From a great distance, a circle may seem to be merely a gray colored
disk, but upon approaching it, one might find that it is, instead, a
yin-yang symbol that had been "blended by the eye." Just so, if one
takes a thought and attends it repeatedly -- that is -- approaches the
object (thought) mentally -- one is "putting" more of the awareness
available upon that object while thusly withholding that awareness
from other possible foci.
Meditating brings one closer to objects of consciousness which, as
they become more observable, can take up one's entire "field of view"
as other objects of consciousness (the chair one sits in for instance,
other thoughts, sensations, etc.) become less and less likely to "grab
one's attention." Each concept, idea, mantra, sound, whatever, is
like a yin-yang symbol seen from a great distance.
As one's mentation gets refined and subtle, the breath also quiets
down and this indicates that the body is doing less work, and the mind
is more focused while doing less work (not attending other objects of
consciousness.)
In the quietest moments of meditation, whole worlds can become as
obviously "not merely gray" -- worlds like "morality" or "sacredness"
or "candle flame" which seem to be easily defined but become complex
and mystifying when attended to enough for the polarities inherent in
all objects become observable. As one gets used to "two sides to the
story of every object of consciousness," one begins to identify with
that place where both sides can be seen simultaneously. This is
called witnessing and is different from "paying attention to a
particular quality of a polarization's spectrum."
The mind does attending, the soul "does" witnessing.
Certainty is the ego's drug, and meditation reveals the ever-ness of
every-thingness. No object can be completely understood since each is
a construct of consciousness which is infinitely able to delineate
every more subtleties about anything. Thus, as Bramha found by being
unable to fathom the depths of the lotus stalk, unfathomable is any
object of consciousness, and the mind becomes less addicted to
certainties as this fact of existence's polarities becomes clear, and
the ego begins to get over wanting to control existence with concepts
since each concept is a slippery tool that cannot be handled perfectly.
This is experienced as "I don't know my next thought, nor have I ever
known what my next thought will be, yet they come perfectly formed
from a source that can only be 'me.'"
As the "me" becomes more "seen," the products of me-ness become less
able to beguile and attract the mind, as the ego begins to see that it
cannot store its treasures where moth and rust doth corrupt. The "me"
becomes the new addiction of the ego, and from that focus, from that
identification, the ego can be left behind where it is completely
satisfied by the "me." Leaving behind the ego, identification by the
human's mind switches to Absolute silence beyond silence -- that which
cannot be "held in a mind." The ego is seen as a scant and almost
insignificant process of mind and unworthy of "hanging one's hat" upon.
The above are the only reasons to meditate. If you think meditation
is going to make you richer, smarter, wiser, happier, sweeter, more
social, whatever, you'd be quite wrong. Every tradition says to not
live for the fruits of one's actions, but to abide in the goodness
that is manifesting through one's nervous system and let go let God.
Whatever use one's mind might have to God, that is for God to decide,
and when one gets out of God's way, He/She does just that, but first
the ego must surrender its "stolen role" of being the doer, the
thinker, the sentience of the human experience.
The above is pretty dense conceptualization. It took me years of
intellectually studying this "tale," before it became, intellectually,
clear to me. This is merely the ego being smug and having nice
thought-buckets to toss enlightenment into. True freedom from egoic
disease means stopping identification with the products of the
intellect also....since each product will be a processing of the
nervous system and identification with a process must end when the
process ends -- at the death of the human body. Moth and rust, see?
The above, if understood, is not enlightenment -- it is merely an
egoic dance that harmonizes with the hoped-for freedom from
attachments-of-identification-with-objects-of-consciousness. But,
such an understanding can lead to the motivation to continue to
meditate until true freedom, by grace, washes one away from all
earthly shackles.
Edg
>
>
> I would be interested to hear what people learn by way of meditation. If
> they come to learn all kinds of different things then what could be said
> to be perhaps the most profound and illuminating thing which they learn,
> and as to how that comes to help shape their lives and understanding.
>
>
>
> Lisa.
>
Ei yhteystietoja Astron foorumille, kiitos! jos löydät nettisivun, josta voi itse etsiskellä yhteystietoja, niin laitapa linkki tähän