Figure Ground in Meditation and the Nolli Plan of 1748

The concept of figure ground presupposes a black and white binary reading of conditions and it can be a very helpful tool in finding the desired mental spaces to target in your meditation practice. We tend to see the most obvious extremes, hear the loudest sounds and feel the most painful physical aspects of our being in meditation. The same is true within experience of the field of cities: we tend to notice the buildings first as objects, then we might notice the negative space in between consisting of streets, sidewalks and parks. In both in this mind-body system of ours and the body of a city, there are many shades of grey in between these extremes.

Phenomenal experience is spectral, it is filled with shades of grey and it is relative. However, in order to discern the shades of grey in between black and white, it helps to see the extremes first and then the relationships between the parts become clearer. Take the Giovanni Battista Nolli Plan of Rome from 1748. Nolli’s innovation was that he represented the enclosed public spaces of the city as continuous with the streets and sidewalks whereas the prior traditional mode of representation simply contrasted building and not-building. In Nolli’s plan, if you could walk there, it was represented as public realm rather than private even if it was within a building. For example, in the Nolli plan the interior of the Pantheon is shown as contiguous with the plaza and surrounding streets. This was a profound shift in the way that architects and urban designers perceived and represented cities. Its impact on the way cities are designed and experienced is invaluable.

Even though the Nolli map shows a figure ground of black and white, the enclosed public spaces could, in fact, be read more as a shade of grey. The doors may be open to the interior and be accessible public spaces but they are distinctly different than the public realm outside of buildings. For the sake of representing the public realm, it really doesn’t matter for the study of the penetrability of buildings in cites but to the discerning perceiver, the difference is huge.

This kind of profound shift in perception and experience of the mind is possible during meditation. The mind can seem like an impenetrable building with no hope of being navigating through but if we begin to see the very subtle space in between thoughts and when thoughts are absent, the subtleties are revealed.

Take the technique in satipatthana practice of noticing hindering thoughts and then specifically noticing when they are absent. At first, the hindering thought will be the most obvious and the risk of being swept away in rumination is great; it is a building full of private rooms and very powerful. As we become more experienced in perceiving our minds, we notice that there is a recognition what type of hindering thought it is, this weakens the power of the thought and begins to open doors into more space. Maybe it goes away. We then notice all of the beautiful pleasant open space as we move closer to the outside. We now have full access to the we-ness of the public realm or in meditation, we would call it mindfulness. Our lens is wide and we are open to whatever is present, even differing opinions. A simple way of thinking about the practice is to go to what is the least obvious. The more you go to what is least obvious, the easier it will be to see and go there. Over time, you have re-oriented your perception to default to your new choices.

We live mostly in the cloistered spaces of our minds, our buildings. Beginning to discern the shades of grey after experiencing the harsh binary of black and white offers us an entry into the freedom of mindfulness. The more we notice the joy of being free of hindering thoughts, the more we can realize mindfulness and pure awareness within which compassion and loving kindness flows. Take this practice on and off your cushion to create that seamless experience of life.