Why is everyone screaming at me?
In a world where everyone's vying for our attention, cultivating awareness is key to our liberation
Contemplations
What’s taking your attention away from the present moment?
How can you shift your awareness towards what liberates you? And let go of the places where it causes more suffering?
***
My inbox has been screaming at me, as of late:
I DON’T HAVE TO BEG PEOPLE TO LOVE ME ANYMORE
META IS DOWN…DON’T PANIC
TIME TO END THE DRUG WAR
…what?
This reminded me of the glorious blog “Emails from the DCCC” that came out last election cycle that really nailed how desperate all the fundraising emails were to the point that it was hard to take any of it seriously after awhile.
This is all part of a larger ecosystem, of course, that uses our attention as currency — one that is limited and so entire business models from advertisers to publishers to influencers will do everything in their goddamn power to make sure that you’ll stop scrolling, like that post, and click through to read it.
This attention economy has created a free for all of different marketing tactics ranging from people literally screaming into the void to people bending over backwards trying to appeal to the ever-evolving algorithm. This has left (predominantly, BIPOC) people exploited while so many others are reeling as digital publishers have either folded or slashed their staff dramatically in the past year.
So where does that leave us? For many of us, like me, I’m still trying to figure out what my relationship is to all of it. I’ve, for all intents and purposes, have gone off social media (don’t miss it at all by the way) and yet I still know I have to play some part of the game in order for you to read this, for me to build some kind of life as a creator. And I’m not the only one!
I am continuing to sit with all of this and ask myself how am I contributing to the system, the cycle of suffering for all of us and what could possibly be a path forward — even if it hasn’t revealed itself to me yet.
Not to Be All Buddhist About It, but….
It’s hard for me to not think about mindfulness when I think about attention. One thing that the Internet and Buddhism recognize is that our attention, our awareness is invaluable.
We sit and we practice day in and day out, to literally wake up from our thoughts, from illusions, delusions, so we can see what is truly there.
Much of this comes from training the mind on where to focus our attention. In a meditation practice, we use our breath as an anchor. In a mindful walk, we pay attention to the nature around us and much like in a yogic practice, we look at how our breath aligns with our movement.
This is a beautiful thing — to be able to let go of whatever might be pulling us away from the present moment, whether that be TikTok dances, the wheareabouts of Kate Middleton or a breaking news story.
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It is this practice of coming back to, that is incredibly freeing. In fact, this is why mindfulness or awareness (or Sati from Pali: सति; Sanskrit: स्मृति smṛti) is the first step towards enlightenment. In the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, awareness is followed by Investigation (dhamma-vicaya), Energy (vīriya), Rapture (pīti), Tranquility (passaddhi), Concentration (samādhi) and Equanimity (upekkhā).
Diving more deeply, Buddhism teaches us that awareness is what brings form to an object, and therefore the same. In other non-riddle words, where we put our attention is how our consciousness starts taking form, and in this way, at least for me, this is empowering because it means we have a choice, with the practice, of where to put that said attention, which means, we have a choice in how we shape the world around us.
This is what we call emptiness.
Korean Zen Monk Haemin Sunim provides an example for us:
Next time you sit down to eat an apple, take a hard look at it, and ask yourself whether this particular fruit exists apart from your awareness…see if you can access its existence outside of your awareness…
Everything you see in the world is made of awareness. Buddhism teaches us that all shapes and forms are impermanent; they come and go. Truly realizing this phenomenon also involves understanding that nothing in awareness is lost. It’s like dreaming: everything you see inside a dream is made up only of your own awareness. You might see a tiger or your loved ones or fancy furniture, but you know, at least after you wake up, that your mind is projecting, or manifesting, those images.
Awakening involves realizing that this reality is just like our dream state. Everything you see is made of awareness, the same awareness that creates the three dimensionality of a dream. It is the same awareness you’re using right now to read these words. (If it wasn’t the same awareness, you wouldn’t be able to remember your dreams!)
If you look deeply at the forms around you, you’ll find that they do not exist apart from your awareness. This is one way we can start to grasp the true meaning of emptiness, and begin to awaken here and now.
So I’d love to know:
What’s taking your attention away from the present moment?
How can you shift your awareness towards what liberates you? And let go of the places where it causes more suffering?