Uncontrived Mindfulness: Perception: the Unreliable Witness 2024
Central to our dharma life is a simple yet profound distinction; that between our direct experience mediated through the senses, and the thoughts and ideas we have about those experiences. We are usually unaware that the concepts we base our sense of self on and navigate our world by, are frequently flawed in a deep and on-going way. We look through the distorted lens of our own views and assumptions, making us an unreliable witness to our own inner experience.
On the retreat we'll cultivate Awareness and Right View, to become mindful of, and curious about, what is actually happening in experience. Using the framework of the 5 skandhas to go to the heart of what we take to be 'true' we can come to see the process of construction and fabrication that is happening each moment. Relying on the Dharma and our own direct experience, wisdom arises, perfuming deep knowing, and with clear, undistorted seeing we are released from suffering.
You can read Vajradevi's blog at uncontrivedmindfulness.net