Re: People soup
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Posted by:
roark ®

12/27/2017, 11:02:14
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Interesting post.

I don't use the K techniques either, not for over twenty-five years.

But for many reasons, I think that extended, formal, seated meditation practice presents a completely unique opportunity (and portal).  From the time we wake up to the time we fall asleep, we live in the thrall of a continual barrage of sensations, feelings and thoughts that leaves less bandwidth for what goes on within our own 'feeling worlds'.  Just sitting down, closing the eyes and staying alert cuts away a huge 'sensorial dialogue' we are having with the world around us.  Reining in our free-associative thought flow lessens the automatic recycling of thought patterns that have become 'neuro-superhighways', and allows access to less traveled and more creative footpaths.  I am NOT trying to say there is anything wrong with the barrage of everyday experience whatsoever, but just that the currency of attention, if spent differently for small periods of time, can yield some wonderful and unexpected returns.

When memory-based mentation drops away, our internal landscape becomes subtler, more of a 'feeling world'.  In that feeling world one can access some stunning beauty, and also seemingly forgotten memories that drive our behavior without us being aware of it (and recognizing unhealthy dynamics can greatly assist conscious change for the better).  It does usually involve having to face our 'demons' though, which can be a bit overwhelming.  Staying busy is frequently the antidote for having to face what is really bugging us.  But at any rate, when you put all religion, myth and expectation to the side, what can possibly be bad with just sitting down and really taking the time to shutthefuckup for a portion of the day (unless it would somehow harm someone else)?

I'll admit that I also use meditation as a tool to access greater creativity, particularly in my work, as the mental 'spaciousness' created by sitting seems to allow the subliminal thought processes in my brain (that are apparently going on outside my field of awareness) to deliver up eureka moments.  I read that one of Thomas Edison's techniques to access his creative subconscious was, when he was sleepy, to sit in his favorite rocking chair on a wood floor, holding a spoon in his outstretched hand that rested on a chair arm as he focused his mind on a particular engineering problem.  Then, the moment he started to drift into sleep his hand would release the spoon, that would hit the floor and awaken him, and bingo, he would have the answer.

On a side note, I'd like to kvetch about the premie mandate to 'constantly meditate and remember the holy name', that sponsored a shit-ton of zombie-like activity back in the day, as those of us that were trying managed to tie ourselves up in knots attempting to be in two places at the same time (a pretty dissonant approach).  I recall trying to speak to a glassy-eyed, noisily bellow-breathing premie, and thinking 'there may just be something a bit off here'. 

All sorts of things are called 'meditation' nowadays, but the mechanics entailed in seated, focused meditation makes it a different animal altogether.

On the subject of what we learned or did not learn from Rawat, my own learnings had to do with the entirety of the premie world and the 'spiritual tradition' that I had bought into, not just from what Rawat said and did.  Because the world I was learning from was in the direct orbit of Rawat (regardless of what he actually knew or had to teach), it's tough for me to separate the two.  Besides, I am not so interested in him as I am in my own inner landscape and how it drives my behavior.  But those intense communal dynamics sponsored all sorts of heightened feelings and experiences, and so what I perceived as 'my guru' got extended and amplified by my wonderful fellow kooks.  Again, not to give Rawat a pass, just recognizing him as more of the 'hood ornament' I called him earlier in this thread.

Fair warning though: please do not try to outdo me in boneheadedness, you don't know what you are up against.

M

PS  Could you convince your neighbor to replace the yapper with another more dignified and age-appropriate dog from a shelter?  Or is it too late for that?






Modified by roark at Wed, Dec 27, 2017, 11:07:45

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