Insight & Objectivity

The work of mindfulness is to let go of reactivity, and the prerequisite for that is to see our reactivity as it happens. Since we are by nature self-defensive, this takes an objective state of mind. Only by stopping, taking a breath, and seeing exactly how you hang on to your mental patterns can you begin to let them go.
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Transcript

Hello everybody,

Welcome back to Mindfulness Live and this week we start a new month.

Last month we were actually talking about insight,

Different aspects of insight.

This month we're talking about letting go and the first weekly topic on that subject is objectivity.

In order to let go you need to cultivate objectivity,

Which implies that the reason you're hanging on is because you're not being objective.

So that's really the theme that we're going to be talking about this week.

The way in which we hang on and how to see yourself doing that,

How to get to see clearly and objectively what's really going on.

OK,

Not nearly as easy as you'd expect.

OK.

Let us begin.

Take a nice breath.

And let go.

And the object is simply to watch the breath as it comes in.

And watch the breath when it pauses and watch the breath when it goes out.

Not complicated.

Or I should better say,

Don't complicate it.

This is the essence,

Staying with the breath.

Keeping it simple.

By being aware and watching out for your tendency to complicate and sophisticated and interpret.

So just staying with the breath.

Letting go of all that mental baggage that interferes with your perception.

Because all you want to do is watch the breath.

With your attention in your body.

Look at your chest as a bellows.

A big bag opening and closing.

Feel the movement of all the muscles.

Feel the sensation of pressure and release.

Feel the temperature of the air entering your lungs.

And the release of breathing out.

Feel the breath,

The beginning,

The middle,

And the end.

Feeling it change from out breath to in breath and back again.

And feeling when it goes deep,

A nice deep breath,

That it feels nice.

Good long breath.

This is healing,

Calming,

And encouraging.

Encourages you to stay here and keep paying attention.

Enjoy the breath.

And enjoy the simplicity being here and now.

Letting go of complication.

And of expectation.

Good long breath.

Staying with the breath.

Keeping your mind slow,

Manageable,

Not too crazy,

Too reactive,

Not too quick,

But you can't give up.

Just staying with the breath,

Keeping it long and slow,

Keeping yourself in a manageable,

Objective state of mind.

And all you have to be objective about right now is the breath.

And of course the contents of your mind,

Which you let go in order to stay here and now.

And now taking three more breaths,

Open your eyes.

So we are very,

Very,

Very clever human beings with lots of brains and lots of ideas and lots of preferences.

And there are things that we prefer to other things.

We're partial.

There are things that we don't like.

We're prejudiced.

There are things we just don't have time to deal with,

With bias.

We take shortcuts all the time.

I often talk about automaticity.

Automaticity is a tendency to make judgments and conclusions and act in ways which are familiar which we've done before.

And automaticity is very,

Very much behind bias and prejudice,

Which of course are the obstacles to objectivity,

They're the opposite of objectivity.

They're exactly the states of mind that we want to,

Well,

I wouldn't say to make them go away,

But to recognize.

We have to recognize when we're being biased.

So how do we do that?

It's difficult.

There's a tendency for people to,

Well,

Look,

It's very prevalent in the news now and the bias of people politically.

There's this huge gulf now,

Which happens periodically,

Where the left wing and the right wing are very,

Very far apart.

There's very little common ground.

So what is happening right now that makes that possible?

It's a social phenomenon which is affecting us all.

Let's take the example of vaccination being a good idea.

I'm sure you believe it is.

I think you've all had the vaccine.

We've talked about it.

None of you seem to be against it.

But it's just your opinion that you think it's a good idea.

Do you understand the science?

Do you know how to create an RMA?

The recombinant virus vaccine,

Can you do that?

Do you have any idea how they're doing it?

Do you know what the words mean?

So you just happen to believe it,

Right?

Well,

That's okay.

You're allowed to believe it.

But I'm allowed to believe that vaccines are dangerous and that I might get sick from them.

So it's equal.

You don't have any informed knowledge over me.

This is called,

What I'm doing,

This argument here is called moral relativism.

This is not actually a moral,

Well,

It is a moral argument.

That's something we can argue about too.

But the point is that this is the way people think is that my opinion is just as good as yours.

Okay.

This is what we mean by democracy and freedom and that I'm allowed to think and believe whatever I want.

And you have no right to challenge that.

So this is very prevalent and this is the state we've come to.

We've got millions of people thinking like this and it's,

Well,

My opinion is that it's a mistake.

I think there is a difference between right and wrong.

And if you subscribe to moral relativism,

Then you can't do that.

You can always find a reason to say that something is justifiable.

Those people who stormed the Capitol building on January the 6th,

They thought they were doing the right thing.

They really did,

Most of them.

I don't think they had any sense that they were doing something bad.

So this is the way that we are.

We behave like this.

We act on biases.

I looked up the word bias.

I was researching this morning and I found 49 different types so far,

Still counting.

So we're not going to go through all the details.

But there are certain types of bias that we need to look at.

Before that,

I should sort of,

Let's just go back to the concept of objectivity in the first place.

What does it mean?

It means to see things the way they actually are.

And just think about that sentence,

To see things the way they actually are,

As if me,

The observer,

Has nothing to do with it.

Like we think fact and reality is out there and all I have to do is sit back and as long as I'm not biased,

I will see the truth.

It doesn't work like that.

It's impossible for us to see something without making all sorts of judgments about it.

First judgment,

Which we make instinctively,

Is,

Is this safe?

Okay,

You meet a new situation,

A new person,

A new wild animal,

And your first reaction is this safe.

So there's a judgment going on immediately.

There's nothing wrong with those judgments and there's nothing necessarily wrong with bias if it's well thought through and you're aware of your biases and you're remaining objective enough to know that this can be questioned.

But we do need to know the difference.

My nephew,

This was years ago,

He was,

He's a snowboarder or he was a competing snowboarder in those days and he went to France on a competition trip.

And while he was in France,

His hotel room was broken into and his stuff was stolen.

And ever since then,

He hates France and he's never going back because the French are terrible.

And that's that.

He's stuck on that.

He was so upset by that and he was so hurt by it that that has now colored his entire perception of everything,

Or any,

Anything that you describe which has the word France in it now gets sort of colored in the same way.

All right.

This is not unusual at all.

This is very common.

This is very much the way we make our decisions.

You know,

We hear a song one time and we don't just hate the song or love the song,

We love the person who sang it,

Everything they do.

There's all sorts of ways in which we do this because who we like,

What we like and what we don't like also reflects who we are,

Which is something that I identify with very strongly and I keep my eye on that very much.

I'm always keeping an eye on who I am,

Making sure that no one sees me the wrong way or that I don't present myself the wrong way or that I have to keep track of me.

This is another subject we're going to go into.

It's very important,

The sense of self.

But I just want you to see it in motion right now,

Which is that bias is all about protecting yourself.

Objectivity is all about taking yourself out of the equation.

In science,

Objectivity is the opposite of subjectivity.

The trouble is that in order to see anything,

We have to use our senses,

Which is subjective.

In order to know anything,

It has to go through us,

Through a body,

Senses,

Mind,

Whatever.

So somehow or another,

We are always,

Always involved.

So this idea that objectivity is seeing things the way they really are,

There's no such thing as the way they really are.

If I'm standing in one corner of a field looking at a cow and you're standing in the other corner of the field looking at the same cow,

We're going to see two completely different things.

And we'll probably come to the same conclusion that there's a cow in the field.

But what you actually see and what I actually see are not objectively the same.

They're different.

So firstly,

Objectivity is not absolute,

Okay,

Which leads people to believe that,

Well,

Objectivity is all relative.

But that is wrong too,

Because there is objectively a right and a wrong in many situations.

There's a correct and an incorrect.

And your ability to understand that depends on your ability to go to your place,

To get past all that bias,

Get past all the prejudice and get past all this self-defensiveness and see what you're actually seeing and how you're seeing it.

This is always an issue.

You know,

It's not just a matter of watching the breath.

It's also how am I watching the breath?

What do I see in the breath?

What am I expecting in it?

See,

We're always looking out for expectation,

Always looking out for judgment.

It's the most important thing.

In a sense that the real value of meditation is not so much in being quiet and being peaceful.

It's in seeing all this stuff,

Seeing the way in which your mind is bouncing around,

Trying to fix everything all the time.

That's where the value is,

Because when you see that,

You change.

You change your attitude towards yourself and your perceptions.

So that's what this is all about.

It's all about perception,

Objectivity,

Bias,

Judgment.

These are all influences on your perception.

So objectivity is about developing a clean,

Clear ability to perceive.

And that requires not an Einsteinian intelligence.

You don't need to be a genius.

You need to go to your place.

You need to slow down to the point where you know your mind is operating at a speed that you can trust.

But you're not going to jump to conclusions and come out with wild accusations like,

Well,

The French are bad because they ripped me off once in 1988.

But we do that.

We do that.

I mean,

That's a sort of absurd thing.

I mean,

What's something which is a little more delicate is,

You know,

I might see Caroline eating a quince.

Okay.

I've never seen her eat a quince.

I have no idea if she likes them or not.

I would say,

Oh,

You like quinces because I see her eating it.

But in fact,

She might be having a bad time.

I don't know if she likes them.

She's just eating it maybe for the first time.

But this is a conclusion I can jump to very easily.

Or somebody says to me,

I asked somebody,

How are you doing?

Oh,

I'm fine.

I'm great.

I'm great.

But a little examination reveals that they're not great at all.

They're in a lot of emotional pain and they don't know how to express it.

And they've come to me for help.

So they're inclined to defend their little sort of social image of themselves that they're trying to defend themselves,

Even while they're trying to be vulnerable and actually get help.

So you cannot underestimate the importance of bias and prejudice.

And it's not just a matter of saying,

This is a bad thing.

I don't want to be like this.

It's a matter of saying,

I am bias.

I am prejudice.

And I need to see those biases and prejudices.

I want to see them when they happen.

I want to know when they kick in.

I expect them.

It's normal.

I'm just like anyone else.

Why not?

But I will not be governed by them as much as possible.

Make yourselves comfortable.

Take a deep breath and let go.

And you're in your place.

That place that you go when you close your eyes,

Take a breath and bring your attention inside.

And you might ask yourself if in this moment there's anything that you want or expect or hope for.

Maybe you'd like to be peaceful.

So pay attention to that hope and see how it colors your experience.

Watching the breath,

Hoping it'll feel good.

Following my instructions,

Hoping that you'll pay attention,

But you won't be distracted.

And you're sitting here hoping that mindfulness will make you less anxious.

Knowing these hopes,

You don't get carried away.

You remain objective,

Realistic.

And as you breathe,

You know,

I am bias.

I have preferences.

And you also know I'm in my place.

I can see.

I can understand my biases.

And so I can learn to be objective by letting go.

What do you want?

What do you think you should be doing right now?

Let go of that.

Just watch the breath.

It's not what you should do.

It's what you decide to do.

And you decide to be in your place.

Pay attention and be objective.

Staying with the breath and feeling it.

Feeling the motion of the breath in your chest,

In your throat.

Feeling the tension of the muscles and feeling the sensation of breath and your perception of it.

Knowing that you breathe,

Knowing that you know,

You're aware of your mind as well as your body,

Of your feelings as well as your thoughts.

And you're aware that perception is something that you take part in,

Creatively.

It's not passive.

When you know something,

You know it with bias.

What you know may hurt you or harm you.

And so you may resist or be attracted.

So you let go.

Stay in your place.

You come here to see how you feel,

What you think,

Because you can manage this in your place.

You can let go of your bias.

You can be objective.

Because here you're not threatened.

You don't have to be defensive.

Here you can trust yourself and trust your ability to let go of bias and subjectivity.

And now taking three more breaths.

Open your eyes.

Reviews

Very good meditation and practice! This is my. First with you, but definitely not my last!
The ending is a bit abrupt and I’ve found that I appreciate an ending bell/chime/audible aid indicating that the guidance is complete (and that I’m “on my own” now 😉). All in all, though, I anticipate appreciating more of your guidance in the future - thank you!