Paying Bare Attention

"Mindfulness is non-judgmental observation.  It is the ability of the mind to observe without criticism.  With this ability, one see things without condemnation or judgment.  One is surprised by nothing.  

Mindfulness is an impartial watchfulness.  It does not take sides.  It does not get hung up in what is perceived.  Mindfulness does not get infatuated with the good mental states.  It does not try to sidestep the bad mental states.  There is no clinging to the pleasant, no fleeing from the unpleasant.  Mindfulness treats all experiences equally, all thought equally, all feeling equally.  Nothing is suppressed.  Nothing is repressed.  Mindfulness does not play favorites.

'Sati' is 'bare attention.'  It is not thinking.  It does not get involved with thought or concepts.  It does not get hung up on ideas or opinions or memories.  It just looks.  Mindfulness registers experiences, but it does not compare them.  It comes before thought in the perceptual process.  Mindfulness stops one from adding anything to perception, or subtracting anything from it.  One does no enhance anything.  One does not emphasize anything.  One just observes exactly what is there - without distortion.  Mindfulness is awareness of change.  It is observing the passing flow of experience.  It is watching things as they are changing."

As part of my morning meditation I'm rereading this excellent book on mindfulness meditation for like the third time.  Because I use different types of highlighters to underline meaningful passages  I'm always amused to see what struck me as significant in the past and what didn't ring a bell at the time, particularly when a passage or paragraph stands out starkly on my second or third or seventh  reading.  The thoughts expressed above by the author were completely opaque to me in my previous readings but fairly screamed their importance this time.  I had no what he was talking about before but they really make sense this time.  Maybe my meditation practice has advanced to a point where I get what the dude is saying?  Progress made is often missed by the person making progress even though the growth is apparent to someone else.

Eh.  Who knows?