K: Wait. There is attention followed by inattention. Then be aware of inattention,
which then becomes attention. This balancing is going on all the time.
P: Now I make a statement: Awareness lessens inattention. It would be incorrect
for me to say this. The only thing I can observe is that there is an action of
attention on inattention.
K: Does that action on inattention wipe away inattention, so that inattention does
not come again?
D: It is attentive to the inattentive.
P: I am going further than being attentive to the inattentive. I say that the nature
of this attention is such that it operates on the brain cells. I am very, very hesitant
when I say this. It is the nature of attention to operate on the brain cells. That
which is dormant in the brain cells re-emerges when it is exposed to attention,
and the very nature of dormancy undergoes a change. I would like this area to be
investigated.
K: Let us begin again. If there is choice in that awareness, we are back again in
consciousness. Awareness is non-verbal; it has no relationship to thought. We
call that awareness attention. When there is inattention there is inattention, why
do you mix up the two? I am inattentive; there is no attention. That is all.
In that inattention there are certain actions going on. And those activities
bring further misery, confusion, trouble. So I say to myself: I must be attentive
all the time so as to prevent this disturbance taking place. And I say: I have to
cultivate attention. That very cultivation becomes inattention. The seeing of that
inattention brings attention.
Attention affects the brain cells. Look what has happened. There is attention,
and then inattention. In inattention there is confusion, misery, and all the rest of
it. Now what takes place?
D: The dispelling of inattention has gone down in the unconscious.
P: Is it not really that you can do nothing about it?
K: I agree P, but hold on a minute. Do not say that there is nothing. We will find
out. We are investigating. There is attention and there is inattention. In
inattention everything is confusion. Why do I want to put the two together?
When there is the urge to put the two together, there is an action of the will,
which is choice: I prefer attention to inattention. And so I am back again in the
field of consciousness. So what is the action where the two are never brought
together? I want to explore that a little bit.
When there is attention, thought as memory does not operate; there is no
thinking process in attention, there is only attention. I am only aware that I have
been inattentive when the action produces discomfort, misery or danger. Then I