Interesting book, but he misquotes teh TM research on TC and claims that they only show TC for 15 seconds max, when in fact, the reserach says 15 to 60 seconds max. His discussion then becomes bogus since 60 seconds, occurring for more than 50% of a meditation period, is not a "fleeting instant."
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj <vajradh...@...> wrote: > > > On Feb 11, 2009, at 1:07 PM, ruthsimplicity wrote: > > > I am not talking about an affectation. I am not talking about > > imitating. I am talking about who you are and who you can be. You can > > cultivate detachment without meditating, it has value and it is not > > mere moodmaking. It is you. It is about acting in accord with your > > values. Self actualized. Mediation not necessarily required. > > > From _Zen and the Brain_ by James Austin, MD > (from, Chapter 29 Inkblots, Blind Spots, and High Spots) > > High Spots > > We take up again the kind of episode that many persons enter for a > fleeting instant: > an experience which confers at least the surface layer of such a > major insight > into reality. After this, relatively few go on to fully actualize > this moment of > insight-wisdom. Actualizing means putting one�s insight-wisdom > consistently into > practice in everyday life. Maslow interviewed several dozen well- > known �self-actualizing� > people, conducting what he called a �Pre-scientific, freewheeling > reconnaissance.� > 22 He wondered: were those actualizers who did have peak and/or > plateau experiences any different from the others? > > They were. He called them �transcenders.� How did transcenders view > their > earlier peak experiences? As the precious �high spots� of life. As > the moments > which had transformed the way they subsequently looked at the world > and themselves. > Only on occasion did some transcenders later go on to manifest their > brand-new perspective. But the others did so in an ongoing manner �as > a usual > thing.� In either instance, the subjects appeared to be living at > what Maslow > would call the �level of Being.� This phrase meant that they were > directing their > life toward intrinsic values, toward ends, not means. > > His nontranscending self-actualizers were different. They inhabited a > hardnosed, > competitive world. It was the all-too-familiar one in which each of > us asks, > of other people and of things: do they have what I need? Existence at > this level > means quickly using up the useful, discarding the useless. > > In sharp contrast, the real transcenders appreciated the sacred in > the secular. > Nevertheless, they still kept their firm practical grip on reality. > Maslow believed > this latter pragmatic quality was like a traditional Zen attitude. It > was the perspective > that fully accepted all things as �nothing special.� Transcenders > also used the > language of �Being� in a natural way. They would quickly recognize > one another, > communicating readily on first meeting. They responded more to > beauty; to holistic, > cosmic viewpoints; moved more readily beyond self; were more innovative. > The more they knew, the more awed and humbled they were by the > increasing > mystery of the universe. Being more objective about their own > talents, they regarded > themselves as instruments. Still aware of evil, they remained objective > about it, striking out swiftly to stop it, and with less ambivalence. > These transcenders > tended to regard everyone as fellow members of the same sacred human > family. It was an attitude that helped them interact more effectively > with other > people who did not perform well. It enabled them to punish > transgressors for the > sake of the greater good, yet still treat fools kindly. > > But Maslow�s transcenders had their downside as well. They were not as > happy as his other, healthy self-actualizers. They seemed prone to a > kind of �cosmic- > sadness.� This arose out of �the stupidity of people, their self- > defeat, their > blindness, their cruelty to each other, their short sightedness.� So > his transcenders > had not yet become 100 percent emancipated. They were still troubled > by that > large gap between the ideal and the actual�by that gulf between what > �should� > be or �ought� to be possible and the sad conditions which do in fact > exist in the > real world. Long ago, Siddhartha had started out on his own quest, > having been > greatly troubled by that same gap, and he would not become fully > emancipated > from it until he was thirty-five years old. > > Soon we will examine where such �shoulds� and �oughts� come from. In > the process, we will observe how Zen training keeps addressing this > very gap, > itself the source of so many of our downside attitudes. Then we will > discover why > such strongly prejudiced opinions take us so many decades to > reconcile. And to > go beyond. >
