--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "sparaig" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "tertonzeno" <tertonzeno@> wrote: > > > > --Precisely, Edg! IMO some misconceptions regarding "Samadhi" have > > crept into our history of what the "experience" is all about, due to > > some statements of Ramakrishna (1836-1886) regarding "going into > > Samadhi" - in which he was temporarily oblivious to the outer world, > > but had an inner awareness of Pure Consciousness coupled with > > (perhaps) some memories of inner visions. > > To a degree, MMY has made some headway in setting the record > > straight; along with Buddhism as a whole. > > > > > > There's a difference between loss of consciousness (blacking out) and cessation of mental > and sensory activity while still maintaining alertness. >
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "sparaig" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "tertonzeno" <tertonzeno@> wrote: > > > > --Precisely, Edg! IMO some misconceptions regarding "Samadhi" have > > crept into our history of what the "experience" is all about, due to > > some statements of Ramakrishna (1836-1886) regarding "going into > > Samadhi" - in which he was temporarily oblivious to the outer world, > > but had an inner awareness of Pure Consciousness coupled with > > (perhaps) some memories of inner visions. > > To a degree, MMY has made some headway in setting the record > > straight; along with Buddhism as a whole. > > > > > > There's a difference between loss of consciousness (blacking out) and cessation of mental > and sensory activity while still maintaining alertness. > About ten years ago, I was playing basketball. Instead of having a single pole that held up the hoop in the park where we played, the hoop was held by two poles descending down like an inverted V. I was driving up for a lay up and caught my head dead on into one of the descending poles and went completely unconscious for what seemed like at least five seconds. What I remember clearly was the experience of not being unconscious, having a gap of awareness normally associated with being knocked out, but instead being perfectly aware of That, nothing but pure awareness and then coming back into waking state. The thing I realized from that experience was, that the integration of Being is so natural over years of meditating. A person will not know how much Being has been integrated into their waking experience until they are confronted with a contrast or what we believe is the normal experience of unconsciousness. I suppose death would be the ultimate judge if this were true or not.
