practices help with cultivating the three qualities we will need to develop attentional balance –
relaxation, stability and vividness (or clarity).
Four Balances
This next section provides an overview of the conceptual base for the contemplative side of the
course. This is also adapted from the CEB manual as well as an article written by Alan Wallace and
Western research psychologist Shauna Shapiro, which proposes both Eastern and Western points
of view as well as empirical questions on mental balance achieved via conative, attentional,
cognitive and emotional balances
Conative Balance
The first balance that provides the wholesome motivation to achieve the other balances instead of
apathy. Conative balance also fosters the aspiration, motivation and intentional goals to propel the
practices.
Attentional Balance
The mindfulness of breath practices to develop relaxation, stability and vividness and avoid
hyperactivity or laxity of attention. This is also associated with the
Flow
state of absorbed
attention
Cognitive Balance
Cognitive balance means engaging with the world without conceptual assumptions and the ability
to develop moment-to-moment awareness to see reality as it is. Achieving Cognitive balance
entails developing awareness and insight to combat Obsessive Compulsive Delusional Disorder
Emotional Balance
Emotional balance is the regulation of emotions to decrease destructive emotional episodes and
increase constructive emotional engagements. A destructive emotional episode is harmful to self
and/or others, whereas a constructive one promotes understanding, connection and human
flourishing.
Four Immeasurables
Values are central to CEB. These four heart values or practices of loving-kindness, compassion,
sympathetic joy and equanimity (see
in this volume) provide a basis for the arising of
prosocial behavior, that is, caring about the welfare and rights of others, feeling concern and
empathy for them, and acting in ways that are beneficial. Evidence suggests that prosociality is
central to the well-being of social groups across a range of scales.
Science is not value free, truth and values are always intertwined. Central to the curriculum of CEB
is the promotion of a set of values about the importance and worth of well-being, flourishing and a
meaningful life (
eudaemonia
).
These four heart values are broad and all-encompassing. They are not confined to the care for
specific others but are instead generalized to include strangers and so-called enemies. These
heart values are not about positive thinking, which so often becomes superficial and unrealistic, but
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