What I’ve Learned From 4 Months Of Daily Meditation

[Rilles]

What I’ve learned from 4 months of meditation

 

This is by no means an exhaustive list - i just wanted to share some things from memory

 

This is NOT theory - all of these are based on DIRECT experience

 

 

 

•I cant sit down for more than 30 minutes without getting agitated

 

•There is no mind - its a concept - there are thoughts and images appearing behind the eyelids

 

•Unless I practice meditation on a daily basis - I spend 95% of my waking hours in my thoughts and fantasies and not in the present moment

 

•The body effects the thoughts - the thoughts effects the body

 

•Emotions are sensations in the body NOTHING MORE - when you are angry (or any other emotion) youre simply reacting to a sensation - this can be helpful to overcome neurotic fears

 

•Thought is not physical - if we live in a ”physical” world then what are thoughts made of

 

•The mind is like a merry-go-round that has malfunctioned and is always in motion - unless you get a mechanic (meditation) to slow it down and let the passengers get off then you will always be spinning in circles in fantasyland

 

•Awareness can only focus on one thing at a time - when we meditate we focus our awareness away from thoughts where most identification happens - breath, body, awareness, mantra

Dont try to stop thought - avert your attention AWAY from thought

 

•There is noone behind the eyelids

 

•There is nothing behind ”you”

 

•There is a gigantic difference between thoughts and awareness but it takes a millisecond to become aware

 

•The present moment has a calming effect - (sounds obvious but its hugely important)

 

•Without thought there is no problem

 

•The inner voice makes you agitated - the sounds if the outer world can ground you - use your five senses to calm yourself

 

 

Just off the top of my head - these insights will probably morph in the future as i go deeper

[Nahm]

@Rilles Excellent man! 

[Dodo]

Beautiful!  The only thing I have trouble with is the bit where without thought there is no problem.

While that is correct, in my experience i can feel amazing at this moment, but I still have crazy big financial and other types of problems/challenges that wouldn't fix themselves simply by me being and/or wishing then away. I have to think and think hard how to fix those... 

Yeah I could sit like a happy vegetable, but this would increase my financial bothers and at one point I will have to be in survival mode on the streets. 

Every time I touch the thoughts about my issues, I get a little panic and twitch in my body because of the bad decisions I've taken. Those decisions could have benedited from thought, but I prefer to let the wind blow me wherever it wants in the hopes of enlightenment... 

 

An analogy that I can use to describe my situation us that I'm in a pressure cooker and for now the water is warm and nice, but I know it will become hotter and hotter, then boiling hot. 

I can either start thinking of an escape from the cooker or I can enjoy myself and just be there, ready to boil.

It's not always black and white

Edited June 2, 2018 by Dodo

[Ananta]

@Rilles  nice! 

 

4 hours ago, Rilles said:

Thought is not physical - if we live in a ”physical” world then what are thoughts made of

Imo, they are very subtle objects.

 

4 hours ago, Rilles said:

The mind is like a merry-go-round that has malfunctioned and is always in motion - unless you get a mechanic (meditation) to slow it down and let the passengers get off then you will always be spinning in circles in fantasyland

Yep! Waking mindfulness works the same way. Meaning, no need for sitting meditation, if that's not ur thing. 

4 hours ago, Rilles said:

Dont try to stop thought - avert your attention AWAY from thought

Right, you can't stop it permanently anyways, because it's not you that is that thinker of the thoughts to begin with.

4 hours ago, Rilles said:

There is nothing behind ”you”

What are you referring to here? 

 

 

 

[Ether]

@Dodo You can think about your problems to find a way to fix them but you dont need to overthink and ruin your nervous system by always dwelling on them.

[Dodo]

23 minutes ago, Ether said:

@Dodo You can think about your problems to find a way to fix them but you dont need to overthink and ruin your nervous system by always dwelling on them.

Yeah, a healthy mix between being and thinking has to be established.

Just some go way overboard against thinking. This is usually done by spiritual teachers because of the thought dominance in society, but becoming a vegetable is not that much better than becoming an egoic asshole. 

In fact you can only afford to be a vegetable if there are egos protecting you in that state.

[Ether]

@Dodo I think spiritual teachers are against psychological thoughts (Im a loser, failure, this is bad\good), not functional thoughts (how do i do this?).

[Ananta]

5 minutes ago, Ether said:

I think spiritual teachers are against psychological thoughts (Im a loser, failure, this is bad\good), not functional thoughts (how do i do this?).

Exactly!

[Rilles]

@Dodo Problems are fully conceptual, you might still suffer from them, im not gonna say i dont, but its good to know what they really are. Its also good to be aware of what problems you create and what actually isnt that big of a deal.

@Anna1 What does subtle mean in this case?

Well, we like to think the world is always there nomatter where we are facing, but if you look closely there is nothing really behind you, it appears as you turn to face it. Minor insight hehe

@Ether There is no such things as a loser or a failure.  Or a winner or a success either.

[Ananta]

49 minutes ago, Rilles said:

What does subtle mean in this case?

Thoughts, feelings, emotions, sensations, etc are subtle matter (or energy), therefore part of the phenomenal world.

[Rilles]

@Anna1 Alright I will investigate further into that! Thanks