understand that equanimity is something like if you are experiencing pain you do not resist it and you let it happen because it is happening already and resisting it will equal to suffering

I think I understand what concentration is, it is just focusing on X

but what is the difference between concentration and clarity

And could someone give me an example

Edited July 17, 2021 by levani

[Eternal Unity]

Equanimity, in my opinion, is the experience of peace. A balanced mind. No pain involved, resistance to it, consciously or unconsciously.

Concentration is, indeed, what you focus on. You can train this ability by focusing for longer periods of time on the same thing.

Clarity would be a flash of knowing that is lasting. Example: When you see 2 + 2 = ? And you KNOW: A-ha! It is 4.

If you compare concentration and clarity then I can say that clarity is the result of continuous concentration. You observe reality, concentrate and then you like: I understand it! I'm clear as to what is happening.

Enlightenment dawns.

Edited July 17, 2021 by Eternal Unity
Clarity & Concentration

[Nahm]

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[MrWolf]

56 minutes ago, Eternal Unity said:

Clarity would be a flash of knowing that is lasting. Example: When you see 2 + 2 = ? And you KNOW: A-ha! It is 4.

Kurt Gödel might second you on that one  but ok..

[OneHandClap]

1 hour ago, Eternal Unity said:

Equanimity, in my opinion, is the experience of peace. A balanced mind. No pain involved, resistance to it, consciously or unconsciously.

Concentration is, indeed, what you focus on. You can train this ability by focusing for longer periods of time on the same thing.

Clarity would be a flash of knowing that is lasting. Example: When you see 2 + 2 = ? And you KNOW: A-ha! It is 4.

If you compare concentration and clarity then I can say that clarity is the result of continuous concentration. You observe reality, concentrate and then you like: I understand it! I'm clear as to what is happening.

Enlightenment dawns.

This is a good summary.

The end of the "path of awakening" comes when the human brain stops trying to process and twist reality to make "you" survive better. When that happens, reality itself becomes manifest. There is no longer a need for the body-mind to distinguish between self and other, because the brain has relaxed enough to understand that there is no real danger. There is no need for boundaries or false beliefs to survive. 

This, of course, is an explanation of the path with some physicalist elements thrown in (in case OP is of that perspective). In full honesty, the words don't matter. Whether one believes in a brain or a mind or God or nothing or oneness, it all comes to the same place of peace. 

[Consilience]

2 hours ago, levani said:

I think I understand what concentration is, it is just focusing on X

There are different types of concentration. For example, there's khanikasamadhi which is distinct from the more generic, single pointed concentration most regard as "concentration."

"In the early twentieth century, the Burmese master Mahasi Sayadaw realized that momentary concentration (khanikasamadhi) on whatever spontaneously comes or calls could be as powerful as sustained concentration on one thing. This insight allowed him to develop a distinctive way to do mindfulness practice. At the time, this method was referred to as “the Burmese method of satipatthana,” but nowadays, it is simply called “noting.” Noting is currently perhaps the most popular approach to mindfulness both in the East and the West. But when Mahasi first started teaching it, it generated considerable controversy. Some masters from Thailand and Sri Lanka claimed that “noting whatever arises” is indistinguishable from a scattered, wandering state of mind. Mahasi pointed out (and quite correctly in my opinion) that momentary concentration is key. To “note” an experience entails more than just labeling it. Whether you use labels or not, to note a sensory event implies that you attempt to tangibly taste a momentary state of high focus upon that sensory event. This skill is especially useful for staying deep during complex daily activities." - The Science of Enlightenment, Shinzen Young

 

 

2 hours ago, levani said:

but what is the difference between concentration and clarity

Concentration is attending to whatever one is attending to in a moment with recognition that attention is placed on that object. We're ALWAYS concentrating on something, however most people lack the clarity around where their attention is placed. 

An example of clarity could be you're able to pick apart the strands of a complex emotion. Rather than just feeling a general sense of "anxiety" perhaps we are able to break apart that emotion into it's aggregates of "Fear" + "Nervousness" + "Resistance to the fear and nervousness" = This feeling of "Anxiousness." Whereas concentration in this example would be just attending to the feeling of anxiousness. 

Another example would be meditating on the feeling of being a separate self. In addition to concentrating on the sense of "me" we might have the clarity to completely experience self referential mental imagery of the face/body, the physical sensations of the body, the emotional sensations of the body, and the subtle, background mental talk that reference this apparent self. In this sense, we're now starting to clearly see what the self is comprised of in real time rather than just following a generic instruction set of "meditate on the self."

Sensory clarity is quite literally untangling our perceptive experience into is constituents such that we're able to experience them more completely and fully without other perceptive experiences interfering. Overtime, this leads to our perceptive field breaking apart into a spacious flow where we're able to detect the arising and passing of the different flavors of perception. This is also what psychedelics do when things get wavy, spacious and empty. We've chemically induced an incredibly heightened sense of sensory clarity through the amplification of perception and the dragging of attention into the present moment.

Hope this provides some context.   

Edited July 17, 2021 by Consilience

[levani]

@Nahm what's wrroooong witchaaa nowwwwwww ???

 

jk i love you

[levani]

@Consilience need to re read this later

thank you

[Gnosis]

Concentration is a meditative state. That is, various states of consciousness can be classified as "concentration". This is temporary.

Equanimity is a kind of harder-than-rock solid untouchable-ness. It's a natural non-resistance to anything and everything, relative to simply being completely untouched fundamentally. This is temporary also.

Clarity is when you've reached the rock-bottom of Reality, and as a result of direct experience, clearly distinguish completely the "relative" and the "Absolute". What you thought was "Absolute", turns out to be relative. This clarity is a kind of clear-cutting wisdom. Any slightest fixation with this "clarity" is temporary. In other words, this "clarity" won't matter down the line also.

Down the line, I suspect various "habits" drop over the course of many many years. These are not very overt bad habits like smoking, unless the habit is strongly supported. It's subtle habits of every kind in every corner of the psycho-physiology. As "consciousness" learns more about "itself" in the thick of life, it continues to "wise up" and adapt. In other words, I suspect this rather slow process is a different developmental line from what's colloquially called "Awakening".

This is the "toilet seat path" of "Enlightenment". Every day you just do your business, and remember to wash your hands.

[OneHandClap]

2 minutes ago, Gnosis said:

Concentration is a meditative state. That is, various states of consciousness can be classified as "concentration". This is temporary.

Equanimity is a kind of harder-than-rock solid untouchable-ness. It's a natural non-resistance to anything and everything, relative to simply being completely untouched fundamentally. This is temporary also.

Clarity is when you've reached the rock-bottom of Reality, and as a result of direct experience, clearly distinguish completely the "relative" and the "Absolute". What you thought was "Absolute", turns out to be relative. This clarity is a kind of clear-cutting wisdom. Any slightest fixation with this "clarity" is temporary. In other words, this "clarity" won't matter down the line also.

Down the line, I suspect various "habits" drop over the course of many many years. These are not very overt bad habits like smoking, unless the habit is strongly supported. It's subtle habits of every kind in every corner of the psycho-physiology. As "consciousness" learns more about "itself" in the thick of life, it continues to "wise up" and adapt. In other words, I suspect this rather slow process is a different developmental line from what's colloquially called "Awakening".

This is the "toilet seat path" of "Enlightenment". Every day you just do your business, and remember to wash your hands.

Wow, what a refreshingly down to Earth and honest post. Love it. 

You are correct in saying that the habits drop over time, and that they are often subtle. After an initial big "insight" experience, I couldn't shut up about meditation to anybody that would (or would not) listen. Lots of grand egoic fantasies about saving the world. Lots of pride. But those things do dissolve in time. The need to impress, the grasping tendencies of the mind, the like-dislike machine. Awakening is a subtractive process. And a lifelong one, at that. 

Great username, btw. 

[Gnosis]

@OneHandClap Thanks for the praise. 

As you've said, in retrospect, the whole Enlightenment business is just a lot of fantasies!

It's not surprising, as it's entirely intertwined with cognitive development, which evidently is in some sense, just ever-evolving fantasies about "self" and "world".

[OneHandClap]

3 minutes ago, Gnosis said:

@OneHandClap Thanks for the praise. 

As you've said, in retrospect, the whole Enlightenment business is just a lot of fantasies!

It's not surprising, as it's entirely intertwined with cognitive development, which evidently is in some sense, just ever-evolving fantasies about "self" and "world".

Oh, totally. I do like this forum, but sometimes I scratch my head at the sheer amount of beliefs filtering into people's perceptions. All this talk about God, infinity, consciousness... but the words are not the reality they're describing. Sages were just trying to verbalize a state of total non-reaction to stimuli. The realization that reality as it is has always been OK, no matter what the human brain and nervous system believe for the sake of survival. 

Your posts are a breath of fresh air. Thanks.