The Phenomenology of Body-Mind:The Contrasting Cases of Flow in

Sports and ContemplationJeremy Hunter

The University of Chicago

and

Mihaly CsikszentmihalyiPeter F. Drucker School of Management

Claremont Graduate University

Direct correspondence to:Jeremy Hunter

Quality of Life Research CenterClaremont Graduate University

1021 N. Dartmouth AvenueClaremont, CA91711

jeremy.hunter@cgu.edu

AbstractThe demise of Cartesianism as an animating force in conceptualizing mind and

body relations has opened up the field to a wider variety of perspectives, like the"embodiment" of phenomenological thinkers. However, because of Cartesianism'sdeeply rooted psychic legacy it still makes its presence felt in various places ineveryday life. This paper will explore two facets of everyday life, sports andcontemplation, which lend themselves to a mind-body cognitive dissonance affectedby latent Cartesian thinking. As an alternative, we will propose a morephenomenologically oriented interpretation based on what has been revealed byhistorical precedents as well as our empirical investigations. Keywords: Flow,Contemplation, Phenomenofogy, Sports

IntroductionEven when long-reigning theories have been formally dismissed and scholars

have moved on to new questions and concepts, the roots of their psychic legacy liveon in the implicit assumptions carried out in the rituals and practices of everyday life.While the original rationale for why we act or think in certain ways was forgottenlong ago, the impulse that informed them still unconsciously plays itself out in ourbehavior. Oftentimes these unconscious assumptions about the nature of reality canbe benign and have little negative impact on our lives. However, sometimes thesecan inhibit the possibilities open to us because of a lack of mindful awareness.

We have chosen two areas of everyday life, sports and contemplation, where rich

Anthropology of Consciousness 11(3-4):5-24- Copyright 2000 American Anthropological Association5

Anthropology of Consciousness [11(3-4)1

potential for an elevated quality of experience is often blunted by outmodedconcepts. These concepts encourage the actor to either focus on elements of theexperience which do not lend themselves to enjoyment or are plainly detrimental.

In the case of sports, they are often thought of as a purely physical action, asexemplified by much of the mindless activity that passes for physical education in ourschools. In this purely physical mode, the constructive role of the mind is generallyignored in favor of numbing militaristic drills of counting push-ups, sit-ups and pull-ups in an effort to make a "physically-fit," if not also alienated, student. What isemphasized in the view of the body as engineered-product is the development ofphysical strength, motor skills and technical efficiency (Meier 1995). Alternatively,when sports education does allow mental action to enter, it is as an effort where onetries to engineer "mind over matter," where a rogue body is tamed through vigorousmental discipline. However, what goes understated and generally unmentioned isthe visceral thrill that sporting activity can offer when one learns to sink into themoment and clearly experience the wonder of physical embodiment.

Contemplative behavior suffers from the same unproductive bifurcation.Contemplation represents one of the most complex human cognitive functions,something that only a self-reflective consciousness is capable of doing. Yet, ourunderstanding of it is often very weak. The focus of educational instruction, theinstitution where society teaches us how to use our minds more effectively, emphasizesmeasuring and mastering quantifiable facts and functions. The alphabet soup ofpaper-and-pencil standardized testing, the SATs, GREs, and GMATs, considers onlya narrow range of human cognition and fails to consider how the mind-body worksin real life. It is the mental equivalent of counting push-ups. The more wondrousaspects of thinking and knowing, having an epiphany and generating ideas are hardlymentioned in school life and are largely left to the individual to discover on his/herown.. .if she/he does at all.

There is a reason that both in the realm of body and mind that quantifiable,"hard" characteristics are emphasized. It has to do with decisions made long agoabout what is the true nature of human existence. The decisions made by greatthinkers of the past to split body from mind have given us a helpful, but oftendebilitating way of thinking about the nature of being.

The Legacy of Plato and DescartesIn Plato's Phaedro, when Socrates asked and Simmias assented to the question

"do we believe death to be anything? And do we not believe it to be the separationof soul from body?" he set into motion a series of beliefsnamely, that body and mindare distinctly separate entitiesthat Western civilization would have to grapplewith for the next 2500 years. Plato believed the idea that the spirit (or soul or mind)acts as the animating force, while the body is merely a dead vessel. He came to thisconclusion by observing the body, once the spirit has left it, no longer functions. Thesenses, seen as unreliable and untrustworthy, were discounted. Rather than placefaith in perception, the pinnacle of human action was associated entirely with therational processes of mind. The body was conceived as, at best, its mute servant, atworst a wild, lustful animal whose impulses were meant to be tamed. By drawingconclusions on the nature of mind and body based on what happens in death, he sets

Scp/Dec2000 The Phenomenobgy ofBody-Mind 7

up a conundrum that is later endorsed by Descartes that ignores much of humanexperience when a person is alive. Two millennia later, Descartes extended thePlatonic notion and restated the schizophrenic view of human experience in whichthe mind was "senior partner" to a mechanical and lifeless body. The mind-body splitwas controversial even in Descartes' day, and his attempt at allaying criticism, bysaying that the two forces actually do interact in the pineal gland, was like using aband-aid to cover a gaping wound.

Despite the controversy, what became known as Cartesian dualism profoundlyinfluenced later thinkers, the legacy of which we still grapple with today. Despite itsmany successes in curing a variety of maladies, the mechanistic view of the body hasgiven rise to an overly technological medical system that sees patients as brokenmachines in need of fixing rather than ailing persons in need of healing. The rise ofinterest in "alternative medicine" regardless of the often hyperbolic claims put to it,signals a widespread dissatisfaction with the mechanistic view of the body.

In regard to sports, philosopher Klaus Meier (1995) laments the effects of thebody-as-machine view of physiology and its effect on sporting life. Meier examinesthe thought of Paul Weiss, an early thinker on matters of body and sport. He reportsthat Weiss marches in lock-step with Cartesian doctrine by exhorting that "Whetheryoung or old, all must learn not to yield to the body, not to allow its reactions andresponses to determine what will be done. The body is to be accepted, but only assubject to conditions that make it function in ways and to a degree that it would notwere it left to itself (Meier 1995:93). One wonders with such an alienated view ofhuman existence how anyone could find pleasure at all in physical action.

In another example, the reification of mental processes has led to a state of affairswhereby investigations of human mentation are lifeless and objectified. Cognitivescience's use of computer metaphors in the study of human cognition, while usefulat some level, fails to consider the subjective states that form and inform actualhuman experience (Gardner 1985). This lobotomization of human experiencecannot account for the totality and wonder of human consciousness and will fail tomake progress if dogmatically maintained. However, the work of Antonio Damasio(1999), whose concern with "the feeling of what happens," signals a shift in the studyof consciousness.

All this is to say, that the resilient edifice of Cartesian dualism which has heldsway for over three hundred years is starting to finally show significant cracks. Thisis evidenced in the public mind with the rising interest in holism as well as growingawareness within the medical community and the development of fields likepsychoneuroimmunology, stress management, and secularized forms of meditation(Kabat-Zinn 1982). However, because of its fundamental role, we cannot hope tomaintain civilized life long without a confidently robust explanation of the role ofbody and mind. Because of its weakness in addressing subjectivity, dualism has beenineffective in addressing issues of everyday lived experience. Fortunately, acomplementary alternative to dualism has been offered by phenomenologicalthinkers.

Anthropology of Consciousness [ 11 (3-4)]

Phenomenology and EmbodimentThe phenomenologists, chief among them Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1962),

rejected the Cartesian structure in favor of an integrated view that emphasized thenotion of embodiment, or in other words, thecentrality of human experience as livedthrough a body. In other words, while dualism generally regarded the mind as theprime moverof human action and denigrated the body as mere vessel, phenomenologycountered that the body, because of the information-channeling senses, was a bridgeto worldly experience. The senses are the portals that lead from inner to outer space.Robbed of them, we become an island unto ourselves, lacking the ability to interactwith the world. Without the ability to make sense of a narrow band of electromagneticenergy, or decode a tight range of sonic impulses, or distinguish hot from cold, softfrom hard or smooth from rough, or smell smoke or taste the sweetness of a freshlypicked fig, the quality of experience would be an impoverished one. The role of thebody is to provide a platform for the deployment and development of consciousnessand a location within time/space for it to inhabit. Phenomenology emphasizes theimportance of lived experience and opens the door to questions previously excludedby a dualistic doctrine.

Phenomenological concepts offer a vocabulary to describe and delineate theprocess of human experiencing. This exercise also helps to put into focus aspects ofexperience that are not given their full due by a Cartesian influenced framework.

The Phenomenological Concept of IntentionalityThe phenomenological concept of intentionality offers a useful tool for

investigating human experience. Intentionality in the philosophical sense refers notto a goal-directed action, but to a configuration of the person/world from a person'spoint of view. As Ihde defines it, intentionality is the notion that "every experiencehas its reference or direction toward what is experienced, and, contrarily, everyexperienced phenomenon refers to or reflects a mode of expression to which it ispresent" (from Pollio, et al. 1997). Put another way, intentionality refers to thesituated and subjective structure of experience. To illustrate with a scene from dailylife, Mary and Sanjay are cooking dinner together. Mary takes up the task ofchopping onions that cause her eyes to water. Mary's intentionality is the experienceof being assaulted by fuming onions when chopping them. Sanjay's intentionalityrefers to seeing Mary cry while chopping the onions while he is engaged in his owntask of setting the table. Although each of them may share the same goal, namely,getting dinner ready, their intentionality of the experience isdifferent. Intentionality,thus, intends to capture the notion that each person represents a unique locus ofobservation and that this subjective relationship to the world is the primary structurefor human experiencing.

By extension, intentionality also suggests that perception passes through anindividual's interpretive lenses each colored by particular experiences, beliefs, andcultural/linguistic biases. A common example can be found in the various attachmentsto certain color combinations. The colors white, blue, and red might connote animage of Old Glory to a proud and democratic Yankee, but also stir up cries of"freedom, equality and brotherhood" in the mind of a patriotic Parisian. However,a Thai might think with pride about her homeland and its royal family. While the

Sep/Dec 2000 The Phenomenology of Body-Mind 9

colors may be the same, their associations are not. This exemplifies Geertz' assertion"that man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun"(1973:5). These webs of self-spun significance provide a shared socialized as well asan idiosyncratic, individualized tint and hue experience of the world. The socialconstruction of reality revolves around the shared associations given to senseinformation (Berger and Luckman 1966). In the search for insight, the associationsmade about sense information can bind or liberate.

Not only is intentionality useful in examining the influence of how we perceivethings, but it is also helpful in describing what we perceive too. The great Americanpsychologist William James noted the particularity of personal perception bycontrasting the differing experiences of four Americans travelling abroad:

One.. .will bring home only picturesque impressionscostumes and colors,parks and views and works of architecture, pictures and structures. Toanother, all this will be non-existent; and distances and prices, populationand drainage arrangements, door and window fastenings, and other usefulstatistics will take their place. A third will give a rich account of the theaters,restaurants, and public balls, and naught besides; whilst the fourth willperhaps have been so wrapped in his own subjective broodings as to tell littlemore than a few names of places. (James 1890:286-287).

Like a living Rorschach inkblot, the variety of these sense impressions revealsthe interests and sensitivities of their owners. They are as much about the qualitiesof place as they are about the qualities of person.

However, there is an additional and somewhat paradoxical aspect to intentionalityin that a person is both a sensing being as well as an object to be sensed. In other words,inherent to personhood is a subjective experience as well as an objective one that ispresented to the world. Intentionality not only refers to the first-person experiencingof the world (from our earlier example, Mary crying over cut onion), but also thereaction of the world to our experience (Sanjay reacting to Mary's tears). Becausewe cannot perceive ourselves while we perceive the world, we often rely on thereaction of others to learn about "me." So, a significant part of our learning aboutourselves comes through an indirect perception of the self. Just as the travellers'impressions in James' example reveal something unique about themselves, peoplealso learn about themselves through the encounters and reactions of "others." Inother words, just as we cannot perceive our own faces directly, so we must rely on amirror's reflection to get an impression of ourselves. However, in this case, thereflecting mirror is the rest of the world. This position is described and summarizedby Magnussen and Stattin as holistic interactionism (1998).

To briefly summarize, intentionality refers to a philosophical concept that refersto a person's unique perception of the world, or, situated perspective. Intentionalitydiffers from intention because it does not refer to a goal-driven action, but thesubjective structure of experience. Two different people perceiving the same objectmay yield vastly differing reactions due to their idiosyncratic associations. They alsoreveal peculiarities about themselves and their state of mind. The nature ofsubjective experience is such that people never perceive themselves directly rather,the self is often learned about through reflections received from the world.

10 Anthropobgy of Consciousness (11(3-4)]

Figure/Ground RelationshipsAnother concept, this time taken from Gestalt psychology, that is helpful in

understanding the nature of subjective experience is figure/ground. Figure/groundperceptual relationships are best known by the shifting image of faces and a vaseintroduced by Edgar Rubin which finds its way into many introductory psychologytextbooks. Depending upon which aspect of the image the viewer attends to, a vaseor two faces appear. What is clear though is that neither group of objects existswithout the other. They are co-created. One of the important lessons these imagesare meant to convey is that figures do not exist as isolated objects. Solid objects needemptiness to be viewable, as much as emptiness requires solidity to appear "empty."In other words, first-person experienced objects and the ground which surroundsthem define each other. Because figure/ground relationships embody interchangeableroles, when one aspect appears as a clearly defined figure the other recedes, less well-delineated, into the background and vice versa. But because of limitations in humanattentional capacity, only one aspect of the image can be defined as a clear figure ata time. A perceptual field in which everything is figurative would be a nightmarishworld of unending and overpowering stimulation. While we need figures to makesense of the world, too many of them would lead to a chaotic reality. Thus, the figurerequires the ground for it to be figurative, like interpenetrated shapes of the TaoistYin-Yang icon, one cannot exist without the other. As Pollio says:

It is never experientially valid to talk of an isolated figure of experience,perceptual or otherwise; rather we must always talk about the figure/groundstructure of experience (note the slash) to emphasize that human experienceis a patterned event defined by focal and background aspects (1997:13).

This state of affairs leaves us to consider the role of the perceiving person. Byincorporating intentionality into the schema of figure/ground perception, we beginto build a picture of a person whose perspective is always situated through the lensof first-person experience, yet is always incomplete. Furthermore, the perceiver actsas part of the ground as well as an essential component in the act of figuration. Thisleads Pollio to conclude that

.. .part of the ground for any figure is the person for whom it is figural. Underthis rendering, the concept of figure/ground implies that the personalperspective is, itself, always a significant aspect to what is perceived.

Usually, phenomenological exercises stop at this point, but, if the personalperspective always plays a role in the act of perception, then a mechanism mustaccount for the abilitya "segregating particle"to shift from "vases to faces" andback. We propose that the mechanism is the shifting of attention throughpsychological selection (Inghilleri, 1999; Csikszentmihalyi and Csikszentmihalyi,1988; Csikszentmihalyi and Massimini, 1985).

Attention and Psychological SelectionWe live in an ocean of information. At every waking moment a person is

bombarded by an enormous amount of potential figures in a world of ever-shiftinggrounds. The challenge inherent in this situation is to winnow certain salientfeatures of the environment and fashion them into a meaningful coherence, while

Sep/Dec 2000 The Phenomenology of Body-Mind 11

disregarding what appears to be of less utility. This negentropic, or order-making,action is the essence of conscious interaction with one's surroundings(Csikszentmihalyi 1990). By extension, what is true for the individual is true for thelarger society too, the challenge of civilized human life is to take the chaos of theuniverse and sculpt a meaningful structure for living. Of course, this ascribedmeaning may be too narrowly situated as the long-lived religious conflicts in theformer Yugoslavia and the Middle East unfortunately demonstrate. No matter whatthe case may be, to "live," information requires the fertile humus of awareness andthe pathway to awareness is attention (Csikszentmihalyi and Massimini, 1985).Thus without attention acting as the conduit between sense material and the brain,no information cari enter into consciousness.

However, to maintain order in consciousness, the mechanism of psychologicalselection functions as an attention-controlling gatekeeper. Psychological selectionis, therefore, the act of choosing what enters into conscious awareness, thediscriminating force between accepted and ignored. As stated earlier, psychologicalselection is necessary because human attention is inherently limited in terms ofvolume (five to seven "chunks" of information at a time [Simon 1969]) and ability(also as discussed earlier, being limited by the situated subjective frame). Selectionimplies choice, or as Inghilleri notes "taking from several items the most suited, best,or most liked one" (1999). This is the same phenomenon which William Jameswrote of in his Principles, "[Consciousness] is always interested more in one part of itsobject than in another, and welcomes and rejects, or chooses, all the while itthinks.... Accentuation and Emphasis are present in every perception we have"(1890:vol.I:284). Thus selectionor in James's parlance "selective attention"iswhat gives the world form, flavor and texture. To use our earlier concepts,psychological selection, from the situated subjective reference point, in part,determines what is "figure" and what is "ground." By selecting out certain featuresand rejecting others, it prevents the brain from either being overloaded because ofan incessant deluge of information or atrophied from a tedious lack of stimulation(Hamilton, 1983). With selection acting as the psychic gatekeeper, information canbe processed in an orderly manner.

Now it is time to combine the concepts that we have learned so far into acoherent structure for examining experience. Intentionality poses the notion of thesubjective co-construction of the world and selfa radical shift away from thedisembodied perceiving mind Descartes wrote about. Figure/Ground can be thoughtof as nested within the perceptual field of intentionality guided by the selectivemechanism of consciousness. With these we have a picture of persons as creatorsinvolved with the meaning-making of their world, a thrust different from Descartes'thinker who is physically in the world but not of it. The focus now becomes how aperson chooses to construct the world, giving her the power to regulate in part theterms of her existence. Once meaning becomes personal then the personal skill ofsense interpretation becomes a paramount ability in determining the quality ofexperience.

Armed with the concepts of intentionality, figure/ground, and psychologicalselection we are now able to explore the role of the body and the nature of experience.What follows is a report of a series of research efforts that explore the interactive

12 Anthropology of Consciousness (11(3-4)]

nature of mind and body, or what we call mind-body. In the first example, we willdiscuss how structuring consciousness can produce states of optimal physicalperformance. In the second, we will briefly show evidence that suggests certain typesof physical actions can induce heightened states of consciousness.

Flow and Sports: Transformation of consciousness can lead to optimalphysical performance.

There are certain states of experience where a person feels on top of the world,in command of the situation and feeling that his/her limits are being pushed to theutmost. This state has been described as one where "everything clicks," or being "inthe groove" or "in the zone" (Jackson and Csikszentmihalyi 1999), MihalyCsikszentmihalyi calls thisoptimal experience "flow" (Csikszentmihalyi 1976,1990,1993, 1997; Csikszentmihalyi and Csikszentmihalyi 1988). Flow is a state ofexperience where a person, totally absorbed, feels tremendous amounts of exhilaration,control, and enjoyment. In flow states people push their abilities to their boundariesand in so doing experience a merging of action and awareness. Flow can occurthroughout the spectrum of daily experience, oftentimes while playing a musicalinstrument, painting a picture, or even cooking dinner. However, an area of life thatlends itself easily to flow experiences is sport. Sports naturally provide many of thenecessary ingredients for flow to occur. In a recent publication by Susan Jackson andMihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1999), the role of flow and sport is examined closely andwill be used as the primary reference for this section.

Flow states arise only when certain characteristics are met: a challengecommensurate with one's skill, a clear goal combined with clear feedback, and theability to concentrate on the task. The challenges at hand must match the person'sability to deal with them. When challenges far exceed a person's skill, anxiety results.When the opposite occurs and skills are outweighed by challenges a person feelsbored. In situations where neither challenges nor skills are high, apathy emerges. So,only when both challenges and skills are evenly matched can a person hope to entera flow state. Top athletes obviously have a high degree of skill, so their primary focusoften tends to be finding challenges suitable for them. Partners who are justbeginning would be a recipe for boredom for an Olympic class athlete. Golf great J ackNicklaus affirmed the importance of challenging ventures, "The tougher and closerthe competition, the more I enjoy golf. Winning by easy margins may offer otherkinds of satisfaction, but it's not nearly as enjoyable as battling it out shot by shot rightdown to the wire" ( Jackson and Csikszentmihalyi 1999:44).

Another requirement for flow to occur is a clearly defined goal. The goalconstructs the optimal intentionality of the situation and provides a focusing devicefor the activity. Keeping in mind that intentionality refers to the structure ofsubjective experience, when clearly defined, the goal defines the mission to beaccomplished and frees up attention to concentrate on the moment without havingto worry about the next one. Loose and general goals like "do your best" fail tomarshal the motivational energy to tackle the task with gusto. Thus without a tightlydefined goal, action becomes diffused and aimless. In other words with looselydefined goals, the possibility of unimportant figures entering into awareness anddistracting the athlete becomes higher. Clear goals also inform which stimuli should

Sep/Dec2000 The Phenomenology of Body-Mind 13

be attended to and which can be ignored. In cases where the goal is a long ways off,larger, more difficult, goals can often be broken down into a series of smaller, moremanageable ones. This helps to keep the level of challenge in a feasible range. Sportsprovide instantaneous goals because of the nature of the game or event. To furtherenergize their motivating power, an athlete can set more complex goals in additionto the ones already provided by the situation. For example, instead of just making abasket, a basketball player might choose to make baskets only with a particular setof moves, thereby increasing the challenge facing him and allowing a more robustexercise of skills.

Hand-in-hand with a well-formed goal is the need for unambiguous feedback.Without this element a person has no way to evaluate behavior. Am I doing well?Am 1 messing things up? Feedback provides an experiential progress report fromwhich a person can choose to alter action or maintain the present course on the wayto achieving the goal. In sports, feedback often comes from the sensations of the bodyitself. As it moves through space, the body provides information relative to the goal.By simply paying attention to the minute stances of the body an athlete is able tomake judgements about her status. A figure skater skilled at using feedback discussesit this way:

When it was good, I knew every single moment; in fact I even remembergoing down into a jump and, this is awful but, thinking, "Oh gosh! This is soreal! I'm so clear in my thoughts." ... I felt in such control of everything, ofevery little movement. I was very aware, you know like what was on my hand,I could feel my rings, .. .1 could feel everything, and I felt like I had controlof anything. ( Jackson and Csikszentmihalyi 1999:106)

The extreme sensitivity to bodily feelings, right down to the rings on her fingers,are examples of feedback in flow. Furthermore, in her recounting of a flow momentwhile skating she also touches upon other aspects of the flow experience like controland the feeling of being "real" when action and awareness merge.

However, all the feedback in the world becomes meaningless without the abilityto concentrate on the task at hand. Concentration focuses psychic energy. Distractionslike credit card bills, fights with one's spouse, or thinking of a sick pet, while all validconcerns, divert precious attention away from the goal. To achieve a flow state, aperson must be emotionally skilled enough to put other concerns away and becomeengaged with the task. In essence, to focus on the essential figures which matter andallow everything else to recede into the background. Concentration is a vitalelement in becoming completely involved with the present. Famed basketball coachPhil Jackson discusses the importance of concentration in playing world-classbasketball.

Basketball is a complex dance. To excel, you need to act with a clear mindand be totally focused on what everyone on the floor is doing. Some athletesdescribe this quality of mind as a "cocoon of concentration." But that impliesshutting out the world when what you really need to do is become moreacutely aware of what's happening right now, this very moment. (1995:116).

Without the runnel of concentration to focus attention, the mind lacks the one-pointedness to maintain full awareness of the present. All of the aforementioned

14 Anthropology of Consciousness (11(3-4)]

criteria comprise an alchemical matrix of interdependent elements. One needs theother to be effective, goals are meaningless without skills. Challenges lose vigor ifan athlete has no feedback from which to judge his performance. Concentration isthe glue that holds the whole experience together and coordinates the varioussensations.

Once these necessary criteria are met, the interactions inherent in them beginto generate the phenomenal aspects that characterize a flow state. These subjectivefeelings of the flow experience are in total what flow is, some of which have alreadybeen mentioned: a sense of control, a transformation of time, a merging of action andawareness, and a loss of self-consciousness. A sense of control is directly related tothe ability to balance skill and challenge. Control, however, seems simultaneouslyeffortless and masterful. Control, as shown with our skater above, is also manifestwith a sense of invincibility and esteem, the notion that one cannot be stopped.

Control and concentration also manifest with a transcendence of normalawareness. One aspect of this transcendence is the loss of self-consciousness. Duringflow, because the sum of attention is being deployed on the task, there remains noleft over psychic energy to worry about the self. What happens is that the normalawareness of "self and other" is collapsed into a single, unified, and harmonic action.Objects of perception cease being so because the perceiver ceases to be aware of aseparation between herself and othereverything becomes a subject. In other words,for a cyclist in flow there is no longer "me and the bike," rather these distinctionsbecome collapsed into a unified sensation of motion. "Me" does not exist; "the bike"does not exist. In essence, the intentionality of this situation has become expandedand extreme. The normal physical boundaries of the body have been transcendedand extended to the motion-making tool. So the construction of the world becomesbased more on the sensation of movement rather than as a person-on-a-bicycle-peddling-quickly-down-the-street. Paradoxically, the sense of self emergesemboldened once the flow experience has subsided. Strengthened with the knowledgeof a masterful performance, the self becomes increasingly resilient. It is perhaps thisexhilarating feeling of accomplishment accompanied by flow experience that makesit so enjoyable. A world class biker frequently quoted by Jackson and Csikszentmihaly iput it this way:

That is what gives you the buzz to keep doing what you're doing, to keep doingthe sport. Because once you've done it, once you've got it, then it just liftsyou. Once you lose it, it can be a real slog till you've got it back again. Andonce you've got it back and you're just grooving along, everything is goingwell, that's great. That's just what you want it to be (1999:152).

As the perception of self changes so too does the perception of time. In flowstates, minutes can subjectively seem to extend for hours and vice versa. Again,because attention is so strongly focused on the present, there remains little to payheed to the passage of time. Ballet dancers whose movements may only objectivelyrequire seconds report a very different subjective experience: "Two things happen.One is that it seems to pass really fast in one sense. After it's passed, it seems to havepassed really fast. I see that it's 1:00 in the morning, and I say 'Aha, just a few minutesago it was 8:00.' But then while I'm dancing ... it seems like it's been much longerthan maybe it really was" (Csikszentmihalyi 1990:66). In flow, objective clock time

Sep/Dec2000 The Phenomenology of Body-Mind 15

loses significance and the subjective transformation of time takes precedence.Because of the heightened state of awareness that flow engenders, one feels that somesort of transcendence has occurred and that life, for however brief a time, entered astate of bliss.

As you have no doubt noticed by now, none of this discussion has beenformulated in terms of "mind versus body," the phenomenology of flow demonstratesthe fallacy of trying to split the two because the nature of the experience demandsthat mind and body work in harmonic unison. The flow experience relies on mentalconstructs like goals and mental abilities like concentration and awareness offeedback to understand and guide the body. In essence, there is no separation. Bymoving our analytical focus from solely on the body to the body and the world, flow'smerging of action and awareness is a prime example of Merleau-Ponty's "being in theworld." Unlike the words of Paul Weiss quoted earlier in this paper, the notion that"all must learn not to yield to the body, not to allow its reactions and responses todetermine what will be done" stands in opposition to the elements that cultivate aflow experience. However, it is clear that the success with which this is achieveddepends on the person's ability to structure experience with rules, goals, or storiesthat give it form and substance. While the mind structures goals, the body also givesinformation and feedback to the mind. This is not a dictatorial relationship with thebody supplicating to the mind, but a dialogue between equals.

To say something further on the role of mental structures and the quality ofexperience, Csikszentmihalyi's description (1969) of "the Americanization of rockclimbing" details the advent of technically-oriented climbing and its reliance ongraduated codes that assess the difficulty of the ascending pitch at climbing locations.By describing the difficulty of each aspect of the ascent, a climber is able to judge hisability through the information these grades provide. Simultaneously, others canknow his ability by keeping track of the climbs he has made.. .so the system providesfor both the subjective and objective qualities of experience. In either case, theyprovide a mental reference system with which to make sense of the experience. Inother words, they guide attention to what should and should not be attended to. Themental structures that frame a person's intentionality bring certain elements toawareness while leaving others unattended to. In gestalt terms, they help determinewhat is figure and what is ground. Research has also shown that when a person isunable to select out stimuli to attend to and structure experience, like when a personis alone, the quality of experience diminishes remarkably (Csikzentmihalyi 1990).Excellent athletes know how to focus on the figures that really matter and leaveunnecessary stimuli in the background. Consider this statement made by a world-class figure skater:

Everything else goes away. It almost happens in slow motion, even thoughyou're doing things at the correct time with the music and everything.Nothing else matters; it is just such an eerie, eerie feeling. The audience fadesaway, except for the brief moment when they were clapping so loudlyactually that was just a part of us. It was all a part of our experience; it nevertook us out of our focus (Jackson & Csikszentmihalyi, 1999:73).

Here she is concentrating on what matters: the quality of her performance. Bykeeping attention so focused on these cues, other things like the audience's

16 Anthropology of Consciousness (11(3-4)]

reactiona potential distractionis shut out from awareness. If she were to bedistracted by the audience's appreciative reactions, the whole performance may havebeen disrupted.

Before moving on to the next section, it should be briefly noted that theseinformational overlays on experience can work on a much larger scale too. Not onlydo mental structures work on a micro-level as in sporting activities, but they alsofunction on a larger social level. Mental and cultural structures can affect physicaland biological ones as well. For example, the mythologies of old provided tales thatexplained the nature of the world, its creation, and how good people should conductthemselves. The knowledge of where one's people came from, how the local wildcritters got their stripes and colors, and the morality plays of the gods offer time-honored explanations, justifications, and guidance for one's experiences.

Contemplation and the Body

Transformation of physical action can lead to heightened states of consciousness.While sports represent an activity generally thought of as being primarily

physical, contemplation is often thought of as a solely mental process. However aswe have shown, optimal physical performance relies heavily on optimal mentalaction. In contemplation, the reverse is often true. While not often thought of assuch, contemplative behavior can involve a significant physical component thathelps to structure mental actions. In a sense, it is the phenomenological opposite ofa flow state. However, before we can investigate this further, we need to set forth anunderstanding of what contemplation means.

Contemplation is derived from the Latin contemplare meaning "to observe." Thisin turn originates from con and templum, and refers to the ancient Roman practiceof visiting a temple to consult the seers in times of confusion or trouble. These originsyield several insights into the nature of contemplation and offer several aspects toconsider when investigating contemplative behavior.

As an act of observation, contemplation centers on bringing information intoconscious awareness through psychological selection. Put another way,contemplation-as-observation fundamentally involves using attention. Deployingawareness is the primary, if not the only, means of understanding phenomena bothinside and outside the self. Lacking this ability, it would be difficult, if not impossible,to make sense of the world. '

While all contemplative forms revolve around using attention, differencescenter on what happens to information once it enters into awareness. Thesedifferences essentially lie along a continuum indicating degrees of activity andpassivity. Some forms of contemplation emphasize the need to evaluate sensematerial, while others suggest passivity, letting information float in and out ofawareness. But because each possibility involves the use of attention, it is appropriateto consider them both.

In a general sense, the former form of contemplation was celebrated by theancient Greeks as vita contemplative!, a life dedicated to reflection and understanding.The examination of information, which can take the form of internal ideation orexternal stimuli, is more than idle rumination. Deployed attention as an agent of

Sep/Dec 2000 The Phenomenology of Body-Mind 17

contemplation aims toward understanding. Therefore, this aspect of contemplation-as-observation is an intellectual function at whose root is an attempt at sense-makingand not a physical one. It is here that the mind/body split makes its entrance. Platoin his Symposium and Phaedrus has Socrates tell us that it is through contemplationthat we can approach an understanding of the eternal "forms" that underlie theephemeral and untrustworthy world of the body and its senses.

While the ancient Greeks esteemed the vita contemplativa, the mental explorersof the Indian subcontinent were also experimenting with notions of the examinedlife and came to very different conclusions. The Indian meditative practices, whicheventually spread throughout Asia, also stressed the importance of observation.Their elaborate "mental technologies" represent a tradition of practice designed tomap the territory of inner space and, in so doing, alter a person's relationship with"outer space." So, this form of contemplation, like that of the Greeks, is a means oftransforming one's phenomenologically intentional relationship to the world throughobservation and reflection. However, the method used is nearly diametricallyopposite.

While the Greeks thought of reason as the key means to finding answers to life'squestions, the South and East Asian trend was to reject discursive thinking asperception-clouding abstraction. From this point of view, it is fruitless to seek anideal "eternal form" when the nature of the world is inherently formless. Asummarization of these practices could be thought of as "a family of techniques whichhave in common a conscious attempt to focus attention in a non-analytical way, andan attempt not to dwell on discursive, ruminating thought" (Shapiro, 1980:14)- Itis not accurate to think that reason and rationality were abandoned in thesetechniques, rather that they are viewed as useful but ultimately limited as a meansof understanding. Rather than rely on abstract theorizing, the Asians focus onobserving concrete and immediate personal experience through training attentionas a means to understanding. This mode of thought brings it very close to Westernphenomeno logical concerns and notions of intentionality. Instead of segregating thecontemplative process to the realm of the mental, the Asians used both mental andphysical elements.

In these practices, the relationship between mind and body never suffered fromCartesian divorce and has placed a significant emphasis on the quality of livedexperience. The Hindu and Buddhist religions have long been familiar with statesof consciousness that Western science is only now becoming open to and attemptingto validate (Wilber, Engler and Brown 1986; Goleman 1988). While Westernexplorers of cognition moved away from the subjective, in favor of studyingquantifiable objective phenomena like memory, perception, and problem-solving,the meditative traditions of southeast Asia have moved in the opposite direction.One of the primary thrusts of meditation is to enhance concentration with the aimof becoming fully aware of the present moment. In other words, to have a richer,more complex, and stable experience. While modern cognitive science has beenenamored with the clean rationality of computer models to explain and understandhuman mentation, it has virtually ignored the messy reality that actually characterizesmental processes.

However, this was not always so. William James was very concerned with the

18 Anthropology of Consciousness [11(3-4)1

qualities of first-person experience and proposed theories of radical empiricism tofurther his phenomenological concerns (Taylor 1996). His description of the"stream of thought" is legendary within the annals of social science and literature.What characterizes much of this experience is the fleeting yet continuous nature ofthe experience of thought. The sporadic and constantly changing nature of mind,and thus intentionality, was described by James, "Now we are seeing, now hearing; nowreasoning, now willing; now recollecting, now expecting now loving, now hating; and in ahundred other ways we know our minds to be alternately engaged? (1890:230). When ourminds are left to their own ends, this chaotic state of transient flittering from onethought to another is the norm. While one would expect that psychologists wouldhave been drawn to study this state of mental affairs, first-person characterizationsof the nature of mind had their greatest supporters in modern literature. Novelistslike Proust, Faulkner, or Joyce appropriated this psychic lens to inform their greatstream of consciousness works. Academic psychology would have to wait.

In the West, Buddhism and meditation have had to trudge down a long road tofind understanding and acceptance. While a century ago, thinkers like Jamesthought that Buddhism would be the primary informant of Western psychology(Epstein 1995), it had to wait until the end of the century to find acceptance. In theAmerican counter-cultural experience of the 1960s, culminating in the so-called"New Age" movement, practices like meditation and yoga were colored by the feel-good, hallucinogenic, "beat-ific" assertions of the Kerouacs, Learys, and MacLaines.The mistaken association between the altered states of consciousness inducedthrough chemical means, and those that arise through meditative practice, misledmany to believe that worldly rejection is the outcome of meditation. In fact,meditative practice is much more about fully participating in the world than escapingit. In these systems, what one escapes are the linguistic traps built up over a lifetimeof perceiving permanence in an impermanent world. To that end, these mentaltechnologies were developed to slough off the encrustation of abstraction, bytraining attention to perceive reality directly rather than through the filters ofdiscursive thought which often attaches labels to events obscuring their experientialpurity. In essence, meditation aims to alter the intentionality of lived experience.By removing cognitive-linguistic blinders it seeks to enhance the quality of "beingin the world." Therefore, the sustained practice of observing moment-to-momentexperience, emphasized by many schools of meditation, supports the notion assertedby Zen Master Suzuki Daisetsu that "Zen is a radical realism rather than mysticism"(Suzuki 1955).

Given all this, one way to define contemplation is what takes place when aperson focuses attention on the contents ofconsciousness, andasaresult is able to reframethoughts and emotions that resolve a question, release a tension, or discover a new idea orperspective. From this conception, contemplation can take many forms. The mostobvious are those with the longest histories. The techniques developed by the HinduYogis, by Zen Buddhists, by Jewish and Christian mystics provide models ofrecreating order in the midst of the stresses of modern life. However, parallel to theseconscious efforts to create order in experience there are innumerable barely consciouspractices that we all engage in to find meaning in the chaotic patterns of everydaylife.

Sep/Dec2000 The Phenomenology of Body-Mind 19

In a recent study co-conducted at Harvard University and The University ofChicago and co-sponsored by the Fetzer Institute and the Nathan CummingsFoundation, a group of highly creative professionals, representing the fields ofjournalism, jazz music, and biological science were asked about the strategies they usefor solving problems, generating ideas, or finding a new perspective. While very fewof these people had training in a particular form of contemplative behavior, there wasan interesting parallel to the elaborate forms of meditative practice and thespontaneous and idiosyncratic practices they reported. Despite their lack of trainingin "real" contemplative action, they managed to generate actions that for all intentsand purposes replicated the structure of the ancient practices discovered millenniaago in Asia. But because of a lack of systematic disciplined practice, these actionsdo not result in the profound transformations ascribe to established contemplativemethods, like the meditation in the Zen or Vipassana traditions.

The most frequent response fell into a category of behavior we termed "steadystates" and involved the use of the body in rhythmic and repetitive actions likewalking, jogging, or swimming. While it might not be surprising for someone to jogto keep their body in good shape, it does not necessarily follow that they do it to findillumination. Yet, this is what many of our respondents suggested. Furthermore, atfirst it is tempting to suggest that this is no different than eliciting a flow experiencefrom the sport. However, looking deeper at the psychic structure of the experience,it becomes clear that the structure is the phenomenological opposite even thoughmany of the outward characteristics resemble flow states. In sporting activity theprimary goal is to use the body to achieve some end. In a sense the body becomes thefigure while the mental state acts as the ground through which the experience isstructured. In contemplative uses of the body the relationship is flip-flopped. Thebody provides the stable and repetitive ground or stage for the mind to do its work.

As mentioned, these steady state activities carry similar threads to the moreelaborate practices found in Asia: they are usually done in psychic isolation from thestrife of other parts of life, they are highly focused, repetitive, goal-driven, and simpleenough to require only a minimum of attention. These actions are frequently coupledwith some sort of physical action. Because these specific activities are generallyintense, solitary, and "simple" ones they require no special paraphernalia, just anable body.

Also common to these pursuits is that they are clearly meditative, as onedevelops a focused and sustained concentration through rhythmic motion withattention turned inward. This focused concentration may be why these actions areso attractive. By giving parts of the mind something else to do, other parts are freeto focus on something at hand. In fact, for people without a properly trainedattention, these may be a less-demanding alternative to traditional forms of meditationwhich require a more rigorous use of attention, like sitting still and counting breathsfor extended periods of time. As a counterpoint, subjects rarely, if ever, mentionedsports where the challenges are different like tennis, golf or basketball whereattention must constantly be focused and refocused, where stimuli quickly change,or even those that involve others. The keys to these focusing activities are theintention of the doer and the attentional structure of the activity and not its culturalvalue or context. Furthermore, many traditional religious rituals do possess a similar

20 Anthropology of Consciousness (11(3-4)]

repetitive structure; chanting sutras, counting rosary beads, and performingprostrations all involve a similar concentrated "steady state." The following passageis exemplary of those who discuss the importance of physical activity:

I find that either running or walking is when I get ideas.... Yes, going for walkscan be really great.... Going for long walks. There's a point...where therhythm just kind of takes over and your brain just starts to function on awonderful level. I think that is one of my prime things I know about life, isthat, for me, I can walkit's got to be a good mile, because the first half ofit, all I do is think about things that I'm fussed about. And then eventuallyI kind of walk through into this clarity.

This person has recognized the importance of walking as a means of solvingproblems and generating ideas. For her, walking is a both a physical and mentalprocess of working through problems, which eventually results in achieving apleasant state of clear understanding. Like many of those who mention physicalroutines, she emphasizes the importance of rhythm, which seems to provide a ready-made structure for attention and action. In other words, repetitive actions like runningdo not require a lot of quick-thinking adjustment. In time one can fall into aprolonged automatic movement which allows the mind to focus on other things. Inother words, the movement provides the predictable and monotonous ground inwhich the mind can work. This structure, which provides the template for activity,allows the mind to simultaneously achieve both a state of relaxation and concentrationwhich seems ideal for contemplation. Compare this journalist's description withBerg's account of participating in the Dhikr, the ritualistic movements of theDervishes of the Middle East:

The Dhikr, it was explained to me, is a dance; or more properly, a performanceof a series of exercises in unison. The objective is to produce a state of ritualecstasy and to accelerate the contact of the Sufi's mind with the world mind,of which he considers himself to be a part. ... The dance is defined by themas bodily movements linked to a thought and a sound or a series of sounds.The movements develop the body; the thought focuses the mind and thesound fuses the two and orientates them towards a consciousness of divinecontact, which is called Hal, meaning "state" or "condition." ... I began tobe affected and found that, although I was not dizzy, my mind was functioningin a very strange and unfamiliar way. The sensation is difficult to describe andis probably a complex one. One feeling was that of a lightening; as if I hadno anxieties, no problems. (Naranjo and Ornstein 1971:156-7).

The similarity between the journalist and Berg's experience is striking. Repetitionseems to play a paramount role in setting the psychic tone for behavior in bothexamples. Berg reports the intertwining nature of physical movement and mentalstates. By giving both the body and mind tasks to tackle, attention is gobbled up inthe effort to maintain them. Like the journalist, he experiences an altered state ofconsciousness where anxieties and troubles slough off in the everlasting present.

Another precedent mirrored by these steady state activities can be found in theyogic practices of the Indian subcontinent. Goleman describes the varieties of yogicschools, but reports that they have a similar goal despite differing methods

Sep/Dec 2000 The Phenomenology of Body-Mind 21

[A]ll yogic paths seek to transcend duality in union. All these paths see thelocus of duality within the mind, in the separation between the mechanismsof awareness and their object. To transcend duality, the seeker must enter astate in which this gap is bridged, the experiencer and the object merging.This state is samdhi, in which the meditator's awareness merges with itscontents (1988:74).

From the point of view of phenomenology, what a yogin seeks to do is alter theintentionality of a situation by merging with itin other words, in this ideal stateobjects are no longer objects but subjects. An object requires an outside experiencerto make it so, whereas a subject is part of the act of experiencing. This is very similarto the state of merging action and awareness in flow. Another journalist, also amarathon runner, discusses how unlike other runners she foregoes listening to music,which for her would prove distracting. Instead she uses running as a means of self-discovery:

I wanted to listen to my own body.... I would go over the day and think ofideas and problems that were coming up. It was a wonderful time to have mymind totally concentrated on some problem

In yet another example, another journalist who swims regularly finds herselfkeeping pen and paper poolside to capture ideas or phrases that emerge during herexercise. No matter the particular activity, these individuals all have some implicittheory of how the mind works in conjunction with physical activity.

Not only do these activities induce a person into a regular, rhythmic activity, butthey also set up a situation for the subconscious mind to contribute to the effort ofproblem-solving. In this case, internally stored information spontaneously reorganizesand emerges into consciousness.

I find that either running or walking is when I get ideas. The brain is amarvelous instrument that continues to work on problems in the subconsciouslong after you've forgotten about them in your conscious mind. And if youcan find yourself, if you can place yourself in some sort of steady state in whichyou're doing some physical activity...like walking, running, riding a bike,lifting weights, or something like that, you will often find that a problemyou've gone to bed thinking about has resolved itself or presented a fewsolutions just sort of spontaneously.

Like the previous person, this woman also emphasizes the importance ofachieving what she calls a "steady state" to generate solutions. She also describes theunconscious nature of how ideas sometimes spontaneously generate. By using theage-old strategy of "sleeping on it" she relies on the brain's unconscious processingto solve dilemmas that she faces. One distinctive feature of these activities is thatidea generation can occur spontaneously. While the other forms of contemplationseem to search for solutions directly, these activities seem to create a space forunconscious and conscious minds to merge and solutions to emerge. This may berelated to the relaxed nature of the activity. In times of stress, the mind may be toorigid to make the connections necessary for insight to occur. Yet none of this wouldoccur without the ground of a rhythmic, steady experience provided by the body.

It is here that steady state activities come to resemble traditional spiritual forms

2 2 Anthropology of Consciousness (11(3-4)]

discussed earlier. A prominent social activist expresses a similar understanding andis explicit about the relationship between mindset, the role of the body in everydayaction and connecting to a larger reality:

Repetitive physical activities are really like a Zen practice. You know whatthe Zen monks said; you sweep the temple garden and it's in that motionwhere you're actually in tune with the whole universe, in that motion. I findthat that's just as easy to get when you're gardening or when you're cyclingaround the neighborhood or when you're putting a load of wash in orwhatever. That you're moving your body and you feel extremely in tune witheverything.

When someone feels "extremely in tune with everything" it is a good sign thatsome kind of transcendent awareness is taking place. Again as in all the previousexamples the person cites the importance of repetitive physical activity and being "inthat motion" as a means of entering a transcendent state. This is also akin to the useof mudras, a variety of yogic meditative practice; a mudra:

Involves repetitive physical movements, usually of the arms, legs, and fingers.In these exercises...the movement of the limbs is performed and repeatedover and over in the same way as a mantram [a repeated phrase also used inyogic practices]. Awareness is continually directed toward the process ofmaking the movements. (Naranjo & Ornstein, 1971:156).

All these examples suggest that for optimal psychic functioning neither thestructure of mentation nor the use of the body should be left to chance. By puttingthe body into a steady, rhythmic state the mind is given a ground for contemplativeinsight.

Why Flow in Sports is not Identical to Steady-State ContemplationBy now you have probably noticed that the experiences of flow and contemplation

strongly resemble each other. On a superficial level they indeed share many similarcharacteristics. Because they both fundamentally involve a manipulation of attentionthis is not surprising. They both share a need for concentration, feedback, a goal, anda requisite amount of skill. Furthermore, they phenomenologically appear similar inmanifesting a loss of self consciousness, transformation of time, and a merging ofaction and awareness. These appear similar because the dynamics of attention arenecessarily limited and when used to their utmost, the same outcomes arise.However, in gestalt terms the states are phenomenologically opposite. In sports andflow, the body acts as figure, while the mind through its setting of goals, response tofeedback, and intense concentration provides the mental ground for the athlete toperform. In contemplation, the body acts as ground through expressing rhythmicmotions so the mind is able work on problems. Recall Phil Jackson's comment thatbasketball "requires shifting from one objective to another at lightning speed."Experientially, flow states through sports are much more psychically and strategicallydemanding. Contemplative activity, however, is not. There is no lightning speedshift that occurs because to do so would disrupt the fragile chain of thoughtengendered by the secure and repetitive predictability of the experience.

Sep/Dec 2000 The Phenomenobgy of Body-Mind 23

ConclusionThe blindspot of Cartesian dualism is its inability to consider the importance of

first-person quality of experience. Descartes further made psychological investigationdifficult by positing a split between mental and physical phenomena. The exultationof mental processes and the denigration of physical ones created an unnecessarybifurcation in the Western view of psychic life. The efforts of the phenomenologistshave attempted to reconcile the mind/body split and consider the interactive rolemind and body play together in the quality of experience. What we have only verybriefly touched upon are two separate phenomena that rely on mutual input fromboth psychic and physical properties. Our awareness of these relationships, however,is only just beginning.

NotesAcknowledgement: This paper would not have been possible without the generous support of the

Fetzer Institute and the Nathan Cummings Foundation. Nor would it have been possible without thecolossal efforts of Howard Gardner, Jeff Solomon, Mimi Michelson and Laurinda Morway of HarvardUniversity and Will Bennis and Richard Epstein of The University of Chicago.

1 Observation also serves to unite two camps which, otherwise, often find themselves at odds with

each other: religion and science. The scientific method is essentially a sophisticated and systematicmethod of observing and understanding the world. Religions, like Buddhism or the practices of the earlyChristian "Desert Fathers," emphasize the importance of a disciplined use of observation in an effort tobring order to consciousness.

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