Iain,
Howdy. OK, I understand you're not from down-under. I saw Tasmania mentioned
on the fellow's website and guessed that you might be a neighbor of his.
Scotland is a good distance away! A tree-ring scientist friend of mine is from
Scotland, and works here at the Tree Ring Lab where they study ancient climates
by studying tree rings. He's a Zen practitioner, too, and active at the zendo
where I was associated for 25 years, also. He had also done some of his
academic work in N. Ireland, and has told me many scary stories of his days
there during the troubles.
Your experience shows that something is going right for you vis-a-vis practice.
If you are interested and able, it would be a fine thing to visit a Zen
teacher and talk about it, and see if perhaps Zen practice might suit you,
after an introduction. Even if it does not suit, the Zen teacher may be able
to tell you about other practices in other traditions which could be helpful.
Most of these teachers have very wide experience from the days of their own
seeking, or have become very ecumenical and knowledgeable about other ways,
because there is something of fundamental humanity -- our true nature -- in all
of them. So, don't hesitate to visit a Zen center, or just set up an
appointment to meet the teacher and chat. They serve good tea!
w/ Friendly Greetings,
--Joe / Arizona
> "iain" wrote:
>
> I've never set foot in Tasmania Joe, I live in Scotland so I sadly don't know
> your friends that you mention. You sound like you have an interesting
> background though.
>
> I have half a high school education plus whatever I've read myself since
> leaving school back in the late 80's and that's about as academic as I get.
>
> Just to reiterate, I'm not the author of the words on the webpage I linked to
> but I do know the author was, amongst other things, a member of the team that
> designed the first pacemaker. His chosen field of expertise was electronics.
>
> I mentioned the diamond because that diamond found me several months ago
> quite spontaneously. I entered a state I believe is known in some circles as
> yoga nidra, my heart beat would stop beating or at least slow down to a few
> beats per minute. I was fully conscious and moving around while this was
> happening.
>
> Now there are those who can enter this state at will but I can't and as your
> fond of saying Joe we must practice. It's all very well falling into such a
> deep meditative state spontaneously but to master it, some sort of practice
> may be necessary for me. I'm not practicing zen nor have I ever practiced
> zen, well not formally anyway.
>
> I suppose I mentioned the diamond to see what others experiences and
> knowledge were in relation to the diamond. I'm still wondering where to go
> next with my experience or should I just leave the experience behind and wait
> for the next one. Then again, if you don't know what to do, it may be best to
> do no-thing.
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