Dharma Treasure Community

I am wondering if I am interpreting a couple of issues correctly.

Question 1:

If something is unconscious it is just the sub-minds doing what the sub-minds do and I am not aware of it.

If something is conscious it is either peripheral awareness or attention.

If something pops into consciousness and I don’t “lock onto it” and investigate it, it is just peripheral awareness. If I do “lock onto it” and investigate it or let it lead me into another thought associated with that object, then that is attention.

The thing that is confusing for me is when something happens in the periphery of my senses – in the periphery of my sight for example.

Consider the window to my left right now as I am typing. While I am typing this sentence the window is in a position so it is in my periphery but I am oblivious to it, unless I think that I want to allow myself to “see” it out of the corner of my eye.

Do I need to intentionally bring an object into peripheral awareness; otherwise, it will only be an “object” in the unconscious sub-mind?

Question 2:

Why is it important to have peripheral awareness?

Now I know that if I am walking down the street and I see an attractive person on the other side of the street and my attention goes there, if I didn’t have peripheral awareness I would be hit and killed by the truck that is barreling down the road at me. But luckily, the mind is aware of the truck and lets consciousness know that there is something that needs my attention. So, peripheral awareness is important in real life.

But, I think that another important function of peripheral awareness is that when I am meditating and I am watching the five aggregates and I observe something arise and pass away, I need both attention and peripheral awareness. Say I hear a door that is slammed shut. I clearly hear the sound arise and pass away. But, I need peripheral awareness of the “knowing” that I just experienced the arising and passing of an object of attention. In other words, there is a difference in being aware of the content and being aware of the process. Being aware of both of these requires both attention and peripheral awareness.

Is this the reason that we need to strengthen our peripheral awareness?