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That's an interesting reply Subjectivity. Just last night I was trying to understand how it could be be that humans are all part of the same consciousness. The only way I could see it was that we are all given the same qualities of consciousness and mind (although these become conditioned in different ways). I was imagining myself in a way similar to what you wrote, as a being that is in this box that is human consciousness.
Years back, after meditating intensely for a while, I had a strange experience. I went for groceries and in the parking lot, I started to see everyone WAS me. I don’t mean similar to me. I mean WAS me. I looked into a number of their eyes, and felt myself looking back at me from them. We remained separate in body. But, everyone was me. Usually we are not so aware of this connection.
I’m not sure if that was a Satori, or what. But it wasn’t something that I could doubt. And here, years later, I do not question its validity.
It wasn't the same as Enlightenment though, that is quite different.
when i see animals and plants i often have that same feeling about them being me.
particularly animals, since plants are a little harder to identify with. that little shield bug clinging for warmth to the screen window is me. that squirrel playfully and fearfully going about it's everyday life is me. that hulking, clumsy bumblebee gathering pollen from the gorgeous anthers on the butterfly bush- all of those are me. when i become still and let myself see these things around me, i feel a flood of warmth and perfect repose. in such moments i have achieved tremendous bliss and feel that i've accomplished everything i could possibly aim for in life. all my material concerns, ambitions, pain and so forth fall away into insignificance. this is part of why plants and animals are my gods from a certain POV, although from an intellectual POV i believe i can make a strong case with good supporting research that animals are intelligent and may in fact already be awake.
now human beings... that's another story. a very strong part of myself is terrified of human beings and wants to run away from their persons and from their absurd civilsation. this means that even as i type these things out, i am at war with myself to an extent for fraternising with the enemy, not that you personally feel like the enemy, mind you. but the manager in charge insists on fraternisation to a certain extent since it's both necessary and helpful to me. but this is also why i try to take my journey into buddhism, my overall journey of self-discovery, and interacting with an online sangha slowly. it gets back to my great barrier of pain and nervousness that i've mentioned in the past and the anguished child inside me that still runs the show in many ways. he's got limits and i am trying to do a better job of recognising and respecting them.
whoa, serious ramble there.
S9, thanks for the exercise. i've developed something along those lines myself that i use when i can remember to, but you've pitched the exercise a bit differently, and i like the sound of it.
> However, it is not a good idea to make me into a “should,” my friend.
> Should is just another word for suffering. Find a way to make everything
> a "want to," and life will be way lighter.
i'll see about doing that. what did you mean by making you into a "should."
When I say to try not to make me a should, I mean if you find your self thinking, “I really don’t feel like writing, but 'dog gone it', I "should,” wait until you really genuinely feel like writing again.
Don’t worry, you will feel like writing again. This writing stuff is addicting. : ^ )
G: “When I see animals and plants I often have that same feeling about them being me.
S9: I think you may be a bit of an empath. (So am I) These people are very sensitive and often find dealing with people makes their nervous system get over loaded, if it is overdone. Plan some alone time in for your self, or you will exhaust your self. Spend time in nature alone. You will find that it nourishes you.
Did you know that there are 'nature mystics' like Thoreau, Walt Whitman, and Edward Carpenter?
Animals do live in the moment. We could learn from them.
I believe that we find it easier to forgive animals, than we do each other. Perhaps, if we had the whole picture, we could see the innocence in man as well. I don’t know.
I do know that I can often forgive people, more readily, when I know them well enough, or long enough, to see the "why" of their actions. We are all children, believe me.
Some day, you are going to realize that people may harm your body, it is true, but that you are not your body. So, you will realize that they cannot actually harm you.
I know this may very well seem a little silly to you at this point. But believe me, it is true. Until we see this, we are all afraid. Some just do a better job of covering this up, even from themselves.
Rambling is a great way to see our selves. Steam of consciousness (writing) is like a mind mirror. And it is fun.
What do you think of this article by Lawrence McKinney? He was referring to Jill's "Stroke of Insight"
I've been in touch with Dr. Jill(Bolte Taylor) because this is actually a profoundly Buddhist event. I had the same experience myself, exactly, except I did it with a short acting agent which short-circuited the top part of my brain and dropped me into a lower and more generalized consciouness, like someone had popped most of the chips out of my brain. Same timeless peace, same floating about forever it seems, egoless, etc. It was a seminal event in my own life, it would be hard to tell people straight-on that the Bar-do is a description of brain deterioration with even the right colors. Those lamas were holding on tight.
But that eventually you reach the only conciousness you can have at brain stem, which is eternal, timeless, and there is no more duality because you're nearly back to fetal level. And there was a fetal level that got more sophisticated all the way up to birth or you wouldn't have been born.
One of the first people to pick up on the implications was HH the Dalai Lama, whom I met many years ago, and gave some chapters before we published, rendered somewhat into Buddhist philosophical terms.
In other words, a conciousness can only perceive what it can perceive, and the last one perceives "no time no space" and all is one. His Holiness wasa right on the mark, of course "so, if eternal time comes before death, then plenty of time for endless lifetimes. We say, nirvana is not death, it is the "death before death", but not death" I'm glad he's my root guru.
I haven't convinced Jill quite yet that she wasn't slammed into her right hemisphere but simply traumatized progressively down stream until she was thinking with her hippocampus ... the higher cortex was going nuts, and consciouness dove for cover in what she calls "la la land" which is, uh, as close to Nirvana as we're gonna get.
We're all gonna get it on the way to dead, but that's beyond time and space for each of us. So what Me Worry? Death be not proud, but it's a pretty neat experience.
Comments
Years back, after meditating intensely for a while, I had a strange experience. I went for groceries and in the parking lot, I started to see everyone WAS me. I don’t mean similar to me. I mean WAS me. I looked into a number of their eyes, and felt myself looking back at me from them. We remained separate in body. But, everyone was me. Usually we are not so aware of this connection.
I’m not sure if that was a Satori, or what. But it wasn’t something that I could doubt. And here, years later, I do not question its validity.
It wasn't the same as Enlightenment though, that is quite different.
Go figure.
Sincerely,
S9
particularly animals, since plants are a little harder to identify with. that little shield bug clinging for warmth to the screen window is me. that squirrel playfully and fearfully going about it's everyday life is me. that hulking, clumsy bumblebee gathering pollen from the gorgeous anthers on the butterfly bush- all of those are me. when i become still and let myself see these things around me, i feel a flood of warmth and perfect repose. in such moments i have achieved tremendous bliss and feel that i've accomplished everything i could possibly aim for in life. all my material concerns, ambitions, pain and so forth fall away into insignificance. this is part of why plants and animals are my gods from a certain POV, although from an intellectual POV i believe i can make a strong case with good supporting research that animals are intelligent and may in fact already be awake.
now human beings... that's another story. a very strong part of myself is terrified of human beings and wants to run away from their persons and from their absurd civilsation. this means that even as i type these things out, i am at war with myself to an extent for fraternising with the enemy, not that you personally feel like the enemy, mind you. but the manager in charge insists on fraternisation to a certain extent since it's both necessary and helpful to me. but this is also why i try to take my journey into buddhism, my overall journey of self-discovery, and interacting with an online sangha slowly. it gets back to my great barrier of pain and nervousness that i've mentioned in the past and the anguished child inside me that still runs the show in many ways. he's got limits and i am trying to do a better job of recognising and respecting them.
whoa, serious ramble there.
S9, thanks for the exercise. i've developed something along those lines myself that i use when i can remember to, but you've pitched the exercise a bit differently, and i like the sound of it.
> However, it is not a good idea to make me into a “should,” my friend.
> Should is just another word for suffering. Find a way to make everything
> a "want to," and life will be way lighter.
i'll see about doing that.
When I say to try not to make me a should, I mean if you find your self thinking, “I really don’t feel like writing, but 'dog gone it', I "should,” wait until you really genuinely feel like writing again.
Don’t worry, you will feel like writing again. This writing stuff is addicting. : ^ )
G: “When I see animals and plants I often have that same feeling about them being me.
S9: I think you may be a bit of an empath. (So am I) These people are very sensitive and often find dealing with people makes their nervous system get over loaded, if it is overdone. Plan some alone time in for your self, or you will exhaust your self. Spend time in nature alone. You will find that it nourishes you.
Did you know that there are 'nature mystics' like Thoreau, Walt Whitman, and Edward Carpenter?
Animals do live in the moment. We could learn from them.
I believe that we find it easier to forgive animals, than we do each other. Perhaps, if we had the whole picture, we could see the innocence in man as well. I don’t know.
I do know that I can often forgive people, more readily, when I know them well enough, or long enough, to see the "why" of their actions. We are all children, believe me.
Some day, you are going to realize that people may harm your body, it is true, but that you are not your body. So, you will realize that they cannot actually harm you.
I know this may very well seem a little silly to you at this point. But believe me, it is true. Until we see this, we are all afraid. Some just do a better job of covering this up, even from themselves.
Rambling is a great way to see our selves. Steam of consciousness (writing) is like a mind mirror. And it is fun.
Warm Regards,
S9
I've been in touch with Dr. Jill(Bolte Taylor) because this is actually a profoundly Buddhist event. I had the same experience myself, exactly, except I did it with a short acting agent which short-circuited the top part of my brain and dropped me into a lower and more generalized consciouness, like someone had popped most of the chips out of my brain. Same timeless peace, same floating about forever it seems, egoless, etc. It was a seminal event in my own life, it would be hard to tell people straight-on that the Bar-do is a description of brain deterioration with even the right colors. Those lamas were holding on tight.
But that eventually you reach the only conciousness you can have at brain stem, which is eternal, timeless, and there is no more duality because you're nearly back to fetal level. And there was a fetal level that got more sophisticated all the way up to birth or you wouldn't have been born.
One of the first people to pick up on the implications was HH the Dalai Lama, whom I met many years ago, and gave some chapters before we published, rendered somewhat into Buddhist philosophical terms.
In other words, a conciousness can only perceive what it can perceive, and the last one perceives "no time no space" and all is one. His Holiness wasa right on the mark, of course "so, if eternal time comes before death, then plenty of time for endless lifetimes. We say, nirvana is not death, it is the "death before death", but not death" I'm glad he's my root guru.
I haven't convinced Jill quite yet that she wasn't slammed into her right hemisphere but simply traumatized progressively down stream until she was thinking with her hippocampus ... the higher cortex was going nuts, and consciouness dove for cover in what she calls "la la land" which is, uh, as close to Nirvana as we're gonna get.
We're all gonna get it on the way to dead, but that's beyond time and space for each of us. So what Me Worry? Death be not proud, but it's a pretty neat experience.
Buddha had it right ...
Thank you for this explanation, because I know you mean well. : ^ )
But, what you have described here is actually a very good description of many trance states, and these are not Nirvana, or the Buddha Nature.
Buddha Nature actually permeates everywhere, every portion of the brain, as in omnipresent.
I have witnessed this in my every day life. Everywhere I look, there it is.
Once you know where to look, it is perfectly obvious.
Peace,
S9