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There are six channels of contact in lived experience:

Images enter the eyes

Sounds enter the ears

Smells enter the nose

Flavors enter the mouth

Touch—heat, cold, pressure, pain—enters the body

Thoughts, memories, images, and emotions enter inwardly

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1. At the very moment contact occurs, sensation has already arisen before we realize that attention is present.
2. Attention does not come after sensation but arises simultaneously as a familiar reflex.
3. Before a clear thought appears, the body has already leaned slightly toward or pulled subtly away.
4. The initial sensation is often rough and brief, while the reaction tends to linger.
5. Memory slips in very early, tinting the present experience with the color of past ones.
6. Familiarity makes us feel as though we already understand what just happened.
7. Once we think we understand, attention often stops and no longer follows the process closely.
8. The reaction arises so quickly that it is mistaken for part of the sensation itself.
9. We often take the reaction to be reality rather than recognizing it as a response.
10. From the very beginning, experience is shaped by habit without any deliberate intent.
11. Sensation itself is simple, but the mind quickly adds a layer of interpretation.
12. This added layer makes the experience feel heavier than it initially was.
13. Attention tends to cling to the most striking part.
14. The light and subtle parts often pass by without being registered.
15. Yet it is precisely these subtle parts that determine the direction of the next reaction.
16. When the early moment is not seen, the reaction easily runs on momentum.
17. Momentum causes experience to repeat within the same mold.
18. This mold feels familiar even when the content changes.
19. Familiarity makes the mind less likely to question.
20. When there is little questioning, the operating mechanism is concealed.
21. Experience does not remain still but shifts continuously, bit by bit.
22. Yet attention usually catches only what has already become clear.
23. By the time clarity is caught, the earlier process has already passed.
24. What remains is the result, while the process itself is no longer seen.
25. The result always carries a completed reaction.
26. This makes it easy to believe the reaction was inevitable.
27. In fact, the reaction is only a familiar option that has been triggered.
28. This familiarity operates automatically and very early.
29. It does not require our approval or resistance.
30. For that reason, it often goes unrecognized.
31. When a stimulus touches a familiar spot, the reaction flares more strongly.
32. The intensity of the reaction is not proportional to the present stimulus.
33. It is proportional to the thickness of the associated memory.
34. Memory does not distinguish between present and past.
35. As a result, the reaction can be very old even when the situation is new.
36. We think we are reacting to what is happening now.
37. In truth, we are reacting to pre-existing traces.
38. The present moment merely acts as a trigger.
39. This makes experience feel intensely personal.
40. Yet the operating mechanism is the same in every case.
41. When attention sticks to content, the process is pushed out of view.
42. Content is always more captivating than subtle movement.
43. Subtle movement tells no story.
44. It simply arises and fades.
45. Because it tells no story, it is easily overlooked.
46. When it is overlooked, the reaction gains more space to grow.
47. As the reaction grows, emotion becomes denser.
48. Dense emotion obscures the original sensation.
49. All that remains is emotion and the accompanying narrative.
50. Experience has now moved far from its starting point.
51. This layering happens rapidly and continuously.
52. We rarely notice the moment when we begin adding.
53. By the time we notice, the chain has already run far.
54. From there, we shift into explanation rather than observation.
55. Explanation comes later but creates a sense of control.
56. This sense of control brings temporary reassurance.
57. Yet it does not touch the operating mechanism.
58. The mechanism continues repeating as before.
59. We may change the content, but not the mold.
60. The mold reveals itself only when the early process is seen.
61. The early moment is very light and makes little impression.
62. It is often skimmed over in daily life.
63. Yet it is precisely this moment that determines what follows.
64. When this moment is not obscured, the reaction does not surge strongly.
65. This does not feel special.
66. It simply makes the experience less heavy.
67. This lightness is easy to dismiss.
68. Yet it shows that the process is operating differently.
69. Not because it is being interfered with, but because it is no longer being fed.
70. Reaction lives on tightly bound attention.
71. When attention softens, reaction loses its foothold.
72. This softness is not a deliberate relaxation.
73. It is the result of not stepping in too early.
74. When there is no intrusion, the process reveals itself.
75. What is revealed is how sensation arises and fades very quickly.
76. This arising and fading has always been happening.
77. Previously, it was hidden by reaction.
78. When arising and fading are seen, sensation is less identified with.
79. Reaction is no longer mistaken for the sensation itself.
80. Experience becomes simpler.
81. Simplicity does not mean emptiness.
82. It simply lacks unnecessary interpretive layers.
83. Without these layers, the mind is less carried away.
84. Being less carried away uses less energy.
85. Fatigue usually comes from prolonged reaction.
86. Sensation itself does not exhaust us.
87. Holding on or pushing away creates tension.
88. These two directions alternate very quickly.
89. We usually notice only when we are already tired.
90. By then, the initial process is far behind.
91. When the early process is seen, nothing needs to be changed.
92. Seeing itself slows the reaction.
93. Slowing allows more detail to be noticed.
94. More detail reduces confusion.
95. As confusion decreases, reaction weakens.
96. Not because it is suppressed, but because its basis dissolves.
97. The basis of reaction is not seeing.
98. When seeing is clear, that basis gradually disappears.
99. Momentum weakens over time.
100. Experience is no longer pulled as far as before.
101. This change unfolds quietly.
102. It does not feel like achieving something.
103. For that reason, it is easily overlooked.
104. Yet if noticed, life feels less rushed.
105. Reactions no longer interrupt every contact.
106. There is a gap between sensation and response.
107. This gap is not fixed.
108. It appears only when it is not immediately filled.
109. When it appears, it is very fragile.
110. Yet it is enough to see the mechanism at work.
111. Seeing the mechanism does not require reasoning.
112. It is direct recognition.
113. This recognition does not reside in words.
114. Yet it reduces the dominance of words.
115. We no longer fully believe the inner narrative.
116. The narrative still appears, but it no longer has sole authority.
117. Experience becomes more open.
118. Openness is not excitement.
119. It is simply less constricted.
120. With less constriction, inner conflict diminishes.
121. Conflict often arises when reactions oppose reactions.
122. Without seeing the process, it is easy to fall into this loop.
123. Seeing early prevents the loop from closing.
124. When it does not close, it dissolves on its own.
125. No further handling is needed.
126. Nothing needs to be replaced.
127. Experience self-regulates when there is no excess interference.
128. This holds true for every contact.
129. Whether pleasant or unpleasant.
130. The operating mechanism remains the same.
131. Differences lie only in intensity and accompanying memory.
132. The sequence itself does not change.
133. Contact arises, sensation appears, reaction follows.
134. When reaction is seen, the chain does not extend.
135. When it is not seen, the chain feeds itself.
136. This is not a moral issue or a matter of right and wrong.
137. It is simply how experience operates.
138. Seeing correctly leads to different outcomes.
139. Not seeing leads to repetition.
140. Everything unfolds in an ordinary way.
141. No special circumstances are required.
142. No unusual states are required.
143. Only the experience that is occurring.
144. Because the mechanism is always active in ordinary life.
145. Every contact is an expression of it.
146. No contact lies outside this system.
147. Repetition reveals the universality of the mechanism.
148. Yet we usually notice only isolated content.
149. Content hides structure.
150. When structure is seen, content loses its weight.
151. Losing weight does not mean disappearing.
152. It simply no longer dominates.
153. Experience is seen in its proper measure.
154. Neither exaggerated nor diminished.
155. This balance does not need to be maintained.
156. It naturally follows from clear seeing.
157. When nothing pulls strongly, the mind moves less.
158. With less movement, attention stabilizes.
159. Stability does not mean immobility.
160. It is the ability to keep pace with movement.
161. Keeping pace prevents lag.
162. Without lag, reaction does not have time to swell.
163. Experience passes through more cleanly.
164. Clean does not mean shallow.
165. It simply avoids unnecessary prolongation.
166. Time is used where it belongs.
167. The present is not obscured by the past.
168. The past remains present but does not command.
169. The future does not need to be predicted.
170. Experience unfolds in its proper moment.
171. This clarity does not need to be held.
172. Trying to hold it becomes a new reaction.
173. When that is seen, holding drops away.
174. Not through knowing why, but through seeing how.
175. When the mechanism is seen, belief is unnecessary.
176. It confirms itself through repeated experience.
177. Each early seeing shortens the chain.
178. Shorter chains lighten life.
179. Lightness is not the goal.
180. It is simply a natural consequence.
181. When consequences are not pursued, the mechanism becomes clearer.
182. Clarity does not need to be named.
183. Naming too early obscures direct sensing.
184. Direct sensing is always simpler than words.
185. Simple, yet not superficial.
186. It touches the true point of operation.
187. That point is present in every contact.
188. There is no need to look elsewhere.
189. Only not to leave the moment that is occurring.
190. This moment is always sufficient.
191. Sufficient to see arising.
192. Sufficient to see fading.
193. Sufficient to see reaction forming.
194. Sufficient to see reaction dissolving.
195. No additional conditions are required.
196. Ordinary life is a sufficient ground.
197. The mechanism does not distinguish high or low.
198. It only needs to be seen correctly.
199. When seen correctly, it speaks for itself.
200. And no further conclusion is needed.

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Source
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© Phan Ý Ly.
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Phan Ý Ly
http://ultimate-freedom.net

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