--- In [email protected], "at_man_and_brahman"
<at_man_and_brahman@...> wrote:
>
>
>
> --- In [email protected], "authfriend" <jstein@> wrote:
> >
> > --- In [email protected], maskedzebra <no_reply@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Because in reading Catholic philosopherslike AquinasI find
> > > myself intuiting the cosmos as they experienced itI sort of
> > > read this off of their writing.
> >
> > MZ, I have a question for you.
> >
> > Xeno called attention to the fact that Aquinas late in life
> > had some kind of experience that "silenced" him and led him
> > to declare, "All that I have written seems like straw to me."
> >
> > I'm wondering what you think happened to him. (If you've
> > already commented on this, forgive me; I did a quick search
> > but couldn't find anything.)
> >
> > And I have a hypothetical: Let's say you cut your spiritual
> > teeth on the writings of Aquinas and thorughly internalized
> > his views. You never encountered MMY, knew nothing about him
> > or TM or the Eastern idea of enlightenment.
> >
> > One day in 1976, out of the blue, with no warning, you had
> > the same experience you had on the mountain with MMY that
> > you now refer to as "slipping into Unity Consciousness,"
> > except that you had no preparation whatsoever and no context
> > (and let's say it didn't last very long, a few hours or days).
> >
> > How would that have affected your take on Aquinas's writings?
> > How long would it have taken you to decide that the experience
> > wasn't "real" but Aquinas was?
>
> Excellent question, Judy. My Catholic girlfriend posed exactly the same
> question over the weekend when I was trying to explain the whole RC thing and
> his detailed reply to my question. I'm not expert on Aquinas, but his
> epiphany what have been similar to that of Malcolm X at Mecca, when he had
> his own vision of a unity of sorts.
> >
>
It appears that Aquinas experienced a higher form of samadhi which is a result
of his meditations both in silence and in his writings. IMO, his experience
was a culmination of all his intellectual work and meditations. In vedic
terms, he was practicing gyani yoga, which emphasizes the intellect and inquiry
in the human mind.
