Top down, bottom up?
Reality is a single mountain from which we inherit ten thousands views, we are interconnected with it and yet we only get to see it through a narrow window that is our personal point of view. With different mental models and perspectives, we might get to look through different views, but we are always confined by our windows. It is worth the struggle to find as many perspectives as we can, it is part of growing as being of consciousness and awareness, to discover new views, and part of the excitement when we do so, is seeing something that we have never seen before, it can be difficult not to be overwhelmed by this, and start running around telling people that there is a brand new window and that looking through it is the solution to all our problems. We love the thrill of the new, it is part of our nature, but just because it is another window, we are still distant from that beautiful mountain which draws our attention like a dog watching roasting meat.
It can even be disappointing to find out it is just the same mountain for everyone, whichever view you find someone else has already see it from this point of view, you never get to be the first to see it or find a new one, what we get instead is to follow the pathways that are easier to follow because they have already been discovered. What is important is that if this path has been found there is others waiting for you and they have been beaten into the ground so if you find the right guide, you will find your journey easier quicker, and once you really digest the idea that it is just one mountain, you become even hungrier to find every path that there is, as with every view you get a clearer picture the scale of it's presence.
You start to realise that the different language that comes with each specialist view, really has the same meaning, there is just a change in words, minimalists talk of space, meditator love emptiness, these are the same, just one refers to physical space, the other mental. Neither subtracts from the other, they do not clash, it is just their point of view, one see self from the inside, the other consider the self in the context of it's surroundings, they add to each other, by their opposing directions. That is why it is so enlightening to see from the top down and bottom, as it is to tackle problem from both directions.
Whenever you are looking down from the top, remember you can also look up from the bottom, they are both valid, they both tell the story of the same thing, they both approach the same middle, they are the same mountain, no matter what form the problem might have. We are not good at repeating the same action even if it is not insanity, it is certainly boring, we get tired of repeating the same action, even if it will get us to where we want to go, a singular tactic might be successful, however it only has one direction. Also we reach our breaking point faster by having only one trick in our arsenal, it is like having only a hammer in our toolbox and trying to fix every problem with it, it is going to wear out by it's improper use, we want every tool we can get our hands on, and the way that we learn is by short periods of practice, it takes time to build skill, especially to get to the level where you could hammer all day and not get tired or bored.
It is far better to have multiple tools in our box, and to spend an hour with each rather than just hitting things for several hours with a single hammer, it is not a skllful use of your time and more importantly, it leaves you unprepared for more complicated tasks. Life does not care if you are the greatest hammerer in the world, sooner or later it is going to give you a problem that needs a screwdriver, it has a nasty sense of humour like that, we need a full toolbox so that we have the flexibility to face whatever it has to throw at us. Life is sadly not as straightforward as carpentry, often we have to hammer with one hand whilst screwing with the other, and even then we are only slowing down the drip from a leaking pipe rather than replacing it. Every problem has more than one solution and each will have it's advantages and issues, and we not simple machines, we leak emotions, we put the wrong oil in our radiators, we try to get by with just one wheel where four would make us more stable.
Often when we fix one problem we make another three worse, we try to eat less and end up with less energy to exercise, we run and end up injuring ourselves, we talk honestly about our feelings and upset our friend in the process. We need every point of view, every method and all the tools that we can get our hands on, if someone tells you that all you need is your hammer, that is someone who is trying to sell you a hammer, and it does not even need to be because they are profiting from it, they could just really like hammers at that time. The most dangerous salesperson is your friends who are trying to help you, they found that a hammer helped them so now they are telling everyone that they need a hammer too, that the hammer is the solution to everything, even when you just want a nice quiet afternoon.
They are not being bad or self-centred, they are just excited at finding out that there are hammers and you can hit things hard with them, that they can lever their strength and multiply it, that is a wonderful ability and should be celebrated, it is just not the end of the story. They are blinded by their view of the mountain at that moment in time, most people only have a limited amount of attention for new things, so they can become fixed upon them, and that is a good thing that they are excited, they are growing as being of consciousness, be excited for them, feed off it, just do not become blinded by that enthusiasm, you need more than one tool, and some of the hardest problems we can not even tackle directly.
The mess that is sum total of a human being is not a direct problem you can just hammer, it has to be tackled indirectly, stoicism is a top down approach where we use our executive decision making, that deliberate intention setting system of our conscious mind, we think about problem and then put in place systems to make better decisions. We set up the mental model that there are things that are in our control and those that are not, then we put our energy into effecting those things that are in our control. In contrast, Zen is a bottom up approach where we “just sit” and observe our base sensation of our body and mind, touch, sight, sound and their corresponding internal counterparts, how our sense of self collapses into these sensation, so that we can rebuild ourselves from the bottom up.
Both approaches are dealing with the consequences of what happens in the black box of our subconscious being, we can not deal with it directly and yet our relationship with our sensations and the actions that our subconscious produces in the real world are ways of tackling the health and happiness of our messy middle that is the subconscious. However their effect are multiplied by using them together, when you see how they interact and reinforce each other, by being at ease with how our bodies feel we are able to concentrate freely on making executive decisions. If we are not overwhelmed by the events in our lives we are able to practise meditation without being disturb by our problem solving minds. When we are not trapped by repetitive thoughts we are able to have new ones, hopefully better ones that move us forwards, it is even possible to start listening to the silence within our spiritual hearts (exactly where a child would point towards if you asked them where their hearts were) which contains our intuition and the source of all originality.
By having a top down, bottom up strategy working together, we are able to act at our most effectiveness, even the Buddha had to do the same, he talked of the necessity of right mind, action, vocation, view, that they were the starting place of the journey towards paradise, that you need the right conditions for your flower of consciousness to bloom. Karma was the turbulence that disturb the mind and prevented the stable attention and broad awareness that were the stepping stones to enlightenment, he recognised that the body was the only vehicle to get to enlightenment, and it need to be as one with the intention to do so. There is no over ruling the set intention of the body especially if you have not set a better intention, there is nothing that is going to stop you eating a whole chocolate cake except when you set the intention to stop, admittedly a stomach that hurts gives you a reason to set an intention to halt and decease.
It is by setting the intention to change, to fully engage with who you are, and make use all of the tools that you have available to you, that you start to actually make changes in your life. We are fortunate to live in a time where there is an unstoppable expansion of information, we have more ideas to use, more models to understand and digest, more example of success. We have more freedom today than ever, more opportunities, whilst they come with more problems, and greater complexity, the good news is that we are problem solving machines, so let yourself shine, align with the source of everything, and find it in the breath and peace of the current moment. Tackle your problems one at a time, then never stop and if you can not get at them from above, never forgot everything has a soft underbelly, and the greatest warrior are able to fight the opponent in front of them not the one that they wished for, even when the problem is yourself, you are waiting to be solved whether that is from the top or bottom, enjoy the puzzle.
