I'm never as smart as I think I am

[Etherfish]

I learned to act parts, but only so they would leave me alone and not single me out and question everything I did. I processed way too much through my brain and was hobbled by it. The others let it go and let muscle memory and instinct take over. Much better that way. It took me 50 years to unlearn and let go and enable muscle memory and instinct.

It's not a bad thing tho- I had much more incentive to learn to stop my thoughts, so I progressed spiritually, and am able to understand abnormal people better.
In all it just made me a unique kind of person.
But I am strongly biased against calculating to live life...your inner guru presents things, and you act; no calculation necessary.

[Bodhi Tree]

I like Karl's idea of being without friction. I've witnessed this more frequently in some of my heated interactions with family members about tender matters (drug use, my dying grandmother, etc.). The more I stick with daily meditation and the samyama practice/principle, the less friction I feel internally and externally. In other words, the conversations are less emotionally volatile and come out more easily, even if they are firm. But the firm words don't red line--as the very wise Cesar Milan, the dog whisperer, likes to say when referring to dogs who become aggressive and attack.

When inner silence is behind the verbal expressions/thoughts, then there seems to be this automatic regulation that will not allow friction (or at least not very much) to become dominant--i.e. red lining. Friction is often the result of too much force--too much effort of trying to change something. But I don't think friction is totally avoidable in the process of purification and opening. We just surrender to the flow, which broadens the channels, and there is less blockage to be cleared.

Just as a persistent river pummels a jagged rock until it becomes smooth and rounded, so does the flow of inner silence shape and transform our samskaras to accomplish higher purposes.

Pummel me, inner silence!!

[karl]

I suppose the difference is that I choose when to take a bath. maybe that's what Christian baptism is trying to symbolise ?

Once the fire is raging then you can just pop yourself in for a bit of cleansing, I don't choose to tough it out, just the application of short bursts of exposure to the flames seems more advantageous, it seems to give a better polish. I don't need to meditate to do that either ( although I still do because the Samyama isn't yet completely automatic and it reminds me of something I once believed ), the fire is always there. Always more polishing to do, the task is never finished and now I revel in that work, devotion, dedication it is a work of pure love.

[karl]

quote:Originally posted by Etherfish

I learned to act parts, but only so they would leave me alone and not single me out and question everything I did. I processed way too much through my brain and was hobbled by it. The others let it go and let muscle memory and instinct take over. Much better that way. It took me 50 years to unlearn and let go and enable muscle memory and instinct.

It's not a bad thing tho- I had much more incentive to learn to stop my thoughts, so I progressed spiritually, and am able to understand abnormal people better.
In all it just made me a unique kind of person.
But I am strongly biased against calculating to live life...your inner guru presents things, and you act; no calculation necessary.

Thank you for sharing Etherfish  do you need to stop your thoughts ? Did you mean it like that ?

[Etherfish]

Many years ago I was into Castaneda's books. He said stop your thoughts and it stops the world. So I learned to do that, and it does.
Meditation is a better route tho, and easier. Plus he didn't teach bhakti, which is essential.

[karl]

quote:Originally posted by Etherfish

Many years ago I was into Castaneda's books. He said stop your thoughts and it stops the world. So I learned to do that, and it does.
Meditation is a better route tho, and easier. Plus he didn't teach bhakti, which is essential.

I can no more stop my thoughts than I can stop the Sun shining

Carlos Castaneda had me floating around on the ceiling when I was younger. Not something I wanted to repeat.

[Etherfish]

It took years to learn to stop my thoughts.
The best technique I found is being aware of your senses.
If you try to be fully aware of everything in your vision (non-judgmentally, so without words), then try to add on awareness of all sounds, or any other sense etc, it doesn't take long to have so much input that there is no room for thoughts. I found it is very rare to be aware of all five senses at once.

It did me a lot of good. Of course it helps that I knew you should never believe ALL of what anyone says. You always make up your own mind completely independently.

[whippoorwill]

I guess I'll have to read Castaneda.  Thought stops for me when I stop breathing.  It just happens that way, and I can't explain why.  Of course, I can't stop breathing for very long.  

[Etherfish]

How do you know it's not very long if you're not thinking? Ha ha just kidding.

Castaneda is very dark sorcery stuff that crosses over to yoga enough to give it validity, but he doesn't mention God or any bhakti. They are  fascinating stories, tailor made for a loner who thought society was mostly wrong, and religions suck, and secrets are hidden.

Although often called a very well researched fraud, he was perfect for bringing that type of person around to the back door of yoga. Others were lead astray because they tried to believe every word and not branch out into other knowledge, but that could apply to any discipline.