@Global

It is said that the proper response to a divine encounter is AWE. While fear might be considered a component of awe... I like my awe with a full helping of bliss.

Awe and then some = Awesome.

Ditto, although we must acknowledge the cyclical learning curve within all of these states of heightened awareness. Honestly, for me it is like a rotating house of mirrors. When I overcome fear and find my center and internal equilibrium within a state of total AWE, I become enraptured by the sheer perfection of it all. This is such an exquisite degree of bliss... how can we effectively put it into words? Awesome is pretty close, though!

That being said, just amp the intensity levels a few notches and FEAR becomes, once more, felt as quite overwhelming... as one's paradigmatic dreamscape becomes superseded by yet, another. It's fair to say that human AWE wears many hats. But I hear you and who wouldn't prefer spiritual bliss to self-oblivion (regardless of their direct symbiosis)?

I am of the belief that there does exist a point within the central fulcrum of the moment, the NOW... whereby one's sense of self becomes so translucent, boundary-less and so dissolved within the insubstantial Spirit, that fear and bliss becomes unrecognizable references, by which to gauge existential awareness. I am eluding to a whiteout experience and a self-shattering taste of the Clear Light of the Void.

Arguably, this is no longer one's self at all, rather, the awakening of the Omniself (as a self manifesting process). Which, paradoxically, is the true self all along. Doesn't this seem ironic? That the Omniself would appear to need the mind of the individuated self, through immersion into Oneness, to complete this cosmic circle dance? Who is dreaming whom into existence? Self dreaming of being ego-self, then awakening into being Self? Scriptures often point towards this reality, "I am that I am."

Or is there really ever any completion or incompletion (except within our own minds)? How can there be a beginning or an ending to that which has always been? Does not eternity transcend all of our angst and rationale? Such a line of thought implies a stage of incompleteness, aimed towards completion. So damned lineal is it's dualistic ideology. These are just human concepts, after all... when the Tao may just as easily be complete, in it's perpetual incompletion and Vice Versa???

Or is it wee who need the Omniself to birth within our cognition, to complete this shimmering circle dance? It always impresses itself to my ego as a REMEMBRANCE, not something new, unknown or any different from what I have always been. But then again, who am I?

Perhaps it's more of an an awakening? A return to the self which, as the famous Zen mystic Bankei Yataku reveals through his epiphanies, remains forever "unborn", despite the gross appearances of birth and death (within the time-space-continuum). Our original face, as it were?

Or are these simply the same phenomenon witnessed from either side of the mirror of the infinity of all possibilities of being and non-being, manifest or unmanifest... THAT which we are inspired to label as Sacred, Divine or the totality of GOD? Thoughts on this grand riddle? :idea:

^^ mirror of infinity of all possibilities

Two mirrors face one another; what is reflected? Nothing? Everything? Either way, where can it be tainted?

From here it seems all methods are unspeakably beautiful and totally devoid of purpose other than to appear exactly as they appear. What perfection!

Belief, overt or subtle, that appearances are substantive and purposeful is itself a most awesome and awe-full appearance. What perfection!

The blissful release or awakening to the truth that, from the beginning, not a thing is. This is a most masterful crescendo of appearance that never happened. Perfect.

Peace

Aah... you refer to the interphase within Void? I love your creativity, putting such a concept into being, which has been eluded to for millenniums of human self-inquiry and deep exploration of the psyche. What is the nature of illusion and truth? Your assessment is quite profound, friend. It never ceases to amaze me how many unique ways this comes out, via human linguistics.

But just for a moment, I'd like to re-visit and re-address the thread topic put forth by the OP.

METHODS, METHODS, METHODS... as it has said, "Truth is One, paths are many". So, the summit of spiritual synthesis is universal, however, the approaches are as diverse as there are diversely individual beings, to experience the meditative process.

On a personal level, this thread strikes a somewhat synchronous note within my immediate family. My wife of 18 years has been wanting to learn meditation and has been asking me about the various methods and techniques. No, I've never pushed her into a life of Sadhana or attempted to steer her towards my spiritual goals or philosophical stances. She found this thread helpful and I wanted to salute everyone's contributions.

It's often difficult for people who have dedicated a good number of years sitting or moving within the meditative context, to remember just how SEEMINGLY impossible it is to learn to tame the surge of continual thoughts, any given humanoid cyclically thinks. So, when my wife chose to segue into sitting meditation, from hiking, running, snowshoeing or dancing... (IMO, she has been doing moving meditation her whole life, without even realizing it) to the discipline of internal meditation, I was overjoyed!

I was quite challenged to present her with a meaningful synopsis, though. After all, before we get to the point of mind expansion and/or higher states of consciousness, we need to deal with one's perpetual manifestation of thoughts. Without centering the focus of the mind's eye, these thoughts will forever block the shift in awareness, which all meditative pursuits are aimed towards.

Now, what do we have, in terms of methodologies? We have traditional sitting meditation, which has many variations in context, yet but one intention. We have extreme sensory deprivation and by altering the flow of cognition through dramatic changes in habitual modality. There is fasting and extended isolation. There are mechanical devices which aid the perception of the explorer, as has been discussed within this thread.

And it hardly needs to be mentioned, here at the Nexus... we have entheogens. Scared Medicines are, IMO, the most powerful way to activate the higher centers of awareness but it is NOT necessarily the only path for all aspiring individuals. As with my wife, psychedelics are just too much for her. She gets very strong effects from Ganja and that's enough for her. Again, we need to know our own way.

I think that when viewing the varied methods of meditation, for example, the end result of each method, is quite universal in terms of state of mind. So, I wanted to list a few of these characteristics for her to contemplate upon. Thus, we begin to see that whichever technique or even non-technique we utilize... what is most important is the SHIFT in the content of our direct perception. What is paramount is the arrival into an awareness of the here & now, this very moment. When the thought-process is brought to an obedient and usefully clear focus, we experience this shift exponentially.

It became most clear, through our discussions, that if mattered not whether one used the TM training, Vipassana, creative visualization, Zazen or Kundalini mediation. Each brings the attention and the intent to one central point. Each methods draws the mind into a gradual process of transformation in mental parameters. She felt that meditation upon the Void was too much for her wildly restless, ever-thinking head space. I agree, it is the most difficult way to initially begin a meditation practice. I began this journey when I was 15 years old, with Seon Buddhist mediation (Korean Zen) and it was a HELL for my teenage mind to embrace the void! Now, but of course, it is mother's milk for my soul!

Vipassana didn't appeal to her either, as it was "too aggressive" an approach. I guess that for her, the observations which can be gleamed from insight meditation... are counter productive to her achieving a relaxed and still internal focus? She and I both share the fault of being passive-aggressive folks, so I can kinda see her need for a simpler practice. So, Kriya Yoga practice would be most premature, a this point in her journey. She did like the idea of mantra repetition and we decided that she ought to pick a mantram to mentally repeat. OM/AUM is my favorite mantra but it requires a more intense degree of concentration than multiple syllable mantras. I suggested Om Ah Hum, as it was one I used for about a year or two, back in the good ole days.

That being, the use of mantra repetition and an acknowledgment of thoughts, as they arise. This approach allows for the acceptance of thought and the release of said thought, without any analysis or contest. It emphasizes returning the focus back to the actual SOUND of the mantra. Our mind literally gives the mantra existence and also, sonic characteristics. I cautioned her about conceptualizing about the mantra. Not to see the mantra as a word composed of letters or get caught-up in the meaning behind the phrase.

Basically, not to read too much into the idea of the mantra, but rather, to manifest the SOUND within her mind. To let it absorb her intent and slowly become her innermost spiritual center. This gives an added dimension to the practice of mantra repetition. Ultimately, it will facilitate mental focus, transcendental experiences and an inner state of peace and harmony. :idea:

Can any of you kind folks add any suggestions that I have neglected to point out to her? I am prone to abstraction and digression. Or any useful insights gathered from the gradual training of mindfulness, which is organically resultant from these proven methodologies?

@ RS

Yeah man, I can relate to trying to explain this deep stuff to people who are just getting into it. Where to begin? What is important?

In the beginning, it is just hard enough to force oneself to sit down and do nothing for any length of time. There is always this inner voice which whines and moans trying to convince you that you are wasting your time, or that there are a million better things you can be doing.

The fact is, that you are not wasting your time, and there is nothing better you can be doing. Unless there is an immediate emergency going on, you can surely spare 15 or 20 minutes to calming your mind.

Once the mind begins to actually calm down, and the surface layer of stormy waters chills out, you can begin to glimpse the unfathomed depths that lie below -- A vast ocean of consciousness that can only be accessed once you shift your attention away from the antics of the ego monkey mind. By the time you can immerse yourself in this, you will grasp the value of this sitting practice, and it will become easier and easier to do... until you get to the point where you can't imagine going through your day without a little of this bliss. People can always find 20 minutes for brushing their teeth and taking a shower... but somehow the mind with which you experience everything in life is not worth an occasional house cleaning?

Hehehe.

Well, as far as techniques go, I am of the opinion that for beginners it matters very little what they do. They will likely fail at any technique they try, so the key is just to amass some discipline and wrestle with your mind often enough that it begins to give some ground. Once this space is cleared a bit... then you can start using the techniques to your advantage.

I would recommend something simple to start with. Mantras (as you have said) are as good a place as any. Better than most really, as they don't take anything other than repetition to work their magic. Other candidates for beginners are the classic "counting your breaths" & "candle staring" methods (moon staring is an interesting variant). All of these techniques are rather easy, and simply teach you to forgo the million thoughts racing around your dome for one simple thought. A beginner's mind will wander. But, if they gently bring their errant mind back to the task, they will begin to notice that the periods between wandering will grow.

Counting breaths is good to measure progress, as it is very easy to recognize milestones... like the first time you could do 100 breaths. It is also easy to force yourself to stay on task when you realize that you only need another 15 breaths to break your old record. For mantras, many people use a mala (rosary beads). This allows you to have a physical component to your meditation as you move a bead over every time you finish a mantra. A full circuit is easy to notice because you get back around to the big bead (often with tassles or whatnot). Then, you can count circuits without trying to count each and every repetition.

For busy minds, I find that some modern tools are quite effective at getting one over the initial hurdles. Binaural beats, isochronic tones, meditative sounds, and various other brainwave entrainment stuff can work wonders. Add in a pair of light glasses to flicker the brainwaves against your closed eyes and you will find that slipping out of Beta brainwaves and down into Alpha & Theta can be much easier. (Plus you can get some awesome visuals to occupy your frontal lobe) Personally, I find that I can get farther in 5 minutes of a light & sound session than I can with 20 minutes of pure quiet sitting... and I am already very adept at this.

The way I learned it, meditation is not this stuff we do to get into the quiet mindstate, but the state we achieve once we are there. These techniques are merely tools to help you achieve meditation. Meditation is thus the state achieved rather than the activity which got you there. Thus, for many beginners, it might take many tries before they even taste the outskirts of actual meditation. Even fairly adept practitioners might only measure their meditations in handfuls of seconds.

It tends to work like this. At some point in your practice, your busy mind will just get tired for a millisecond. It will simply take a breath during which you get a burst of expansion. It will quickly rebel against this and go back to bugging you, but you have seen its weakness, and after tasting the bliss, you will be better able to pursue it. Thus, you begin to have these moments more and more often. When you start to get good, you can reach them quicker and make them last longer. Eventually, the bliss becomes the basic state which is interrupted by moments of busy mind. As you progress the ratio of bliss to busy mind gets better and better... and then one day, you can just sit there and be completely untroubled by your mind for an entire session.

Well before this happens, though, you might begin to profit from some more involved and advanced techniques. It is also wise to combine your meditation practice with some other forms of external and internal energy work. Chi Kung or Yoga are obvious choices. But even just going out and wearing your body down with some good old fashioned exercise will work wonders. Go skiing or snowboarding, swim until you are tired, hike, jog, bike or whatever... then when you are nice and weary... try meditating. It will make a big difference.

Some people take it to another higher level entirely by trying to wear down the left brain before going for meditation. The right brain doesn't tire out as quickly (or even ever quite completely) as the left. Thus, if you do some sleep deprivation or fasting, you can push your left brain into passing out while your right takes over. This phenomenon is discussed in much spiritual literature and even the modern neuroscience meets spirituality tome A Stroke Of Insight (Jill Bolte Taylor) does a good job of explaining it.

This can be rather extreme, and I certainly don't recommend this for beginners. Hardcore monks are often not truly prepared for what can occur. There are sects of mystics who grow out their hair (or a ponytail at least) to tie this to a hook or eyelet on the wall behind them when they really go for it... this way, when they inevitably fall asleep while meditating, their hair being pulled jerks them back awake. In this way, you can enter a very bizarre wake/sleep state that is a lot like a heavy harmala dose or a powerful disso experience.

At any rate, while there are quite a few things I could say about this further, this post is already getting quite long. Perhaps as the thread progresses, I will add more and divulge some of the intermediate and advanced methods that come later... as interest arises.

Be well brother.
HF

Hey HF I've been keeping up with this thread since the beginning and it's been great so far; thank you to everyone that has shared. I don't know what you're waiting for but I'm intrigued by the intermediate and advanced methods you speak of

Hehehe... Yeah, this thread went fallow for a while. I nearly forgot about the SOB.

Perhaps I will post something for you when I get a chance. I would rather wait and do the subject justice than to just put some info up.

Thanks for your interest. It is appreciated.

HF

Some of you may have already seen this, but this concerns a fairly recent study looking at the benefits of mindfulness meditation and changes in brain structure (study compared a 'before and after' brain scan following an eight week course of an average of 27 minutes meditation today). Shows clear effects even over that short time, and interesting as these benefits persist beyond the meditation time and into day-to-day living.

http://www.sciencedaily....2011/01/110121144007.htm

Thanks for sharing Bancopuma. Always nice to read an article like that.

Praying, as a universal thing not attatched to any specific religion. living your true purpose in life and allowing yourself live in your excitement can aid in a more of "living in the now".

That was way cool. I read it when you posted it, but didn't have time to respond... still don't really, but I wanted to say thanks for the link at any rate. It has spawned a very interesting chain of conversations.

I agree that a universal technique includes the act of willful intent. Meditation seems to allow a more objective perspective of one's intents, and able to make focused changes if one deems necessary. Which is why I believe that such techniques that lend themselves useful to this pursuit are also useful in usage of entheogens.

Still here

The sticky on the Through the Looking Glass forum inspired me to come back here.. That and rereading Opti.. man I can read that again and again, all day.. seeking.. although more and more I am starting to feel like just 'Bungiejumping'

Sorry for bumping it up but threads like this are what make this community great

In the interest of not reneging on my word, or seeming like a blowhard...

I decided to come back to this thread that has lain fallow for lo these many moons while I was far too busy to do anything about it, and add some things. I am still rather busy, but at least I have some free moments to pontificate, articulate and otherwise share a few good tidbits of info for those who wish to engage.

I will start by proffering two very useful tips for those who are having issues with meditation. (Or even for those who aren't but just want a couple useful tools for their utility belt.)

1) Learn to differentiate between what is of value and what is valueless... and then cease to value all that is valueless

This is a big one, and not as simple or flip as it might sound on first read. You might not realize that your value system is holding you back, is contradictory, or otherwise gives plenty of fodder for that old monkey mind of yours. This alone if applied without compassion or sentimentality can leapfrog you over a zillion pitfalls on your way to the oceans of bliss.

I will not proceed to tell you what is of value and what is valueless... I will only say that almost nothing in your mind at any point in time is (or ever has been) of any value whatsoever.

2) Practice kindly telling your egoic monkey mind to give you some space

You will be surprised at how cooperative it can be if you don't wrestle with it or berate it, but rather... thank it for its important service to you and acknowledge all the wonderful observation and protection it gives you.... and then tell it that if it is not an emergency (the house burning, bullets flying etc.) then it could kindly take 5 and let you chill with your nothingness for a while. Make sure it understands that you will be back, and that it doesn't have to feel threatened. A quick "Take 5 Monkey Mind..." or "Hey bro, give me a few minutes and I will get back to you when I am done." can actually do wonders to extend a meditation that is being disrupted by... well the only person who ever interrupts meditations.

<3

HF

Hmmm, I never considered letting my ego know I will be back. And, I've often been a little to harsh with the chatterbox. Good point.

This is a great thread, thanks for the bump.

What physical techniques/yogas would allow an adept to practise going in and out of annihilation?

Kind of a heady Q

Skipping the semantics, I would recommend practicing any of the great internal arts you may know until it is obvious to you what movements, twists, and extensions would best express or channel your current Götterdämmerung situation.

I wish I could give away half of my non substance induced psychedelic trips to be honest..people are looking for ways to expand consciousness? Learn to lucid dream, then practice it every night while microdosing ayahuasca daily for a year.

Hey, worked for me..a little too well. I think I lay in bed for 3 hours last night tripping staring into jeweled worlds and I am not even microdosing at this point..facinating, but tiring as well when you wish for sleep.

I have a feeling that we dont even know what we are really dealing with here..

I'll say! IMHO, this thread has already become epic. It needs to grow a tad more, before it becomes a sticky... but I would wholly nominate it for one.



From my explorations of the internal mind and the parameters of my own awareness and very identification with self existence (as is filtered through my own ego's subjectivity), there exists an infinite and constantly changing flow of energy. This current flows inside and outside of our boundaries of self.

As we merge within this field of pulsation or as our wise sibling Spartan II so eloquently puts it,

"... subsequent energy surge builds off the previous one, amping up the intensity until the vibrations are surging and buzzing through my body."


Right on! The key to generating an interconnection within this force are locked into our own material bodily form. Through the release of adrenaline or perhaps the release of kundalini (?), we consciously activate the current inside of ourselves. When I/you/we catch said rush of enigmatic energy, we CAN are DO synthesize within it's vibratory essence.

It becomes wholly one with our own being, facilitating a shift in our concept of body and self. What begins as an organic release of "the juice", it literally transcends it's own effect. It morphs our sentience with it's astral twin. We step off this level and ascend into new paradigms of body. New realities... newly-born, unknown descriptions of being.

And through the transformation and symbiosis therein, we then move through rings of dimension and seemingly hitherto inaccessible levels/degrees of awareness, open before our perception.

Our own physicality of body, then becomes something to more easily release, both from our mentality and our experiential subjectivity (albeit a temporary flight). But it seems that our anchorage within the time-space-continuum is shocked into a sort of stasis.

This is kinda similar to brother Hyperspace Fool's method of "back-flipping"? Whether there exist any distinction or not, the end result is the same. One enters the vortex of another universe of self. Another, completely alternate horizon-line to witness.

The ensuing SHIFT shatters our previous cognitive ideas about our perception of reality, the hidden potentiality of the dreamscape we create. Inside and outside become mirrored illusions of one another. So, we are then able to choose which plane of awareness we shall interphase with, until we move further on... or perhaps further in?

I would be most tempted to call this, "an exercise of intention". Through our contact and our direct fusion within, we ride the current of energy beyond the fixed state of reality as we know it collectively. This surge or expansion, is limitless and I can only imagine that it will eludes our descriptions, as it eternally shifts anew.