I love this segment. You know, years ago, I hated to clean my house (I am a single male), but after many years of meditation, it occurs to me that cleaning my house and attending to my 3 cats is actually a profound meditation - yes, I also to a 20-30 min TM meditation 2-3 times per day, but I attach much less importance now to my 'sitting meditation.' Btw, here's a tip - the influence of the planet Mars (Tuesdays) is a great energy for scrubbing floors and other 'menial' tasks. It's a great way to channel anger, strong energy, and warrior energy into a very productive and useful task.
I use to pay people to clean my home - now, I don't want to give up that opportunity to clean my own home and to - well, 'chew my food.'
Thank you for what you wrote. I resonate 100% . A benefit of TM for me is noticeably increased intuition and I like the fact that it involves no active thinking whatsover.
I am very happy to meet another TM'er - I first learned TM in a weekend course in January of 1977. TM has also increased my intuitive ability and I am so grateful to have learned the technique. I have learned a lot of other meditation techniques along the way but I always returned to TM because it was so profoundly simple and powerful.
That is my experience of it too. The mantra quiets the mind quickly and we enter the Alpha or Theta state of pure silence. I come out of feeling refreshed. Do you? And all this in 20 minute periods! I learned the technique in 1990 and I believe it made it possible for me to not only "keep my act together" in a fairly stressful career but even to enjoy it. Curious, eh?
Exactly!! Perfectly said, I tried to explain this and couldn’t but you’ve wrote it! Thank you for sharing this cause now I’ll be able to share it with the right words. Light and love
Very useful. I struggle with meditation anyway. Not a lot comes to me. I get better messages when I’m out walking or in the greenhouse or knitting or similar. I have been doing zen type meditation and I can clear all thoughts now but don’t get anything else but rest and a clear, calm mind. However the detachment stuff really resonated. Going to try it. Thanks Cliff, very insightful and inspirational. 👍
I really, really, REALLY want to (LEARN to) meditate. But, easier SAID than DONE!!
I do NOT have self-esteem issues; I love me....I'm awesome; I would be my best friend, if someone came into my life that 'was me'. I do not have 'emotional' issues; I never get 'overly emotional'. Obviously, I DO HAVE emotions (& empathy), because I AM Human......I'm just more on the Analytical/Matter of Fact/Common Sense side of things (since I AM a Gemini).
My problem IS (the barrier to me meditating), since I AM Human (ie have a functioning brain), my MIND goes a million miles per hour. Between me having a 'million' things to do/get done, and the bullshit that goes on, every day, in this country (and around the world)......my mind is always racing.
I don't know HOW to 'turn my mind OFF', TO meditate. I know that I would sit there and my mind would race....."I've got to get the transplants in the garden!.....What will I have for dinner?......Need to go over an put drops in mom's eyes!........We're being invaded by illegals!.......fucking PEDOS everywhere!"......and 999,995 other thoughts......one after the other......like Rapid Fire! Which also includes me contemplating what I've heard/watched from really smart (smarter than myself) people, such as Clif, Dr. Joseph P. Farrell, Forum Borealis, ect. And THAT is my problem! Not self-esteem.......not emotions; it's MY THINKING BRAIN!! lol
We can't turn the mind off, we only observe it playing its games.
I once had an interesting experience that showed me how I get captured by thought.
It happend on the first day of 'The Watcher on the Hill', in the 3rd week of the 'Mystic Rose Meditation'.
After 1 week of laughing for 3 hours the day in the group (and mostly the rest of the day, too) and 1 week of crying for 3 hours the day, I was totally emptied out.
So in the 3rd stage of this process, 3 cycles of ZaZen for 40 min, followed by ZenWalk for 20 min, during this first sitting, I observed the thoughts running out there in front of me, around 2 meters away from me.
Then a thought came around - from the outside, mind you, we mostly don't think ourselves, we pick up from what's floating around in the collective mental, identify with what attracts us - , it was like a cloud that called me so I observed myself stepping out of my center and jumping onto the cloud. Then I was lost for a few moments, floating with the cloud. When I became aware of having been carried away by the cloud while losing awareness, I decided that I had enough of that thought.
And as I had observed how I had stepped out of my Self, onto the cloud, pretty slowly because I was so emptied out, I could take the same way back. Simply step off of the cloud and move back into my center.
That experience and observation was so intense that it has never left me again.
Now, when I catch myself thinking 'stupid shit', most of it actually not mine at all, I thank the awareness and step back from the thought. The thought isn't gone by that, but it's not me,, it's just there and I can observe it without attachment.
Long story short:
The mind is doing its thing. We can't stop it. We can only be the watcher on the hill. When we don't attach to it, give it emotional attention, it goes away on its own accord. Just don't believe everything you think, lol.
With practice, the racing stormy clouds of the mind can turn into fluffy clouds with more and more blue sky. This is our true nature, the blue sky. When we ARE the blue sky, we have fun watching the clouds pass by, heheh.
I’ve been meditating or better put, working on self realization for ~20-30 years or so? Not seriously though until the last 5-10 years, where I’ve taken up as practice daily. I cut my teeth on Sri Ramana Maharshi and Rupert Spira. What I have discovered recently is it is not about beating the mind into submission, because that is like trying to bury your shadow. Your mind is meant for thinking. Thoughts will always occur. The real break-through is when you realize those thoughts belong to small i and you stop clinging on to them, clutching, grasping, identifying with them. Pretending they are real. Anything temporal arises form what? Consciousness, and flashes in and out of what? Existence. The real self or realized self is not temporal. It is eternal, limitless. It is consciousness, witnessing being, pure existence. With enough time spent practicing 'self-inquiry' or any other practice, the small i obstacles begin to subside (by ignoring them and focusing on the real Self). Eventually True Self starts to reveal itself and the temporal mind starts to identify instead with pure being existence and consciousness. Anyhow, just what I’ve discovered along my journey. Each person has their own path to discover.
Hence the need for discipline and practise. It seems to me that the more you start to deal with such topics the more breakthroughs occur. Like anything else.
Recently I have been wondering about what you say there and the following passage from the KJV Bible:
Revelation 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
I am very much like this, too. I ranked very high on the analytical part of the GRE when I took it years ago. I used to meditate some but haven’t attempted it in a few years. From what I recall, controlling my breathing was what helped me relax the most, as well as soft music in the background. I started each meditation with slow, deep breathing. I do something similar when I’m having trouble sleeping.
I definitely need to 'learn to breathe', that's for sure. The music part, I'll have a hard time with. MOST 'music' annoys the shit outta me! LOL I have very specific tastes in music; Heavy Metal is NOT music to meditate by. lololol 'Outside noises' HIGHLY annoy me as well; so I could never 'sit in silence'. I live on a busy street, in a 'small' town; the car/motorcycle sounds need to be drowned out by my computer 24/7. Looks like I'm fighting an uphill battle, before I even start (to learn to meditate), that I probably won't win, at this point in time.
"Outside noises' HIGHLY annoy me as well; so I could never 'sit in silence'. I live on a busy street, in a 'small' town; the car/motorcycle sounds need to be drowned out by my computer 24/7. "
Start with watching your breath, with your eyes closed. And as your mind wanders, gently bring it back to your breath, as air travels into the nostril or nostrils and as air leaves. Focus on the spot at the base of the nose and top of the upper lip; aware of air passing this spot. Gently bring the mind back to this spot observing the air. This disciplines the mind. Good luck....
I think meditation is whatever gets results which are for me, becoming a better human being and developing my superpowers which everyone has, and increasing my frequency. I also find that it is the emotion that assists me with manifesting. I believe for me as a woman, meditation stirs the pot of my emotions and brings up things I need to be aware of on all levels. What seeps through is a deep connection to the Universe. Now how could you be "emotionally detached" from that!??? I cannot be as it brings wonder and awe, joy and bliss!!
Yes, I can relate to all the thoughts, so many beyond my control. The only thing that works for me is praying about them. I’ve prayed for soo many to come to repentance. I’ve prayed for people’s welfare, when ambulances go by, when disasters strike, etc..
I find great comfort in The Lord’s Prayer. I like that it has us envision the Kingdom, rather than the limitations of this base realm/reality wannabe-overlords try to imprison us in.
My mantra is: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. The first time I say His name, it goes throughout the universe. The second time, He is on His way. The third time; he rises to the occasion, situation, or in creation, (including me)!
The problem is as you stated in the first sentence. Your core belief about life pops up right there. So I can ask you what if it was easy to meditate, what would that be like? There will be times when you have meditated so observe that and replace core belief with..... What it comes down to is one distracting oneself from what is good or bad you know.
When you said "racing thoughts", that might be an issue to start with. You might have a physiological reason for them. Try cleanses that get rid of toxins, especially heavy metals, maybe try bentonite clay/zeolite. If that helps, then try when you have a thought, just observe it, and stop the emotionally reacting to it. You can choose not to react to all your thoughts. No one is forcing you to have a reaction to them. (Well, unless you are Woke, just kidding)
So that's why the constant bombardment of material from the world. Access to the internet etc., so that we won't have the chance to stop and look at our thoughts before the next thought invades. And we're supposed to, that's how we learn about ourselves. It also explains why anxiety and depression are so prevalent, because we're not taking the time to examine our thoughts before accepting them. It's also likely why men are more enlightened through history because emotion is something we can more easily rationalise when those thoughts occur.
Someone told me years ago there is no such thing as ADD/Attention Deficit Disorder, there is only Reflection Deficit Disorder. Made so much sense to me. Getting enamored with my ‘thought fireworks’ can be very addictive and a perfect distraction from tending to my real self.
Thank you all - very insightful thread. Thank you, Clif, for sharing your amazing mind and kindnesses with us.
Meditation without disidentification accomplishes little. We are not the voice in the head that sounds like a "self" talking. This understanding comes as a flash of insight without which awakening is difficult.
If you accept or reject it then it goes from a suggestion to reality. You bring it in to reality. The light of awareness will create a slow death of neglect and as Cliff says you become more aware if there is a reaction. The reaction is also part of the “not self” so it can also be left alone. Not accepted or rejected. Just awareness!
Yes. Reactions come from thoughts. When you believe your thoughts, you react. You believe your thought because you think that the voice in your head that sounds like you talking to you, is you. Disidentification from thought is the sudden realization that you are not that voice.
Where do they ch come from. Are they flying around and you just run into them or are they sent [ or summoned ]? I'm suspicious of thoughts th as t seem unfamiliar or strange.
The real problem are the familiar thoughts. They become so familiar that we no longer notice them and yet they control our emotions and behavior. Where thoughts come from is not important for awakening to occur. It's our identification with thoughts that keeps us in prison. Disidentification means that we no longer identify with thoughts - any thoughts.
A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th century, coinciding with the rise of authoritarian governments.
Great concept, Clif. The more this becomes part of your thought process, the more it becomes an understanding why such silly thoughts bothered you in the first place, it becomes insignificant as you chew the thought, then letting it go as it is just that, insignificant to our reality.
Chop wood, carry water before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water during enlightenment; chop wood, carry water after enlightenment... thank you, Clif!
Thank you, Clif! Really helpful perspective and reminders. Grateful.
Circa 1984, my ex-husband and I were living on Walnut St. in Montclair, NJ. Up the hill from us, make a left, on another residential street, there was the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh house, where they had the best food, devotees decked-out in reds and oranges, and Rajneesh, larger than life on a 7-foot screen transmitting live from Pune, India, or wherever he was in the world at those given times. I thought of him as a merry prankster (lowercase "m" and "p"), a goodhearted huckster. Charming, anyway, with twinkly eyes.
So, the residential devotees always invited me in to their celebrations--as the amused, smiling, silent spectator, not dressed like them.
Oh shit--that's not what I mean to recount. Also on that block was a certified teacher of Transcendental Meditation (TM/TM, if you catch my drift), the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi way. I'm a hard nut to crack, or was, anyway, but the teacher persevered (in a Pisces martyr kind of way) till she was sure I'd caught on.
The wild thing about it is she said, "I'm going to whisper your mantra in your ear. Do not ever repeat it to anyone or write it down."
Well that got my flighty self to hop to and pay strict attention. So she whispers my mantra to me, twice, I think.
"Got it?" she asks.
"Yep." I never did write it down or speak it. Forty years later, I still know what my mantra is!
Though I have a theory that there's only one TM mantra (no, not Aum/Om), and that's why the student is sworn to secrecy.
That reminded me of the Rajneesh's who moved to a ranch in central Oregon near where I lived. The Bhagwan had parades of his collection of dozens of Rolls Royces. They desired to take over the entire county, not just the local town.
A devotee, I forget her name, conspired with others to distribute food poisoning at a local buffet, which sickened many, but did not get their desired effect.
It was Sheila and the girls gang who went on a power trip while Bhagwan was in silence for 3 years (he had to move to the USA for medical reasons, that's how this experiment came to pass).
Many devotees didn't get the message. Blind faith and surrender is a no-go. Women don't generally do it better than men. Follow yourself, not some fricking doctrine by some cult leader. Don't exchange one religious conditioning against another.
Most of those people from back then in Oregon never moved to the next stage of the process, they got stuck with that bad experience and went some other direction. That was some way of sorting out the wheat from the chaff^^, the people who came afterwards were pretty different.
Same guru. He didn't ever live in Montclair, but his neosannyasins who lived there were really sweet, generous people. And as I said, excellent vegetarian eats. Hindus do the best vegetarian food, imo. Sorry about the shit experience in OR. That's a shame.
Please do more of meditation type topics, please. This episode really resonated with me. I need more of this in my life.
I do Wim Hof Method everyday,
Knitting is a great meditation opportunity
I like to crochet and listen. My happy spot.
As much as possible. I give some of it away to the local homeless shelter.
Here's to RETIREMENT :-)
I love this segment. You know, years ago, I hated to clean my house (I am a single male), but after many years of meditation, it occurs to me that cleaning my house and attending to my 3 cats is actually a profound meditation - yes, I also to a 20-30 min TM meditation 2-3 times per day, but I attach much less importance now to my 'sitting meditation.' Btw, here's a tip - the influence of the planet Mars (Tuesdays) is a great energy for scrubbing floors and other 'menial' tasks. It's a great way to channel anger, strong energy, and warrior energy into a very productive and useful task.
I use to pay people to clean my home - now, I don't want to give up that opportunity to clean my own home and to - well, 'chew my food.'
Thank you for what you wrote. I resonate 100% . A benefit of TM for me is noticeably increased intuition and I like the fact that it involves no active thinking whatsover.
I am very happy to meet another TM'er - I first learned TM in a weekend course in January of 1977. TM has also increased my intuitive ability and I am so grateful to have learned the technique. I have learned a lot of other meditation techniques along the way but I always returned to TM because it was so profoundly simple and powerful.
That is my experience of it too. The mantra quiets the mind quickly and we enter the Alpha or Theta state of pure silence. I come out of feeling refreshed. Do you? And all this in 20 minute periods! I learned the technique in 1990 and I believe it made it possible for me to not only "keep my act together" in a fairly stressful career but even to enjoy it. Curious, eh?
I’ll be joining you cleaning my home on a Tuesday in Middle England.
Yes, Mars Hora is a wonderful energy for floors - enjoy!
Great post! …I loved this segment as well. 😊
Thank You !
Exactly!! Perfectly said, I tried to explain this and couldn’t but you’ve wrote it! Thank you for sharing this cause now I’ll be able to share it with the right words. Light and love
Thank you for your kind words. I am happy I could be of service!
Letting go of anything which is not for our greater good creates greater good around us. 💚
Someone told me long ago. Let Go...Let GOD +
LVJ_Music ...Are you a Clif High listener :-)
Very useful. I struggle with meditation anyway. Not a lot comes to me. I get better messages when I’m out walking or in the greenhouse or knitting or similar. I have been doing zen type meditation and I can clear all thoughts now but don’t get anything else but rest and a clear, calm mind. However the detachment stuff really resonated. Going to try it. Thanks Cliff, very insightful and inspirational. 👍
I most often relax into a meditative state when I'm hiking in a really wild area, which eliminates most of the distractions...
Just so Clif.
I really, really, REALLY want to (LEARN to) meditate. But, easier SAID than DONE!!
I do NOT have self-esteem issues; I love me....I'm awesome; I would be my best friend, if someone came into my life that 'was me'. I do not have 'emotional' issues; I never get 'overly emotional'. Obviously, I DO HAVE emotions (& empathy), because I AM Human......I'm just more on the Analytical/Matter of Fact/Common Sense side of things (since I AM a Gemini).
My problem IS (the barrier to me meditating), since I AM Human (ie have a functioning brain), my MIND goes a million miles per hour. Between me having a 'million' things to do/get done, and the bullshit that goes on, every day, in this country (and around the world)......my mind is always racing.
I don't know HOW to 'turn my mind OFF', TO meditate. I know that I would sit there and my mind would race....."I've got to get the transplants in the garden!.....What will I have for dinner?......Need to go over an put drops in mom's eyes!........We're being invaded by illegals!.......fucking PEDOS everywhere!"......and 999,995 other thoughts......one after the other......like Rapid Fire! Which also includes me contemplating what I've heard/watched from really smart (smarter than myself) people, such as Clif, Dr. Joseph P. Farrell, Forum Borealis, ect. And THAT is my problem! Not self-esteem.......not emotions; it's MY THINKING BRAIN!! lol
We can't turn the mind off, we only observe it playing its games.
I once had an interesting experience that showed me how I get captured by thought.
It happend on the first day of 'The Watcher on the Hill', in the 3rd week of the 'Mystic Rose Meditation'.
After 1 week of laughing for 3 hours the day in the group (and mostly the rest of the day, too) and 1 week of crying for 3 hours the day, I was totally emptied out.
So in the 3rd stage of this process, 3 cycles of ZaZen for 40 min, followed by ZenWalk for 20 min, during this first sitting, I observed the thoughts running out there in front of me, around 2 meters away from me.
Then a thought came around - from the outside, mind you, we mostly don't think ourselves, we pick up from what's floating around in the collective mental, identify with what attracts us - , it was like a cloud that called me so I observed myself stepping out of my center and jumping onto the cloud. Then I was lost for a few moments, floating with the cloud. When I became aware of having been carried away by the cloud while losing awareness, I decided that I had enough of that thought.
And as I had observed how I had stepped out of my Self, onto the cloud, pretty slowly because I was so emptied out, I could take the same way back. Simply step off of the cloud and move back into my center.
That experience and observation was so intense that it has never left me again.
Now, when I catch myself thinking 'stupid shit', most of it actually not mine at all, I thank the awareness and step back from the thought. The thought isn't gone by that, but it's not me,, it's just there and I can observe it without attachment.
Long story short:
The mind is doing its thing. We can't stop it. We can only be the watcher on the hill. When we don't attach to it, give it emotional attention, it goes away on its own accord. Just don't believe everything you think, lol.
With practice, the racing stormy clouds of the mind can turn into fluffy clouds with more and more blue sky. This is our true nature, the blue sky. When we ARE the blue sky, we have fun watching the clouds pass by, heheh.
I’ve been meditating or better put, working on self realization for ~20-30 years or so? Not seriously though until the last 5-10 years, where I’ve taken up as practice daily. I cut my teeth on Sri Ramana Maharshi and Rupert Spira. What I have discovered recently is it is not about beating the mind into submission, because that is like trying to bury your shadow. Your mind is meant for thinking. Thoughts will always occur. The real break-through is when you realize those thoughts belong to small i and you stop clinging on to them, clutching, grasping, identifying with them. Pretending they are real. Anything temporal arises form what? Consciousness, and flashes in and out of what? Existence. The real self or realized self is not temporal. It is eternal, limitless. It is consciousness, witnessing being, pure existence. With enough time spent practicing 'self-inquiry' or any other practice, the small i obstacles begin to subside (by ignoring them and focusing on the real Self). Eventually True Self starts to reveal itself and the temporal mind starts to identify instead with pure being existence and consciousness. Anyhow, just what I’ve discovered along my journey. Each person has their own path to discover.
Hence the need for discipline and practise. It seems to me that the more you start to deal with such topics the more breakthroughs occur. Like anything else.
Then one needs to be with one self and take responsibility, one needs to accept the shadow and the wonder.
Recently I have been wondering about what you say there and the following passage from the KJV Bible:
Revelation 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
I am very much like this, too. I ranked very high on the analytical part of the GRE when I took it years ago. I used to meditate some but haven’t attempted it in a few years. From what I recall, controlling my breathing was what helped me relax the most, as well as soft music in the background. I started each meditation with slow, deep breathing. I do something similar when I’m having trouble sleeping.
I definitely need to 'learn to breathe', that's for sure. The music part, I'll have a hard time with. MOST 'music' annoys the shit outta me! LOL I have very specific tastes in music; Heavy Metal is NOT music to meditate by. lololol 'Outside noises' HIGHLY annoy me as well; so I could never 'sit in silence'. I live on a busy street, in a 'small' town; the car/motorcycle sounds need to be drowned out by my computer 24/7. Looks like I'm fighting an uphill battle, before I even start (to learn to meditate), that I probably won't win, at this point in time.
A respectful offer...
About 37 min.
𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 (Guided Meditation) ~
Samaneri Jayasāra - Wisdom of the Masters
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SGrHTxAXhNY&pp=ygUZc2FtYW5lcmkgamF5YXNhcmEgc2lsZW5jZQ%3D%3D
I linked this precisely because you said...:
"Outside noises' HIGHLY annoy me as well; so I could never 'sit in silence'. I live on a busy street, in a 'small' town; the car/motorcycle sounds need to be drowned out by my computer 24/7. "
Give a listen.
I think you'll bookmark and revisit it.
I'm off to re-listen now.
You don't "turn it off", you let thoughts come and let them go without judgement. Eventually your mind will quiet itself.
Universe is irony! So it's turned off by not turning it off lol
Start with watching your breath, with your eyes closed. And as your mind wanders, gently bring it back to your breath, as air travels into the nostril or nostrils and as air leaves. Focus on the spot at the base of the nose and top of the upper lip; aware of air passing this spot. Gently bring the mind back to this spot observing the air. This disciplines the mind. Good luck....
I think meditation is whatever gets results which are for me, becoming a better human being and developing my superpowers which everyone has, and increasing my frequency. I also find that it is the emotion that assists me with manifesting. I believe for me as a woman, meditation stirs the pot of my emotions and brings up things I need to be aware of on all levels. What seeps through is a deep connection to the Universe. Now how could you be "emotionally detached" from that!??? I cannot be as it brings wonder and awe, joy and bliss!!
Yes, I can relate to all the thoughts, so many beyond my control. The only thing that works for me is praying about them. I’ve prayed for soo many to come to repentance. I’ve prayed for people’s welfare, when ambulances go by, when disasters strike, etc..
I find great comfort in The Lord’s Prayer. I like that it has us envision the Kingdom, rather than the limitations of this base realm/reality wannabe-overlords try to imprison us in.
My mantra is: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. The first time I say His name, it goes throughout the universe. The second time, He is on His way. The third time; he rises to the occasion, situation, or in creation, (including me)!
It is then, “I can do all things through Christ”🤗
The problem is as you stated in the first sentence. Your core belief about life pops up right there. So I can ask you what if it was easy to meditate, what would that be like? There will be times when you have meditated so observe that and replace core belief with..... What it comes down to is one distracting oneself from what is good or bad you know.
When you said "racing thoughts", that might be an issue to start with. You might have a physiological reason for them. Try cleanses that get rid of toxins, especially heavy metals, maybe try bentonite clay/zeolite. If that helps, then try when you have a thought, just observe it, and stop the emotionally reacting to it. You can choose not to react to all your thoughts. No one is forcing you to have a reaction to them. (Well, unless you are Woke, just kidding)
Brilliant timing Clif, a big thank you from me too.
Your definitely aligning us, to a world awakening.
Preparing us to help others..maybe x
Ahhh .. Clif is a hip guy!
So that's why the constant bombardment of material from the world. Access to the internet etc., so that we won't have the chance to stop and look at our thoughts before the next thought invades. And we're supposed to, that's how we learn about ourselves. It also explains why anxiety and depression are so prevalent, because we're not taking the time to examine our thoughts before accepting them. It's also likely why men are more enlightened through history because emotion is something we can more easily rationalise when those thoughts occur.
Thanks Clif.
Someone told me years ago there is no such thing as ADD/Attention Deficit Disorder, there is only Reflection Deficit Disorder. Made so much sense to me. Getting enamored with my ‘thought fireworks’ can be very addictive and a perfect distraction from tending to my real self.
Thank you all - very insightful thread. Thank you, Clif, for sharing your amazing mind and kindnesses with us.
Live long and prosper!
And may the Force be with you.
Suffering does take some chewing...
Pain creates focus.
Chew your food makes so much sense.
I am (very interested) in more Meditative Wisdom.
Please.
Meditation without disidentification accomplishes little. We are not the voice in the head that sounds like a "self" talking. This understanding comes as a flash of insight without which awakening is difficult.
If you accept or reject it then it goes from a suggestion to reality. You bring it in to reality. The light of awareness will create a slow death of neglect and as Cliff says you become more aware if there is a reaction. The reaction is also part of the “not self” so it can also be left alone. Not accepted or rejected. Just awareness!
Yes. Reactions come from thoughts. When you believe your thoughts, you react. You believe your thought because you think that the voice in your head that sounds like you talking to you, is you. Disidentification from thought is the sudden realization that you are not that voice.
Where do they ch come from. Are they flying around and you just run into them or are they sent [ or summoned ]? I'm suspicious of thoughts th as t seem unfamiliar or strange.
The real problem are the familiar thoughts. They become so familiar that we no longer notice them and yet they control our emotions and behavior. Where thoughts come from is not important for awakening to occur. It's our identification with thoughts that keeps us in prison. Disidentification means that we no longer identify with thoughts - any thoughts.
A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th century, coinciding with the rise of authoritarian governments.
Great concept, Clif. The more this becomes part of your thought process, the more it becomes an understanding why such silly thoughts bothered you in the first place, it becomes insignificant as you chew the thought, then letting it go as it is just that, insignificant to our reality.
Chop wood, carry water before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water during enlightenment; chop wood, carry water after enlightenment... thank you, Clif!
Thank you, Clif! Really helpful perspective and reminders. Grateful.
Circa 1984, my ex-husband and I were living on Walnut St. in Montclair, NJ. Up the hill from us, make a left, on another residential street, there was the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh house, where they had the best food, devotees decked-out in reds and oranges, and Rajneesh, larger than life on a 7-foot screen transmitting live from Pune, India, or wherever he was in the world at those given times. I thought of him as a merry prankster (lowercase "m" and "p"), a goodhearted huckster. Charming, anyway, with twinkly eyes.
So, the residential devotees always invited me in to their celebrations--as the amused, smiling, silent spectator, not dressed like them.
Oh shit--that's not what I mean to recount. Also on that block was a certified teacher of Transcendental Meditation (TM/TM, if you catch my drift), the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi way. I'm a hard nut to crack, or was, anyway, but the teacher persevered (in a Pisces martyr kind of way) till she was sure I'd caught on.
The wild thing about it is she said, "I'm going to whisper your mantra in your ear. Do not ever repeat it to anyone or write it down."
Well that got my flighty self to hop to and pay strict attention. So she whispers my mantra to me, twice, I think.
"Got it?" she asks.
"Yep." I never did write it down or speak it. Forty years later, I still know what my mantra is!
Though I have a theory that there's only one TM mantra (no, not Aum/Om), and that's why the student is sworn to secrecy.
That's something to meditate on.
That reminded me of the Rajneesh's who moved to a ranch in central Oregon near where I lived. The Bhagwan had parades of his collection of dozens of Rolls Royces. They desired to take over the entire county, not just the local town.
A devotee, I forget her name, conspired with others to distribute food poisoning at a local buffet, which sickened many, but did not get their desired effect.
It was Sheila and the girls gang who went on a power trip while Bhagwan was in silence for 3 years (he had to move to the USA for medical reasons, that's how this experiment came to pass).
Many devotees didn't get the message. Blind faith and surrender is a no-go. Women don't generally do it better than men. Follow yourself, not some fricking doctrine by some cult leader. Don't exchange one religious conditioning against another.
Most of those people from back then in Oregon never moved to the next stage of the process, they got stuck with that bad experience and went some other direction. That was some way of sorting out the wheat from the chaff^^, the people who came afterwards were pretty different.
The grifter is now in India re-invented as Osho w a new gaggle of followers.
Same guru. He didn't ever live in Montclair, but his neosannyasins who lived there were really sweet, generous people. And as I said, excellent vegetarian eats. Hindus do the best vegetarian food, imo. Sorry about the shit experience in OR. That's a shame.