On Dec 9, 2011, at 10:29 AM, sparaig wrote:
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj <vajradhatu@...> wrote:
>
>
> On Dec 5, 2011, at 8:04 AM, seventhray1 wrote:
>
> > Oh, good. I'll just have to revise my experience so it conforms
> > with your analysis.
>
> Actually we've all already been pre-programmed to believe in the
> stress release, "unstressing", model is factually correct. Each time
> we "transcend" we're chipping away at those stresses in our nervous
> system. So I believe most of us who were indoctrinated into TM would
> chose as you did.
Actually, the current theory of how TM works is that it sets up a
situation in the thalamus that inhibits the thalamo-coritical
feedback loops that scientists believe are what we experience as
"thoughts." This allows the brain to relax into a default mode of
functioning where it is still alert, but literally not thinking
about much of anything. The stronger the inhibition, the less
thinking tha is done. Coincidentally, the default mode of
functioning that results is where the front part of the brain and
the back part of the brain are most easily able to communicate with
each other. This is the exact opposite of stress, which tends to
interfere with the communication between the front and back parts
of the brain.
The only problem with such theories is Lawson that TM is really only
an elementary practice of mantra meditation. From the POV of the
actual mantra tradition, the subtlest level of mantra in TM - the
point where one still has some abstract feeling of the mantra before
reaching what TMers believe is "the transcendent" - is 512 times more
gross than the subtlest level of mantra reached before the mind is
actually transcended - what is known as the unmana stage. In order to
even access those levels of subtlety one needs to complete the
piercing of the bindu (bindu-bhedana) and master further levels of
practice. This level of subtlety simply does not exist in TM.
So theories that are in effect based on iterations of the grossest
levels of mind are not really, ultimately, of much value except to
the indoctrinated TM crowd, and those they can still fool. As I've
said many times, you need to transcend the transcendent (what's
believed to be "transcendent" in TM) to even begin to approach the
actual full transcendence of mind.
Once that level is attained, then some interesting research could be
done. However since the 'canon of awakening in TM' was effectively
frozen with the death of MMY, that point will never be reached. It's
also therefore a fact that all TM research can only ever be of minor
interest to serious consciousness researchers.
