Even if you managed to go the entire minute without subvocalizing, it probably didn’t feel like the natural way of things. It probably took effort, and possibly a great deal of effort. But I predict that most of you didn’t get through the whole minute in total subjective silence. (If you succeeded and it did feel like the natural way of things, I’d very much like to know.)
Does playing wordless sounds in your head count? I can’t quite shut off my inner audio stream at will, but I can concentrate on, say, a clock ticking, although instrumental music is much easier to focus on. Another time it turns off is when I’m playing a video game and frantically reacting to things without stopping to “think” about what I’m doing.
I think the more general point of the exercises is that you can’t stop your mind from working on something, only change the object of attention, and that requires that you’re conscious of what your mind is doing in the first place.
This is why meditation usually anchors your mind on some relatively boring object. You can’t stop the mental chatter, but you can mostly replace it by intensely focusing on your breath, for example.
Music, video games and subvocalization are poor anchors for attention, because they can hijack it completely. Breathing is boring so you have to be conscious of your attention to focus on it, and it also happens to be a tool you always carry with you.
Does playing wordless sounds in your head count? I can’t quite shut off my inner audio stream at will, but I can concentrate on, say, a clock ticking, although instrumental music is much easier to focus on. Another time it turns off is when I’m playing a video game and frantically reacting to things without stopping to “think” about what I’m doing.
Non-verbal/linguistic auditory simulation does not qualify as silence, no.
However, being able to bypass thought is indeed a useful skill, especially in meditative contexts.
Often, if I’m not thinking about anything in particular, my brain defaults to playing a song rather than doing nothing.
I think the more general point of the exercises is that you can’t stop your mind from working on something, only change the object of attention, and that requires that you’re conscious of what your mind is doing in the first place.
This is why meditation usually anchors your mind on some relatively boring object. You can’t stop the mental chatter, but you can mostly replace it by intensely focusing on your breath, for example.
Music, video games and subvocalization are poor anchors for attention, because they can hijack it completely. Breathing is boring so you have to be conscious of your attention to focus on it, and it also happens to be a tool you always carry with you.