So my mom is of the belief one needs to "empty one's mind" in order to properly meditate/be mindful.
Something tells me that ain't right, but I dunno exactly what to recommend she go for in it's place.
What I try to do is focus on nothing but my breathing, or to count my breaths and focus on nothing but the breaths and/or number count.
Still, I notice that I'm thinking at least to some level ABOUT focusing instead on the breaths/count.
and I dunno if that counts as being truly mindful.
What misconceptions may either of us possibly be having which may get in the way of successful meditation?
One does not have to clear the mind to meditate. You can meditate with binaural beats such as Holosync
and your mind can be thinking of all sorts of things and still get down into delta or theta brainwave.
In fact, the ones who think they failed to effectively meditate because of a noisy brain can be the ones with the deepest meditation.
If you used biofeedback you'd get a good idea of how effectively you are meditating. And the headsets aren't too much I don't think.
Holosync is expensive. It's like $1600 for 10 years worth of sessions, the whole set. I'm over a year into it.
Biofeedback may have been a cheaper way to go. At least it would tell me where I am.
I'm not going to get that though, at least until I've paid off all my credit card debt.
That's interesting man. She's telling me she finds that interesting as well, although she says Ra said that emptying the mind is the best way to meditate. I don't see how something like that is possible!
An "empty mind"...
Interesting.
Well... then maybe we don't have a misconception and just need to practice more?
Although I do like your alternative idea, Indigo. That's cool. I'm glad you found those alternatives as an aid!
I'll keep them in mind for sure! Does anybody else have anything they would like to add?
Maybe we're not doign it wrong, just not enough then. Like somebody trying to lift a shitton of weight but isn't very strong and just needs to start small. Is my counting method (
https://www.bring4th.org/forums/showthre...?tid=16505) effective? Or am I doing s*** wrong?
I am so unsure of myself here...
I really want to make sure we both do it right and can make good progress...
Anyway, thanks for all the love and support from everybody!
And thanks IndigoGeminiWolf, for answering and for your suggestion! Definitely worth keeping in mind for sure! And I'm glad it helps you man!
If anyone else has anything to add, feel free
An empty mind is one that distinguishes itself from the thoughts passing thereof. The observer and observed distinguished and the role of the observer-consciousness touched.
An empty mind does not contain any thoughts not because there is no content but because the mind is not the content. The content continues to exist. The focus over time is able to situate itself in the observer of thoughts, the mind, which is already empty. It's not making something empty which is full, but discovering the emptiness that is already there beneath the depths of thought.
It takes time, it is like a journey. Every step will look different from the last and the destination will looking nothing like what was seen at the beginning.
You are not creating anything new, just finding what is already there beneath all the things that have layered upon it. The layers do not cease, you become aware of the eye of the storm.
(10-07-2018, 08:39 PM)Aion Wrote: [ -> ]An empty mind is one that distinguishes itself from the thoughts passing thereof. The observer and observed distinguished and the role of the observer-consciousness touched.
An empty mind does not contain any thoughts not because there is no content but because the mind is not the content. The content continues to exist. The focus over time is able to situate itself in the observer of thoughts, the mind, which is already empty. It's not making something empty which is full, but discovering the emptiness that is already there beneath the depths of thought.
It takes time, it is like a journey. Every step will look different from the last and the destination will looking nothing like what was seen at the beginning.
You are not creating anything new, just finding what is already there beneath all the things that have layered upon it. The layers do not cease, you become aware of the eye of the storm.
Thanks for this, Aion. It's still a bit hard for me to get what you said, but I appreciate the clarification. I shall share this with my mom also. I love you and I thank you. As I am still wrestling with this fear right now, it's hard to focus, but I am seeing ways of dealing with that to some extent.
I prayed to my higher self to help move me out of this fear based energy and my cat came and wanted to play. I played with her, hugged, kissed and petted her, followed her out the door for more of the same. There were parts where she would do stuff like go too far, going onto other peoples' property trying to make me chase her, but eventually, I would muster up the courage to go and chase her off the property or pick her up and take her off the property. And we would continue to play. The fear would arise, but I would pray, ask my higher self, christ and god to fill me with Crhistic love energy or just love energy in general, and keep moving my thoughts back to love, while continuing with my cats. I would at times endeavor to be mindful, but even when I fear reared its head, I would do what I could to remind myself it was just an energy, to redirect my focus to my cats, to focus my thoughts on love, etc. Eventually, my other cat came, and I was petting them both, but the first one always gets competitive/jealous and ends up making it impossible to be with both of them at the same time. Sometimes the other one will do that. The first one I think is the primary one carrying this jealous competitive energy though, as the other one mostly otherwise just wants to be affectionate and doesn't usually act nearly as threatened by other cats/animals. Although sometimes he does. At that point I picked him up and carried him as far as I could to where the other cat was to spend a little more time with them both (going between them, using words and actions of affection) but then I had to go, because I don't like having to pick between them both in this competitive (let's see who's the favourite) game they like to play. The first one was really the one bringing that energy though like I said. I ended up just saying "I love you" a lot to them both and leaving.
I am releasing fear as I write about it haha
I REALLY love my cats hehe.
Still, I intend to get better at meditation.
Thank you for sharing this with me.
I know I'll get better. I just gotta give things time and keep faith in myself
I'll try to remind myself and my mother that Rome wasn't built in a day, after I show her what you said, Aion.
If anyone else has any helpful advice/knowledge/wisdom to share, please feel free
I have faith
I empty the mind completely. It works best for me.
It has taken me to the point of being able to sit and be out of ego very quickly.
I wouldn’t knock it till you’ve experienced it.
Also my mind went empty the first attempt but the tolerance of that emptiness took time.
It used to make my body very anxious, as if my mind wouldn’t fight but my body would, so I could only handle it for short periods.
Practice and exposure.
If you can’t quiet the thoughts it might not be 100% time. Don’t put to much pressure on results right away. It is a new skill.
One thing you might try if you are struggling. I do this when working since I can’t just sit and tune everything out while doing so. I have to keep functioning. So when extra distracted yet I need silence I will act as though I am in a conversation with the universe and am waiting to hear a reply if/when it comes.
Not impatient or expecting - the reply could come in seconds or years or could be the silence itself, so no anxiousness but just wanting to be as quiet as you can internally incase the reply comes and does so quietly. Like tuning in to the silence.
Also, the results don't look the same for everyone! This is one of my biggest miffs with the way a lot of people promote meditation as though there is one destination that it leads to. Grasping your own mind isn't about reaching some standardized state of consciousness but rather an organic learning process where you discover the nature of your own personal mental experience.
I would like to share this old Gnostic poem with you for inspiration, it is one of my very favorites. I read it as though it is referring to the Infinite Mind. It is very symbolic in its expression. More for inspiration on the ineffable nature of the Infinite Mind than a particular guide in any way. Food for thought. Also a little broken, but that's ancient text for ya.
The Thunder, Perfect Mind
Translated by George W. MacRae
I was sent forth from the power,
and I have come to those who reflect upon me,
and I have been found among those who seek after me.
Look upon me, you who reflect upon me,
and you hearers, hear me.
You who are waiting for me, take me to yourselves.
And do not banish me from your sight.
And do not make your voice hate me, nor your hearing.
Do not be ignorant of me anywhere or any time. Be on your guard!
Do not be ignorant of me.
For I am the first and the last.
I am the honored one and the scorned one.
I am the whore and the holy one.
I am the wife and the virgin.
I am <the mother> and the daughter.
I am the members of my mother.
I am the barren one
and many are her sons.
I am she whose wedding is great,
and I have not taken a husband.
I am the midwife and she who does not bear.
I am the solace of my labor pains.
I am the bride and the bridegroom,
and it is my husband who begot me.
I am the mother of my father
and the sister of my husband
and he is my offspring.
I am the slave of him who prepared me.
I am the ruler of my offspring.
But he is the one who begot me before the time on a birthday.
And he is my offspring in (due) time,
and my power is from him.
I am the staff of his power in his youth,
and he is the rod of my old age.
And whatever he wills happens to me.
I am the silence that is incomprehensible
and the idea whose remembrance is frequent.
I am the voice whose sound is manifold
and the word whose appearance is multiple.
I am the utterance of my name.
Why, you who hate me, do you love me,
and hate those who love me?
You who deny me, confess me,
and you who confess me, deny me.
You who tell the truth about me, lie about me,
and you who have lied about me, tell the truth about me.
You who know me, be ignorant of me,
and those who have not known me, let them know me.
For I am knowledge and ignorance.
I am shame and boldness.
I am shameless; I am ashamed.
I am strength and I am fear.
I am war and peace.
Give heed to me.
I am the one who is disgraced and the great one.
Give heed to my poverty and my wealth.
Do not be arrogant to me when I am cast out upon the earth,
and you will find me in those that are to come.
And do not look upon me on the dung-heap
nor go and leave me cast out,
and you will find me in the kingdoms.
And do not look upon me when I am cast out among those who
are disgraced and in the least places,
nor laugh at me.
And do not cast me out among those who are slain in violence.
But I, I am compassionate and I am cruel.
Be on your guard!
Do not hate my obedience
and do not love my self-control.
In my weakness, do not forsake me,
and do not be afraid of my power.
For why do you despise my fear
and curse my pride?
But I am she who exists in all fears
and strength in trembling.
I am she who is weak,
and I am well in a pleasant place.
I am senseless and I am wise.
Why have you hated me in your counsels?
For I shall be silent among those who are silent,
and I shall appear and speak,
Why then have you hated me, you Greeks?
Because I am a barbarian among the barbarians?
For I am the wisdom of the Greeks
and the knowledge of the barbarians.
I am the judgement of the Greeks and of the barbarians.
I am the one whose image is great in Egypt
and the one who has no image among the barbarians.
I am the one who has been hated everywhere
and who has been loved everywhere.
I am the one whom they call Life,
and you have called Death.
I am the one whom they call Law,
and you have called Lawlessness.
I am the one whom you have pursued,
and I am the one whom you have seized.
I am the one whom you have scattered,
and you have gathered me together.
I am the one before whom you have been ashamed,
and you have been shameless to me.
I am she who does not keep festival,
and I am she whose festivals are many.
I, I am godless,
and I am the one whose God is great.
I am the one whom you have reflected upon,
and you have scorned me.
I am unlearned,
and they learn from me.
I am the one that you have despised,
and you reflect upon me.
I am the one whom you have hidden from,
and you appear to me.
But whenever you hide yourselves,
I myself will appear.
For whenever you appear,
I myself will hide from you.
Those who have [...] to it [...] senselessly [...].
Take me [... understanding] from grief.
and take me to yourselves from understanding and grief.
And take me to yourselves from places that are ugly and in ruin,
and rob from those which are good even though in ugliness.
Out of shame, take me to yourselves shamelessly;
and out of shamelessness and shame,
upbraid my members in yourselves.
And come forward to me, you who know me
and you who know my members,
and establish the great ones among the small first creatures.
Come forward to childhood,
and do not despise it because it is small and it is little.
And do not turn away greatnesses in some parts from the smallnesses,
for the smallnesses are known from the greatnesses.
Why do you curse me and honor me?
You have wounded and you have had mercy.
Do not separate me from the first ones whom you have known.
And do not cast anyone out nor turn anyone away
[...] turn you away and [... know] him not.
[...].
What is mine [...].
I know the first ones and those after them know me.
But I am the mind of [...] and the rest of [...].
I am the knowledge of my inquiry,
and the finding of those who seek after me,
and the command of those who ask of me,
and the power of the powers in my knowledge
of the angels, who have been sent at my word,
and of gods in their seasons by my counsel,
and of spirits of every man who exists with me,
and of women who dwell within me.
I am the one who is honored, and who is praised,
and who is despised scornfully.
I am peace,
and war has come because of me.
And I am an alien and a citizen.
I am the substance and the one who has no substance.
Those who are without association with me are ignorant of me,
and those who are in my substance are the ones who know me.
Those who are close to me have been ignorant of me,
and those who are far away from me are the ones who have known me.
On the day when I am close to you, you are far away from me,
and on the day when I am far away from you, I am close to you.
[I am ...] within.
[I am ...] of the natures.
I am [...] of the creation of the spirits.
[...] request of the souls.
I am control and the uncontrollable.
I am the union and the dissolution.
I am the abiding and I am the dissolution.
I am the one below,
and they come up to me.
I am the judgment and the acquittal.
I, I am sinless,
and the root of sin derives from me.
I am lust in (outward) appearance,
and interior self-control exists within me.
I am the hearing which is attainable to everyone
and the speech which cannot be grasped.
I am a mute who does not speak,
and great is my multitude of words.
Hear me in gentleness, and learn of me in roughness.
I am she who cries out,
and I am cast forth upon the face of the earth.
I prepare the bread and my mind within.
I am the knowledge of my name.
I am the one who cries out,
and I listen.
I appear and [...] walk in [...] seal of my [...].
I am [...] the defense [...].
I am the one who is called Truth
and iniquity [...].
You honor me [...] and you whisper against me.
You who are vanquished, judge them (who vanquish you)
before they give judgment against you,
because the judge and partiality exist in you.
If you are condemned by this one, who will acquit you?
Or, if you are acquitted by him, who will be able to detain you?
For what is inside of you is what is outside of you,
and the one who fashions you on the outside
is the one who shaped the inside of you.
And what you see outside of you, you see inside of you;
it is visible and it is your garment.
Hear me, you hearers
and learn of my words, you who know me.
I am the hearing that is attainable to everything;
I am the speech that cannot be grasped.
I am the name of the sound
and the sound of the name.
I am the sign of the letter
and the designation of the division.
And I [...].
(3 lines missing)
[...] light [...].
[...] hearers [...] to you
[...] the great power.
And [...] will not move the name.
[...] to the one who created me.
And I will speak his name.
Look then at his words
and all the writings which have been completed.
Give heed then, you hearers
and you also, the angels and those who have been sent,
and you spirits who have arisen from the dead.
For I am the one who alone exists,
and I have no one who will judge me.
For many are the pleasant forms which exist in numerous sins,
and incontinencies,
and disgraceful passions,
and fleeting pleasures,
which (men) embrace until they become sober
and go up to their resting place.
And they will find me there,
and they will live,
and they will not die again.
It’s a little of both, in my opinion. To see the mind clearly, we need complete stillness. I heard a beautiful quote of wisdom from Master Oogway in Kung Fu Panda,
![[Image: master-oogway-quote2.jpg]](http://stunningmotivation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/master-oogway-quote2.jpg)
Now, achieving this is a lot easier said than done! I’ve been meditating for years and I still count and follow my breath. Don’t be discouraged when your mind wanders. Your mind will inevitably wander. But we simply bring our counsciousness back to silence. The intellect tries to resist self imposed discipline. The intellect shouldn’t be our master. It is a tool.
When the mind is still and silent it’s in its proper place to receive. It allows for the descent of the intuitive mind, the higher mind. The higher mind doesn’t think, it knows.
So, imo, the silence of mind is the first step in spiritual practice. Daily meditation accelerates the conscious seeking. Persist my friend!
One more thing, I personally found it extremely helpful to keep a meditation / spiritual / magical journal. I record the details daily of my spiritual study and practice.
Thanks Agua. I needed to hear that. It's funny you should mention energy vampyrism...
I had this thought in my head that I can't quite remember while fear was rising and it had something to do with constantly needing others being the issue, and although the thought in my head formed in a way that made me freak out at scary prospects, somehow, tension released and I was afraid I had done something to somehow make things worse, even though that makes no sense. It was like I felt I had done something wrong because there was LESS fear in me?
What you say makes sense.
I wanted answers and prayed so I could understand what happened.
I think it was that a piece of me was confronting THIS ASPECT.
I think you're right.
I am being an energy vampyre!
No wonder my friend friend dumped me. It's okay, I've already come to terms with that by now, at least for the most part. Whatever she needs, she needs, and I love her enough to want the best for her. Just like if I were needing anything she needs in order to heal from MY issues, I would want all that for myself.
So yeah, I've been vampyring y'alls s***.
And I'm sorry for doing that.
Thanks for the reality check, the wisdom and the practical advice.
If I check myself into the Wellness Center (where there's a psychiatry wing, where they don't allow devices and where there's counselling) do you think that would help? OR do you think I would have just found another form of energy vampyrism to feed my ego with?
Thank you for your wonderful advice, Agua!
"you can openly ask for enerhy, love or whatever and people have a free choice of giving their energy when they want, plus it reaches the part in you that actually needs that energy.
open and conscious communication > no one being exploited > energy going exactly where it is needed for healing!
development steps:
become aware of your need
overcome shame
overcome being afraid of receiving no help
dare to expose yourself vulnerable
enjoy the energy people freely give to you Smile"
TBH I don't know how to do this...
I am afraid if I do, I will be... ignored? Cast out? Ridiculed? Abandoned? Hurt? Probably all of the above.
Last time I was open about this stuff, it lead to rejection on account of my "neediness" which lead to hurt which lead to ego driven acting out which lead to all of the above...
I felt/feel so ashamed of myself for it all.
I keep saying I forgive myself, but do I?
I don't like this aspect of myself. I see it as pathetic. Unworthy. After all, I was unworthy of the love I didn't get before on account of it. And I even was deemed fit for a horrible heart stabbing over it. And my friends? Their stance is "You were a whiny little b**** about it" so I don't trust my closest friends. I love them. But I don't feel I can truly open up to them. I don't feel I can look to them for the support/love/attention/whatever it is I seek.
I don't feel I can tell them this. I don't think they'll truly understand. They'll put up with my s*** and try to be compassionate, but knowing them, in the back of their minds they'll be thinking "What a whiny little b****" They just won't say anything. Not until they think I'm better and they're free to speak their true shitty feelings on the matter. Like they did last time. Maybe because they see it within themselves. And they're ashamed of the "whiny little b**** they see in themselves reflected back to them, so they disown it. And write it off.
Somebody else here said if I could turn my truth bombs on myself instead of on other people (which runs the risk of CRUSHING them) I could create a dynamo of love/
Maybe exposing myself like this is what my higher self meant when it said "sing" and maybe music WOULD be the socially appropriate way to do it...
And I could sing honestly about my vulnerabilities and just hope I get the encouragement and support I need.
I am honestly ashamed of this. Needing these things. Every time I try to imagine asking/appealing directly, old painful memories pop up...
But people have been so kind recently! I shouldn't let those old memories define my expectations in the present or the future! That's not being fair to myself! I know I can find a way to do this. I just need to take it easy and the answers will come to me.
You're right, a good psychologist should really help
Gotta have faith I'll get a good psychologist. And the meds I need.
I'm afraid... very afraid. And now I know that a big thing I'm afraid of is having to face being vulnerable and asking for just that stuff directly, knowing that people can be... well... judgmental and cruel about it. Ashamed of the need within themselves they see reflected back at them, raw and exposed. And I'm afraid to do it. I'm afraid to get hurt by the abuse of their fear. I fear their fear. I fear my own. Both the same fear. And fear of the fear. Fear of risk of being vulnerable. God, this is a negative planet... Guess that's what my healing canhelp heal, if I have the courage to heal myself first, huh?
"Love yourself first"
My arc words...
So how do I ask? WHO do I ask? Friends and family? Family has been pulling through for me actually. I suppose I can start there.
(10-07-2018, 07:15 PM)EvolvingPhoenix Wrote: [ -> ]So my mom is of the belief one needs to "empty one's mind" in order to properly meditate/be mindful.
Something tells me that ain't right, but I dunno exactly what to recommend she go for in it's place.
What I try to do is focus on nothing but my breathing, or to count my breaths and focus on nothing but the breaths and/or number count.
Still, I notice that I'm thinking at least to some level ABOUT focusing instead on the breaths/count.
and I dunno if that counts as being truly mindful.
What misconceptions may either of us possibly be having which may get in the way of successful meditation?
"Thoughts"
These are just waves of your mind. In pure zazen there should not be any waves in your mind. While you are sitting these waves will become smaller and smaller, and your effort will change into some subtle feeling.
We say, "Pulling out the weeds we give nourishment to the plant." We pull the weeds and bury them near the plant
to give it nourishment. So even though you have some difficulty in your practice, even though you have some waves
while you are sitting, those waves themselves will help you.
So you should not be bothered by your mind. You should rather be grateful for the weeds, because eventually they
will enrich your practice. If you have some experience of how the weeds in your mind change into mental nourishment,
your practice will make remarkable progress. You will feel the progress.
You will feel how they change into self-nourishment. Of course it is not so difficult to give some philosophical or psychological interpretation of our practice
but that is not enough. We must have the actual experience of how our weeds change into nourishment.
Strictly speaking, any effort we make is not good for our practice because it creates waves in our mind. It is impossible,
however, to attain absolute calmness of our mind without any effort. We must make some effort, but we must
forget ourselves in the effort we make.
In this realm there is no subjectivity or objectivity. Our mind is just calm, without even any awareness. In this unawareness, every effort
and every idea and thought will vanish. So it is necessary for us to encourage ourselves and to make an effort up to the
last moment, when all effort disappears.
You should keep your mind on your breathing until you are not aware of your breathing.
We should try to continue our effort forever, but we should not expect to reach some stage when we will forget
all about it. We should just try to keep our mind on our breathing. That is our actual practice. That effort will be
refined more and more while you are sitting. At first the effort you make is quite rough and impure, but by the power
of practice the effort will become purer and purer. When your effort becomes pure, your body and mind become pure
ZEN MIND, BEGINNER'S MIND
by SHUNRYU SUZUKI
(10-09-2018, 11:21 AM)zvonimir Wrote: [ -> ] (10-07-2018, 07:15 PM)EvolvingPhoenix Wrote: [ -> ]So my mom is of the belief one needs to "empty one's mind" in order to properly meditate/be mindful.
Something tells me that ain't right, but I dunno exactly what to recommend she go for in it's place.
What I try to do is focus on nothing but my breathing, or to count my breaths and focus on nothing but the breaths and/or number count.
Still, I notice that I'm thinking at least to some level ABOUT focusing instead on the breaths/count.
and I dunno if that counts as being truly mindful.
What misconceptions may either of us possibly be having which may get in the way of successful meditation?
"Thoughts"
These are just waves of your mind. In pure zazen there should not be any waves in your mind. While you are sitting these waves will become smaller and smaller, and your effort will change into some subtle feeling.
We say, "Pulling out the weeds we give nourishment to the plant." We pull the weeds and bury them near the plant
to give it nourishment. So even though you have some difficulty in your practice, even though you have some waves
while you are sitting, those waves themselves will help you.
So you should not be bothered by your mind. You should rather be grateful for the weeds, because eventually they
will enrich your practice. If you have some experience of how the weeds in your mind change into mental nourishment,
your practice will make remarkable progress. You will feel the progress.
You will feel how they change into self-nourishment. Of course it is not so difficult to give some philosophical or psychological interpretation of our practice
but that is not enough. We must have the actual experience of how our weeds change into nourishment.
Strictly speaking, any effort we make is not good for our practice because it creates waves in our mind. It is impossible,
however, to attain absolute calmness of our mind without any effort. We must make some effort, but we must
forget ourselves in the effort we make.
In this realm there is no subjectivity or objectivity. Our mind is just calm, without even any awareness. In this unawareness, every effort
and every idea and thought will vanish. So it is necessary for us to encourage ourselves and to make an effort up to the
last moment, when all effort disappears. You should keep your mind on your breathing until you are not aware of your breathing.
We should try to continue our effort forever, but we should not expect to reach some stage when we will forget
all about it. We should just try to keep our mind on our breathing. That is our actual practice. That effort will be
refined more and more while you are sitting. At first the effort you make is quite rough and impure, but by the power
of practice the effort will become purer and purer. When your effort becomes pure, your body and mind become pure
ZEN MIND, BEGINNER'S MIND
by SHUNRYU SUZUKI
Thanks, Svonimir. That was really helpful
What if we want to work on something in particular, such as loving others and loving self?
Is it better to have a clear mind during meditation, or to focus on loving?
That feeling of loving, so that we can welcome it in greater abundance.
(10-09-2018, 04:45 PM)IndigoGeminiWolf Wrote: [ -> ]What if we want to work on something in particular, such as loving others and loving self?
Is it better to have a clear mind during meditation, or to focus on loving?
That feeling of loving, so that we can welcome it in greater abundance.
Sometimes I contemplate during meditation. Personally, I would say loving others is a noble aspiration. Meditation can help us to see the blockages that we have in the open heart. Try making a statement of intention before you meditate, such as “I seek to open my heart ever more in compassion, understanding, and forgiveness to others.”
The intention will slip below the conscious level of mind and by meditation the subconscious mind is free to work on the production of catalyst or understanding. It’s like the Empress Tarot card. The mind is “ennobled” by the conscious potentiation of the Deep mind.
![[Image: arc-03.jpg]](https://letstalktarot.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/arc-03.jpg)
(10-10-2018, 08:47 AM)Nau7ik Wrote: [ -> ] (10-09-2018, 04:45 PM)IndigoGeminiWolf Wrote: [ -> ]What if we want to work on something in particular, such as loving others and loving self?
Is it better to have a clear mind during meditation, or to focus on loving?
That feeling of loving, so that we can welcome it in greater abundance.
Sometimes I contemplate during meditation. Personally, I would say loving others is a noble aspiration. Meditation can help us to see the blockages that we have in the open heart. Try making a statement of intention before you meditate, such as “I seek to open my heart ever more in compassion, understanding, and forgiveness to others.”
The intention will slip below the conscious level of mind and by meditation the subconscious mind is free to work on the production of catalyst or understanding. It’s like the Empress Tarot card. The mind is “ennobled” by the conscious potentiation of the Deep mind.
You know I have been working with Ra more recently, and am getting downloads and such.
I think they spoke through you when you said: Try making a statement of intention before you meditate, such as “I seek to open my heart ever more in compassion, understanding, and forgiveness to others.”
It's such a simple small thing. I think I'm getting better.
I wasn't even mad at the fly that crawled on my monitor and would land on me sometimes.
I read that card as: Into the eyes of knowing.
Clearing the mind is a means to meditation, and that clearing can be fairly characterized as what meditation feels like, as an activity that one performs in life. However, I feel that it is actually about decoupling the observing self from the mind of the observer, so that instead of using the mind as a perceptive tool for judgment and reasoning, one can perceive the mind and one's environment as it is, raw and unfiltered by the inertia of mentation. This way, one can gain insight into something that one has to date approached as a matter of habit or identity, such as how to respond to insults, or what your opinion on something is. It is the habitual nature of the mind, the way it shortcuts to conclusions based on conditioned responses and selective perception, that one is trying to get below when one meditates.
Because clearing the mind is what meditation entails as an activity, how one relates to it is a huge factor in what work it accomplishes. This gets into the area of discipline, where meditation as an ongoing practice becomes not simply about clearing the mind but rather what one gains from learning to clear the mind. It is in the practice of learning to release thoughts in meditation that one learns how to release thoughts and not become fixated in waking life, for example.
A "bad meditation" where you get distracted and drawn into other thoughts a lot is actually a good meditation, in the same way that straining when you lift weights is no indication of a bad workout. It is instead an opportunity to practice patience with yourself, a willingness to return to the clear mind over and over and over again, no matter how long it takes. Each return to stillness is a "rep" in the mental gym. Incidentally, as Pema Chödrön says, when we learn to never give up on ourselves, we learn how to never give up on others, and that seems to me to be one of the keys to being able to truly be there for others and forgive them. Discipline doesn't have to be harsh and unkind; it's just being willing to put the time in, however long it taks.
Another thing Chödrön says about meditation: "We don't sit in meditation to become better meditators. We sit in meditation so that we'll be more awake in our lives." Again, the point is not to have an affirming, effortless, calming meditation. The point is to train ourselves to have a different relationship with mentation and thinking so that how we act and think aligns more and more with the true desire of our hearts. It is learning about yourself as a new, uncharted, but nevertheless strangely familiar territory, one with surprises but nothing that is truly "other". For students of Confederation philosophy, it should be obvious that we can polarize more efficiently if we're paying better attention to our lives, allowing ourselves to react more mindfully and intentionally and less habitually.
She also helped me realize that meditation does not have to be conceived of as some closing off of the self from all outer stimuli. Of course it's convenient to practice in a place free from overt distractions. But it's actually really helpful to have distractions at a certain point, because they give you things to practice releasing and noticing your reactions to. In meditation you are opening yourself up to your entire environment, physical and mental, and what you're practicing is not ignoring stimuli or thoughts but releasing them, over and over and over again. Even if you have to interrupt your meditation, say to let the dog out, coming back and starting over and feeling your feelings fully without trying to think them is an excellent way to work with reality rather than against it. My point is that while some structure is helpful to getting started with meditation, over time you will have plenty of opportunities to use the structure not to protect yourself but instead to reach outside the structure to more fully open to the universe and study your reactions better.
I do consider contemplation and visualization as different kinds of disciplining of the mind that are separate from meditation as tasks. However, there's plenty of overlap: the mind is so incredibly vast and wild. If the point is to notice the mind without exercising it, so you understand the nature of the tool, it's meditation in my book. If the point is to use the tool of mind to do something, then it's not meditation. It's basically a passive vs active concept, although please understand that the attempt to focus on nothing definitely feels like something you're positively "doing" at first.
I would like to add that besides meditation and other techniques lifestyle is of great importance for cultivating inner peace and mindfulness. Old time ascetics already knew that simplifying one's life, environment, food, posessions, company etc. helps to quiet the mind.
Today we have a busy life, a lot of multitasking, stress, interactions, trash info, posessions, distractions ... All this causes scatterbrain.
Thanks to you all for the helpful info and advice.