For many, the idea of focusing attention inwardly can seem like a daunting task, although that simply points to it being a worthy pursuit. By focusing inwardly, I mean examining one’s mind in order to better understand consciousness, the world and what we call ‘the self.’

If we don’t pay attention, we will be in an indefinite and accepted psychosis unaware that we could cure ourselves with meditation, awareness and the present

The reason why examining one’s mind is a worthy pursuit is so that we can wake up from this dream of psychosis and live an intentional life of awareness. Imagine you ingest some form of hallucinogen and you hallucinate the most beautiful images, images of nature and you feel the most intense love and kindness towards other people as well as the world around you and everything within it. You tell those you are with how much they mean to you. You are incredibly grateful for the world around you, the trees, the sky, thestars, the grass you feel beneath your feet. You don’t feel an ounce of hatred towards others, but instead you feel empathy.

Now imagine the hallucinogen wears off, you stop hallucinating and you return to “normal” life. You loosely recall the images you saw and theemotions you felt but within a few days, you can barely recall the incredible experience you just had days prior. If we apply this analogy to our lives, we quickly learn that that is not dissimilar to a life lived unexamined. We often see articles that outline the most popular regrets of the terminally ill and there are commonalities amongst them.

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard.

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier (1).

The majority live their lives unexamined then when they arrive at the end of their lives, they realise they’ve been hallucinating life, without any true contemplation or examination. They were not paying attention to theimportant things in life. They allowed modern societies to tell them what’s important and went along with it without consideration. All of the above regrets could be prevented by simply becoming more aware. When we focus our attention on the present, we provide ourselves with a clearer picture of what life is, what life can be and how we can experience the world as it is, rather than through screens. We will regret it if we don’t pay attention more. If we don’t start paying attention, we will be sleepwalking towards the grave. If we don’t pay attention, we will unconsciously talk ourselves towards thegrave. If we don’t pay attention, we will take the beauty of the world and thekindness and love of others for granted. If we don’t pay attention, we will be in an indefinite and accepted psychosis unaware that we could cure ourselves with meditation, awareness and the present. Therefore I suggest beginning a meditation practice so as to examine your own consciousness and the reality of your mind (see recommendations below). I also recommend writing down often what or who you’re grateful for and even telling someone how grateful you are to have them in your life. That way, we become better attuned to thetruly meaningful aspects of life and push away what profit-centred corporations want us to find meaningful. The problem is that rather than thehallucination described above, most people have ingested a metaphorical hallucinogen administered by materialist corporations meaning we find more meaning in the latest iPhone than we do the person who bought us it. By waking up, we forget the hallucination and embrace what’s truly meaningful.

Keep On Struggling

Gregor

Meditation App I Find Useful - Waking Up

This app by philosopher, neuroscientist and author Sam Harris is my favourite app for mediation as it is jam-packed with guided meditations that not only relax and de-stress you but that also dive deep into the nature of consciousness and reality. Not only this, it also contains lessons and conversations with experts such as William B. Irivine and Jack Kornfield. I’d also recommend Sam Harris’ book of the same name to provide an ever fuller perspective on meditation and consciousness. You can try the first few meditations in the Introductory Course on YouTube here to see if you’d take something from the app.

Learn more about Waking Up below.

Learn more

Another Meditation App I Find Useful - Headspace

Another mediation app I’ve used before is Headspace which also contains a lot of very useful guided meditations. What I find most effective about Headspace is that it has guided meditations for specific situations such as feelings of stress or anxiety or the need for a reset. You can try some Headspace mediations on their YouTube channel here or learn more below.

Learn more

Film I Enjoyed - Glass Onion

“In this comedic whodunit, detective Benoit Blanc unravels a mystery at a billionaire’s gathering of friends on a private Greek island” (4). After immensely enjoying Knives Out, I was very much looking forward to this sequel with another great ensemble cast. Whilst I don’t think it was as entertaining as Knives Out, Glass Onion was still a fun watch with plenty of intrigue and current-affairs humour. I especially enjoyed the fact that masks were worn for some of the movie as most movies filmed during the Covid-19 pandemic chose not to acknowledge it, whereas this film made light of it.

Watch Glass Onion on Netflix or watch the trailer below.

Watch here

Quote to Ponder

Life does not ask what we want. It presents us with options - Thomas Sowell

References

1) Top 5 Regrets of the Dying - Susie Steiner in The Guardian

2) Waking Up Image - Waking Up Website

3) Headspace Image - Headspace

4) Netflix