cetus

@username I was listening to an Om video w/headphones/ eyes closed and placed awareness on the emptiness between thoughts. I think the direct focus on emptiness between the thoughts did it. That was something added to the practice just today so it's to early to really tell yet. And I could do the same practice 100 times and it may not happen again. It really is a hit or miss thing like the universe suddenly opens up to you. These precious opportunities only present themselves every so often so don't go thinking you can control it. Your chance to move beyond yourself will come. No doubt about it. Be ready to let go when it does!

@John Flores You are 100% correct. I was just reminded of this in meditation in a huge way. A porthole of sorts to the infinite opened up within awareness and I totally choked. It was absolute nothingness. It looked like darkness within darkness from my ego's perspective. Man was that empty! The mind totally refuses to accept that level of emptiness. And I just got a glimpse from the outside and that shocked me instantly back into myself and it was gone in the blink of an eye. I see one thing clearly now. Anybody who can willingly let go of the ego and voluntarily step over that threshold to face that level of emptiness that awaits deserves to be called enlightened. People could read and study enlightenment and learn all there is to know about it and talk about it all they want, but when it really comes down to getting there it's all about faith in something way bigger than you. Only total surrender of self and nothing else will help you than. In the face of that your totally on your own. Either you surrender everything that is you or the journey ends right there and you remain as you are. So bottom line, when infinity presented itself, I totally choked by holding on to myself in the face of becoming nothing, and therefore everything. I guess I wasn't ready for that!

@username Maybe this is actually your brightest moments.

@Leo Gura You may have just described Absolute Truth to a T. There is none. No right, no wrong, no this, no that. The perfection of absolute emptiness makes the search for any truth seem like being lost in a self imposed wilderness. @username You see, this so called search for truth is named that for a very good reason. It gives the ego something to do until enlightenment happens. Can you find bliss in maybe never knowing what is Absolute Truth? That there may be none outside of mind? Not so easy is it.

Posted November 2, 2016 · Report post On ‎11‎/‎1‎/‎2016 at 9:58 PM, During meditation some regions of the brain become less active and others more active. Here is a snapshot of some of the research found thus far. What you refer to here seems due to a decrease in the Default Mode Network (DMN) which corresponds to a decrease in activity of the Amygdala., Could it be that meditation quiets the amygdule's activity? Or that maybe 5meO-DMT shuts it down completely? This really does deserve more research into what changes in brain function are occurring. Not too long ago, most of us thought that the brain we’re born with is static—that after a certain age, the neural circuitry cards we’re dealt are the only ones we can play long-term. Fast-forward a decade or two, and we’re beginning to see the opposite: the brain is designed to adapt constantly. World-renowned neuroscientist Richie Davidson at the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, along with this colleagues, want us to know three things: 1) you can train your brain to change, 2) that the change is measurable, and 3) new ways of thinking can change it for the better. We can intentionally shape the direction of plasticity changes in our brain. By focusing on wholesome thoughts, for example, and directing our intentions in those ways, we can potentially influence the plasticity of our brains and shape them in ways that can be beneficial. That leads us to the inevitable conclusion that qualities like warm-heartedness and well-being should best be regarded as skills. Davidson adds that research on neuroplasticity gives neuroscientists a framework for tracking meditation research. And CIHM is beginning to see that “even short amounts of practice,” like 30 minutes of meditation per day, “can induce measurable changes in the brain” that can be tracked on a brain scanner. Based on recent research, I’ve chosen to share four ways your brain may change when you practice mindfulness: Increased Grey Matter/Cortical Thickness in the following key areas: • Anterior Cingulate Cortex: Increased grey matter changes were noted in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), which is a structure located behind the brain’s frontal lobe. It has been associated with such functions as self-regulatory processes, including the ability to monitor attention conflicts, and allow for more cognitive flexibility. • Prefrontal Cortex: Increased grey matter density was also found in areas of the prefrontal lobe, which are primarily responsible for executive functioning such as planning, problem solving, and emotion regulation. • Hippocampus: Increased cortical thickness in the hippocampus has also been noted. The hippocampus is the part of the limbic system that governs learning and memory, and is extraordinarily susceptible to stress and stress-related disorders like depression or PTSD. Decreased Amygdala Size: Studies have shown that the amygdala, known as our brain’s “fight or flight” center and the seat of our fearful and anxious emotions, decreases in brain cell volume after mindfulness practice. Diminished or enhanced functionality in certain networks/connections: Not only does the amygdala shrink post mindfulness practice, but the functional connections between the amygdala and the pre-frontal cortex are weakened. This allows for less reactivity, and also paves the way for connections between areas associated with higher order brain functions to be strengthened (i.e. attention, concentration, etc.). Reduced activity in the Brain’s “Me” Center: Mindfulness practice has been implicated in the decreased activation and the stilling of our Default Mode Network (DMN), which is also sometimes referred to as our wandering “Monkey Minds.” The DMN is active when our minds are directionless as it goes from thought to thought, a response that is sometimes likened to rumination and not always adaptive with regards to overall happiness. The impact that mindfulness exerts on our brain is borne from routine: a slow, steady, and consistent reckoning of our realities, and the ability to take a step back, become more aware, more accepting, less judgmental, and less reactive. Just as playing the piano over and over again over time strengthens and supports brain networks involved with playing music, mindfulness over time can make the brain, and thus, us, more efficient regulators, with a penchant for pausing to respond to our worlds instead of mindlessly reacting. This post was originally published on mindful.org in August 2015. TOPICS: mindfulness research | Richie Davidson

@Flicker_boy Is Nirvana infinity? Or did you experience something altogether different?

Maybe because the mind is a product of this universe/dimension and so it's all tuned to work as one. Just a thought.

@Flicker_boy How? Pure surrender or did you have a little help?

@Azrael If this is happening and time is no factor, it would be happening simultaneously. Maybe this is where parallel universes become a possibility. You exist in infinite dimensions at once but are only aware of this one from this perspective. Who knows, maybe when we break through the illusion that we are existing in only one dimension to realize that we do exist in many dimensions is when we truly become whole. I may be dreaming too.

@WaveInTheOcean Absolutely. They are a totally different class. What I meant was his mind is addicted to stimuli in the same way as an addictive drug like cocaine, heroin, meth, ect.

I don't know if you watched the video or not, but it's the mind that is going crazy without it's usual "fix" if stimuli. He's going through withdraw symptoms not much different than a drug addict would experience.

@Callum A Truth is simple. People are complicated.

Yes.. It's known as The Devine Wind.

@Morten The mind never likes to sit still for long. That is perfectly natural. Here is a vid I just found on the subject that I thought was interesting. on the subject. I thought it was interesting.

@Dodoster We're all performing a death defying act.

There's something even stronger than 5meo that really sheds the ego. It's a little known substance called Anti-Matter. 1.85457 microns up each nostril and there is no head to unzipper.

Swimming trough life? No, freefalling through life.. Terror? You have no chute!

@Dodoster Did you ever consider skydiving ? I hear the fist time you jump is terror that turns to bliss.

This may be exactly what the "rational world" is.

@alifesurreal This universe/reality may turn out to be just one big thought process and nothing more.

@alifesurreal You may be missing something. That something is the direct experience of what is outside of reality. From that point of view reality collapses into an illusion. Physical reality is still reality as far as the mind and body are concerned, but it becomes an inferior reality by comparison. Think of it this way, what is infinite and changeless far overshadows what is finite and forever changing. Reality than takes on kind of a cheep plastic, flimsy feeling by comparison.

@Dodoster How do you know there wasn't a more important part and you just don't remember it?

@Just Do Nothing A lot of this work is about facing down that exact feeling of instability. After a while, it's like, Who is there to be unstable? The answer usually comes up the same, The illusion of the egoic self. And I think that cannabis does do a fine job of isolating the egoic self for closer inspection. You know the THC in cannabis is the plants natural defense system from it's predators. If an animal ingests the cannabis plant, it becomes more self aware and that induces a feeling of paranoia b-c it feels more vulnerable within it's surroundings. And in doing so avoids eating that plant again at all costs.

@Callum A Not really much to really talk about. It was more of just an experience of infinity. Pushing the door open for a small glimpse would best describe it. It's funny though how once that door to infinity is opened, even if just a little, that it never really closes again. And every bit of practice after becomes more of the pushing that door a little farther open. I guess the difference with 5meo would be the door swings wide open and your instantly thrusted into infinity.

@Callum A Yea, It seems that when the mind shuts up all that remains is the stillness. And who knows what could emerge out of the stillness.