Wow...I guess I transcend when I meditate - who knew? Although, maybe I'm not, because I certainly "notice" the fact that I am witnessing my thoughts, which I consider an "effort."
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <sharelong60@...> wrote : Emily, witnessing thoughts is transcending at the same time that thinking is happening and yes, it is effortless. On Friday, March 28, 2014 1:39 PM, "emilymaenot@..." <emilymaenot@...> wrote: Share, I assume that "witnessing thoughts" is not transcendence....in that "it may be" that with advanced TM'ers, you being one, this can happen also. Is this what you meant? Do you think "witnessing thoughts" is "effortless"? ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <sharelong60@...> wrote : Or you could be witnessing thoughts the whole time... On Friday, March 28, 2014 1:02 PM, Richard J. Williams <punditster@...> wrote: On 3/28/2014 10:07 AM, authfriend@... mailto:authfriend@... wrote: For me, the answer to Barry's question would be a definite No. (In fact, I think it would take a bit of effort not to go back to the mantra.) > Barry's analysis also assumes that at some point in your meditation you've stopped thinking the mantra and that your mind has wandered off to other thoughts. It may be that in advanced TMers all you need to do is think the mantra just once - one thought and then a twenty or thirty minute transcendence. Forme, the whole issue of whether TM is effortless comes down to how its adherents would answer the question: "Does it take effort -- when you become aware that you have a choice about what to think about -- to decide to think about something else and then do it?" If they answer "Yes" to that question, then TM is not effortless, because that is its literal instruction: "When you become aware that you are not thinking the mantra, come back to it." If that process requires effort, then TM is not effortless.
