I have a box of cigarettes and it seems embedded in math as I glance before ripping it open. For one thing, its in the shape of some kind of rectangle. And the colors on it look crisp and it too has method and meaning attached to it. And, I also know the box is wrapped with plastic which in effect will give me a sense of “slide” when taking it off and I can do it Perfectly in an instant. The key is to keep everything in one complete motion. But opening and handling gives rise to some concepts like a box within a square, a longer rectangle when I slide the wrapper down as it comes off like a sleeve. As I’m opening the box, I flip the top lid, and detach the silver lining in order to get to the new cigarettes!
I can feel the ‘square’ in my hand, in my grasping palm. My fingers work mechanically as I handle it against the box while opening it and I do this at an instant (in the immediacy). But, as I’m examining the box while its being opened, my perception is very crisp.
I can see that the mechanics of the box is very simple in nature and that it works. For example, it allows me to open and close the lid which virtually has no problems provided that my opening the box is accurate.
The key is to perceive the very essence of how the box looks and how it is handled in a split-second. But the thing that I want to address is that I have a pre-set or pre-determined way or method of opening the box: all I want to do is to get the box of cigarettes in my hand; then, the thought of ripping the plastic thread made for opening it, pops in my head and I use this concept to execute tearing the top part of the wrapper!
I have the box in my left hand facing me. My right thumb and index finger pull on the plastic thread in a circle, but it’s really a square as defined by the box’s perimeter.
So, we have some ideas that are generated by me handling this thing: the circle, the square, the curved line of the plastic tear, the idea of something coming off, and I can see that the plastic is affected by the close air surrounding it.
The plastic wrap is so fine that its behavior is completely different when looking at it when compared to the solid box which in comparison looks inanimate.
But, if I take the wrapper off I can experience what pressure of my hand can do to something such as to crunch it, to something really small, and if I stare at my moving hand long enough while pushing it in the trash I can see more behavior or more properties of the thing.
But let’s not forget about how this wrap feels in my hand. From something “big” as it contains the box of cigarettes to almost something insignificant (as it is trash by the way). And if I stare at it long enough, I can see that it tries to reform itself to take the shape that it had before but usually this doesn’t happen because it goes out of my sight when it gets dumped in the trash can. However, I know that it expanded even when it was out of my sight. Well, actually, I don’t really know it only that it has been my expeience that when I crunch the wrapper and let go of it, the wrapper tries to increase in breadth.
But the thing that I want to talk about is going through this kind of motion without thinking about it unless your thinking can “think” in an instant. I don’t think I can. But I can perceive in an instant. Nonetheless, while doing it, it doesn’t seem that fast. However when I take a look around me to see what has transpired while I’m opening my box that it was indeed pretty fast, because I know from experience the time that it takes for things to happen as they do around me when purchasing these cigarettes.
As an example, when the cashier is giving me back my change it doesn’t really take a long time for her to take my bill and give me back the correct change as she is reaching into the register and pulling out other bills or coins for the change that is due to me.
My experience with the box takes some time in my mind because I’m doing so many things at once but when I’m finished in doing so I look to see that the cashier is not ready to give me back my change. She has no idea of me timing her against my opening the box.
The key thing that I want to point out is that I do all this in an instant from practice. And the perception at the end is very gratifying because I experience a kind of “wow” when doing it. It makes me feel like I have great control. This feeling only happens when my actions in opening the box are seamless. That there is no hesitation. There is no dobut. What becomes critical in my movement is timing. You got to have a kind of flow with things immediate to you and in your surroundings or environment. From one movement to the next. And when you do, there is no pause in movement and perception.
I want to combine movement and perception. This concept is bi-directional. The better your movement the more your perception as to what you are experiencing and the better your perception then your precision in your movement becomes more increased and accurate.
Let me tell you, if you can increase speed and accuracy (Ron Pohnel, 1990) at the same time the more extreme your perception will be and the greater the gratification. For me, at least, I can’t do this all the time because it takes too much concentration which in effect takes to much energy. And if I try to do it often, like many times in a day, then I become tired. This is a practice in its totality.
Don’t smoke 🙂
Kokozyon True Fiction 