Thoughts are Not Feeling Neutral

Thinking as the activity of intention-generation is accompanied by both feeling and breathing. 

Obviously, breathing does not always accompany our thinking but in the originating activity of narratives, breathing was tied to the thinking. This results in a patterning of feeling/breathing that leaves an incarnate trace effect. Most acts leave patterned deposits. If a similar action is taken in the future, that action will, in turn, build on the prior act and so on and so on until a kind of breath/feeling takes root. Perhaps the metaphor of a sandpile on the beach may serve to make the point. We build a sizeable mound of sand on the beach and then proceed to pour buckets of water on the top of the mound. When the water is poured it naturally seeks its own level downward. In doing so, it will form rivulets in the mound. As we continue to pour these buckets of water on the top of the mound some of the rivulets will attract more of the water than others and consequently they will deepen attracting even more water than the others with future pours. In an earlier blog post, I used the example of the sedimentary rock layers of the Grand Canyon. It was, very importantly, noted that the foundation layers--it is layers all the way down, with no perceivable bottom in this semi-fictitious example--are still an influence to more current and even the presently forming layer. Influence from the remote bottom layers is still effectual when the patterning influence of foundational layers on all subsequent layers is taken into effect. Consequently, the actions taken by our ancestors are still influential as are our actions taken in the present. The present, inclusive of all sorts of conditions which are truly infinite in scope, gives rise to what we of finite perception consider to be novelty. No amount of calculation could possibly be inclusive enough to fathom the prevailing conditions of the present.

Our past lives, for it is only incarnate actions that can take place, are truly ours in this sense. For we are the inheritors of the past into the present toward the intentional future--the only future that may be said to truly exist. 

It should be noted... 

This movement gives rise to inclinations that, in accordance with their repetition and severity of impact, will generate similar acts in future. This is habit, the result of repetition. This is why practice works. Much like form and color, thinking, breathing, and feeling are not separable but they are distinguishable. Distinguishing this triune movement is not always evident. In fact, for most of us, it would take a good deal of practice, especially meditation practice, to access this type of subtle observation. Once gained, this skill proves helpful in attenuating unwanted habits, those that cause suffering are the most relevant to our concerns.

To be continued...