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Meditation

Snow Turtle

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May 28, 2007
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Considering most meditation is all about clearing the mind, or focusing on the present moment. How do people here generally find this? Do you practice it and have you found it useful?

Hm. Perhaps this should go in the spirtuality and philosophy sub forum.
 

Mole

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Mar 20, 2008
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Considering most meditation is all about clearing the mind, or focusing on the present moment. How do people here generally find this? Do you practice it and have you found it useful?

Hm. Perhaps this should go in the spirtuality and philosophy sub forum.

If we perceive by making distinctions, and the more distinctions, the more we see, then it might be worthwhile making the distinction between meditation and hypnosis.

So both meditation and hypnosis are forms of trance. And a trance can be induced by any repetition.

And the repetition induces a cognitive loop.

So both meditation and hypnosis are loops.

So how can we distinguish between them?

Well, hypnosis is an external loop, while meditation is an internal loop.

In hypnosis, for instance, you form an external loop with a hypnotist or perhaps the TV or perhaps while driving a motor car.

While in meditation you form an internal loop by, say, repeating to yourself the word, "Om". Or you might follow the repetition of your breathing.

I personally prefer meditation 'cause I am not dependent on an external source, as I am in hypnosis.

And before I enter the meditative state, I can choose what suggestions to give myself.

And of course if you enter a hypnotic state with a hypnotist, you are wise to reach an agreement with the hypnotist as to exactly what suggestions they will give you while you are hypnotised.

And a good suggestion to make is that, "I will awake relaxed and refreshed".
 

Qre:us

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Nov 21, 2008
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Considering most meditation is all about clearing the mind, or focusing on the present moment. How do people here generally find this? Do you practice it and have you found it useful?

Hm. Perhaps this should go in the spirtuality and philosophy sub forum.

Well, I know that in Yogic meditation, it is not merely to clear the mind and focus on the present. The purpose of meditation is to control the mind to such an extent that your mind surrenders its conditioning and allows itself to connect with its true nature/consciousness (without noise from the 'world'). the core/essense of you, when everything else is a neutral plateau, like senses.

There's this philosophical school of thought that one cannot be taught meditation....because no one else can know how to get to 'you' but you. All others can do is provide the tools or guides/likely methods.

I have a hard time shutting my mind off, as ideas are always whizzing about. But, I dunno if I've tried hard enough, and what exactly it is that I'm supposed to reach (hence, know when I reached it).
 

nanook

a scream in a vortex
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Jul 22, 2007
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also see this thread:

http://www.typologycentral.com/forums/philosophy-spirituality/14700-meditation.html

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some basic conceptual understanding, that is not relevant to most beginners:

it is not merely to clear the mind and focus on the present.

but if you look at the "focus on the neurological presence" then this is very much the same as "connecting with its true nature/consciousness ". it's a matter of wording.

people have a watered down (downright false) understanding of what the "present moment" means, when the word is used in context of meditation.

for instance, there is the word "stream entry". it is the point of no return in meditation practice, where you have your matrix hacked, so you need to finish the transformation (of your neurological perspective, how your consciousness in anchored) or live with the semi-broken matrix. the stream entry is a bit like watching a celluloid movie, and noticing how there is a stream of separate pictures in black frames. but that's not just about the visuals, but about all thoughts, even about identity (as it has been perceived up until that phase of development). so this is closer to the neurological understanding of the present moment.

that one cannot be taught meditation

so as much as meditation is a taught training of neurological structures, that enhance intelligence, fast forward the development of psychological/cognitive stages (leveled capacity to take and handle multiple perspectives) and so on ... it is also mostly a practice, that makes you "accident prone", meaning that you can stumble into states like stream entry at any time. only dealing with it, when that happens, requires more taught meditation practice.

so, meditation is two things in one.

building structures, that can control perspectives, and transcending or dropping out of most or all habitual and specific perspectives, ending up in states like nonduality.

here is some very advanced technical stuff that n00bs like myself have not much real use for, but ... just to illustrate the NT spirit of ZEN :D
 

zago

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Took it up again recently cause I was happier when I used to do it. I just concentrate on my breathing right now, but that might turn into something else later on.
 

TaylorS

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I use meditation (mostly of the Mindfulness and Loving-Kindness variety) to help with my anxiety and depression along with CBT.
 

Wiley45

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I find mindfulness meditation helpful, although I often am too tired to try to sit still for very long without falling asleep. :/ I prefer to breathe deeply and relax my mind for a few minutes at a time. Many times, thoughts and emotions I might have not otherwise acknowledged come to the surface, so to speak. I find this helpful because it's calming, and also helps me be in touch with myself and what's going on inside of me (as opposed to rushing through my life and ignoring important thoughts and feelings.) I feel more focused and confident to handle my life when I take a little time to be still. That's about the extent of my meditation practice, though.
 

simpleamazement

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Considering most meditation is all about clearing the mind, or focusing on the present moment. How do people here generally find this? Do you practice it and have you found it useful?

Yes. It helps clear my mind, reduces stress, and helps me focus on the present moment. Not on thoughts, not on what happened yesterday, not on what I have to do tomorrow, but what's happening this moment...sights, sounds, your breathing, your body. No ego. You have acceptance with what's going on right now. Pure presence.
 
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