Thread: Castaneda's "Not Doing"

Originally Posted by SKA

Doing things differently, like brushing your teeth with your left hadn instead of your right hand, might work really well. However if this specific action was used long enough then eventually it would also become habbit.

Let us think of more ways to "sabotage" and cut back on this the autopilot behaviour.

It's true those new Not Doings can quickly become part of your routine, but there are so many options and possibilities on how to perform them, that's not really an issue.

The big problem is remembering to do it on a regular basis. I know what I need to be doing, but that doesn't mean I do it.

Originally Posted by SKA

I noticed this when playing Piano: I focus my attention on playing the piano, but when my attention gets distracted I have trouble playing unhindered and sometimes fuck up. Usually my concentration on piano play is too strong to be disturbed if I don't want to be. When I think about what I'm playing: I defenitely, immediately fuck up.
It's this unbroken, constant, but completely thought-less attention that allows me to play piano influently.

That's a perfect example. I've noticed the same thing when playing guitar. By the way, I like that song you made and posted here: http://dreamviews.com/community/showthread.php?t=84933

Could someone please elaborate on Castaneda's Not Doing? Perhaps someone could quite from the book what he sais about Not doing.

And what about that, Cusp: Playing music forces our attention into thoughtless mindfullness automatically. Maybe we should exploit that fact to become lucid.

Originally Posted by SKA

Could someone please elaborate on Castaneda's Not Doing? Perhaps someone could quite from the book what he sais about Not doing.

It's been awhile since I've read it. There appears to be a summary here:
http://alangullette.com/essays/philo/stopping.htm
I'd have to dig out the book to do better.

"How can you be aware that you are dreaming, when you are not even aware that you are awake?"

I think I saw that on this site somewhere.