What’s Up with your Second Attention?
By Keith Sherwood
“We become conscious of ourselves through self-knowledge and ... in this way, there arises a consciousness which is no longer imprisoned in the petty, oversensitive personal world of the ego, but participates freely in the wider world of objective interests.” Carl Gustav Jung
According to an ancient spiritual text known as the Bhairava Tantra, “One day it began to rain, and the rain continued for days and months on end. Everything was submerged underwater, and there was no land or landmark of any kind in sight. A lone bird was hovering over this vast expanse of water and, seeing no landmark anywhere, became lost and could not return to its home. Then the water gradually receded a bit, and a log of wood came into sight. The bird at once landed on the wood and, using it as a base, flew back and forth from there in order to find food and whatever else it needed. Each time the bird flew off in any direction, it kept the piece of wood in sight and, in this way, always returned to the same base without any difficulty.”
If you have the yearning for truth, freedom, and/or love, like the bird in the story, you must learn to cultivate your second attention by engaging in worldly activities while keeping your base in mind. The base is the I AM within you, where life-affirming consciousness, energy, and your authentic identity have their foundation.
In this edition of Inner Awareness Newsletter, you’ll learn – through a six-day series of exercises – a method for developing your "second attention."
To utilize your second attention, you must detach yourself from your individual mind and ego (which are stuck in the field of maya) so that you become the observer of the “movie of your mind.” Detachment of this sort will allow you to stay centered in the I AM while you continue to participate in worldly activities and relationships.
Observing yourself while you’re centered in the I AM is called “checking.” In the exercises that follow, you will check yourself on three levels: physical, emotional, and mental. Before you begin, it’s important to recognize that, to effectively check yourself, you must resist the urge to do things right, watch yourself, or care about the results.
In preparation, you’ll need three photos – a recent photograph of yourself, a photo of yourself as an adolescent, and a photo of yourself as a child. All three photos should be full length if possible.
Day One
On day one, find a comfortable position with your back straight. Once you’re comfortable, study the most recent picture of yourself. Check your physical body for areas of stiffness or tension; check muscle groups and joints where you might be storing pain, fear, or anger. Ask yourself questions. (I suggest you write down the questions and the answers so that you can review them later.) Do you look relaxed or tense in the photo? Are you carrying yourself naturally, or does your posture suggest you’re hiding something? Be specific and take note of everything that looks unnatural or strained.
On the emotional level, check whether your image looks happy or sad, irritated, or dissatisfied. Ask yourself if you’re expressing your emotions freely. Then ask yourself, if you like the expression on your face. If you do, fine; if not, ask yourself why.
When you’re satisfied with the information you’ve gathered, continue the process on the mental level. Check whether your image is centered in personal body space. Then check if the image is trapped in the internal dialogue. Ask yourself: Does the image have a Self-limiting attitude that is interfering with my well-being? Finally, check the image’s expression: Is the image identifying with their authentic mind or are they identifying with a Self-limiting pattern? After you’ve finished checking the photo and you’ve written down your questions and answers, begin checking the photos of yourself as an adolescent and child.
After you’re finished checking all three photos, lie down with your arms by your sides. Close your eyes and continue the exercise by breathing deeply through your nose. When you’re ready to continue, bring your mental attention to your feet, draw in your breath, and contract the muscles of your feet as much as possible. Hold your breath for three seconds. After three seconds, release your breath and allow the muscles of your feet to relax. Inhale deeply again and repeat the same procedure with your ankles, calves, thighs, buttocks, abdomen, chest, neck, arms, and hands. Continue by squeezing the muscles of your face. Hold them tight for three seconds. Then release them and exhale. Open your mouth next, stick out your tongue, and stretch the muscles of your face as much as possible; hold your breath for three seconds, then release the muscles of your face and exhale.
To complete this part of the exercise, contract your entire body (this time squeezing the muscles of your face) and hold your breath. After three seconds, expel the air forcibly through your nose while you simultaneously relax all the muscles of your body. Continue by checking yourself once again. Pay special attention to areas that are still tense, numb, or lack feeling. Then pay attention to your emotional state. Ask yourself: What am I feeling? Are my emotions flowing freely and being resolved? Finally, check your mental state by paying attention to the spontaneous thoughts and images flowing through your mind. Pay special attention to any thoughts that aren’t connected to what you’re doing or feeling.
Make no attempt to control your thoughts or modify your attitude; simply watch the movie of your mind for ten minutes or until you’re satisfied that you’ve collected as much information as possible. Then count from one to five and open your eyes. You’ll feel wide awake, perfectly relaxed, and better than you did before.
Day Two
Repeat the “tense and release exercise” you performed on day one. Then close your eyes and imagine that you’re getting up and walking ten steps away from your body. Remain centered in your personal body space while you watch your doppelganger step away. Check your doppelganger on the physical, emotional, and mental levels. As soon as you’re satisfied with what you’ve learned, have your doppelganger walk back and lie down in your body again. After your doppelganger has returned and is congruent, take ten minutes to relax. Then count from one to five and open your eyes. You’ll feel wide awake, perfectly relaxed, and better than you did before.
Day Three
For the exercise on day three, you’ll use the recent photo of yourself. I recommend that you perform the exercise in a sitting position. Put the photo in front of you so that you can see it clearly without moving your head. Then close your eyes and breathe deeply through your nose until you feel relaxed. Next, bring your mental attention to your toes. Continue to breathe into your toes until they begin to vibrate. Feel the vibration spread through your feet and feel your feet relax. Then bring your attention to your ankles and calves, knees, and thighs. Feel the vibration move upward with your mental attention and breath. Continue in the same way with your hips, buttocks, pelvic region, lower abdomen, lower back, upper abdomen, and middle back. Then feel the vibration move into your chest and shoulders along with your mental attention and breath. Next, focus your attention and breath on your fingers until they vibrate. Continue the process with your hands, wrists, lower arms, upper arms; then move to your neck and throat. Your face gets special attention. Most people have emotional tensions stored in the muscles of their face. Start with your jaw and chin; then move your mental attention and breath to your mouth, cheeks, nose, ears, eyes, and forehead. Feel the vibration move along with your mental attention. Once you feel your entire scalp vibrating, relax for five minutes. After five minutes, open your eyes, but keep them slightly unfocused. Then look at the photo in front of you. Repeat the exercise that you just completed with the image of yourself in the photo. Begin with the images toes and move upward through their body. After you’ve experienced the vibration in each body part, relax for five minutes. Then open your eyes again. You’ll feel wide awake, perfectly relaxed, and better than you did before.
Day Four
You’ll begin the exercise on day four in a sitting position with the recent photo of yourself in front of you. When you’re ready to continue, close your eyes and breathe deeply through your nose until you feel relaxed. Next, open your eyes; keep them slightly unfocused and look at the picture in front of you for a count of three. Then close your eyes and mentally visualize what you saw in the picture for 20 seconds. Repeat the procedure another time paying special attention to the emotions your image is expressing. After the second repetition, open your eyes and look at the photo again. Then close your eyes and let yourself experience the image’s mental state for 20 seconds. This time, go one step further by empathizing with the image of yourself in the photo. Repeat the procedure one more time. Then close your eyes and relax for ten minutes. When you open your eyes again, you’ll feel wide awake, perfectly relaxed, and better than you did before.
Day Five
Begin the exercise on day five in a sitting position in front of a full-length mirror; if you don't have a full-length mirror, use the biggest one you have. Sit about six feet (two meters) away from it. Go through the awareness exercise you did on day three. After you’re finished, repeat the visualization exercise you did on day four, with one exception; you’ll substitute your doppelganger in the mirror for the photo. However, instead of doing the exercise for 20 seconds at a time, extend the duration to one minute. When you’re finished, relax for about ten minutes. When you open your eyes, you’ll feel wide awake, perfectly relaxed, and better than you did before.
Day Six
On the sixth day, you’ll put together everything you learned from the previous five days. Begin by finding a comfortable sitting position with your back straight. Close your eyes and breathe deeply through your nose until you’re relaxed. Then perform the awareness exercise you learned on day three. After you’ve finished the awareness exercise, get up and go for a twenty-minute walk. This is an actual walk, not a visualization. Check yourself physically, emotionally, and mentally for the first ten minutes; then continue by empathizing with yourself. After twenty minutes, return to your seat, close your eyes, and relax for five minutes. After five minutes, open your eyes. You’ll feel wide awake, perfectly relaxed, and better than you did before.
If you were able to experience the world of physical and non-physical dimensions through your second attention, you’ll have taken a big step towards discerning the difference between what is real and what is not. The ability to discern what is real and what emerges from the field of maya – and is not real – will enable you to transcend your limitations and experience a permanent state of bliss.
If you weren’t completely successful in this six-day process, repeat it as many times necessary to achieve a working knowledge of the second attention.