Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Research, Ethics and the Good Head

[Vaj]

On Apr 17, 2006, at 10:15 AM, authfriend wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >  > On Apr 17, 2006, at 4:58 AM, sparaig wrote: >  > > I am actually quite serious: I really do believe that the > > technique desribed in the pdf is quite distorted and won't go  > > as "deep" as TM. Ironically for the very reason why it asserts > > that it goes deep: it advocates control and makes value- > > judgements about getting lost in thoughts, >  > Actually in this method people would eventually transcend for   > significantly longer amounts of time But does "depth" correspond directly to longer periods of transcending?  Or might it correspond to the level of impurities ("stress") in the nervous system being dissolved (which manifest as discursive thoughts)? Presumably that's what research shows. When you can 'get down and stay down' the mind purifies spontaneously. The research I read on this was from the centerpointe people. They claim that you have to increase this "immersion" in PC slowly over a couple of years in most people, otherwise it's just too much unstressing to process. Wallace, in the aforementioned article, states that a purification does happen once one sustains the state for extended periods: "With the attainment of the ninth state called balanced placement, accomplished  with the force of familiarization, only an initial impulse of will and effort is needed at  the beginning of each meditation session; for after that, uninterrupted, sustained at-  tention occurs effortlessly. Moreover, the engagement of the will, of effort, and inter-  vention at this point is actually a hindrance. It is time to let the natural balance of the  mind maintain itself without interference.  (...) Even when one has reached the state of balanced placement, Samatha has still not  been fully achieved. Its attainment is marked first by a dramatic shift in one’s nervous  system, characterized briefly by a not unpleasant sense of heaviness and numbness on  the top of the head. This is followed by an obvious increase in mental and then physi-  cal pliancy, entailing a cheerfulness and lightness of the mind and a buoyancy and  lightness of the body. Consequently, experiences of physical bliss and then mental  bliss arise, which are temporarily quite overwhelming. But that rapture soon fades,  and with their disappearance, the attention is sustained firmly and calmly upon the  meditative object, and Samatha is fully achieved. The above claims concerning a  shift in one’s nervous system and its consequences have to do with first-hand, empiri-  cal, physiological experiences. It remains to be seen how, or whether, such a theory  and the corresponding physiological changes can be detected objectively and under-  stood in modern scientific terms. " To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS  Visit your group "FairfieldLife" on the web.    To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]    Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.