When we are watching a cloud, is there a subject and an object?
Our understanding is limited. Therefore donāt infer a thing from it. Letās just listen to it, allow it space to sink in.
Of course, paying attention to another person important aspect of a relationship.
Sir, letās go back to the fundamental question again. Is it possible to have a relationship with a person without too much exchange of words?
Why is this for you an important question?
In a moment of pure watching there is only shape/color/line/movement. Subject/object and all the rest of it bursts onto the scene when thought engages. Thought parses the whole into semi-autonomous parts. Without thought, whole/parts has no meaning.
Forget pure watching for the moment. We are watching a cloud. Why?
Because Iām on my lunchbreak, Iāve just eaten a sandwhich on a park bench, its a sunny autumn afternoon, and Iām just free-wheelinā before returning to the office - idly daydreaming whilst watching a cloud (this might in fact be the pure watching business mentioned earlier)
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Sorry, but you lost me.
It is a question about the intent behind the watching, whether itās a cloud or a psychological reaction. Why are we watching?
I watch to enjoy, learn, understand, get pleasure, avoid pain.
In other words, there is a motive behind my watching, something Iām trying to do that I think will be of benefit to me (mainly) or others or the world.
Why do we not just watch? This is something that we never actually do. It seems we need to have a reason to watch. So the range of our learning is already diminished by a narrow focus of interest.
What about the daydreaming guy in my story above - just looking at the clouds for no reason. Does that count as watching? Is he learning anything?
Perhaps he is thinking about what is waiting for him back at the office. Or he is escaping temporarily from all that by looking at the clouds. In a daydream, oneās attention drifts in and out. But what does it mean to pay complete attention to those clouds?
Isnāt the daydreaming guy paying complete attention when heās just witnessing the movement of the clouds and sky if only for a few moments?
We have reasons for everything we do.
what about daydreaming, is there a motive? does one choose to do it?
It seems to me one of the main reasons we daydream is to escape from reality. We may choose to do this consciously, or the choice might be made unconsciously.
maybe weāre not talking about the same thing
I am saying that we escape from reality consciously at times and unconsciously at times, and that daydreaming is one of the ways we escape.
You?
I would like to know how we decide which bit is reality?
Maybe too many questions at once but am I really in charge of my choices? Also if Iām choosing unconsciously was it really my choice?
PS - There is a short bit in the pali canon about how Buddha used a memory of a lazy summer daydream in his youth as the basis for āproperā meditation
PPS - I donāt think I can decide to daydream - maybe I should try