Mindfulness & Metaphysics 03 - A Talk & Commentary

A twelve-minute talk introducing the metaphysical philosophy of idealism, followed by a mindfulness meditation commentary. Recorded live with just minor editing. Background sounds include some birdsong.

Transcript

So for this evening,

Before I do the mindfulness commentary,

I'm just going to share a few thoughts on metaphysics.

And the reason,

In my mind at least,

They're connected is that I've decided I'd quite like a theory to go with my mindfulness practice.

So mindfulness practice on its own deliberately had all any sort of theory in association with Buddhism,

Where it originated,

Taken away and left with just the basic practice.

But the experiences that I have with mindfulness,

To my mind,

Are still quite spiritual in a way,

You could say.

And so I think it would be useful to have a theory with which to understand and integrate those experiences.

And what I've discovered for myself,

Which I think matches very well with my practice of mindfulness,

Is the philosophy of idealism.

So I'm just going to say a few thoughts about what that is.

So idealism is a metaphysics.

So physics,

The science,

Is about the behavior of matter,

What matter does,

What the world does,

How nature behaves.

But metaphysics is about the inner nature of reality,

Of the world.

So it looks at the essential nature of things rather than the behavior of things.

So it's not opposed to science at all.

All science can happen perfectly well within whatever your chosen metaphysics is.

So the two main ones,

Which I'll mention,

Are materialism and idealism.

So materialism is the assumption that the world is essentially physical,

Is made of matter.

Whereas idealism suggests that actually the essential nature of the world is mental.

Instead of saying matter is the fundamental stuff of nature,

Of reality,

It says consciousness or experience or mind is the basis.

So that may seem strange because when you look around you right now,

You may think,

Well,

There's definitely a physical world out there.

Surely that's the basis of what the world is made of.

But actually,

There is something more fundamental than your experience of the physical world that you're looking out on.

And it's so close to us and so fundamental,

We kind of skip past it and go straight to,

Well,

There's definitely a physical world out there.

So the first thing,

The most fundamental thing,

And actually the only thing you know for sure that exists if you take a really completely skeptical view of what you can know,

Is that you are having an experience.

You're having a conscious inner subjective experience right now.

So that actually comes first.

Your experience of the physical world is mediated through the fact that you're having a conscious experience.

Without that,

There would be no experience of a seemingly physical world out there.

So the most skeptical position to start with is that the only thing I can know for sure is I'm having a conscious experience right now.

And you can prove that,

Demonstrate that for yourself,

Because I'm presuming you're having one now.

So that's one rationale why.

.

.

Okay,

So that's the only thing we know for sure.

So maybe that's the foundation of reality.

That's what everything can be explained by and reduced to.

Now,

Materialism has a couple of problems.

So I'm going to carry on talking for a few more minutes and then do the commentary.

So I'm going to talk a bit about two problems of materialism,

Which is another reason why idealism is something that might be worth investigating.

So one of the main problems with materialism is that it fails to understand and fails to explain this thing we've just described,

Which is the only thing we know for sure exists,

Our conscious experience.

What's more important to you and your reality than your immediate subjective conscious experience?

And materialism can't explain that.

There's different ways they try and explain consciousness.

One,

They say,

Emerges from the brain,

From the complexity of the brain.

Again,

There's no explanation of how that happens.

It's kind of appealing to magic.

It's just the brain gets complicated enough,

This bit of matter gets complicated enough,

And then consciousness suddenly appears.

Or they say that there isn't anything else to consciousness.

Consciousness just is what the arrangement of your neurons in your brain are.

They're just identical.

They're exactly the same thing.

Again,

That just doesn't explain anything.

It doesn't explain why other arrangements of matter,

Why they don't have a subjective experience.

And then,

Of course,

There's the people who actually deny consciousness altogether and say it's an illusion,

Which one philosopher,

Galen Strawson,

Described as the silliest thought in the history of thought,

Something like that.

So scientists who are materialists,

So remember materialism isn't science.

Materialism is an assumed philosophical position that matter underlies everything.

So a lot of scientists will tend to be materialists,

But you don't have to be.

You can be an idealist scientist.

Science is exploring how nature behaves,

Remember,

Not about what reality is.

So a materialist scientist will say,

Well,

The brain creates consciousness and they will find many correlations between brain states and consciousness states.

So there is a correlation there,

Absolutely.

But correlation isn't causation,

Just as people arriving to a train station doesn't cause the train to arrive.

So just because something may happen first and then something else happens after doesn't mean that thing causes the next.

So there's evidence of correlation but not causation.

And even with these correlations,

No one can say why one particular brain state causes one particular experience of consciousness.

So this brave wave pattern here,

My experience of happiness,

They can't say why that causes that.

It's called an explanatory gap.

There is no explanation as to why there is this correlation,

Why this brain pattern would cause this experience and this other one would cause another.

So this is a real problem with the materialist attempt to explain consciousness.

Another problem is that the best science we have,

That by far the best science for making the best predictions of how nature behaves,

Is quantum mechanics.

And the results of quantum mechanics strongly suggest that there is no external objective physical world.

They've designed experiments specifically to test this and the results are verifiable,

Reliable,

Repeated.

Say there is no external physical reality,

Objective physical reality.

So that's a big problem for the materialist scientists because the best science strongly suggests there isn't an external physical world.

So that's quite mind-blowing.

They're only way out of this for the materialist to hang on to there being an external physical world is to say that every tiny fraction of a second,

The tiniest fraction of a second you can get,

Uncountable universes,

Whole physical universes are created.

So this is the many worlds theory that says that everything that could possibly happen must actually happen.

So this is quite a crazy theory that every tiny fraction of a second uncountable physical universes just pop into existence and the next tiny fraction of a second with every single one of those uncountable universes another whole uncountable number of universes occur.

So the explosion of physical universes is just unfathomable.

So that's the only way out for the materialist of accepting what quantum mechanics tells us,

Which is there isn't an external objective physical world.

Now because we live with that assumption that's quite hard to grasp.

But if we explore idealism,

Which I'll do in future sessions,

Then it's okay because we have an alternative that does account for consciousness.

It can account for the experience of there seeming to be a physical world.

So we do have an alternative.

We're not left with just this idea of there not being a physical world or of there being these unfathomable creations of physical worlds every tiny fraction of a second.

So there is an alternative.

And so just to repeat the basis of it,

Which I mentioned,

Is that it takes the one thing that we can know for sure,

The only thing we can know for sure,

That we're having an experience as the foundation of reality.

So it's a logical place to start and it can account for the fact that we have an experience of a seemingly objective physical world.

And it fits with quantum mechanics that says there isn't an external physical world.

So it accounts for that.

And it has no hard problem of consciousness.

It has no explanatory gap because consciousness is its starting point.

So let's transition into mindfulness practice.

So just again to say why I feel these things are connected.

In mindfulness you are practicing going back to that fundamental experience of just being awareness,

Of being consciousness and feeling the reality of that.

So if we add to that this understanding that that experience is your foundation and everyone's foundation and actually the foundational reality,

It can make it a more significant and deeper experience.

Whereas under materialism it would just be a biological robot,

A brain,

Performing some physical actions and affecting the brain a little bit.

And there's no meaning,

No great significance in that.

Whereas under idealism you're getting really in touch with reality at its core,

At its most fundamental.

And it can lead to understanding yourself and others and your reality much deeper.

Okay,

So I'm going to do about 20 minute commentary on being more present and exploring that idea that everything happens within your consciousness,

Within your awareness.

So to do that we'll become more aware of what is happening and then see if we can get that feeling of just allowing it all just to rest within your awareness.

Okay,

So if you want to perhaps take a few deeper breaths to begin with.

And really feel the breath in the body as you breathe in and really notice the change in sensations in the body as you breathe out.

So if we start with the breath as one of the things happening within our awareness,

Within our consciousness,

The idea is not to focus on the breath but see if you can have a nice open awareness and just invite the breath to be in the centre,

The foreground of your open awareness.

And so as I breathe I'm still aware of the fact that I'm thinking and feeling and that there's sounds happening in the space,

The environment around me.

So allowing everything to happen around the breath including your thoughts,

Emotions,

Activity of the mind.

So allowing the breath to be at the centre to connect you to the body,

To the present moment.

So the invitation is to just simply be the space for which everything can happen.

So we're not going to try and change anything that's happening.

We're not going to change the pattern of the breath.

We're going to allow the sounds that we can hear just to be as they are.

Allow our thoughts just to flow freely through the mind and however we're feeling,

Just allowing ourselves to feel that in the mind,

In the mind.

So having an alert attention,

Alert awareness,

Being interested in all the different things that are happening,

Internally and externally.

And just exploring this idea of not focusing,

Not concentrating on one thing or another but creating that space within which everything can happen just as it is.

Thoughts and sounds,

Breath and emotions,

The body and the space around the body.

Being open to all these things that are all joined by the fact that they're all happening together right now in this moment.

Let's see if you can get this feeling of allowing your body to simply be part of the environment,

Part of the space.

So both the body and the space around the body are both together within your awareness,

Within the space of your awareness.

And your thoughts and the sounds that you can hear in the environment around you,

Both just things happening together at this moment within the space of your awareness.

Thoughts and sounds,

Both just a flow of experience within your awareness.

Sounds happening in the physical space around you,

Thoughts happening in the mental space of your mind.

And the space of your awareness holds both.

So thoughts and sounds coming and going within that one space of your awareness.

And just as there's no point trying to change the sounds that you can hear in the environment around you,

They're going to just happen as they are.

Approach your thoughts in the same way,

Just allow them to be exactly as they are.

Don't make any effort to change them at all.

Just let them come and go in the space of your awareness,

Just the sounds come and go in the space also of your awareness.

So choosing to really engage,

Actively connect with the present moment and with all the experiences that are there,

Laid out before you right now.

We're not trying to detach ourselves from anything.

We're not trying to stop one thing and encourage another.

Just enjoying the great variety and uniqueness of each moment.

Experiencing the blend of what we would call internal experiences of feelings,

Emotions and thoughts,

What we'd usually call external experiences of the senses.

And these are all experiences happening within your one awareness in this moment.

You don't need to separate them or treat them any differently.

We're just allowing everything to happen just as it is and welcoming everything into our open awareness.

Allow your attention to wander freely within this present moment.

Simply notice what comes to your attention,

Maybe a sound or a thought,

A feeling or a sensation in the body.

This idea of an effortless attention,

A choiceless awareness.

Just noticing whatever you notice without choice,

Without effort,

Without any focus or concentration.

Just allowing your attention to drift within this present moment and all it contains.

And the one common factor behind all these different experiences that you can be aware of right now in this moment is you,

The experiencer.

You are the space of awareness within which all these things are happening.

So even your body is just an experience of the body.

It is just one of many experiences that you are having in this moment.

The most distant sound you can hear,

The experience of hearing that and the experience of feeling your body.

They're just two of the many experiences in this moment and they're both happening within the space of your awareness.

You don't need to identify anymore with one than the other.

So sense that you're holding everything that's happening within your awareness,

Just gently holding it.

Nothing is happening outside of you,

Everything is happening within your awareness.

This experience right now is the only thing you ever know,

Your experience of this moment.

Every sensation,

Every thought,

Every sense perception,

You only ever know right now in this moment.

There is no other moment.

Every thought of the future,

Memory of the past,

Only happens right now in this moment within your awareness.

Allow yourself to be completely part of this moment,

Your mind and body completely integrated with this experience of this moment right now,

This spacious present.

Okay,

So we bring the meditation to a close there.

Reviews

Ah, the big unknown!

Metaphysics is explained very nicely and concisely by Stephen. I am growing fonder of this topic when listening to the explanations of what is the difference between physics and metaphysics. My head spins at times but the way I understand it is that, physics concerns the ‘how’ of reality, whilst metaphysics concerns the ‘what’ and the ‘why’. I hope I got this right?🤔🧠🧐. Correct me Stephen if I got this wrong please🙏🏻

The meditation was stunning and I felt very relaxed in the here and now space. My self-awareness was flowing well moment by moment. It felt so free and open. It was a blissful experience and the commentary is awesome 👌🏼 - thank you Stephen🙏🏻♥️🧘‍♂️✨