Fundamentals
Cause and Effect
Experience is often understood in terms of cause and effect.
‘This caused that.’
‘That made this happen.’
‘If this had not happened, that would not have followed.’
A story of causation appears over experience.
Blame, justification, excuse, and explanation are variations of this.
Attention shifts from what is present to a cause or reason in thought.
‘It is because of this.’
‘It is because of them.’
‘It is because I am this way.’
One person, one group, or one happening is often identified as the source of a condition: me, you, the Government, the British, Amazon etc.
What is actually present is a wider field of conditions. What appears in this moment is inseparable from everything that has led up to it: all events, environments, learnings, interactions, memories etc.
Applying cause and effect to reality is a form of interpretation. The assignment of a single cause reduces this field into a single point.
When a single cause is identified, separation is implied where no separation exists.
Keeping attention in explanation and justification narrows what is seen. The immediacy of experience is not fully met, and the possibility of change is not directly available while the story is being followed.
Clarity is seeing when experience is direct, and when explanation is present.
Consider the examples below. What is common across all of these is that an imaginary cause replaces connection with what is actually present.
Examples:
Loneliness
A sense of loneliness appears. The story forms: ‘I am alone’, ‘there is nobody here for me’, ‘this is because I don’t have the right relationships’, ‘what I need is nicer people around me’. Each story points away from the direct experience of what is present, and away from noticing what is actually here. Separation is taken as caused by being alone, rather than seen as thoughts appearing alongside sensation. There is no cause of separation. The experience of separation is thoughts and sensations appearing, and being made important and meaningful. In the here and now, there is no experience of separation. There is only what is: sensations, thoughts, objects, observations, moving through awareness.
Disorganisation
An apartment is disorganised. The story forms: 'I've been really busy' or 'I'm just a messy person'. In another context, the story might turn outward into systems and authority: 'science says this is due to my ADHD', 'psychology explains this as part of my personality', 'this is because of trauma responses in the nervous system'. Each story points away from the experience and exploration of disorganisation, and obstructs the possibility of experiencing a greater sense of organisation.
Lying awake
A person lies awake at night. The mind says: 'this is because I drank coffee too late', or 'my sleep cycle is broken'. A narrative forms, and attention moves into solving and justifying. What is often missed is the field of experience itself: sensations in the body, images in the mind, all appearing without needing an explanation as to how they arose. Free from explanations, a person can embrace the situation of being awake, and potentially do things they might not otherwise have done, if they had been asleep.
Sophisticated stories
Even in spiritual or psychological contexts, explanations can become refined and socially acceptable. 'My nervous system is dysregulated', 'this is conditioning from childhood', 'everything happens for a reason'. The language becomes more sophisticated, but the movement is the same: away from direct experience and into a vague explanation about it.