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50,000 questions, any point to them?
Simplify
Veteran
This is a question:
Last night laying in my bed before going to sleep I started to meditate. Laying on my back, with my eyes closed. Sometimes on my vision (dark with static) or sometimes hearing (rain falling outside, a very nice sound), sometimes on feeling (my body). (Ok ok don't cherish the experience, don't cherish the experience, its just another experience (but the rain was really nice) too much damn thinking probably). Not serious meditation, it was play meditation with no goal or discipline. I noticed something.
At moments when there had been no previous thought (explicit thought, perhaps there was subtle thought), there seemed to be an increase in 'mind energy'. Something like tension (but not stress or anxiety, I think). What ever this 'mind energy' was, it definitely kept me from falling asleep, and I could not fall asleep while meditating (or trying to meditate).
1. Is this mind energy thing a known entity, commonly encountered? Understood in more detail? Is it the thinker fighting back, unable to use words so it uses energy, trying to push the mind to create words to make thought? Is it some kind of brighter more alive mind state? Is it indicative of something I'm doing wrong or right? Is it just unknown, just another experience?
~~~~~~~~~~~
The above is a question. I can feel 50,000 more of them coming (ok maybe 10, except that chart on the wall at the sangha has about 500 bullet points, and these 10 questions are simply from a beginner at the beginning of bullet point one. Beginner, beginninger and binginningest = 3, 3 * 10 questions * 500 bullet points = a whole lot of holes in the head?).
So the meta question is simply: any point to these questions or just a distraction?
(these questions do seem pointy, sharp, digging, it's kind of painful to think so logically all the time (I wonder if that logic thinking is what draws us to write words on forums, the pain of my point draws your flame?)
)
Probably should have spent my time meditating or collecting cans for charity, huh?
Last night laying in my bed before going to sleep I started to meditate. Laying on my back, with my eyes closed. Sometimes on my vision (dark with static) or sometimes hearing (rain falling outside, a very nice sound), sometimes on feeling (my body). (Ok ok don't cherish the experience, don't cherish the experience, its just another experience (but the rain was really nice) too much damn thinking probably). Not serious meditation, it was play meditation with no goal or discipline. I noticed something.
At moments when there had been no previous thought (explicit thought, perhaps there was subtle thought), there seemed to be an increase in 'mind energy'. Something like tension (but not stress or anxiety, I think). What ever this 'mind energy' was, it definitely kept me from falling asleep, and I could not fall asleep while meditating (or trying to meditate).
1. Is this mind energy thing a known entity, commonly encountered? Understood in more detail? Is it the thinker fighting back, unable to use words so it uses energy, trying to push the mind to create words to make thought? Is it some kind of brighter more alive mind state? Is it indicative of something I'm doing wrong or right? Is it just unknown, just another experience?
~~~~~~~~~~~
The above is a question. I can feel 50,000 more of them coming (ok maybe 10, except that chart on the wall at the sangha has about 500 bullet points, and these 10 questions are simply from a beginner at the beginning of bullet point one. Beginner, beginninger and binginningest = 3, 3 * 10 questions * 500 bullet points = a whole lot of holes in the head?).
So the meta question is simply: any point to these questions or just a distraction?
(these questions do seem pointy, sharp, digging, it's kind of painful to think so logically all the time (I wonder if that logic thinking is what draws us to write words on forums, the pain of my point draws your flame?)
)
Probably should have spent my time meditating or collecting cans for charity, huh?
0
Comments
Now, if you follow the teachings and practice meditation, it will help you frame these questions better and evaluate both their relevance and their worth. Practices such as the Four Foundations of Mindfulness can help you stop spinning every thought into endless inner chatter. Here's a link about this specific practice. It's a little beyond beginner level, but it's helpful to read ahead sometimes:
http://www.buddhanet.net/imol/foudatn.htm
what do they mean by the word 'know'?. It's not just thinking the phrase which is written, right? My assumption would be that 'know' actually refers to a non language awareness of what's going on, but the text constantly uses this quoted thought structure which seems to be refering to language.
What you were doing was being aware, soo... you were not going to fall asleep.
One thing though: If you think of it as a distraction, you are likely to try and ignore it. This introduces wanting, desire. You think to yourself, "oh, ignore that. I want to ignore it."
Don't see it as a distraction, but as it really is.