My friend and co-facilitator of the Mindfulness and Modeling discussion group, Suzan Quick, recently shared an excerpt from Alan Watts’ lecture on “Seeing the Background” that has been sticking in my head. In it, Watts discusses how we can’t truly see or understand something without considering its context – its background, its edges, its environment. Here is the text:

When we describe a human being or any other living organism from a scientific point of view, all that means is that we are describing it carefully. We’re going to describe very carefully what a human being is and what a human being does—alright. And we find that, as we go on with that description, we can’t describe the human being without describing the environment. We can’t say what a human being is doing without also saying what the world around [them] is doing. Just imagine for a moment that you couldn’t see anything up here except me. You couldn’t see the curtains behind me, you couldn’t see the stage, you couldn’t see the microphone. You could only see me. That was all you could see. What would you be looking at? You wouldn’t see me at all. Because you wouldn’t see my edges. And my edges are rather important for seeing me. My edges would be identical with the edge of your eyesight; with that vague oval curve which is the field of vision. And what you would be looking at would be my necktie, my nose, my eyes, and so on, but you wouldn’t see my edges. So you’d be confronted with a very strange monster, and you wouldn’t know it was a human being. Because to see me you need to see my background. And therein lies a clue of which we are mostly ignorant.

In Buddhist theory the cause of our phony sense of identity is called avidyā, and that means “ignorance”—although it’s better to pronounce it “ignore-ance.” Having a deluded sense of identity is the result of ignoring certain things. So when you look at me and I manage—by behaving up here in a kind of a more or less interesting way—I cause you to ignore my background because I concentrate attention on me. Just like a conjurer, stage magician, in order to perform his tricks, misdirects your attention. [The magician] talks to you about something [they’re] doing here, and [they] talk to you about [their] fingers and how empty they are, and [they] can pull something out of [their] pocket in plain sight and you don’t notice it. And so magic happens. That’s ignore-ance. Selective attention. Focusing your consciousness on one thing to the exclusion of many other things. So, in this way, we concentrate on the things, the figures, and we ignore—we don’t concentrate on the background. And so we come to think that the figure exists independently of the background. But actually, they go together. And they go together just as inseparably as backs go with fronts, as positives go with negatives, as ups go with downs, and as life goes with death. You can’t separate it.

This reminds me of a principle that is a part of my IA and modeling practice: considering something within its next larger context. As Eliel Saarinen said,

Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context – a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan.

But, there’s a fascinating paradox here. While understanding context is crucial, both effective modeling and mindfulness also require us to focus our attention selectively. Watts touches on this when he discusses “ignore-ance”—our ability to concentrate on certain things to the exclusion of others.

In modeling complex systems, we face this paradox constantly. We need to understand the broader context to create grounded, useful models. Yet, we need to constrain our attention to make progress and avoid being overwhelmed.

This dual awareness—of both the specific and the general—is at the heart of mindful modeling. It requires us to expand our awareness while focusing our attention. It requires us to realize the interconnections between everything while ignoring (temporarily) what is beyond what we can handle right now.

Effective models need this practice of mindful modeling where we create insightful models while avoiding the paralysis that can come from trying to capture everything.

How do you experience this paradox in your work?

How do you balance awareness of the “larger context” with the need for focused attention in your work?

How might this balance enhance your approach to complex problems?

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AI Use Disclosure:

This was developed through iterative discussion with an AI assistant (Claude 3.5). The core ideas and final wording are my own (unless cited as otherwise), with AI aiding in exploration, drafting, and refinement.

Sources:

Here is the audio clip I reference: https://dynamic.wakingup.com/clip/CL7A2A9-C41931

The clip is from the Eco Zen lecture by Alan Watts. Here is the text of the full lecture, the clip/excerpt starts at 17:28: https://www.organism.earth/library/document/eco-zen