Wakefulness: Roger Babington-Hill rises to the challenge

‘The wakefulness that we are aiming at is more than a simple contrast with night-time sleep.’

A theme that is common to all religious and spiritual traditions is the need to develop the skill of paying attention. The lower our level in this skill, the more life slips by us in a fog of activity, beyond our observation and our control.

The wakefulness that we are aiming at is more than a simple contrast with night-time sleep. It is the state of an all-embracing, non-interfering mental alertness, unclouded by the thoughts, desires, habits and prejudices in which we are normally lost.

Christianity often refers to wakefulness: ‘Let us not sleep, as do the rest, let us watch and be sober’ (1 Thessalonians 5:8). Or ‘Watch, therefore, for you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming’ (Mark 13:35-36, and Matthew 24:42). Wakefulness is also central to Hinduism and Buddhism. It is the beginner’s first step to enlightenment. In meditation, focussing on a mantra, a verbal phrase, or the rhythm of the breath, helps to develop the skill of paying clearly-focussed attention. For Sufism, known to many in the west through the teaching of George Gurdjieff, wakefulness is key to the spiritual pathway that he called ‘The Work’. Colin Wilson’s biography of Gurdjieff is entitled The War Against Sleep.

At 05.20 every weekday morning, BBC Radio 4 transmits a shipping forecast. The last five minutes are devoted to the forecast for inshore waters. These forecasts take a circular journey round the British Isles: from the Orkneys, down the east coast, along the south coast, and then up the west coast, ending at the Shetland Isles. A stretch of every 100 miles or so is given its own forecast, a very brief summary of the wind direction and speed, and the prevailing weather conditions. Each of these micro forecasts lasts only a few seconds.

We are near enough to the coast here in Totnes to be influenced by the weather at sea. Our local coastal broadcast area is ‘From Lyme Regis to Land’s End including the Isles of Scilly’. Preparing to listen, I try to clear my mind sufficiently from intruding thoughts to really hear the few words of this forecast. I’m ashamed to confess how infrequently I manage to do even this. Sometimes I miss it all together and ‘wake up’ when the forecast is already referring to the north coast of Devon and Cornwall and the Bristol Channel. Sometimes I get the wind speed but not its direction. Sometimes I hear the wind speed and direction but miss the prevailing conditions. When I hear the full broadcast for our area, even though it had lasted for only a few seconds, it leaves me with a small sense of triumph. How pathetic! If I fail so often on such a small challenge in paying attention, how much more of life is passing me by unseen, unheard, un-lived?

---

Comments

Thank you F/friend for this articulate reminder: a gift and a challenge to feel and hear the wind blow through the moments of a life.

Dana

By bigbooks1963@gmail.com on 14th September 2023 - 11:01

---

Please login to add a comment