Comparing Current General State of Human Consciousness With More Evolved States, Part 2 Distractability Versus Concentratedness

With even a very cursory examination of the thoughts and sensations that enter our awareness, it becomes quite clear that there is a constant flow of sensations, impressions, perceptions, feelings, emotions and thoughts that seem to bombard us all the time. Our attention flits from one thing to the next instantaneously, seemingly without any control. When this becomes somewhat extreme, so that the individual can barely function in the world, Western psychologists term it ‘ADHD”, or in the general language “attention deficit disorder”. Our modern lifestyle and the technology we utilize tends to accentuate this sense of distractedness and eventually we train our being to crave the sensations or experience what we term as “boredom”. The urban life is filled with flashing lights, sounds, smells, and it tries to entice us to follow after any of the attractions put before us. We crave this entertainment and as a result, our attention span, even when it is not at the level to be diagnosed as ADHD, is very low. We thus fritter away time and focus in our lives in miniature parcels of time jumping from one thing to another.

If we look at the life of past generations, prior to the digital age, or if we look to the parts of the world that remain primarily rural and village-based, we see a wholly different energetic relationship of the people to their environment. The digital distraction is not there, and people can relax and spend time in a low-input setting without becoming nervous or distracted. Yet even in this environment, it is easy to become distracted and the relatively simple nature of the tasks they undertake makes it possible to accomplish them without serious attention in many cases.

We can observe however instances in which an individual immerses himself into a task so completely that he loses the sense of time, disregards impulses of hunger, thirst, or other ‘distractions’ and focuses solely on the task at hand. In sports, such a state, albeit short-lived, is called being “in the zone”. We learn of scientists who are deeply focused on abstract concepts or applications of those concepts to practical affairs, and who are able to concentrate. In spiritual endeavours also, we see that individuals learn how to practice ‘mindfulness’ or who can visualize in intricate detail various forms, deities or yantras, or who can follow a line of thought with a very focused attention. Thus, we can begin to appreciate the difference between the normal state of distracted focus, and the state of concentrated awareness that can result as an individual learns how to harness the attention and fix it on a single point of reference. We see that it is such states of concentration that lead to progress both for the individual and for humanity, and we can thus appreciate that this is an evolved status that represents capacities available to humanity and slowly developing through various approaches, whether science, spirituality or some other modus.

Dr. Dalal writes: “(b) One of the chief characteristics of the normal state of consciousness is distractibility. The changing impressions and sensations from the outside and the flux of thoughts and feelings from within produce a state of constant distraction. On the other hand, the inner consciousness is centred or concentrated. As the consciousness grows, and one learns to live more and more in the deeper consciousness, one experiences a state of centredness or concentration.”

Sri Aurobindo continues: “The higher consciousness is a concentrated consciousness… not dispersed and rushing about after this or that mental idea or vital desire or physical need as is the ordinary human consciousness — also not invaded by a hundred haphazard thoughts, feelings and impulses, but master of itself, centred and harmonious.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Growing Within: The Psychology of Inner Development, Introduction, pp. v