exploring an understanding of meditation in the context of attention via a bit of mind mapping that’s a work in progress…
briefly: attention is invested day to day in 4 different ways. Most typically it falls in the sleep/auto category where it is absorbed in thoughts, feelings and billiard ball like associations with events just prior to the current one. These reel all the way back to happenstance experiences and childhood conditioning. Most of the activity we call thinking, feeling and ego are mechanically triggered by chains of circumstance and shaped primarily by external events and internal habits. Free will in this state is an illusion.
The other 3 reflect different ways of developing response-ability over our attention and define 3 major schools/approaches to meditation and “awakening.” Along with the potential ability to do and experience outside of our conditioning.
“Tell Me What You Pay Attention to and I Will Tell You Who You Are.” – Jose Ortega Y Gasset