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I noticed something!

ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
edited October 2010 in Meditation
I was meditating today and came to a sudden realization, maybe a small and not so important one but I thought I would share it here anyway.

I noticed that in meditation the monkey mind, or my monkey mind at least travels off into the past and the future easily. We all know this as it is obvious, but then I applied it to life and realised that the monkey mind does not actually remain in existence in a sense. We project our thoughts a lot of the time towards what we have done or intend to do, so in fact we are not living in the moment, simply projecting our life as an idea.

Many of the people on this site probably have realised this long ago to different degrees, but it was a little bit of treasure to me to find :)

Comments

  • nanadhajananadhaja Veteran
    edited October 2010
    ThailandTom wrote: »
    I was meditating today and came to a sudden realization, maybe a small and not so important one but I thought I would share it here anyway.

    I noticed that in meditation the monkey mind, or my monkey mind at least travels off into the past and the future easily. We all know this as it is obvious, but then I applied it to life and realised that the monkey mind does not actually remain in existence in a sense. We project our thoughts a lot of the time towards what we have done or intend to do, so in fact we are not living in the moment, simply projecting our life as an idea.

    Many of the people on this site probably have realised this long ago to different degrees, but it was a little bit of treasure to me to find :)
    Thats the thing.Our monkey mind is always at work.So even when you are not meditating it goes off and does its own thing.We definately have a tendency not to live our lives in the present moment.:confused:
  • zpwestonzpweston Explorer
    edited October 2010
    As a visual person I can just see these semi transparent monkeys running around town, disappearing every few seconds to either the future or past. I see people being tether to these monkeys with blank stairs and drool running down there face. One of the most profound thoughts I have found thus far is the whole Decarte counter-argument, "I think therefore I am," what about those moments where your brain is completely blank, even for a nano second? Do you stop existing? Wouldn't that be weird to think that every few nano seconds we completely disappear, out of existence? Sorry this is completely away from the topic but it made me think of it reading this. By the way, the above idea is not to be taken seriously it is merely a satirical mental joke. Just think about it.
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    edited October 2010
    I have read some things like we all die and become reborn thousands of times every second simple because everything changes moment to moment. So, you change, therefor you die and become something else over and over.

    I have also noticed the moment between breaths in meditation for me is truly an empty moment. Sometimes I extend this moment by per longing the break and stop my breathing for a few seconds to study this emptiness.

    Good depiction on the monkeys zpweston :p made me chuckle a little lol.
  • MountainsMountains Veteran
    edited October 2010
    Yeah, Monsieur Descartes was pretty much full of monkey doo-doo :)
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited October 2010
    Mandalas. They appear. They abide and then cease. Its like Dr. Who and all the doors..


    Mandalas. a little whiff. Just a tiny flavor or scent. And you are there caught up in a whole world... Spinning 'off'
  • peacefulBuddhistpeacefulBuddhist
    edited October 2010
    Do not interfere the breathing process. Let it go by nature. Just concentrate over each and every breath while, at some time, catching back the monkey mind. When you have full control of your mind only on breathing, each and every moment of 'in' and 'out', concentrate only on the sensation as the air touches the inner surface of the nose. Do not categorize the sensation as 'hot', 'cold', 'soft' or 'hard'. Just take it as a general sensation. Focus mainly on the appearance of this sensation again and again. When you practice more and more, you will suddenly find the disappearance of this sensation, then reappearance. Then, you will notice the happening and vanishing in cycles, each of which happens in a split second. Based on the amount of your practice and the level of understanding on these events (wisdom), your vision on those events will become very sharp. They will happen million times within a split seconds. This is the first stage of 3 stages in Vipassana. If you are not following this type of meditation, just ignore what I have mentioned above.
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