no. meditation is more of a detachment of the self from reality, a looking deeper into your unconciousness. whats being described here is a detatchment of the sense of self from your conciousness. having done both, its VASTLY different. /the second was described to me by a friend who worked on teh same mental exercises that led to it as me as being VERY similar to heroin. yet another reason i dont do drugs.
On 5/28/05, William Beaty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Thu, 26 May 2005, Stephen A. Lawrence wrote: > > > Having experienced dissociated/detached states involuntarily on a > > handful of occasions some years back, I find it hard to conceive of > > anyone intentionally attempting to get into such a state -- > > As I understand, it's the goal of meditation. > > > it wasn't something I wanted to repeat. Whoever was "at the wheel" at > > that time never said or did anything unexpected but I always had the > > feeling that he might. > > That's a big issue. We've all been taught to distrust the "huge silent > thing" we all have inside. > > Various strains of eastern religion have an answer to the question "what > is consciousness?" Answer: consciousness is a meme, a symbiote, a sort of > "rider" which increasingly dominates our minds as children, until > eventually it takes over entirely and we mistake it for our true selves, > as if we give up on the real world and instead live in an illusory one, as > if we mistake the parasite for the host. > > Remember the words commonly used by meditation practitioners: their > methods involve striving for mental states where "the mind is silent." Or > where "the illusory world falls away." In martial arts training you're > apparently supposed to act directly without having first to think... where > it wasn't "you" who blocked a kick or analyzed an opponent and designed an > entire complicated response, it was "the driver." > > But all this is another way of saying that Zen practitioners, etc., want > to "murder their conscious selves" and be permanently transformed into a > pure and raw unconsiousness which can deal with the world directly without > having to think first. Yet anyone who succeeds will seem like some sort > of Moonie, like an empty-eyed cult member. > > > > The tricky part, of course, is getting back out of such a state! > > Eh, I dunno. Our normal conscious selves fight fiercely for existence. > > Turning off your "self" is sort of like going on a fast, or like holding > your breath: with practice you can do it for much longer than everyone > else, but the practice also teaches you to switch back and forth. Yet > there is a sort of danger, because you'd tend to increasingly see your > "self" as an interloper; as a mask to be worn only in public for the > benefit of others. > > On the other hand, if "self-death" happened spontaneously without warning, > it would be terrifying. I bet that all the highly sought mental skills in > martial arts, and Zen, and Yogis in India, can happen to us effortlessly > and unexpectedly, but in that case we call them "insanity." > > > > (((((((((((((((((( ( ( ( ( (O) ) ) ) ) ))))))))))))))))))) > William J. Beaty SCIENCE HOBBYIST website > billb at amasci com http://amasci.com > EE/programmer/sci-exhibits amateur science, hobby projects, sci fair > Seattle, WA 206-789-0775 unusual phenomena, tesla coils, weird sci > > -- "Monsieur l'abb�, I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write" Voltaire
