Awareness, Time, and The Zone

[benos]

Had some random thoughts on the title lately, so I put them up here so we could get a discussion going by expanding on the various points.

Consciousness is self awareness.

The companion of self awareness is time.

So consciousness is time.

A lack of time is a characteristic of the "zone" or "absorbtion" state.

Therefore time is the psychological enemy of the IPSC shooter.

In the state of effortless, total attention, time is not.

Trying anything at all, no matter how subtle, is the barrier to absorbtion.

When all forms of caring, trying, and thinking cease, absorbtion occurs - uninvited.

In absorbtion, perception becomes more like a witnessing.

In each moment of total absorbtion is perfection.

be

[lugnut]

I'm dizzy honestly. But I think I agree... mostly.

Edited April 6, 2010 by lugnut

[benos]

Time is a like a ruler. In that inches exist only on a ruler.

be

[BritinUSA]

Let me see if I have this right:

We have four dimensions, UP/DOWN, LEFT/RIGHT, FORWARD/BACKWARD and TIME.

The TIME is a uni-directional constant (unless we start mucking around with gravity or high-speed travel) though our perception of TIME can vary depending on what is occurring.

If TIME is constant and uni-directional then we cannot speed it up or slow it down.

It moves like a big river.

So we should flow with the river?

[wide45]

Be the fish.

[benos]

So we should flow with the river?

Be the fish.

A fish doesn't see the water.

-Dogen

[DocMcG]

Had some random thoughts on the title lately, so I put them up here so we could get a discussion going by expanding on the various points.

Consciousness is self awareness.

The companion of self awareness is time.

So consciousness is time.

A lack of time is a characteristic of the "zone" or "absorbtion" state.

Therefore time is the psychological enemy of the IPSC shooter.

In the state of effortless, total attention, time is not.

Trying anything at all, no matter how subtle, is the barrier to absorbtion.

When all forms of caring, trying, and thinking cease, absorbtion occurs - uninvited.

In absorbtion, perception becomes more like a witnessing.

In each moment of total absorbtion is perfection.

be

heiho shin to mugo-mushin

Oh, good stuff!

Cheers,

Kyle

Edited April 16, 2010 by DocMcG

[Sidewinder6]

As a guy who reads the Book of Void regularly these are brilliant passages and I want to memorize them.

But the problem I have when I get in the zone, I still my thought and the stage ends up leaving me behind.

[benos]

Therefore time is the psychological enemy of the IPSC shooter.

But what most IPSC shooters care the most about is time.

During any activity, the more you care about time the less effective you will be.

be

[kevinj308]

I think I followed where you were going in the OP, but you lost me with "the companion of self awareness is time". Why must it be so? Could you expand on that a little bit?

Thanks

Kevin

[GUNDOCTA]

Time is a like a ruler. In that inches exist only on a ruler.

be

Yardsticks are a B---- then just think ME!

[DocMcG]

Therefore time is the psychological enemy of the IPSC shooter.

But what most IPSC shooters care the most about is time.

During any activity, the more you care about time the less effective you will be.

be

So true - Why is it that it is human nature to talk one's self into a less than ideal state for optimal performance. The golf swing, the bungee jump, the sky dive; just let go - just be - performance will come with the state which fosters it not the state that seeks to direct it. When we do it right and get the result we want, our first thought tends to be, "Let's do that again!" Can we bottle that state of mind that puts us at the end we desire?

Hmmm... Clear the mind-React without thought = heiho shin to mugo-mushin

Edited April 17, 2010 by DocMcG

[BritinUSA]

There is no spoon...

Just thought I'd throw that out there before someone else does, I have nothing else...

[BoyGlock]

when Im busy and so absorbed w/ what I do, my, how time flies unnoticed! and by the hours! but doing it on-demand just for a second or so is almost an impossibility. thats how simple but difficult human nature is

[shred]

For the practical-minded, next time you come home, try and unlock the front door as fast as you can. Notice how you fumble and miss and just about bend your key in half... doing something you've done a thousand times before without any effort at all.

[Flexmoney]

For the practical-minded, next time you come home, try and unlock the front door as fast as you can. Notice how you fumble and miss and just about bend your key in half... doing something you've done a thousand times before without any effort at all.

Ha. That was the second thing we did in AF Basic Training that screwed everybody up. (first day of basic, everybody is tense, tense, tense...and often can't say their name right). We had to put a key in and unlock the padlocks on our wall lockers (in a fixed amount of time). It was kinda funny.

[cyburg]

Here is the way I see it. You have the water, river and whatever else either is an obstical that stands in our way of the ending point. Which way do you take?

For me, I would say the path of least resentance. Time if a big factor in competative shooting and we all stress over it. How do we over come it? Perfect practice, I think that's also a book title. Oh ya I have it.

I started shooting in the military in the 90's doing HRT. We would stand on the line and work on presentation or the draw for a mater of hours before we ever to the first live shot in the course. This required you to focus and perfect it before you moved on. As you can imagine the speed also increased as you practaced.

Every time we draw we move in the path of least resistance, avoiding any undue motion. As we know a little variation can add up over the course of a few stages.

Well, that's my .02.

[BoyGlock]

For the practical-minded, next time you come home, try and unlock the front door as fast as you can. Notice how you fumble and miss and just about bend your key in half... doing something you've done a thousand times before without any effort at all.

I should relate this directly to my shooting outlook. Should use it as training guide. Learn to perform details of techniques w/ utmost care for effeciency in terms of quality and speed but mindless of time. If I could have it in all my shooting techniques on demand and w/o effort, that should be great!

Thank you

[benos]

I think I followed where you were going in the OP, but you lost me with "the companion of self awareness is time". Why must it be so? Could you expand on that a little bit?

Thanks

Kevin

Have you ever had the rare experience that you "came out" of?

Whether shooting a stage or doing any activity, you suddenly realized that for a short or a long period, there was no sense of self. The actor and action had merged into one activity. In that state there is no sense of passing time. And you only realized the sense of self when "you" "came back."

The "there's no time in the Zone" state has to be experienced for the truth of it to be realized.

Or to put it more directly, as Krishnamurti has said many times, "Time is thought."

Time is like the illusion created by the magician's sleight of hand. The "magic" conceals the true, timeless reality.

In each moment, everything is perfect as it is. Only when we think about the past or the future do things become good or bad.

be

[gfmun]

During any activity, the more you care about time the less effective you will be.

WOW ! That is an eye opener

[benos]

For the practical-minded, next time you come home, try and unlock the front door as fast as you can. Notice how you fumble and miss and just about bend your key in half... doing something you've done a thousand times before without any effort at all.

When locking and unlocking doors, my awareness game is to insert the key so that it touches all the edges of the key slot as little as possible.

be

[BoyGlock]

During any activity, the more you care about time the less effective you will be.

WOW ! That is an eye opener

But I can accomplish any activity by doing each movement needed as fast as I can while not caring about time. I Just decide to do it quickly, nothing more.

Like dry firing my draw and presentation technique. At times I practice it w/ a par time (2nd beep)to beat. At times I just use the timer beep as start signal to start and w/o the par time limit. I just draw to the beep. In this condition, I dont care how my draw time will be, I just draw as quickly and as effeciently as I could w/o minding how fast I did it. I feel a very distinct sensation when practicing in this style. I feel very relaxed and aware of the activity w/o trying to be.

[kevinj308]

I think I followed where you were going in the OP, but you lost me with "the companion of self awareness is time". Why must it be so? Could you expand on that a little bit?

Thanks

Kevin

Have you ever had the rare experience that you "came out" of?

Whether shooting a stage or doing any activity, you suddenly realized that for a short or a long period, there was no sense of self. The actor and action had merged into one activity. In that state there is no sense of passing time. And you only realized the sense of self when "you" "came back."

The "there's no time in the Zone" state has to be experienced for the truth of it to be realized.

Or to put it more directly, as Krishnamurti has said many times, "Time is thought."

Time is like the illusion created by the magician's sleight of hand. The "magic" conceals the true, timeless reality.

In each moment, everything is perfect as it is. Only when we think about the past or the future do things become good or bad.

be

I have had an experience that I "came out" of, but I don't remember what happened. It was in a match, and the best performance I've ever had.

This thread reminds me of my all time favorite thread ever, http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=91236.

There's alot of stuff in this thread and that one that I don't understand, but that doesn't mean its not true. I just need to work on my understanding

Thanks

Kevin

[Graham Smith]

Therefore time is the psychological enemy of the IPSC shooter.

I spend a lot of time at work solving puzzles - it's my job. I do computer database design and a lot of the work is figuring out how bits and pieces of data need to interrelate to form a complete picture. But time is the enemy - I can't just sit there thinking forever, work has to get done. And therein lies the rub.

The only way to solve these little puzzles is to focus on them to the exclusion of all else. But with the clock ticking, it can be a problem if an answer does not quickly present itself. The biggest mistake is to try and craft a solution when I don't have a full grasp of the problem, but that is what sometimes has to happen when there is a time constraint. Sometimes, in the process, things work themselves out, but more often than not, something gets missed.

Which is why it bugs the heck out of me in matches when I rush. Everything I know tells me to slow down and focus. My finger, however, is not paying attention - it just keeps screaming SHOOT, SHOOT, SHOOT. <sigh>

I wonder how Prozac would work...

[carinab]

I was discussing why I shoot with someone on the drive home from practice last weekend. During my first years, I put A LOT of rounds down range. Then one day it happened. The buzzer went off and I had this hyper-focus, similar to what one experiences in a car crash where everything goes into slow motion. I saw the sight picture, watched the slide recoil. The sun was behind me and I actually could see each round travel, saw the holes appear. I was low B class at the time and on that stage I made an M class score. It felt like I had all the time in the world. That feeling, that type of experience is addicting! I've been chasing that experience ever since in every activity I do. My coach called it "turning it loose." The bonus with shooting is that while you're striving to lose yourself, you invariably fix your character flaws if you have any self awareness at all. It's a brutally honest sport and if you can't see your weaknesses to fix them, you succumb to them.