The Act of Observation and Consciousness

Eboard10

Eboard10

The Living Force
FOTCM Member
The observation/anticipation effect is IMO one of the key aspects in understanding the difference between STS and STO, that's why I thought creating a new thread would be a good idea. I've thought about the concept of wishful thinking and anticipation and how they are related. I have come up with an idea and have done so pondering about my experience in tennis competitions. It might sound awkward and I might have some problems explaining this, but I'll do my best. The first thing people should know about tennis, is that it's a game which requires confidence as well as being solid and constant mentally. It's all about the mind. If you're not there with your head, you have already lost the match before even starting.

Now, what I have realized is that when you are playing a point, thinking is the last thing you want to do, you never have to think, just play! And I can assure you that this is true!
It seems that when one consciously focuses on the ball and decides to place it somewhere, the ball is nearly always going to miss its target/destination. However, when you "unconsciously" (for lack of a better term) decide to place the ball, you hit the target. As Laura said during the session, you can't micromanage things, only observe the outcome. It seems that the act of conscious observation due to our STS nature interferes and changes the initial desired course.

From my understanding of this, when thinking at a conscious level, you separate your mind from the collective consciousness (creating a "bubble" --> wishful thinking), hence you look at the scene/situation just from your perspective rather than observing it from all other perspectives, thus limiting your ability to observe things objectively which then translates in limited awareness. Therefore in the case of the tennis player, thinking where to place the ball leads to your mind seeing all the rest (your surroundings) as being separated from yourself so you question your own abilities; this results in a loss of confidence and the ball going “astray”. Instead when you act at an unconscious level, you access part of the collective consciousness (macro-level instead of micro) which means that “you” are able to look at the scene from a broader perspective. This is perceived by the conscious as a boost in confidence.

I hope I made myself clear enough. :/
 
Eboard10 said:
Now, what I have realized is that when you are playing a point, thinking is the last thing you want to do, you never have to think, just play! And I can assure you that this is true!
It seems that when one consciously focuses on the ball and decides to place it somewhere, the ball is nearly always going to miss its target/destination. However, when you "unconsciously" (for lack of a better term) decide to place the ball, you hit the target.
Click to expand...

Actually - for another perspective - in this particular situation that you've described, it sounds like more of an example of the different work of centers. Playing tennis is the work, really, of the motor center and when one tries to utilize the intellectual center to play tennis, the ball is going to miss the target. If, on the other hand, one gets the intellectual center out of the way, and lets the motor center do its work, everything goes well.

The same thing is evidenced in a myriad of ways - try typing while thinking about each letter - it won't work (well, not as quickly or well) because your intellect is disrupting the work of the motor center.

Just something to consider.
 
anart said:
Actually - for another perspective - in this particular situation that you've described, it sounds like more of an example of the different work of centers. Playing tennis is the work, really, of the motor center and when one tries to utilize the intellectual center to play tennis, the ball is going to miss the target. If, on the other hand, one gets the intellectual center out of the way, and lets the motor center do its work, everything goes well.

The same thing is evidenced in a myriad of ways - try typing while thinking about each letter - it won't work (well, not as quickly or well) because your intellect is disrupting the work of the motor center.

Just something to consider.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's what I was trying to explain!

I am not fully aware of the distinction between the motor centre and intellectual one? Could you elaborate on that, or link a source if possible?
 
Hi Eboard10,

Apart from the links given by Anart, here are the simple definitions of the centers as stated by Boris Mouravieff in Gnosis Book 1, page 11. Hope it's useful for you.

Let us define accurately the mental functions of the three centres:

— The Intellectual Centre registers, thinks, calculates, combines, researches etc.;
— The Emotional Centre has for its domain the feelings as well as refined sensations and passions;
— The Motor Centre directs the five senses, accumulates energy in the organism through its instinctive functions, and with its motor functions governs the consumption of this energy.

The motor centre is the best organized of the three centres. While the other two centres are neither complete nor organized before the gradual growth and development of the child, the motor centre is fully functional at conception. It is thus the most mature and the best organized. It is also, so to speak, wisest, although it does make mistakes.

Conversely, the other two centres place us in the most grave difficulties. They are anarchistic, often overstepping each other's domain and the domain of the motor centre in such a way that the latter becomes disorganized. In fact, we have neither a pure thought nor a pure feeling: nor are our actions pure. Everything in us is mixed and even entangled, often by all sorts of considerations which either come from the intellectual centre, tarnishing the purity of our feelings by its calculations, or from the emotional centre, which clouds the calculations of the intellectual centre.
Click to expand...
 
^^Yes, I remember reading about the centres a few years ago. Thanks for the links. :)
 
I had some confusion on the centers as well, this stuff I havn't read yet, it should help out.
 
Hi eboard,
Good transition you made; observing tennis and putting it into real life.

I have myself observed much the same way you did by applying what I have learned from my many years of drawing and trying to find analogies that will fit so I can help myself understand some of the things talked by you.

For example, similar to what you have described, when I decide what I want to draw and strat putting lines on paper and make them look as real and accurate as possible, no matter how well i draw, the overall picture will look out of place, undeffined, lacking in essance. But to the contrary, when I just outline without any anticipation, without the fear that it may look incorrect, then things start to take shape and little by little it starts to have a personality and only then applying thechniques that I have aquiared, will the drawing make sense.

So baseically, just like anart has pointed, I don't have to use my intelectual center and apply the thechniques , but to let the subconciuos do it and basecly offer input only there where a big turn is going to happen. If I am to allways think of the next line and how to best put it, it will allways turn agains me and i will scrue up.

I have observed the very same thing in photography. At a weddind, If I try to decide and think of the best place and angle to shoot and try to make a shot that I had in mind , it would never work.
I think this is where the saying , go with the flow , has a meaning.
 
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