The world is full of potential analogies to how the mind works.
Misdirection in magic is one.
The magician invites the audience’s attention to go somewhere, while the real action – and the answer to the magic trick – is happening somewhere else.
The mind does the same when it believes a thought. Attention goes “out there” to what the story seems to say something about: another person, a situation, the world, myself. And attention is misdirected away from where the real action is happening, which is the belief itself. The story held as true. The sensations apparently glued together with certain images and thoughts.
Often we are the audience watching a magic trick while being mesmerized by the illusion.
But we can also be the more discerning audience member who keeps attention where the real action is happening, and we can see through the magic trick. That’s what inquiry helps us do.
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Initial notes….
- misdirection
- analogies – easy to find, sometimes fun to play with (although don’t mean that much)
- mind – misdirections, when caught in belief (velcro, identification), attention directed towards what it appears to be about, not the belief itself
- e.g. escape uncomfortable feeling/images/words by going into thought, distractions, addictions, compulsion etc. – the focus is “out there” on what appears to give us what we want, and not on the escaping itself (and the perceived threat etc.)
- ….