ATTENTIVE TO ATTENTION

  The vigilant sustaining of attentive presence is not actually just another habit developed as an aid by a contemplative practitioner; what it really is is the interruption or breaking up, the dissolution, piece-by-piece, of the conditioned mechanical structures that keep sustaining the functions of the automaton mind.   Acute vigilance allows attention to remain in an active mode, falling not again into the usual passive mode.  The practice of a vigilant spectator is directed primarily to attention itself, which is the contraction of consciousness upon specific objects or events.  Attention, or the event of contraction becomes itself the object of attention.  Passivity of attention is inattentiveness, whereas active attention is a willful direction of attention.  Wakeful contemplatives monitor the status of their attention and when automated thoughts begin again to manifest, then attentiveness has once again waned again into passivity. The unbiased dismissal of automated thought is the re-activation of clarity and lucidity, the reclamation of will and sovereignty.