Basic Attention ManagementThis second in a series of Avatar

mini-courses*, by Harry Palmer,explores ways in which humanattention, the most valuable of allcommodities, can be preservedand even restored. The course willfocus on experiential exercises thatare self-instructive. The entirecourse can be repeated many timeswith a deeper unfolding occurringwith each run through.

Who is Harry Palmer?Writer, teacher, lecturer, scientist,

programmer, environmentalist,businessman, spiritual leader,explorer—Harry Palmer is truly aRenaissance man. For more than30 years, Harry has played aprominent role in the conscious-ness-evolvement field. His best-seller, Living Deliberately (currently

available in 19 languages), describ-ing his personal discovery ofenlightenment, launched thehighly regarded worldwide work-shop called The Avatar Course. Hislofty aim, to contribute to the cre-ation of an enlightened planetarycivilization, has been adopted bytens of thousands.

Palmer’s underlying purpose isto teach people effective techniquesfor improving their lives accordingto their own self-generated blue-print.

Today, few who fair-mindedlystudy Harry Palmer’s work candoubt the profound effect that hiswritings are having on the collec-tive consciousness of the world.

Ex. 1: Marshalling Your Attention Troops

Ex. 2: Stick Around

Ex. 3: Two-way Street

Ex. 4: Baby Eyes

Ex. 5: Controlling and Deciding

Ex. 6: This Moment Is Different

Help For A Suffering Planet

Ex. 7: Getting The Message

Ten Hints For Creating Free Attention

Avatar Basic Attention Management CoursechecklistAttention Educators:

Star’s Edge invites you touse the Avatar® Basic Atten-tion Management Course asa teaching module for yourstudents. Each step makes aperfect lesson plan.

1. For several minutes, shift your attentionaround the room; notice how it sticksfor a few moments here or slides bystuff there.

2. In a safe space, close your eyes andreview the events of the last week.Notice that your attention still lingerson certain memories while other memo-ries seem to have been filed away.

Every being is endowed with a certain amount of attention. It appears that thisamount varies from individual to individual and also varies in the same individualaccording to time and circumstances. Compare the condition of your attentionafter you have been up all night to when you have had a good night’s sleep andfeel fresh.

This variation in attention has been observed in religion, philosophy, mentalhealth, and, of course, self-improvement courses. The concerns are always prettymuch the same: How can someone acquire more free attention or better use whatthey have. These concerns have spawned hundreds of mental processes and medi-tative techniques, but few, if any, have been as effective as the exercises taught inReSurfacing, Section I of The Avatar Course.

The word attention is derived from two Latin words, ad meaning toward andtendere meaning to stretch. When you put your attention on something, you stretchtoward it. Once your curiosity is satisfied, your attention comes off whatever youwere looking at, listening to, touching, tasting, feeling, thinking about, etc., andmoves to something else. Or at least it should. It used to.

Here’s the first exercise. Among other things, it should help you to discover therole that attention plays in perception.

1. Look at the front wall, and find some-thing you haven’t noticed before.

2. Look at the left wall, and find some-thing you haven’t noticed before.

3. Look at the right wall, and find some-thing you haven’t noticed before.

4. Look at the back wall, and find some-thing you haven’t noticed before.

5. Look at the ceiling, and find somethingyou haven’t noticed before.

6. Look at the floor, and find somethingyou haven’t noticed before.

7. Look at the front wall, but place yourattention on the left wall.

8. Look at the left wall, but place yourattention on a sound.

9. Listen to the sound while you wiggleyour toes.

EXERCISE 1: Marshalling Your Attention Troops

EXERCISE 2: Stick Around

Introduction

Basic Attention Managementav

atar mini-course by Harry Palmer

Harry Palmer,author of the

Avatar materials

Congratulate yourself if you really did do this exercise. If you only read the exerciseand thought about it, you need to intellectualize a bit less and experience a bit more.

Some things have a Velcro quality, whileothers have a Teflon quality. Attentionsticks to the Velcro and slides off theTeflon. Most people can feel a differencebetween looking at the floor and lookinginto a stranger’s eyes, or between personalmail and junk mail. If you are in a locationthat is familiar to you, you may find thatthe stickiness or slide-by force is the samefor everything. If so, redo the exercise in aspace that is new to you. You may alsodiscover that there is a difference in thebehavior of your attention for differentemotional states, attitudes, and physicalconditions.

Every person has a finite allotment ofattention at any given time. This can bedemonstrated by giving a person moreand more tasks until their allotment ofattention runs out. For example, pat yourhead and rub your belly while counting

backward from twenty by threes. Haveyou ever heard yourself say, “Don’t botherme right now?” You are giving someonethe signal that your allotment of attentionis occupied.

For purposes of discussion, the allot-ment of attention can be divided intoquantities called attention units. We canclassify these attention units into severalcategories based on the way they behave.At one end of the scale we have attentionunits that are unbiased and that we candirect (self-directed). At the other end ofthe scale we have attention units that stayfixed on something (unconsciously fixed).In between, in descending scale, we havebiased attention units, other-directedattention units, and disoriented attentionunits. (See Figure 1) Biased attention units

Figure �: Scale of Attention Behavior

FreeAttention Units

BiasedAttention Units

Other-DirectedAttention Units

Disoriented Attention Units

Fixed Attention Units

Self-directed with very little

effort

May be self-directed, but only with effort

Follows or fights another’s

intention

Conflicted by contradictory

intentions

Frozen in pasttrauma and pain

Observe what is without

judgment or bias

Evaluate according to

bias

Look at what they’ve been

directed (or directednot) to look at

Mix past and present

perceptions

No present timeperception

Exhibit unattached

interest

Exhibit desire and resistance

Exhibit indoctrinationand/or blame

Exhibit anger, confusion, and

overwhelm

Exhibit fear and/or grief

(when queried)

Self-restorative

How they are directed

How they observe

How they react

How they are upgradedUpgraded by

confession andcompassion

Upgraded by increasing personal

responsibility

Upgraded by align-ment with a worth-

while purpose

Upgraded by processing and

effective therapy

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Behavior Of Attention

Other-Directed Attention Unit

have preferences. Other-directed attentionunits follow or rebel against orders. Dis-oriented attention units are confused.

Let’s examine the attention units at thetop end of the scale and how they affectyour life. Self-directed attention units,

which we could also call free attentionunits, always obey your conscious will.Biased attention units can be consciouslydirected, but they have a mind of theirown. Minds and attention units behavesimilarly. Self-directed attention units arebright little minds that you send outthrough your sense organs to collect

impressions from the world. Biased atten-tion units are opinionated minds that,even when directed into the world, tend to only see what they want to see.

Your sensory organs aren’t much good ifyou don’t supply them with free attentionunits. If your parents or spouse ever tellsyou that you aren’t listening, what theyare really saying is that you aren’t supply-ing any free attention units to your ears.Your supply of free attention units isreserved for the stuff you find interesting.

Mental exhaustion, irritation, and over-whelm are feelings that arise when theworld demands more free attention fromyou than you have available.

The end result of this mini-course willbe an increase in the amount of free atten-tion that you have available.

If you send biased attention units tocollect impressions for you, they don’t

Figure �: Attention

Units

Free Attention Unit Biased Attention UnitOther-directed attention units follow

or rebel against orders.Observes without judgment.

Interested without attachment.Biased attention units

have preferences.

People who misperceive, or who are unfairly critical, are operating through biased

attention units.

Isn’t this interesting?

Am I right?Am I right?

Just tell mewhat to do.

Behavior Of Attention continued

The value of practiceis that it reduces theamount of free atten-tion you need to dosomething. Fromyour own experienceyou can probablythink of actions thattook your full atten-tion the first fewtimes you did them,like riding a bicycleor driving a car, butafter practicingthem, you could dothem almost withoutthinking.

bring back very much data. A biasedattention unit’s capacity to store impres-sions is already occupied by its assump-tions, opinions, and preferences. So it col-lects only vague, low-resolutionimpressions that you have to think aboutin order for them to make sense. Andguess what? The world ends up lookingpretty much the way you thought itwould look.

People who misperceive or who areunfairly critical are operating throughbiased attention units. There aren’t manynew discoveries made by biased attentionunits. People end up perceiving what wasalready in their mind. The problem withthis is that it gives them a false sense ofbeing right about something. If they tookthe time to really examine their observa-tion, they would discover that they were

being righteous rather than accuratelyperceiving fact.

If you send free attention units to collectimpressions for you, they bring back clear,useable data. Free attention is rare. If youcould suddenly give people a boost of freeattention, they would be in utter amaze-ment at how little they normally observe.Wow!

Free attention observes and returnsaccurate impressions without added emo-tion or reaction. (Think of the Spock orData characters of Star Trek.) Some people,especially athletes, describe the experienceof free attention as operating in “thezone.”

If you did not experience free attentionin Exercise 1, consider repeating it now.Otherwise, it time to go on and explorethe power of free attention.

Disoriented Attention Unit Fixed Attention Unit Disoriented attention units

are confused.Preoccupied, compulsive, stuck

in a repeating loop.

What was that about?

Too busy to talk right now.

So what happened in Exercise 2? Didyour attention reflect the preferences

of your mind, your likesand dislikes? That’s whatmost people experience.The things that they havestrong feeling about,either positive or nega-tive, tend to influence thedirection of their atten-tion, while the thingsthat they feel neutral

about let their attention slideby. What could this mean?Could it mean that the thingsthat you pay most attention to

reflect what you think about most? That’spretty sensible, but have you ever thoughtit might be a two-way street? If youchange what you think about, what youpay attention to changes, and if youchange what you pay attention to, whatyou think about changes. Could we be onto something here?

1. Deliberately force yourself to smile,bigger and bigger, until you feel happy.

2. Deliberately think to yourself, “I amhappy,” until you smile.

If you have ever had the privilege ofhanging out with a baby and sharing hisor her discovery of the world, you proba-bly know what we mean by free attention.In the innocent gaze of a child, there is noself-consciousness, no embarrassment, andno judgment. It is a here-now presencethat has not yet become embroiled in theconcerns or preferences of the world.

With a little practice, most people canrecreate what it feels like to look at theworld through baby eyes.

1. Looking through baby eyes, shift yourattention around the room. Notice howyour attention behaves.

Does the view seem a bit morepanoramic? Is there more appreciation?Are you more attracted to motions ratherthan to objects? You may not want to lookat the world this way all the time, but itoffers a contrasting view to how you havegrown to see things.

When you perceive through baby eyes,you see beyond the word labels.

2. Pick out something and describe it,without naming it, until another personknows what you are talking about.(Example: It walks on all fours, hashooves, and goes “oink.”)

EXERCISE 4: Baby Eyes

EXERCISE 3: Two-way street

EXERCISE 5: Controlling and Deciding

Worry

In the following exercises, any time yourattention wanders, bring it back.

1. Pick out two stationary objects, anddirect your attention to one of them.Examine it for a minute or two. Thenshift your attention to the second object,and examine it for a minute or two.Shift back and forth several times usingthe same two objects.

2. Create two mental images in your mind,and direct your attention to the firstimage for a minute or two. Then shiftyour attention to the second image for aminute or two. Shift back and forthseveral times using the same two men-tal images.

In the following part of this exercise,make sure you are deciding before, ratherthan after, you shift your attention.

3. While looking at the floor, decide inwhich direction you are going to looknext. When you have decided, look inthat direction. (Repeat this step until itis easy.)

4. Close your eyes, and place your atten-tion on a period of your life. With youreyes still closed, decide on whichperiod of your life you are going toplace your attention next. When youhave decided, shift your attention.(Repeat this step until you can self-determinedly shift your attention to anyperiod of your life.) End each session ofthis exercise by bringing your attentionto the present moment and describingwhat you are feeling right now.

There is a folk story about a psycholo-gist who calculated how many thoughtsthe average person has in a day. It was ahuge number, in the tens of thousands.

The punch line to the story was the dis-covery that only about .1 percent of thethoughts that a person had were signifi-cantly different from the thoughts that theperson had thought the day before. Worryis the repetitive analysis of the vague, low-

resolution impressions returned by biasedattention units.

Using the psychologist’s calculation, youcould conclude that 99.9 percent of theaverage person’s attention may be madeup of biased attention units. And youwould probably be right.

There is more than a little truth to theidea that people use only a tiny fraction oftheir potential mental ability.

Contemplate means to study somethingcarefully until its subtler qualities arerevealed. You contemplate something byobserving or imagining it from differentangles and in ways that other peoplemight see it. Contemplation works best asa two-step process. First you focus all theattention you can muster on the problem,question, or mystery being contemplated,and then you relax and shift your atten-tion to something else. Shift back andforth as often as you like. Concentrating,relaxing, concentrating, relaxing, over andover. Possibilities form and reform, work-

ing toward a moment of clarity in whichyou experience insight and, perhaps, dis-cover that million-dollar idea.

The secret to contemplation is diligentcontrol of your attention; take one morelook.

If you concentrate your attention onsomething and keep it there, without therelax-and-shift step, your attention willmove down the attention unit scale until iteventually becomes fixed, dull to the stateof unconsciousness, and you will losecontrol of it. This is the short explanationof hypnosis.

Contemplation

The Blimp Analogy

EXERCISE 6: This Moment is Different1. Obtain two coins of the same denomina-

tion. Lay them side by side, and find atleast five differences between them. Dothe same exercise with two leaves fromthe same tree, two pieces of plain whitepaper, and two days in your life.

2. Make a list of the unfinished projects inwhich you currently have invested atten-tion. Prioritize the projects by the num-ber of times a week that you involuntar-ily think about them. Take the project

that you worry about most, and break itdown into ten or more doable steps.

3. Compose a song or a poem about yourlife’s trials and tribulations. After eachstanza add the chorus, “Okay, I’m donewith that now.” (Example: “She brokemy heart and left me flat, stole mymoney and took the cat. Nobody willgive me a break, my bills come to morethan I make. Okay, I’m done with thatnow.”)

Analogies, even silly ones, can some-times make things easier to understand.

A free-attention-unit blimp is an imagi-nary balloon-shaped structure with a suc-tion cup on the front, satellite antenna onthe back, and disk drive in the middle. Aperson remotely steers the free-attention-unit blimp with intention—to send andsteer the free-attention-unit, you intendthe blimp to where you want it to go. Theblimp attaches itself to something, loadsthe impression of what it is attached toonto its disk drive, and then transmits thedata back to you.

At your end, you analyze the data andrecognize an oak rocking chair, or a friend,or your favorite episode of a TV program.

Sometimes there is so much data in theparticular port of call that you intend twoblimps or even a whole fleet of blimps togather and transmit data back to you toanalyze.

Some things are so loaded with interestand importance that they require everyblimp you can send.

Finally, assuming that every data streamhas an end, your interest is satisfied (yougot the message), and you intend yourfree-attention-unit blimps somewhere else.

There are a couple of things that can gowrong in free-attention-unit blimp world.First, the incoming data can be more thanyou can analyze, so you ignore the mes-

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Figure �: Free�Attention�Unit Blimp

Some things are so loaded with interest and importance that they require every blimp you can send.

The following article first appeared inInside Avatar. It describes an application of the next exercise in the Basic AttentionManagement Course.

One of the positive effects of Avatar isthat it awakens in a person a dispositionto relieve the distress of fellow creatures.

Let me reconstruct a session that I ranfor a man who knew nothing aboutAvatar. It is a good illustration of whyCHP fails as an emergency assist, butReleasing Fixed Attention, from the ReSur-facing book works.

He was happy to let me help him, butwas skeptical. His right knee hurt so badlythat he couldn’t sleep, yet his doctor couldfind no obvious fault with the knee.Exploratory surgery had been suggested. Isuspected, rightly as it turned out, that itwas a persistent mass.

I explained that I was going to have himfocus attention on the knee and then onsomething else and that we were going togo back and forth at least ten times oruntil he felt some relief. I asked permis-sion to take research notes for an articleand assured him that his name wouldn’tbe used. He agreed.

• • • •

We settle into lounge chairs on ascreened porch for the session. We startwith attention on the knee. He moves itaround a little, grimaces and says, “That’sit. It hurts that way most of the time.Especially at night. Sort of a shooting painthat starts here,” pointing at the inside ofthe knee, “and goes down the leg. Some-

Help for a Suffering Planet

Blimp Analogy continued

sage and leave it on the blimp’s diskdrive. Now the blimp can’t load quite asmuch. It is a diminished capacity blimp.Not only does it perceive less, but alsowhen it transmits back to you, it mixes theold data in its memory banks with newdata that it just acquired. Past and presentmix, and things start looking a little odd,delusional maybe.

But that’s not the worst situation. Theworst situation in the free-attention-unitblimp world is that the blimp tries totransmit some data that you want nothingto do with. Maybe it sends some sorrow-ful news about a friend, or a special bul-letin about a personal traumatic event, orsome gross-out-horror live shot from anaccident scene. Your reaction to this trans-mission is that you ignore (go deliberatelyunaware) the data transmission from theblimp. The blimp is forgotten and aban-

doned, and you’re not quite as observantas you used to be—your blimp fleet isdiminished.

When all your blimps are lost, you willhave to rely on the relay of post-analyzeddata from associates who still have anoperational blimp or two. “Tell me whatyou see.” This is the beginning of indoctri-nation.

How many abandoned attention blimpsare out there? Some quantum theoristswould speculate, in effect, that the wholephysical universe is nothing more than thegarbled transmission of an astronomicalnumber of abandoned attention blimpsrepeatedly transmitting their disregardedmessages.

Perhaps more relevant, a growing bodyof evidence suggests that people maintaina subconscious connection with theirabandoned attention units, and the mes-sage that their consciousness refuses tohear is broadcast over and over on sub-conscious wavelengths.

It is a thoughtful moment when oneconsiders that the chronic pain in theirknee might really be the transmission ofan undelivered message from a long-agoabandoned attention unit.

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CHP: CreationHandling Procedure,an advanced exercise

from The AvatarMaterials that delib-erately parallels theoperation of aware-

ness in the universe.

persistent mass:any belief that you

feel you have nocontrol over such asan obsession, a neu-

rosis, a pain, or afixed condition.

It is a thoughtful moment when one considers thatthe chronic pain in their knee might really be thetransmission of an undelivered message from a

long-ago abandoned attention unit.

times I can feel it all the way to the ankle,and it makes my right foot ache. It’s hardto describe.”

“Okay,” I say and point to the birdfeeder in the yard. “Look at that.” Onesquirrel has climbed into the bird feederand is throwing out sunflower seeds to asquirrel on the ground.

“She looks pregnant,” he says. “I won-der if that’s her mate in the feeder.” Andthen after another minute of watching, hesays, “It’s sure easier than gatheringacorns.”

“How’s the knee?”“Oh, it hurts like always.” He takes a

few seconds to focus on the knee andmoves it several times. “If I move it justright, it hurts.” He tries to show me.Almost immediately he has his first real-ization. “Funny thing is, it’s not alwaysthe same movement that causes it tohurt.”

“That’s interesting,” I say, and he hasanother realization.

“Yes, it seems like it is caused by some-thing other than movement. Movementjust seems to aggravate it.”

“Can you describe what that somethingis?”

Several minutes pass before he answers.“Boy, I just don’t know.”

I figure it’s time to draw his attentionout. “Where did the squirrels go?” I ask.

He opens his eyes. “I don’t know. Iguess maybe they saw a hawk.”

“Do the hawks bother them?” “No, I think they’re just being cautious.

Mostly the hawk eats lizards. There’s onehawk that comes sometimes and sits onthe bird bath. I’ve actually seen the squir-rels chase him away. I guess if he found ayoung squirrel, and found him alone, he’dprobably be dinner.”

“How’s the knee doing?”“Oh, it hurts. You know what’s funny?”“What?”“It hurts worse when I try to take my

attention off of it than it does when I putmy attention on it.” He rubs his kneethoughtfully. “I guess it wants attentionand doesn’t like it when it doesn’t get it.”He closes his eyes and seems to drift off.

“What are you thinking about?”“Oh, just thinking about how kids some-

times hurt themselves to get attention. I

was wondering if that’s why my kneehurts.”

“How does it feel?”“Oh, it still hurts. It depresses me.”“How so?”“Oh, it just makes me feel bad. I can’t

find a reason for it, and nothing seems towork. I just feel...helpless. I feel like someold beggar on a crutch. I hate it. I reallyhate it. I try not to let it get me down, but Ireally hate it.” His voice is getting shaky.“Sometimes I think it must be some kindof punishment.” His face is contorted

behind his hands. He tries to hide that heis crying. “Sorry.” He shakes it off. “I can’tgo on with this. It’s not going anywhere.”

“Feels like there’s some strong emotionsconnected with that knee. How would youdescribe them?”

“Oh God. I just can’t. It hurts so much.It’s bigger than me. There’s nothing I cando about it. I’ve tried. I’ve really tried. Ithas brought me to my knees.” His moodsuddenly shifts. “That’s funny. It’sbrought me to my knees.” He’s laughingand crying at the same time. I wait for theemotion to work itself out.

Finally, looking back at the bird feeder, Iask, “Do you ever see any cardinals?”

“Oh, yes. There’s a whole family thatcomes around 4 o’clock. It’s still a little tooearly for them. There’s also a little brown

I explained that I was going to have him focusattention on the knee and then on something elseand that we were going to go back and forth at

least ten times or until he felt some relief.

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Help for a Suffering Planet continued

bird that has a top knot on its head like acardinal. I don’t know the name. They’rereal tame. Sometimes they sit on the win-dow sill.”

“How’s the knee doing?”“You know, it’s better. It feels like it had

a workout. I think it was the idea of beingbrought to my knees that made it feelbetter. I think I really fight the idea ofbeing brought to my knees. I don’t knowwho it was, maybe my dad, used to say,‘Get off your knees.’”

As if on cue, a bright red cardinalappears at the bird feeder. “There he is.You can tell by his color, he’s a male. Thefemales are more washed out.”

We both watch the cardinal for a minute.“What’s the knee doing?” I ask.“Not much. It actually feels pretty good

right now. But it does go away sometimesand then comes back.”

“When did it do that?”“I don’t remember. I really only think

about it when it’s hurting. If I’ve had areal hard day, it hurts all night. But thensome nights—not many—I don’t notice itat all. It reminds me of farmers that weresuppose to predict the weather by the painin their joints.” He drifts off again.

“What are you thinking?”“My grandfather had a big outdoor

thermometer and just for the hell of it, Ithrew a stone at it, and it smashed all topieces. Little shards of glass everywhere.Sometime my knee joint feels like it’sfilled with those shards of glass.”

“What did your grandfather do?”“I don’t think he did anything, but I

remember being real scared that hemight.”

“There’s the little brown bird,” I saypointing.

“That’s him. See how he’s got a thing onhis head? He moves differently though, alot quicker than the cardinals.”

We watch for awhile, and then his atten-tion drifts back to his knee. “There’s stillsomething there,” he says.

“What’s it feel like?”“Well, it feels like I got shot in the knee.

I imagine this picture of a civil war soldiercharging across a field and getting hit inthe knee. Boy, with one of those old mus-ket balls that must have really hurt. Thatwould get your attention. Maybe my kneestill hurts from a past life or something.Do you believe in that?”

“Yes, sometimes.”“I’ll tell you, if you got hit in the knee

with one of them musket balls, it wouldhurt bad enough that you wouldn’t everforget it.” He’s examining his knee. “Lookat that. There’s a red patch right here justthe size of bullet. Or a tooth.”

“A tooth?”“Yeah, I was just imagining why my

knee might hurt, and I thought about howmuch it hurts when something bites youand a tooth strikes bone. That makes myknee hurt just to think about it. Makes mewant to get away. That’s the fear again. Doyou think pain and fear always gotogether?”

The truth that an Avatar Master teaches does notrequire a name, for it does not pass through theworld, but is the loving model of willingness to

share consciousness.

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Some areas may beso fixed or emo-tionally chargedthat you cannotimmediatelyextend attention tothem (unconsciousmemories) orretract attentionfrom them (dan-ger). These situa-tions are addressedand remedied inthe creation exer-cises of Section IIAvatar materials.

EXERCISE 7: Getting the Message

“I don’t know.”“I think they do. That’s that something

that I couldn’t see before. It’s somethingscary. Boy, I can feel it. Look.” He showsme he has given himself goose bumps onthe arm.

“How’s the knee?”“So far so good. This really tires you

out, doesn’t it? I feel ready for a nap.”“Is the tired feeling coming from your

knee?”“I don’t know.”“What’s it feel like?”“It feels like I just want to lay here and

not move.” He’s slumped down in thelounge chair and is lying completelymotionless. His eyes are open.

“What are you thinking?”“I picture myself on that civil war battle-

field again. And I’m just laying there—wait, that’s not quite right. I’m laying out-side a field hospital, and they’ve cut myleg off. They’ve cut my damn leg off! Oh,Jesus, help me. I just want to go to sleep. Idon’t want to think about anything. I justwant to sleep. This is a very familiar feel-ing.”

After a couple of minutes of silence, hethinks of something and starts laughingand shaking his head. “You want to knowwhat I told the doctor the other day? I saidif he couldn’t do anything for the knee, heought to saw the leg off.”

“That is funny.” We laugh together.“You know what this is?” he asks point-

ing at the knee. And then answers his ownquestion. “Have you ever heard of a phan-tom-limb pain?”

“What’s that?”“It’s when an amputee has a pain in a

limb that isn’t there anymore. Like he canstill feel his hand, but his whole arm isgone. He’s remembering. That’s what thisis like. It’s a phantom knee pain.”

We sit quietly while the idea sinks in. Itfeels like something has changed.

“Well,” he says, “I said I was nevergoing to forget it and I didn’t. You know, Ifeel fantastic. What did you do to me?”

“Look, the squirrels are back.”

(A follow-up a week later confirmed the kneewas continuing to improve, and there was astrong interest in doing Avatar.)

The following exercise is from the work-book ReSurfacing, page 70. It makes use ofmuch of what you have learned in theexercises 1-6.

Releasing Fixed Attention

Repeatedly extending attention into andretracting attention from an area whereattention is fixed will eventually recoverthe fixed attention from that area. Usuallythe recovery happens abruptly and isaccompanied by one or more of the fol-lowing results:

• a sudden insight into the area• the appearance of a solution• the disappearance of the area altogether• relief from pain• discharge of an upset or an emotional

release

• discharge of a past trauma• a change in viewpoint (a reordering of

importance)

1. Pick any sensitive area from your life.Alternate between the following: a)describe the area in detail until yourattention is focused on it, then b)describe something in your surround-ings in detail until your attention is offthe area. Repeat this process back andforth until one or more of the aboveresults occurs.

Note: Be prepared to run this process forextended lengths of time. It can open oldwounds and should not be abandoned justbecause the going gets tough. You aretougher. See it through to conclusion.

Ten Hints For Creating Free Attention1. Clean out your closet.

2. Put appointments/bills due on a calendar.

3. Forgive someone.

4. Confess a transgression.

5. Break down a big project intosmaller steps.

6. Divide a long-term goal intosmaller goals.

7. Throw away a broken applianceyou were going to fix.

8. Organize the garage/kitchen cabinets/closet/desk drawer/old files.

9. Make a “to do” list.

10. Decide to put something troublingbehind you (for help with this, seeexercise 6, step 3).

A reality paradigm is a set of assump-tions, concepts, values, and practices thatconstitutes a way of viewing reality for thecommunity that shares it. One of the posi-tive values of having a reality paradigm isthat it allows the creation of methods

whereby the existing reality may bechanged. This is what you have beendoing in the Basic Attention ManagementCourse, which is built upon aconventional attention behavior paradigm.

At some limit of mind changing, yourreality may actually reconstruct itself intoa new reality paradigm that will requirethe creation of new methods to continueyour exploration. Some call this the path

of spiritual maturation; we grow out ofcertain methodologies and are ready formore advanced ones.

There are more advanced attentionbehavior paradigms employed in TheAvatar Course, even more advanced inThe Avatar Wizard Course, and probablyeven more advanced in reality paradigmsyet to be constructed. If, in working withthis course, you sense a stable openinginto one of these higher attention behaviorparadigms, conclude your use of themethods presented here and move on. Thegoal of Avatar training is to assist you intraversing reality paradigms rather thanany final settlement into, or assertion of,this is how it is.

For a fuller understanding of how atten-tion functions, your next step is to enrollon a weekend ReSurfacing Course.

If you have any suggestions or com-ments about this, or any other Avatarmini-course, I would like to hear them.Love, Harry Palmer, 2003

Afterword

One of the positive values of having a reality paradigm is that it allows the creation of methods

whereby the existing reality may be changed.