Split/Fragmented Focus during Meditation

A recurring problem during meditation practice, one which the meditator may not even realize is that of having split fragmented focus with some portion of the attention going to the meditation objective, while the rest goes to one or several other interests.

Imagine a man in a bank queue who intends to withdraw his deposit of one hundred dollars ($100). It so happened that as he stood in the queue he used his mobile device to send eighty dollars ($80) to a casino where he was in a gambling session online. Then he used the device to send nineteen dollars ($19) to a friend who appealed to him as he stood waiting to get to the teller. By the time he got to the teller ninety-nine ($99) of his one hundred dollars ($100) was removed from the account leaving only one dollar ($1) for withdrawal.

The man did not think of this. He still thought of withdrawing the original one hundred dollars ($100) deposit. When he presented the withdrawal slip to the teller, she informed him that he had one dollar ($1) in the account. He was sore disappointed.

Something similar happens in the mind during meditation, where as one meditates, it is like standing in a bank queue waiting to get the full deposit, but while meditating the mind hunts for other interests which consume the attention of the self. This leaves a small portion of the attention for meditation.

It is a problem of interests. We have so many interests. Our friends and family also have so many interests which reach us during meditation, that our attention is split into fragments with little of it going to the meditation objective. And to booth, we hardly realize that this happens.