Ich lese gerade Huxley und ich finde, was er schreibt, passt zu dem, was ich bei Dir, Susa, über die Cantienica-Methode gelesen habe.
Er geht davon aus, dass übereifriges Bemühen und die Sorge, etwas falsch zu machen, dazu führen, dass die natürliche Leichtigkeit der Augenbewegungen verloren geht und stattdessen Anstrengung und unnatürliche Unbeweglichkeit entstehen:
"Mal-functioning and strain tend to appear whenever the conscious 'I' interferes
with instinctively acquired habits of proper use, either by trying too hard to do well,
or by feeling unduly anxious about possible mistakes. (S.9)
... - by being too anxious to achieve the desired end. But in seeing, as in all other
psycho-physical skills, the anxious effort to do well defeats its own object; for this
anxiety produces psychological and physiological strains, and strain is
incompatible with the proper means for achieving our end, namely normal and
natural functioning. " (S. 9/10)
"This inhibition of the movement of the eyes—a movement of
which we are mainly unconscious—is brought about by a too greedy desire to see.
In our over-eagerness we unconsciously immobilize the eyes, in the same way as
we have immobilized the other parts of the body. The result is that we begin to stare
at that part of the sense-field which we are trying to perceive. But a stare always
defeats its own object; for, instead of seeing more, a person who has immobilized
his sensing-apparatus (an act which also immobilizes the closely correlated
attention) thereby automatically lowers his power of seeing, which depends, as we
have learnt, upon the uninterrupted mobility of the sensing eyes and of the
attending, selecting and perceiving mind associated with the eyes.
Moreover, the act of staring (since it represents an effort to repress movements
which are normal and habitual) is always accompanied by excessive and
continuous tension, and this, in its turn, produces a sense of psychological strain.
But where there is excessive and continuous tension, normal functioning becomes
impossible, circulation is reduced, the tissues lose their resistance and their powers
of recovery. To overcome the effects of impaired functioning, the victim of bad
seeing habits stares yet harder, and consequently sees less with greater strain. And
so on, in a descending spiral." (S. 20/1)
Sein 'Rezept' dagegen:
passive und vor allem 'dynamische' Entspannung durch Bewegung - nicht, um die Augen 'flinker' zu machen, sondern damit sie zu ihmem natürlichen Bewegungsfluss zurückfinden, wieder so 'funktionieren', wie es ihrer 'eigentlichen Natur' entspricht und durch das Wieder-Aufnehmen des natürlichen Bewegungsmusters von den durch Anstrengung entstandenen Blockaden befreit werden:
"To speak of combining activity with relaxation may seem paradoxical ; but in fact
it is not. For relaxation is of two kinds, passive and dynamic. Passive relaxation is
achieved in a state of complete repose, by a process of consciously ' letting go.' As
an antidote to fatigue, as a method of temporarily relieving excessive muscular
tensions, together with the psychological tensions that always accompany them,
passive relaxation is excellent. But it can never, in the nature of things, be enough.
We cannot spend our whole lives at rest, consequently cannot be always passively
relaxing. But there is also something to which it is legitimate to give the name of
dynamic relaxation. Dynamic relaxation is that state of the body and mind which is
associated with normal and natural functioning. In the case of what I have called
the fundamental or primary psycho-physical skills, normal and natural functioning
of the organs involved may sometimes be lost. But having been lost, it may
subsequently be consciously re-acquired by anyone who has learnt the suitable
techniques. When it has been re-acquired, the strain associated with impaired
functioning disappears and the organs involved do their work in a condition of
dynamic relaxation. " (S. 9)
Dabei unterscheidet er zwischen der 'spontanen'= natürlichen, ermüdungsfreien Aufmerksamkeit und der 'willentlichen'= 'von aussen befohlenen', mit Anstrengung verbundenen Aufmerksamkeit, die nötig ist, um eine 'ungeliebte' Aufgabe zu erfüllen, zu der man eigentlich keine Lust hat:
"Spontaneous attention is the kind of attention we share with the higher
animals—the unforced act of selective awareness which is determined by the
biological necessities of keeping alive and reproducing the species, or by the
exigencies of our second nature, in other words, of our habits and established
patterns of thought, feeling and behaviour. This kind of attention involves no effort
when it is shifting and transitory and not much effort when it is prolonged". (S. 18/9)
"Voluntary attention is, so to speak, the cultivated variety of the wild, spontaneous
growth. It is found only in man, and in animals subjected by human beings to some
form of training. It is the attention associated with intrinsically difficult tasks, or
with tasks which we have to perform, even though we don't particularly want to. A
small boy studying algebra exhibits voluntary attention—that is, if he exhibits any
attention at all. The same boy playing a game exhibits spontaneous attention.
Voluntary attention is always associated with effort, and tends more or less rapidly
to produce fatigue."(S.19)
Und die Blickbewegungen beim Sehen sollten natürlich durch die 'spontane' Aufmerksamkeit geleitet werden.
( zitiert aus:
http://www.skaidrus.lt/uploads/Aldous%2 ... Seeing.pdf )