Minds So Infinitely Small.

The idea is that there is something apart of us that is "eternal" and the only way to prove this is to assume that all that exists is eternal, and the world of perceptual differences is the "illusion" that we are more or less fascinated with when we are divorced from the perpetual equality of existence as it stands.

To realise this "eternal all" does take quite a mind, a mind that that is not preoccupied with petty or inconsequential things, such as ones "ego" and the world that supports its needs.

a reply to: BigBrotherDarkness

If anyone wants to know, the closest thing I have felt to the first bliss was, that was not actually bliss? Nitrous Oxide inhalation. But there is no awareness of a body or a mind...

it's as if you are a stream of electrons flowing through a wire

what snaps you out of it? The same thing that keeps you from it again... trying to cling to the sensation. That's why non-attachment is stressed so much. It isn't non-attachment as most would assume, as unfeeling, uncaring, despondent, aloof etc. that's actually dispassion... the opposite of compassion that arises from practice. Many times, I seem aloof to people just observing me... and it's understandable, as I am usually just calmly abiding(mind sitting in quiescence) with my focus just sitting unfettered to anything the senses could fall on.

That somewhat explains my ethereal experiences, in that, once I realize my newly manifested energy form, or delve deeper into the awareness of the experience/sensation, or become one with the all, it then it becomes apparent that I have the free will to choose to stay or go; the sky's the limit, so to speak. For me, there is no immediate snapping out of it unless I will myself to snap out of it. So, yes, it does require the mind sitting in quiescence and one's focus unfettered to the mind/body.

Think of your mind/body as a bag of conducting chemicals with the spark/energy of animated life and consciousness flowing through it and the Earth and all that is. All you have to learn (focus/manifest) to do is detach and then hitch a ride; don't forget to leave breadcrumbs (energy stream attachment to the body/mind) or you may lose your way.

originally posted by: bb23108

However, all perceptions are clearly of the past. All experience is perceptual and all perceptions take time to process through the nervous system and brain-mind. Thus any perception is already a memory by the time we experience it.

The seer (perceiver) and the seen (perceived) arise as one seamless being.
The seer (all seeing, all knowing and ever present awareness) is the father - the seen (ever present but ever changing -the body of Christ - the son) ARE ONE.

So until awareness transcends perception, which means transcending the body-mind - there is only living in the perceived past. This is why perceptions are never equivalent to Reality itself nor an experience of the Here and Now.

Thoughts cannot know the present -thought cannot speak about now. Thought always speaks now and is heard now - it speaks about before and after or there and then - so thought cannot capture or grasp reality but it appears in reality and is made of nothing but reality.
Everything is happening now.
Now is Being all that is and is not.

originally posted by: Itisnowagain
Everything is happening now.
Now is Being all that is and is not.

True, and if we believe our perceptions are the equivalent to absolute Reality, we are fooling ourselves.

a reply to: InTheLight

Remaining in quiescence is being one with the void, even with the monkey chatter... we are always one, but dualism causes the limited ego self to arise and cause a sense of separation.

I never have to separate from the all, except to communicate mundane things, this is required simply because of the body presence. If I do not have to communicate anything, then I choose where to direct my focus and place it there, or just stay in the void. I'm alive so sitting in the void only means sitting for hours as my body goes about it's cellular business, as various contact at the senses are perceived but not defined.

This is akin to Bodhidharma facing the wall in zen. Did he actually sit in front of a wall for years? It's a metaphor, the practice of wall sitting; is the same as the one pointed meditation in the previous post eventually the mind does not move in relation to the wall... the wall does not exist and neither do you at the end of that training, this is the experience of oneness. There are no concepts about the wall that can possibly arise to cover it's true nature. So when it is said that Bodhidharma sat in front of the wall for all of those years... that means everything was one and free of any concept or thought that distinguishes self and other... Bodhidharma and wall. That's what the Ox herding pictures in Zen are showing.

I'd rather not think anything you suggest, and I do not mean that as rude, it's just there are so many random concepts of duality in what you suggest. There is just no reason to grasp any concept, other than placate you and attempt to build a house when there are no materials for it; but yours.

"lose your way"... in the same wisdom of the wall and Bodhidharma, there is nothing to be lost & no one to lose it. I do appreciate your concern for my well-being, in thanks I will say this:

If there is an attachment to a self or body as something separate from the void, then there will be a sense of losing ones way and a way to be lost. But when there is no distinction existing between self and void, other than attachment to one's form? There is nothing to lose or that can be lost, other than what is clung too.

Clinging is what allows the very concept of loss to arise, when there is no clinging? There is no loss to be perceived, except in the construct created out of the concept of loss. There is simply nothing to lose or gain, without attachment. What is it you may be concerned with losing? Are you scared that you may not exit from something you are one with back to the self you identify with, if you do not leave "bread crumbs" as you call it? The mental construct becoming skewed, from a base personality... can and does happen with many dabbling in esoteric practices. Losing a self that doesn't exist in the first place is nothing to be concerned about, except in regard to family and society. An unbound conscious that is still attached to the body does not necessarily equate to madness, this is full enlightenment. There is an experiencing as things arise and pass due to the body, there are many forms the mind can be placed on, in order to do work of some sort required to live... or enjoy being alive... otherwise the mind is just unbound and calmly abiding.

The easiest analogy I can deliver is this: Consider a machine, this particular machine has a form, it has a motor, and it has a clutch. The motor is the constant energy running in ones body or frame, and the mind is like the clutch that transmits power from the engine to the body in order to do work it is attached too. When nothing has been focused on in order to do work, the mind or clutch sits calmly abiding, the engine always running calmly abides until it requires maintenance; more fuel or removal of fuel waste, the body is also calmly abiding as the engine is bolted onto it as one, when the engine fails in it's ability to operate so does the body or frame, when this occurs, then no more work can be accomplished by the machine. If this machine is not attached to anything, then what work does it need to do or accomplish? It is just a motor in a frame, that can engage or disengage the clutch. The machine is still functional of course but it is just calmly abiding, engaging or disengaging the clutch at will, until it ceases to operate.

Of course, that does not sound all that useful... and a waste of a perfectly good machine. But there is simply no longer any master of the machine... it can perform whatever work it chooses to apply itself too, aware but unconcerned of it's eminent shut down as it's parts wear.

a reply to: BigBrotherDarkness

Yes, that is it, clinging to one's form, so as not to lose that corporeal experience as one may not be finished with that journey. When that form ceases to be, then there is nothing to cling on, so then begins an unfettered journey.

Barefooted and naked of breast, I mingle with the people of the world.
My clothes are ragged and dust-laden, and I am ever blissful.
I use no magic to extend my life;
Now, before me, the dead trees become alive.

originally posted by: bb23108

originally posted by: Itisnowagain
Everything is happening now.
Now is Being all that is and is not.

True, and if we believe our perceptions are the equivalent to absolute Reality, we are fooling ourselves.

Do you consider the plain act of seeing 'perceiving'?
Seeing and hearing are happening and thought interprets what has been witnessed - this too appears within the seeing.

It is said that 'the truth is hidden in plain sight' - could the plain act of seeing be it?
Saint Francis Assisi said - 'We are looking for what is looking'.

What does mind actually appear as? What is 'mind' experienced as?
The 'thinking mind' consists of thought. The 'thinking mind' chats away but it is appearing in a huge space which often gets overlooked.

originally posted by: Itisnowagain
Do you consider the plain act of seeing 'perceiving'?

Anything consciously experienced through the body-brain-mind complex is perceptual - and therefore a limited point-of-view of Reality, and not Reality as it truly IS.

originally posted by: Itisnowagain
It is said that 'the truth is hidden in plain sight' - could the plain act of seeing be it?
Saint Francis Assisi said - 'We are looking for what is looking'.

No, he was speaking of a mystical understanding of awareness, not perception. Awareness is fundamental Being and can never objectify itself to itself.

Awareness is prior to all seeing, all perceptions - it is unconditional Consciousness - and this is only recognized when Awareness suddenly notices it is prior to the mechanism of attention/body-brain-mind.

a reply to: Itisnowagain

That is a very interesting way to approach becoming one with the quiet, so, yes, our minds/thoughts are infinitely small (just a flicker) within the quiet, which may be existence/consciousness/creation.

a reply to: bb23108
The assumption is that the body is seeing - when really the body appears within the seeing.
What is the all seeing, all knowing presence? Does it ever appear to be seen?

a reply to: Itisnowagain
You tell me - these are your uses of those terms. I always equate seeing with perception. I use different words for what you apparently mean by "seeing".

May be why we often seem to not be on the same page.

We postulate things and substances in the body.

The all knowing presence,
Consciousness,
Perception,
The intellect,
The seeing,
Awareness.

That's six things and substances that have been postulated to exist on this page alone, despite not one of them manifesting to anything other than a thought and a word.

originally posted by: bb23108
a reply to: Itisnowagain
You tell me - these are your uses of those terms. I always equate seeing with perception. I use different words for what you apparently mean by "seeing".

You use the term 'feeling-being', 'feeling- awareness' - and here (quoted below) 'feeling-perception'.

Or is there simply feeling-perception of a unified whole when you are simply being the whole integrated conscious feeling breathing body-mind complex - rather than being distracted by its processes, feeling associated with the head over against the body, and/or the head over against the emotional heart center?

Seeing is feeling. When words (conceptualization) come up over the top of seeing, the pure direct seeing is obscured. Ultimately, it can never be obscured even the words (conceptualizing speech mind) are appearing within the seeing.

May be why we often seem to not be on the same page.

Maybe.

originally posted by: LesMisanthrope
We postulate things and substances in the body.

The all knowing presence,

Presence is not in the body or outside the body. Body is a word.

That's six things and substances that have been postulated to exist on this page along, despite not one of them manifestingto anything other than a thought and a word.

There are no things - there is only what is happening.

The quiet. Never heard that one before. Add another substance to the long list of them.

a reply to: Itisnowagain

There's plenty of things. You're one.

originally posted by: LesMisanthrope
The quiet. Never heard that one before. Add another substance to the long list of them.

What is existence made of - what substance?

a reply to: Itisnowagain

No substance.

originally posted by: LesMisanthrope
a reply to: Itisnowagain

No substance.

Existence is what is appearing to happen.
That which is happening is nothing (no substance)/emptiness and is the source and sum of all existence??