After many discussions,"presence" has been established as a phenomenon that can be directly contacted but is difficult to objectify. It cannot be created, consumed, or fixed, but it can be noticed, inspected, or touched. These descriptions themselves have touched on certain attributes of presence, but have not been systematically organized.
This paper attempts to conduct a more systematic mining and analysis of the attribute characteristics of "presence", not to give it a final definition, but to provide a set of references that can be checked for subsequent discussion and verification.
1. Core attributes: constitute the basic conditions that can be recognized for "presence"
Attribute 1: Presence cannot be established
Presence is not "achieved" through any practice, accumulation, or state change. You don't need to do anything to create presence because it's already there. Any effort to "establish presence" may be trying to get to where you are already, creating superfluous operations.
You can only check if you don't notice it or if it is overwritten by another state, and you can't get close to it by adding an operation. When the covering is recognized, presence may manifest-not because you created it, but because you no longer occupy its original receiving space with the covering.
Attribute 2: Cannot be consumed when present
No matter what you go through-long working hours, strong emotions, major changes-your presence will not diminish. It is different from energy: energy can be exhausted and needs to be regained after recovery; presence is not exhausted because it does not output anything, it just continues to function as a condition for reception.
Even if you don't have contact with the presence for several days, it's still there when you check. It will not be depleted because you ignore it, nor will it increase because you pay attention to it.
Attribute 3: Presence exists independently of state
Being present has nothing to do with your current state. Whether you are awake, exhausted, confused, angry, calm, excited or numb, the presence is in the same place. It does not move or change with the state because it is a baseline condition that exists before the state occurs.
When your state changes, you may not notice the presence because your attention is occupied by the state, but this does not affect the presence itself. When the state change is over, you can still touch it from the same location.
Attribute 4: Presence is not content, but a condition for content to appear
Thoughts, emotions, perceptions, judgments-these are content. They appear, change, and disappear. Presence is not any of them. It is the background condition for the content to appear-a receiving surface that allows "appearance" to occur, not a content that can be recognized.
You cannot identify presence by describing a thought, nor can you approach presence by analyzing an emotion. You can only notice the position that still exists after the content disappears during the interval between the temporary exit of all content. Before attention turns to the next content, that location is still the area that receives all unselected content.
2. Derived attributes: operable descriptions expanded from core attributes
Attribute 5: Presence can only be confirmed through direct inspection and cannot be approached through inference
You cannot confirm presence by reading an article that describes presence, understanding its definition, or reasoning its logic. Each confirmation requires you to personally pause other operations and directly check "whether I am still receiving".
Reasoning may take you to the edge of presence, but it cannot take you into presence. Presence is something that can only be touched after reasoning stops. During the reasoning process, the presence may still operate in the background, but the position occupied by the reasoning process may cause the presence to be temporarily obscured.
Attribute 6: Presence can be noticed but cannot be objectified
You can notice that you are receiving. You can confirm "I'm still here" after the inspection. But you can't turn presence into an object that can be observed-once you try to observe it, it's no longer a background condition, but an object to be observed. When you notice that you are receiving, you are not observing the "receiving" as an object-you are just paying attention to the action that is happening, not staring at it.
You can notice that presence is in operation, but you can't observe presence the same way you can observe a cup. Because the action of observation itself depends on the presence to occur.
Attribute 7: Presence can be overridden but not turned off
Coverage includes: persistent thoughts, strong emotions, focus on external tasks, focus on self-image, expectations for results, etc. When these coverings appear, the presence may become inaccessible, but it is still functioning. You cannot turn off presence because closing itself depends on presence.
You can check to see if you are being occupied by the cover, or you can wait until the cover recedes before touching the presence, but you can't "turn it off" with an action-because the action itself is already performed in the presence.
Attribute 8: Presence does not change when inspected
Many phenomena change when observed (such as the observer effect in quantum measurements). Presence does not change when it is checked: you check if it is there, it is there; you check again, it is still there. The checking action does not change location at the venue or whether it provides background conditions for perception.
You can check it over and over again, and it won't become blurred or clear because of the increase in the number of inspections, nor will it stop working because of interruptions in the inspection process-it's always in the same position, running continuously.
3. Operational attributes: recognizable characteristics in practice
Attribute 9: Presence can be contacted during daily activities
You don't need to set aside time specifically to get in touch with the presence. It can be noticed during breaks in conversations, shifts in movements, natural pauses in reading, or any moment when attention is temporarily not attached to anything. After these breaks, you can go back to the event and don't need to make additional contact after the event.
It doesn't require you to withdraw from the activity to be accessible; it can be noticed during the activity and then remain present as the activity continues.
Attribute 10: On-site contact does not require training accumulation
Contact is not necessary to accumulate practice time. The first inspection was in the same position as the 100th inspection, the required conditions were the same (other operations were suspended), and the results were the same (confirmation that the presence was still present). The effect of practice is not to "enhance" contact, but to make you return to the inspection more frequently and reduce the time between inspections.
You can check anytime, anywhere, without the need for any tools or preparations. Just pause what you are doing and make sure you are still receiving. In this state, no matter what the check results, you confirm that the presence is still running.
4. Boundary attribute: Presence is nothing
In order to define presence more clearly, here are a few phenomena that should be distinguished:
Presence is not attention.: Attention is directed to specific objects; presence is directed to no object.
Presence is not self-awareness: Self-awareness focuses on the state of "me"; presence pays no attention to any state.
Being present is not a state of vigilance: Vigilance is a high degree of concentration in response to potential threats; presence does not require a high degree of concentration, it is itself a continuous baseline.
Being present is not a state of relaxation.: Relaxation is a release of physical and mental tension; presence is not relaxation, nor does it require relaxation. It can coexist with tension.
Being present is not a state of meditation: Meditation is a continuous focus on a specific object; there is no need to focus on the object.
presentNot flow.: Flow is a highly engaged, fully focused state of activity; presence exists in all states and is independent of a specific state.
5. Conclusion
A presence has the following characteristics: it cannot be established because it already exists; it cannot be consumed because it does not output; it does not depend on state because it remains stable in state changes; it is not content because it is a condition for content to appear; it can only be confirmed by direct inspection because inferences cannot approach it; it can be noticed but cannot be objectified; it can be overridden but cannot be closed; and it does not change when it is checked.
Taken together, these features point to a substrate that can be contacted repeatedly, operated continuously, and inspected in any state. It's not something that needs to be studied, but something that can be directly confirmed during the inspection process-by pausing attention to the object from the current position and turning to attention to the fact that you are receiving it itself. You don't need to perform this check in any state of preparation; you can check directly to see if it's there.