How to distinguish between ego trick / genuine insight?

[SoonHei]

If during meditation

I am contemplating some issues or just in general

 

And I get a radically different thought or idea about something

 

How do I know whether it's the ego playing a trick on me to pursue something else which will strengthen it vs if it's a genuine deep insight which will bring me closer to the truth / grow as a person / lose a layer of ego.

[fabriciom]

Watch the body.

The body is the true reflection of how the mind is thinking.

[molosku]

Replying before leo does: 

Contemplate it! 

Edited September 14, 2018 by molosku

[abrakamowse]

1 hour ago, fabriciom said:

Watch the body.

The body is the true reflection of how the mind is thinking.

And how do you know what the body is saying?

[Forestluv]

@SoonHei For me, the difference is whether I continue to struggle with it or not.

[fabriciom]

46 minutes ago, abrakamowse said:

And how do you know what the body is saying?

In my case there have been many times during meditation where I would seem very calmed, clear headed and sure of something I had discover yet I would change the focus to the body and I would notice my heart pounding fast, heavy breathing and there was pain in my heart.

This is how I discovered how the brain does not give me access to all thoughts. 

With meditation the thoughts would surface eventually but its hard to find something when you don't know what you are looking for.

Edited September 14, 2018 by fabriciom

[abrakamowse]

22 minutes ago, fabriciom said:

This is how I discovered how the brain does not give me access to all thoughts. 

Oh, I got you know. It happened to me. There's like a dissociation between the mind and the body. In my experience I think that this is just things consciousness picked up and we are not aware of it, so we react but we don't have idea why.

 

Quote

With meditation the thoughts would surface eventually but its hard to find something when you don't know what you are looking for.

I think the problem is thought, there's nothing to find and nothing is hidden. Thoughts resurface, but they can't grasp what reality is, so they keep in seeker mode, and if we are identified with thoughts, we also think we are the seeker. When there's nothing to be found.

[Joseph Maynor]

HOW TO DO ENLIGHTENMENT WORK

Self-observation and keen-mindfulness are the way to do it.  Always be asking yourself, ‘what is literally here vs. what do I take to be real?’  You’ll start to see the discrepancy between those and thus the illusion of Thought and Experience will start to unravel like an ingenious magic trick — but an illusion nonetheless.  Always ask yourself this: ‘What is real?’  Not what is reality, that’s too abstract.  But ask rather, ‘what is real right here right now in this moment?’  And then look, don’t rely on Thought to tell you.  You gotta have a very literal observation.  Thought fills in a lot of gaps in that literal observation.  Thought is what creates ‘out there’ when all there is is ‘in here’.

Edited September 14, 2018 by Joseph Maynor

[Nahm]

@SoonHei

Contemplation is a generally a type of meditation,, and the difference answers your question.

https://sites.google.com/site/psychospiritualtools/Home/meditation-practices

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PineU9ZZvSc

 

[Leo Gura]

You can't. Therein lies the whole puzzle of life.

You don't know what you don't know.

Which is why it's so important to stay openminded and humble. And to seek out alternative perspectives.

You could always be wrong.

Yesterday's insight is tomorrow's delusion.

A genuine commitment to truth at all costs is also very important. Just through radical self-honesty you can cut through 99% of fantasies and illusions. Most people do not set the intention to be self-honest.

[SoonHei]

@Leo Gura

9 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Yesterday's insight is tomorrow's delusion.

Thank you.

 

Open mindedness and desire for truth deep down, locked in.

 

 

@Nahm thank you, that pin pointed link of the video helped 

[Nahm]

@SoonHei ?  Meditation - let thought go. Contemplation, hold an inquiry in mind. The ‘product’, is your developed ability for distinctions like ego tricks vs insights. Like flexing a muscle and relaxing a muscle are necessary to strengthen. You’ll see a whole, new, ordinary. The differences & connections between surface level thinking, reactions, ego, rationality, logic...and their ‘deeper’ currents of intuition, love, wisdom, sensations, is clearer.

“The mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master.”