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The world is captured by distraction.  Smart phones have us in a trance. And we gladly give up our precious mental real estate in exchange for dopamine.  We so badly want to loose ourselves in this matrix. We crave it, and as such, we are slaves to it.  Wanting to loose ourselves in entertainment or mindless activity is the enemy of wakefulness. It dulls, dumbs down, it stalls, it removes all and any momentum and sharpness. 

It’s like an all encompassing thick fog that blows in, and as soon as we begin to partake in it's never ending story, we go astray. And the more this habit repeats, the more everything becomes a jumble. For many this means endless Facebook scrolling, drilling on Netflix dramas, or putting on a master clinic on how to cross major intersections while filing through Instagram shorts. This is the reality of the world we live in now. This is what many are practicing. It’s a distraction factory, and it’s coming for your attention. 

（2）回應

「回應」是從接納之後自然產生的行動。這可以包括各種層面的反應——內在的、外在的都有。在內在層面上，這些反應可能從非常積極主動的形式（例如探問、自省、或以某種方式與心理—情感現象互動），到比較被動的方式（例如放手、允許它發生、讓它流過，或暫時將它擱置）。你所採取的方式，取決於當下的具體情況，以及你獨特的業力處境。

如果你只是套用某個被教導的「公式」，你可能會發現這個公式並不總是有效。因此，學會靈活地回應非常重要。舉個例子，你可能曾被教導要「透過呼吸穿越困難」，並專注於呼吸。但有時候，你可能會發現這樣做變成了一種掙扎——你反而失去了對當下實際發生之事的覺察，因為你太執著於「要讓呼吸放鬆」。在這種情況下，最好回到「接納」，去感受此刻到底發生了什麼。有時候，只需要單純地接納與傾聽；有時候，則需要以探問來回應，因為正在浮現的某些內容帶有力量，值得你給予注意與關懷。

整個過程要求我們以創造性的方式投入。這並不是一個被動、放鬆、照著既定路線「放空」的過程。它是活的、有脈動的。它是神秘的（mysterious）、難以捉摸的（enigmatic）。即使當我們採取較為被動的態度時，仍然需要保持內在的挺立與覺醒。而有時候，會有更深層的狀態自然浮現，一切便隨之演化、轉變。

（3）停留在邊緣（持續性）

最後一個面向，是停留在這個邊緣上。這個「邊緣」本身就在發生——我們所要做的，就是與它相遇。無論是在日常生活中、在禪坐中，或任何時刻，它都在。不論你是否意識到、是否選擇去面對，它始終存在。而一旦你真正看見這一點，選擇就變得簡單了。

If you want to do the practice of freedom, rather than the practice of habitually running, there are a main points you could consider: (1) opening & receiving, (2) responding and (3) staying on the edge, aka continuity. 

Opening and receiving, is to say that you're here and with what's arising. And out of all the things happening, out of  all the possible internal and external things one might focus on, you recognize what is most useful and beneficial. This takes a certain amount of willingness to meet things where they are at any given time. So while receiving seems like a passive act, it's more like a quiet strength which is analogous to an intermediary, a buffer, or something which is able to receive any emotional dissonance or residue and not be reactive. You can conceive of such an intermediary so that you can feel that there is a presence which can allow you to meet what is, stand firm and relax.

Responding is what ones does as a result. This can be a wide range of both internal and external responses.  Internally, this range moves from very active and engaged responses like inquiry or applying some form of engagement with the various psycho-emotive arisings, to more passive responses like hands off approaches where one may allow things to be, to pass through or to push them aside.  Methods that you use to meet them depend on the specific situation in the moment and your unique karmic predicament. If you are only applying some formula that was laid out for you, you may find that the formula is not always effective. So learning to be fluid in your response can be very helpful. 

For instance, you might have been taught to breath through difficulty and follow the breath, but you might find that it's a struggle and you even stop paying attention to what is happening because you're too focused on trying to breath through things so that they relax and begin to ease. In this situation, it's better to return to "receiving" and get a sense of what's happening. Sometimes it's just about receiving and listening in. Or it might be about responding with inquiry because what is arising has some power to it and it needs your attention and care. 

The entire process demands our creative engagement. It's not a passive process where we just chill out or follow a set of preplanned directions. It's alive and pulsating. It's mysterious and enigmatic. So even when were are taking a more passive response to things, still we need to hold an upright position. Then there might be a time when a deeper state arises and things evolve and change in that direction. 

The last aspect is just to stay on this edge. The edge is happening, and so we are there to meet it in everyday life, on the cushion or whenever. Whether you meet it or not, it's still there. Once you see this, the choice is easy.

The edge is where you would reside. It's analogous to a meeting place, the place where one can be with the raw experience of being alive. It feels as if it takes some time to get used to hanging around on the edge, because in a way, it demands attention. To be on the edge is to give up turning away from the present moment, and that's no small thing. As far as I can see, it's basically what the work is. It's a kind of continuity, but more specifically it's the place where you feel, where emotions arise, where thoughts and impressions manifest into being. Because these things arise in a way which is fundamentally out of our control, not that they themselves are out of control, but that they are based on past events, and to the way in which we responded to them. So in that arising we are in a way both experiencing that arising and making small choices that are often very subtle.

So being on this edge is to first get familiar with both the material that arises and how it forms into being; and then how it either persists or falls away. It's the entire rise and fall of experience in its more complete form.