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Post by Tamrin on Oct 11, 2008 7:54:24 GMT 10
PAY ATTENTION!Be aware of the noises outside, objects at the edges of your vision, the feel of your clothes against your skin, your intake and release of breath. Be conscious of the feel your heart beating—what passing thought just crossed your mind? We are constantly registering all these things, and more, and yet only pay conscious attention to them if they are of interest to us, (if they signal information we have identified as having to do with pleasure or pain). Thus we can consciously focus on goal seeking and threat avoidance by screening out all those things we assume are mere "background noise." This is thought to be the function of our Reticular Activating System, at the base of the brain. Importantly, all other sensations are constantly being registered subconsciously, else we could not be alerted when, for instance, in a conversation across a noisy room, someone mentions our name. Some theorists have even suggested that psychic impressions are routinely filtered out in this way. Symptoms of some congenital defects, acquired brain injuries and psychotropic drugs, as well as results of practices in disciplines such as Taoism, Yoga, Sufism, Tantra, etc., arguably support this theory, (presumably by damaging or relaxing the filtering process).
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