Right Concentration: The Easy One

Easy to describe, that is -- but rarely easy in practice. Unless, you know, you're playing Civ: Revolution . . .

Sid Meier may be the Antichrist. (1325 for a Space Race victory, though . . . not bad, right?) Er, where was I?

Right Concentration is in the brainal section of the Eightfold Path, and it's pretty much exactly what you think it is. It is strongly dependent on an aspect that we have not discussed -- Right Effort -- as it is about consciously directed FOCUS, on one thing, excluding all others. One HEALTHY thing. Focusing on that odd mole on your leg, or your collection of porn or, yes, Civilization, Civ II, Alpha Centauri, Civ: Call To Power, or Civ IV (Civ III kinda sucked) doesn't count. Civ: Revolution may, though. I'm just saying.

In Buddhism, one of the primary methods to develop Right Concentration is through the practice of meditation. It is outrageously, ridiculously difficult to sit down and focus on one's breath, and only one's breath, for more than a few seconds, much less a few minutes. Our brains may not be designed for multi-tasking, but they are certainly designed to wander, and this is never clearer than when you sit down on that damned cushion and tell yourself that you'll just focus on your breath.

Try it right now. Sit down and for ONE MINUTE, focus on nothing but your breath. In, out, in, out . . . I'll even say you can bounce around a bit with your concentration, focus on your chest rising and falling, or the sensation on the tip of your nose, or the sound it makes.

. . .

My guess is you didn't make it ten seconds until you thought that maybe you were uncomfortable, or about what to have for dinner, or whether you were going to make it the full minute or not, and how to keep track of it, d'oh, you should have set an alarm. It's tough stuff, conscientiously focusing on one goddamned thing to the exclusion of all others!

And that's where we will leave things now, for it is late, and His Grumpiness finds that his ability to concentrate is fading. Still, though, not much left to be said here, except that I think that the ability to concentrate is like a muscle. You need to exercise it, apply it frequently, and keep it in good condition, or else the little bugger will shrink to the size of a walnut.