Let there be no will or desire

Gary Hayden, the philosophy and science writer who runs a column in ST wrote about how when absorbed in the beauty of nature we let the "whole of consciousness be filled with peaceful contemplation of the natural object.....and lose ourselves in the object completely". He was recounting about a job he held in his younger days when going to work was like hell with all the anguish and anxieties. However he often got reprieve walking through a park where the sight of buds and autumn leaves could uplift him for hours.

Now the key note here was about being so absorbed that his consciousness (of the object) was "unrelated to his will and desires". Reading that a thought came to my mind about waking up in the morning. In the split seconds of waking up before our mind recollects who and where we are, it should be a moment which is truly unadulterated by memories; a true moment of being if you will. Now I wonder how we can prolong that moment and experience it just a little bit longer, to enable a true connection with the world "unrelated" to our identity with all its accompanying recollections, thoughts and perceptions. Is it even possible given that consciousness needs memory to make any sense of things?

However it would be good to be able to wake up and postpone recalling plans for the day or things that have happened in the past or the things we should be worried about. For a minute or two just let our ears listen (like the quick steps of the cat running after the husband), our eyes watch the sunlight and the shadows, our toes feel the softness of the blanket and our body feeling rested.

Yes, let there be no desire or will, at least for a minute or two.