Great exposition, Vaj; a total keeper, really concise, nicely articulated.
** --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj <vajradh...@...> wrote: > > > On Dec 17, 2008, at 7:01 PM, The Secret wrote: > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj <vajradhatu@> wrote: > > > >> Actually the science appears solid and is getting published in > >> respectable journals. Insurance companies are paying for people with > >> chronic depression to learn meditation and a form of cognitive > >> therapy--and it's working. > >> > >> Of course your other option is to resign yourself to the fact that > >> after about 24, you're pretty much written in stone...your choice > >> really. :-) > >> > >> One quick example I just found on the web: > >> > >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf6Q0G1iHBI > >> > > > > Vaj, this video is almost an hour. I'm a TM/TM sidha. I don't have a > > long enough attention span to watch this. Tell me the bottom line. > > Am I practicing mindless meditation? > > > No you're not per se. TM is a form of Shamatha meditation or Samadhi > (concentration) meditation where the idea is that the mind will > "spontaneously" concentrate (rather than via deliberate, balanced, > intention) based on the principle of "increasing charm" and the idea > of naturally desiring bliss: you want it, you gotta have it, your > attention will go there, it's good, it's easy. > > TM does share some elements with mindfulness-style meditation, e.g. > "monitoring" as in 'waiting for the mantra to "come"'. That's a form > of mindfulness, as is the process of learning to 'come back to the > mantra'. If you're NOT "mindful", you forget to come back to the > mantra and remain stuck in discursive "think". So you learn to be > mindful in order to learn the automatic habit of instinctively and > easily regaining the mantra-groove (and thus being charmed again > towards introspective no-think). > > The big difference is that in order to transcend, you withdraw. By > withdrawing, you cut yourself in half: you separate by inner > introspection from 'open presence' of the outer and inner world. > > Ultimately in mindfulness, you don't withdraw, but instead remain > open. There's no need to retract attention like a groundhog it's hole. > (Please excuse the example. It's traditional). >
