---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <s3raphita@...> wrote :
I recall back in the day having a one-on-one discussion with the local TM teacher for Newcastle upon Tyne (he was a Yank and an excellent and committed teacher) when he suddenly leaned forward and said to me quietly: "Have you ever transcended?". It was an embarrassing moment. It felt such an intimate question, as though he'd asked me if I was still a virgin. I think that those who had transcended rather preened themselves and looked down on those who hadn't yet crossed the threshold. (Funnily enough, I myself had moments of "boundlessness" during the waking state before I ever had such an experience during a TM session itself. Is that a rarity?) Not with me. And other people I know have described similar events when I was explaining TM to them, usually when they were just sitting around and there was nothing on TV they'd get that sinking and rising feeling sense of inner depth. Unmistakeable. I've also come across some interesting cases of spontaneous spiritual experiences in literature, including one from the Victorian era which was likely not to have been influenced by such memes in modern culture. It seems it's a part of the range of human experience, how common or rare it is I cannot say but I did fill out a questionaire once about it but can't remember who it was for or if it ever got published, but they were after confirming Maslow's theory of peak experience and human fulfillment. How idea is that self-realised people display certain characteristics and one of them is periods or intense inner satisfaction and calm. They also appear highly well adjusted and independent minded. The TMO claims they are creating this experience in people just by virtue of them doing TM. My experience both personally and by observing others leads me to conclude that there may be a bit more to it than that. Anyway I wanted to sound people out about what they understand by "transcending" during meditation. Considering that our common practice is called Transcendental Meditation, and so we're talking about a fundamental part of the theory, it's amazing how different are people's understanding of this basic event. Some people understand that "transcending" means: 1) simply the on-going stream of thoughts, images and mantra repetition during a meditation period. There's something to be said for this view. It's just that the "moments" of transcending are brief and not conscious, but probably just as effective for all that. The point of TM is not to have esoteric experiences but to refine the nervous system so you are more effective during your daily life. 2) when you end your session and the time seems to have flown by and you remember after the event that there were jumps in awareness between the clusters of thoughts. They could be "sleep events" but your head hadn't dropped forward as usually happens during sleep and there is no post-meditation feeling of grogginess. 3) that sense of suddenly dropping down a steep slope - rather like the jerk that sends shivers down your spine when you're falling asleep at night but suddenly experience a jolt that awakens you. 4) What I think of as "warm sensations" in the mind - it's as if you've suddenly jumped from one cluster of brain cells to another group. This one's hard to explain but I know what I mean! 5) a period of complete cessation of all thinking or image-producing tendencies of the mind. The emptiness and boundlessness is paradoxically at the same time a sense of fullness. No thinker = no thoughts, so you can't be self-consciously aware during transcending. No doubt there are other alternatives to those listed (let me know if there are) but I think No 5 is closest to what MMY had in mind. And that is no doubt also what my teacher had in mind many moons ago. Any thoughts? When I learned the TMSP or "siddhis" we were asked whether we were we were transcending and what it was like. I assumed that it was when I really broke on through and had the intense kind of "unity" experiences that people get orgasmic about in the dome diaries. But the Siddhi instructor said it was simply when the mind isn't focussed on any one thing. Slipping out of gear as it were. This was both a relief and a disappointment because I had thought I wasn't going to be able to do the TMSP unless I was in that state and a disappointment because I thought the idea of the programme was to make me like that all the time. Which would be seriously cool except that I would be unable to function in any sort of normal career or relationship. But I've always been a terminal "head" and that was a sacrifice I was prepared to take! Or are you still a virgin?
