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perceptions can have a neutral affect (neither pleasant nor
unpleasant), but this is quite rare in an ordinary active life.
We are far more likely to notice those perceptions that come
with an emotional charge.
We are always surrounded by thousands of possible stim-
uli. We can consciously notice only a tiny fraction of these.
Our attention is always infinitely more selective than we real-
ize, and it discriminates for a purpose. We scan for advan-
tage or threat and ignore the rest. To notice any object at all
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implies that we have already attributed some value to it. (That is, we see it as potentially useful, painful, pretty, tasty, entertaining, repulsive, funny, uncomfortable, sexy, embarrass-
ing, and so forth.) This positive or negative value is what gives
the object its emotional charge.
Conversely, we are unlikely to notice anything that has a
neutral charge, since such an object would be irrelevant to
our well-being. Nor can we ever see a thing pure and naked,
“just as it is,” cut free from cognition, feeling, and memory—
despite spiritual claims to the contrary. Even our slightest
perceptions are valenced and purposeful. Each one is unique
to us, enriched by years of our personal associations. No mat-
ter how pure each of our minds become, I will never see the
same tree that you do.
The concept of valence explains why even the slightest
perception ( sati) is also an evaluation ( sampajjana). This like-dislike response is a spontaneous, miniaturized judgment based on instinct, habit, and the memory of similar past
experiences. A deeper part of our brain does a rough assess-
ment of everything for us within milliseconds: “This object
is promising or useless. Worth paying further attention to or
worthless.” All day long the valences of our perceptions steer
us automatically toward profitable behavior and away from
loss and threat.
ACTION TENDENCIES
So how does this dynamic work? Every valence induces what
psychologists call an “action tendency.” This is the predispo-
sition to act, which precedes the act itself. The appropriate
neurons in the premotor cortex will fuel up and prepare to
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fire, just in case they are needed. In Buddhism and yoga, these action tendencies are known as sankharas, or “volitions.”
We are prompted to move “toward” what we like and “away”
from what we dislike. In psychology, these volitions are called
“approach” and “withdrawal” action tendencies. We see; we
like; we approach. We see; we don’t like; we pull back.
The vast majority of action tendencies don’t result in a
whole-body action. We would be torn to pieces by competing
valences if they did. When we do act, however, the dynamic
goes like this: A perception triggers a valence, which triggers
an action tendency in preparation for an actual movement.
This whole process takes about a third of a second. In other
words, it all happens before we are conscious of it. When
we do finally notice something, a judgment, an action ten-
dency, and a bottomless pit of past memory associations have
already been woven into what seems like a simple perception.
This is the brain’s super-fast, “quick and dirty” automatic
process: the formula we described in chapter 6 as perception
+ evaluation + response. This process is perfect when we are
faced with a danger that demands an instant response. Mind-
fulness, as the conscious perception and evaluation of some-
thing, covers the same ground but more slowly and accurately.
It typically refines the automatic judgment that has already
taken place and leads to a more considered response.
Because the words “valence” and “action tendency,”
vedana and sankhara, are not part of vernacular English,
people often have difficulty understanding them. Nonethe-
less, it is quite easy to demonstrate their existence. I suggest
you slowly read through the five words on the next page, and
take a few seconds to imagine what each one represents. If
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you skim at usual reading speed, you will probably miss the valences. You are likely to find that some words have a positive valence and some have a negative one. You may also
notice your body pulling back slightly or moving toward
some of them (the action tendency).
peach black Marilyn vomit puppy
Did those words induce subtle affective and bodily responses
in you? I hope so. If they didn’t, try it again more slowly, and
imagine physically touching each one.
Valences and action tendencies are the triggers for most
of our instinctive behaviors, impulses, and mood swings.
Although we usually notice only strong valences, even the
weaker ones stimulate approach or withdrawal behavior to
some degree. We get tugged in various directions just walk-
ing down a street. The Buddha saw valences as the enemy of
stillness and peace.
Valences initiate most of our daily actions from below the
conscious radar. We rely on them to make countless small
and mostly adaptive judgments during the day. They are the
thousands of tiny likes and dislikes that make us do this (grab
some food, buy those socks) or stop doing that (the exercise,
the office work) all day long. Valences also trigger our sudden
shifts in mood. If you want to understand why you just did
something unexpected, then look for the associated valence.
The object may literally be an object “out there” in the
world, but the valence is always subjective. If we don’t notice
these subtle affective responses, our perceptions can be con-
taminated. We will mistakenly regard the valence as a quality
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of the object itself rather than our personal response to it. If we acknowledge our automatic response, however, we can
usually modulate it if we want to.
The Buddha said that we’re mindful of something if we
can describe it to ourselves. To be mindful of a valence means
that we can say, “I had a thought about my dog and it was
pleasant,” and recognize that as mild positive valence. Or
“I had a thought about my neighbor and it was unpleasant,”
and note the presence of strong negative valence. This iden-
tification of valence can be important. A moment’s reflection
may tell us that our neighbor is not really as bad as Hitler, for
example. Without this recognition, we may act toward him
as if he were.
Once we recognize that valences are everywhere, it is sur-
prisingly easy to notice them. The Buddha recommended
identi
fying them as a meditation in itself. This simple practice
alone is the second of his four foundations of mindfulness.
Once a valence becomes obvious, he said, we should name
it as either “pleasant” or “unpleasant,” “like” or “dislike,”
positive or negative. We could do this dozens of times a day
whether meditating or not. To stop and hold a valence in this
way also helps arrest its flow-on action tendency. Monitoring
valence is a way of training ourselves to be less impulsive and
reactive. In meditation, this restraint carries over in relation
to even more subtle stimuli such as thoughts and moods.
It supports the “watching without reacting” mode that is
encouraged when we meditate.
We have four ways of identifying valence: strong or weak
positive, or strong or weak negative. It is useful to recognize
the positive or negative direction of a valence, but it is more
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important to notice its strength. We can easily cruise along with the mild positives and negatives, but a strong negative
valence or a strong positive valence is each more likely to
destabilize us than its weaker forms.
A person who is stressed doesn’t need to analyze the bun-
dle of emotions behind it. He simply needs to notice he is
overreacting (strong negative valence) and adjust. Emotions
can carry great visceral conviction, but they are often faulty.
Anxiety is often patently irrational, and righteous anger can
be little more than an adult temper tantrum, but we don’t
need to analyze these bundles of pain the way a psychologist
might. The Buddha had faith that if we could “just see” the
excessive strength of the valence, our response would start to
self-correct naturally.
We can all notice our overreactions from time to time, but
we hardly ever develop this ability as a conscious skill. We
are novices not experts, Sunday golfers not pros. We typically
notice our emotional responses only when they pass a certain
threshold of intensity. This is often too late. It is better to stop
the impulse before we hit the wall.
In the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha asked the monk to
notice the valences of stimuli and their action tendencies hun-
dreds of times a day, until the process became second nature.
The monk was expected to name his transient valences in
order to make them fully conscious. “Lunch: pleasant. Empty
food bowl: unpleasant. Fatigue: unpleasant. Wind: pleasant.
Bird noise: unpleasant. Girls singing: very pleasant, and dan-
gerous. . . .” In this way, he could learn to recognize tempta-
tion, control his impulses, and arm himself in advance before
a bad action tendency took hold.
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The Buddha saw these subtle tendencies ( sankharas) as the seeds of all our actions (karma) and thus the source of all
present and future suffering. He warned that a simple sense
perception can lead to feeling, to craving, to volitional activ-
ity, to clinging, to attachment, to disappointment, despair,
regret, disgust, the whole mass of human suffering, and
even rebirth itself. It all starts with a valence and an action
tendency. This is why the Buddha saw “guarding the sense-
doors” as so essential for inner peace.
Once we become mindful of a response, we can usually
adjust its strength or intensity, but not its direction. We will
still find an unpleasant object unpleasant, just less so. The girl
is still pretty but not intoxicatingly so. We can’t avoid judg-
ment entirely and it would be silly to try. We would also have
to eradicate all our affective responses to do this. In many
cases this would be quite impossible. Try it out on the word
“vomit” on page 183.
EQUANIMITY: “NEITHER PLEASANT NOR UNPLEASANT”
The Buddha, however, would disagree with me. He would say,
quite correctly, that I had insufficient commitment to the path.
If I really wanted to eradicate all affective responses and action
tendencies, I could. Although the Buddha refused to define
nirvana, the term does imply a state of perfect equanimity
( upekkha). This in turn is defined as continuous neutrality
of affect—feeling “neither pleasure nor pain.” Upekkha is an
invincible 24/7 serenity beyond any possible disturbance. It
is a kind of total Zen cool, close to perfect indifference. In the
Buddha’s famous “Parable of the Saw” he says, “Don’t be trou-
bled even if bandits are hacking your limbs off with a saw.”1
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This equanimity, one of the highest goals in Buddhism,
is difficult but not impossible to achieve. The monk strives
toward equanimity by repeatedly—every minute of every
day—trying to scale all his positive and negative valences
back toward zero. Buddhaghosa says that equanimity “coun-
teracts both the pleasant and the unpleasant. . . . On seeing a
visual object, the monk is neither glad nor sad. Rejecting both
the attractive and the repulsive, he dwells in equanimity.”2
This is the monk’s spiritual training in the second of the
four foundations of the Sutta. He tries to systematically neu-
tralize all positive and negative valences, so he will no longer
be as vulnerable to suffering or fate. He strives to minimize
all his natural fears and desires, including his attachment to
his body and to life itself. This ideal is not unfamiliar to us
in the West. It is just an extreme form of Stoicism. It is often
found in military circles, and it could partly explain the
serenity of some old people.
To summarize: Every valence is a spontaneous, minia-
ture judgment with a tendency to “approach or withdraw.”
The monk in training aims to reduce all these thousands of
tiny judgments and their action tendencies toward zero. No
judgment = no attachment to pleasant or unpleasant = no
response = stillness, detachment, and tranquility. (Even if he
is being hacked to death by bandits.)
IMPROVING OUR JUDGMENTS
To be mindful of a valence invariably leads to a reappraisal.
This is the purpose of sati and of attention itself: to consciously perceive and evaluate something. As soon as we consciously
recognize a valence, we will also know whether its embedded
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judgment is appropriate or not. This is an excellent way of noticing when we are overreacting. If so, we can peg back our
response on the 1–to–10 scale from –7 to –4 for example.
But what if we’re not overreacting? What if the judgment
is perfectly accurate? Remember that we are making thou-
sands of
these tiny habitual judgments all day long, and they
mostly work well. We tend to become mindful only of those
few valences that are faulty. Is there any point in also noticing
our ordinary, adaptive valences?
Absolutely. Valences initiate all our actions. No valence
= no action. A valence is a judgment that leads to an action
tendency: “This is worth doing” or “This isn’t worth doing.”
If we can become mindful of a valence—if we can get a “clear
and distinct image” of it—our awareness will lead to a more
refined judgment and a more targeted response.
Making judgments is no picnic. It is not easy to make the
hundreds of ordinary judgments we need to get through the
day. We tend to blunder along, approximating our guesses,
operating by rule of thumb and habit, and often making deci-
sions without realizing it. Most of these decisions work out
well enough. Some go weirdly wrong for no apparent reason.
Some, with hindsight, seem utterly crazy (“What on earth was
I thinking about!”). Some people make bold, blind, foolhardy
decisions; others constantly mistrust and double-guess them-
selves, making important decisions days or months later than
they should have.
Learning how to make good judgments in situations of
uncertainty and inadequate information is a skill that takes
decades to grasp. The Greek philosopher Aristotle regarded
good judgment ( phronesis) as one of the most important
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social skills or “virtues” of a mature human being. We never perfect it. We continue to learn. Rule books and maxims are
far too crude for the complexity of even simple situations.
One very good way to improve our daily judgments, however,
is to notice the valences that initiate them.
A valence is an instantaneous judgment about how to act:
“This is important—act now. This is not important—forget it.
This would be bad—avoid it.” If we can become fully mindful
( sati) of the valence and the action tendency, we can evaluate
( sampajjana) if it is accurate. A valence contains both a direc-
tion (toward or away, pleasant or unpleasant) and a degree of
intensity (strong or weak). As noted before, the direction is
easy to identify and usually can’t be changed, but the inten-