>
Dan,
Thanks for the clarification and for the great follow up question.
I prefer Dan's definition of flow to that of Cskszentimihlyi.
I like to improvise and in improvisation total absorption is the key
(samadhi?).
To me, this is flow itself and transcends concepts such as "progress" or
"accomplishment" (or "failure" for that matter) or any kind of
"mental feedback".
(It does not, however, transcend musical form and development- a
sense of where I
am within/as the flow). I'm reminded of the Zen practice shikantaza,
or just(!)
sitting. Flow might be "just playing" (I need a Japanese term for this-
anybody??). I'm also reminded of Zen meditation instructions such
as, "Don't do
anything!" and, "Don't make anything!" and, "Practice don't know
mind!". Can I
make music without "making" anything? That could be flow.
Mark
>
>
> This raises an interesting question for me. I love to "go" where ever it
> is I "go" when blowing RO and sitting in meditation. I often wonder if
> having "no-mind" is "flow". Mihaly Cskszentmihalyi points out that
> "flow-experiences" involve getting mental feedback and feelings of
> accomplishment or "progress" (like when composing, rock-climbing, running,
> practicing an instrument, doing yoga, etc.), but of course "no-mind" is not
> that. Would someone like to respond to the issue of how to juggle the two
> "mind-states". When practicing Kurokami, I can have "No-mind" some of the
> time, but often lapse into a conscious awareness of my "progress" or an
> awareness of my playing-goals most of the rest of the time. How do the
> rest of you resolve these apparent opposites?
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