Noting Meditation Insights

[StephenK]

I've had a few insights while doing noting meditation over the last few days.

First, when objects are seen, they are also felt. For instance, when I reach out to grab an apple 1 meter in front of me, there is an anticipatory sense of what the object feels like even before I touch it. What's weird is that this sense of what it feels like is 'at the apple', not at my hand. So in a weird sense, the the entire visual field is imbued with tactile 'anticipatory sensations'.

It also seems like thoughts arrive in three distinct stages: the desire to think a thought; the thought itself (sight, sound, feeling etc); and the mental impression of the thought (pleasant/unpleasant). These three experiences can play out in a matter of milliseconds.

I've also noticed a rapidity to awareness itself: it seems like 10 to 20 distinct sensations arrive within awareness every second. Thoughts can be broken down into individual pieces that follow one after another in rapid succession. Awareness is not so much 'smooth' than it is 'high-speed'.

Opinions? Am I misperceiving things? Any weird experiences/insights you've had while meditating?

[abrakamowse]

Nice insights. I was also noticing that there's two kind of movements in the body. I don't know how to call them.

I noticed that sometimes the thought arises and then there's an action of  the body. And other times it happens the other way around.

The action happens and then the thought arise and says "I am doing this action"...

It's like the thought sometimes appropriates the action and creates the idea of a "doer" 

Edited March 26, 2018 by abrakamowse

[Rilles]

I had the insights recently that there is nothing behind the eyes. Been contemplating that alot lately, its a mind-copulation!

[StephenK]

@abrakamowse Yes, that's what I experience as well. A cool thing to do is ask: "What is my next thought going to be?" You'll find that a thought will just arrive out of nowhere, but as soon as it is seen, another thought arrives that says, "I thought that thought". A thought claiming it thought a thought that it didn't itself think... 

@Rilles Yeah, that's trippy. 

[abrakamowse]

Awesome, those insights are really good. How do you perceive an insight?

Normally I feel a sudden knowing of something, with no thoughts at the moment of the insight. Then thoughts appear and begin with doubts, fears, and more... 

:-P

[StephenK]

@abrakamowse Yes, insights feel as if they're changing the very operating system of your mind. It feels very sudden and pronounced. After that, thought arrives and tries to encapsulate what happened. Then comes the resistance to the insight, which can be a rather unpleasant.

[Forestluv]

“Insights” can be exciting and alluring when they surface. Then they disappear into the trash heap of thoughts.

[abrakamowse]

13 minutes ago, StephenK said:

@abrakamowse Yes, insights feel as if they're changing the very operating system of your mind. It feels very sudden and pronounced. After that, thought arrives and tries to encapsulate what happened. Then comes the resistance to the insight, which can be a rather unpleasant.

Yeah, it sucks. It is difficult to separate the thinker from the thought.

[StephenK]

@Serotoninluv That ain't my direct experience though. Some of my insights have permanently altered my perception of reality. Other insights, as you said, end up on the trash-heap.

@abrakamowse Ego is like the god damn Borg

[abrakamowse]

Lmao!

[Forestluv]

10 minutes ago, StephenK said:

@Serotoninluv That ain't my direct experience though. Some of my insights have permanently altered my perception of reality. Other insights, as you said, end up on the trash-heap.

@abrakamowse

Was the insightful thought constantly present in every momement from it’s first appearance? Or does it surface, disappear and resurface? Has the insight conditioned your character like the myriad of other condititioning you have been exposed to?

You can incorporate any thought or “insight” into The Story of the character. Part of life is The Story. Yet, that insightful thought has no more relevance than a thought about clipping my fingernails. Both are equally IS.

[StephenK]

@Serotoninluv I'm not making any existential claims about reality here, nor am I interested in doing so and getting lost in words. I'm just stating what I directly perceive as a result of meditation.