|
lucid
Jack's AlteredConsciousness
Registered: 03/29/03
Posts: 6,319
Loc: up on the bidet
Last seen: 10 years, 5 months
|
Losing appreciation with meditation...
#2147408 - 11/30/03 05:08 PM (20 years, 4 months ago) |
|
|
I've noticed that while meditating I stop enjoying anything/everything... e.g. if I listen to my favorite music while meditating, I don't appreciate it at all... or if I'm in beautiful surroundings while meditating, I don't appreciate it at all... It's only when I tell myself that I like these things do I actually like em...
-------------------- "no-mind un-thinks no-thought..."
|
Droz
Love of Life
Registered: 10/15/00
Posts: 2,746
Loc: Floorida
Last seen: 8 years, 7 months
|
Re: Losing appreciation with meditation... [Re: lucid]
#2147417 - 11/30/03 05:11 PM (20 years, 4 months ago) |
|
|
Reminds me of the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon... Where he is in meditation and he reaches this place that is very dark almost depressing. He says that it was a place that his master never told him about.
But what I think is once you pear through that depression. You meet yourself on the otherside, kind of like a looking glass. Once you pear through you recreate yourself.
-------------------- Evolution of Time.
|
Mixomatosis
great ape
Registered: 10/28/03
Posts: 1,306
Loc: cipherland
Last seen: 11 years, 3 months
|
Re: Losing appreciation with meditation... [Re: Droz]
#2147419 - 11/30/03 05:12 PM (20 years, 4 months ago) |
|
|
apples, my friend... apples.
|
Droz
Love of Life
Registered: 10/15/00
Posts: 2,746
Loc: Floorida
Last seen: 8 years, 7 months
|
Re: Losing appreciation with meditation... [Re: Mixomatosis]
#2147458 - 11/30/03 05:26 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
Sugar.
-------------------- Evolution of Time.
|
eve69
--=..Did Adam and ...?=--
Registered: 04/30/03
Posts: 3,910
Loc: isle de la muerte
Last seen: 2 months, 22 days
|
Re: Losing appreciation with meditation... [Re: Droz]
#2147475 - 11/30/03 05:40 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
You can't really meditate if your mind is unclear and/or on dope. I only assume this from the choice of forums you are imbibing in. Yeah, yeah, yeah, one can actually meditate on dope, and I've done it, but one can't purify obscurations if they are continually making more. It's like the old story of the elephant which washes off and then rolls around in dirt. (Of course there's a reason elephants do this, basically it makes a second skin which protects their sensitive skin from bugs-if you do use dope maybe this is your reson too-allegorically?!).
At any rate, if none of what I said above applies then I must say that the very process of disinvolvement that you are using as a meditation is affecting your other experience of life. I must tell you that I have met people seriously fucked up from practicing vipissana. They became fucked up by perpetually trying to witness everything that they do. This is wrong meditation. As Buddha taught, one plays a guiter who's strings are neither too tight nor too loose. So also must be your practice.
Strain is just that - strain, caused by too much effort, and usually in the wrong direction. The fact is, Friend, that you have brought this up in very many threads recently so you are really asking for advice. If you don't like my advice then don't get mad, but I have been meditating for 20 years. I am a Maharishi University grad. I was once a celibate yogi, and so on and so on. Not bragging, just saying that I'm not just boosting my ego by trying to be a know-it-all. I actually am a know-it-all. See the difference? Just kidding. But I do teach meditation and tantra, and having attended a meditation based university I had hundreds of peers to talk and listen to.
What I'm saying is that if you feel less relish in life then you're straining. Typically meditation clears the senses and mind and therefore the relative pleasures become even more enjoyable. Let me know if I'm wrong.
-------------------- ...or something
|
lucid
Jack's AlteredConsciousness
Registered: 03/29/03
Posts: 6,319
Loc: up on the bidet
Last seen: 10 years, 5 months
|
Re: Losing appreciation with meditation... [Re: eve69]
#2147484 - 11/30/03 05:44 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
eve69 said: You can't really meditate if your mind is unclear and/or on dope. I only assume this from the choice of forums you are imbibing in. Yeah, yeah, yeah, one can actually meditate on dope, and I've done it, but one can't purify obscurations if they are continually making more. It's like the old story of the elephant which washes off and then rolls around in dirt. (Of course there's a reason elephants do this, basically it makes a second skin which protects their sensitive skin from bugs-if you do use dope maybe this is your reson too-allegorically?!).
At any rate, if none of what I said above applies then I must say that the very process of disinvolvement that you are using as a meditation is affecting your other experience of life. I must tell you that I have met people seriously fucked up from practicing vipissana. They became fucked up by perpetually trying to witness everything that they do. This is wrong meditation. As Buddha taught, one plays a guiter who's strings are neither too tight nor too loose. So also must be your practice.
Strain is just that - strain, caused by too much effort, and usually in the wrong direction. The fact is, Friend, that you have brought this up in very many threads recently so you are really asking for advice. If you don't like my advice then don't get mad, but I have been meditating for 20 years. I am a Maharishi University grad. I was once a celibate yogi, and so on and so on. Not bragging, just saying that I'm not just boosting my ego by trying to be a know-it-all. I actually am a know-it-all. See the difference? Just kidding. But I do teach meditation and tantra, and having attended a meditation based university I had hundreds of peers to talk and listen to.
What I'm saying is that if you feel less relish in life then you're straining. Typically meditation clears the senses and mind and therefore the relative pleasures become even more enjoyable. Let me know if I'm wrong.
I'm not on dope (or anything else for that matter - other than drinking at night to help me sleep), but u might be right about straining... not sure what to do about that tho...it's a fine line to distinguish....
-------------------- "no-mind un-thinks no-thought..."
|
Jellric
altered statesman
Registered: 11/07/98
Posts: 2,261
Loc: non-local
|
Re: Losing appreciation with meditation... [Re: lucid]
#2147502 - 11/30/03 05:54 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
e.g. if I listen to my favorite music while meditating , I don't appreciate it at all...
That is a good sign that you are no longer meditating! If you are attaching a value to background music, then you have left your center- you are not meditating. Turn the tv and music off and breathe.. find your center. It is a peaceful place- the calm at the center of the cyclone.
I have noticed that your posts are difficult reads. Not because of their content, but because of your writing style. I say this not to criticize you, but to point out that your writing is very likely symptomatic of your mindset- disordered. In other words, you could benefit greatly from meditation if you go about it properly. Stick with it and you could teach us all one day!
[Peace]
-------------------- I AM what Willis was talkin' bout.
|
eve69
--=..Did Adam and ...?=--
Registered: 04/30/03
Posts: 3,910
Loc: isle de la muerte
Last seen: 2 months, 22 days
|
Re: Losing appreciation with meditation... [Re: lucid]
#2147508 - 11/30/03 05:56 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
I'm not on dope (or anything else for that matter - other than drinking at night to help me sleep), but u might be right about straining... not sure what to do about that tho...it's a fine line to distinguish....
Why not take either a break, go on a refresher course, or find a group practice.
-------------------- ...or something
|
lucid
Jack's AlteredConsciousness
Registered: 03/29/03
Posts: 6,319
Loc: up on the bidet
Last seen: 10 years, 5 months
|
Re: Losing appreciation with meditation... [Re: eve69]
#2147531 - 11/30/03 06:11 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
eve69 said: Quote:
I'm not on dope (or anything else for that matter - other than drinking at night to help me sleep), but u might be right about straining... not sure what to do about that tho...it's a fine line to distinguish....
Why not take either a break, go on a refresher course, or find a group practice.
there is a Vipassena retreat near where I live, but I'm worried that I might get more depressed n anxious (or worse yet, go completely nutz) if I do that...
-------------------- "no-mind un-thinks no-thought..."
|
Misnomer
newbie
Registered: 11/08/03
Posts: 33
Last seen: 20 years, 3 months
|
Re: Losing appreciation with meditation... [Re: lucid]
#2147567 - 11/30/03 06:29 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
Lucid, What's up? You appear to be exhibiting symptoms of alienation (and depression). This may not be the place to discuss it but you seem distressed so I'm asking, what in your life might be causing these deep feelings of anxiety and misery? This isn't necessarily related to meditation, I don't believe, but rather, meditation is where your mind brings it up and you're so good at repressing whatever "it" is that you assume it's meditations fault and not something deeper.
|
Shroomism
Space Travellin
Registered: 02/13/00
Posts: 66,015
Loc: 9th Dimension
|
Re: Losing appreciation with meditation... [Re: Misnomer]
#2147635 - 11/30/03 06:59 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
I concur. Nothing but love here, but I do see a general inclination towards anxiety and it concerns me. Lucid, I think you would benefit by performing a deep purging of all subconscious fears and repressed emotions. By facing all these things in the light (within) centered in love, you will be able to transcend them. Meditation would certainly bring to the surface subconscious issues that have not been dealt with, and that is your way of telling yourself that it is time.
There is more to it than just observing your thoughts through meditation. That is just one aspect of consciousness, which trains the mind to focus, all it essentially does is increase your concentration. If there are issues that are pecking at you, confront them! Analyze the core of your beliefs, dig deep, and strip yourself of everything. Confront these thoughts while centered in love, recognize them as a part of yourself and an issue to be dealt with. Find the root of them, ask them questions if you have to. Find the source of these thoughts, questions, and insecurities. Faced in a healing manner, this process alone will bring about positive change. It is a simple self-healing process, where you deconstruct your belief system, and then go through them one by one, re-assessing them. In meditation you are playing the passive observer. This helps you come to realizations. But you cannot be passive about these things all the time, there is a point where you must face issues that are gnawing away at your subconscious, before you can continue the growth meditation offers. It is a completely normal process to experience horrible things that can cause negative thought patterns, but do not dwell on them. See them objectively, as a part of the whole. They exist for a reason, and you can learn from them and move on, or let them consume you. There really isn't much of a grey area. Anyways, I hope you overcome your anxiety/depression. Just try not to stress yourself out.. just chilllllll...
--------------------
|
blowback
Nothing to lose,nothing to gein.
Registered: 06/03/03
Posts: 376
Loc: Houston Tx.
Last seen: 11 years, 3 months
|
Re: Losing appreciation with meditation... [Re: Shroomism]
#2147650 - 11/30/03 07:07 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
Dude, I know I'm a newbie and everything, but how many posts do you have to make about your "falling out" with meditation or whatever. Meditate on something new to talk about Gina, damn.
-------------------- "Daddy, what's the difference between ignorance and apathy?" "Son, I don't know, and I don't care"
|
eve69
--=..Did Adam and ...?=--
Registered: 04/30/03
Posts: 3,910
Loc: isle de la muerte
Last seen: 2 months, 22 days
|
Re: Losing appreciation with meditation... [Re: blowback]
#2147934 - 11/30/03 08:58 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
I was taught by maharishi to think that meditation, specifically TM, solved all problems. To my chagrin I found that that wasn't the case. In fact, I found that meditation exacerbates ones issues and makes things even harder at times.
So I learned to stop meditating when I just didn't feel like doing it. I learned it's worse to force oneself then to just stop. Or barring that, I cut down my time to just a few minutes at a time. And barring that I actually tried other techniques.
Each meditation offers something different. I turned to the Vajrayana, which uses alot of visualization, mandalas, and chanting - japa, if you prefer. I got a real lot out of japa, basically in the unfocused, stream of consciousness type of mental unstructuredness.
Of course that's not always the way japa is done, but to make it a discipline and accumulate many mantras I found I had to let go of all concerns besides just doing it. I had to cut through many personal conflicts and so I cut myself much slack and so on.
I found that new and unique thoughts and feelings came up during japa. The first deities I did were actually Hindu. And this was before I went Buddhist. I started out doing the japa of Mahalakshmi because I was very poor.
Of course if you're Buddhist then you might like one of the Buddhist mantras. Might I suggest taking a Dzambala empowerment and doing the japa for the Buddhist god of wealth? Nothing bad can come from that. Moreover, there are more types of wealth than merely monetary. In fact, I found through my japa on Mahalakshmi a wealth of creative outlets which really gave me some deep satisfaction, and a means of expression which purged me of beaucoup despair, at that point in my life a couple years back. We bought a house and stuff and moved out of a fucked up appartment where we had lived for ten years. Alot of circumstances changed.
I feel that japa makes some adjustments to ones reality, whereas the silent sitting meditations really just clear the mind. I think both are needed.
Take Care Buddy.
-------------------- ...or something
|
|