THE meditation thread - Page 6 - EDF Forum

DonkBluffer · 03-07-2008, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by amplify

I never heard of him, but it looks like he studied with Ramesh Balsekar, who studied with Nisargadatta. My guy is Sailor Bob Adamson, who was also a student of Nisargadatta. So we're in the same Advaita family.

Have you actually met Sailor Bob Adamson and attended his teachings irl? I have the book 'Living Reality', and I only read it once, but I remember that when I finished it I was actually laughing out loud. It's all just appearances! All imaginary! Wheeee! We live our lives thinking that problems are actually real, but as Sailor Bob says: 'What's wrong with right now unless you think about it?'

But I listened to a podcast with him and I didn't really like it. IIRC I thought he repeatedly made fun of people who still believe that there is something to gain or to attain and that you must do something to become 'englightened', etc. A "better than thou" attitude, if that makes any sense.

amplify · 03-07-2008, 09:16 AM

No I haven't met him, Australia is a long way! There is a lot of mystique in spirituality about being in the presence of a guru, nearly all of which is crap. There's a cool Advaita teacher named John Sherman who lives 30 minutes from me in Ojai and has a lineage to Ramana Maharshi. I have made no effort to meet him either, there's nothing spiritual to gain from it.

It's funny, I'd have to say that I liked the podcasts of Bob's that I heard, but I didn't like Living Reality so much because the author kept going on these tangents about his astrology practice all the time. Really though, Advaita is so easy you can get it in about 15 minutes. And Sailor Bob is just a guy, if he rubs you the wrong way then get it from Wei Wu Wei or Douglas Harding or Nisargadatta, it's mostly just intellectual entertainment anyway.

StnBuddha · 03-07-2008, 04:21 PM

I've done martial arts for a long time and meditation was, at times, an intense part of the training but not required. Anyway, there are various ways the benefits of consistent meditation training can manifest itself and I'd like to mention one that I saw in someone else.

Well, someone I trained with years ago was a person who was not very gifted physically. He was short, very stiff, not flexible and would freeze up and lose it mentally and make all his shortcomings worse. Then one day he started to meditate. Nothing changed. But he kept at it and suddenly everything changed. He transformed from the person I described above to a smooth, poised, graceful and mentally calm in control terror.

So was meditation responsible? Although I can't say with 100% certainty that it was, what I witnessed was very consistent with the much vaunted benefits of meditating.

Peace!!!

manupod · 03-09-2008, 03:48 PM

Just had my first session, if you can call it that.

15 minutes, sitting in some different positions- legs out, cross legged, etc. Focused on breathing, and had my mantra (baseball) ready to go. Very relaxing, felt good to feel the air around me. My eyes bounced around from open, closed and states in between. Finished with some stretching.

I feel very relaxed right now. I'm not sure what I did was technically meditation but it definitely piqued my interest in such things and I look forward to seeing where this takes me. I'm hoping for 15 minutes per day, to start, followed by some deep breathing and stretching.

Thanks for the ideas (and any specific advice you might have for me).

lavaman · 03-09-2008, 10:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by manupod

I feel very relaxed right now. I'm not sure what I did was technically meditation....

That's cool. Just wanted to remind that the purpose of meditation is usually to practice paying attention, rather than relaxation per se.

manupod · 03-09-2008, 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lavaman

That's cool. Just wanted to remind that the purpose of meditation is usually to practice paying attention, rather than relaxation per se.

Well, I was paying attention to breathing, the way my body felt, the air around me...but not to silly thoughts or whatever. I guess I felt more focused, which relaxed me, if that makes sense.

AlexSem · 03-10-2008, 12:17 AM

amplify,

I hope this doesn't sound like hate hate hate but... You have 18,000 posts. What has meditation and knowledge about enlightenment realistically done for your life?

My concern is that it feels like people here aren't particularly enlightened or even on a path to enlightenment and are using meditation as some mega-technique to let go of stress.

While that is great, it is ultimately a waste of time. The equivalent of Tylenol to fix a permanent issue, it's just not going to do it.

What do you think?

garcia1000 · 03-10-2008, 12:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexSem

amplify,

I hope this doesn't sound like hate hate hate but... You have 18,000 posts. What has meditation and knowledge about enlightenment realistically done for your life?

My concern is that it feels like people here aren't particularly enlightened or even on a path to enlightenment and are using meditation as some mega-technique to let go of stress.

While that is great, it is ultimately a waste of time. The equivalent of Tylenol to fix a permanent issue, it's just not going to do it.

What do you think?

Meditation is sort of like sex in that way

amplify · 03-10-2008, 12:56 AM

AlexSem,

What does 18,000 posts have to do with it?

People want to change their state. Drugs, sex, gambling, food, meditation, it's all about state change. Which is fine, that's how our brains work. Tylenol is popular for a reason, headaches suck.

The permanent issue is that we have these monkey brains and these silly bodies and a ridiculous culture and it's kind of hard to get through the day if you take everything quite seriously. Either you learn not to or you manipulate your experience so that it's more tolerable.

I'm not really sure that I understand what you are driving at. Knowledge about enlightenment, whatever you think that is, has no ability to do anything for your life. Meditation can do all sorts of different things, from training concentration to gaining equanimity to generating lovingkindness to releasing stress, all of which can improve your experience. Mostly though, it's just sitting around.

I gave my meditation mat to my dog, her meditation is of the highest quality.

hoyasnaxa · 03-10-2008, 01:18 AM

I think hes saying 18k posts = you have no life. He thinks that after meditation you will reach nirvana and swear off 2+2 and know the meaning of life (I think).

Nielsio · 03-10-2008, 01:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexSem

amplify,

I hope this doesn't sound like hate hate hate but... You have 18,000 posts. What has meditation and knowledge about enlightenment realistically done for your life?

My concern is that it feels like people here aren't particularly enlightened or even on a path to enlightenment and are using meditation as some mega-technique to let go of stress.

While that is great, it is ultimately a waste of time. The equivalent of Tylenol to fix a permanent issue, it's just not going to do it.

What do you think?

So many contradictions in here.

If you're interested in getting people enlightened, why are you trying to turn them away from meditation?

Furthermore, I doubt you even know what the practise is.

lavaman · 03-10-2008, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by manupod

Well, I was paying attention to breathing, the way my body felt, the air around me...but not to silly thoughts or whatever. I guess I felt more focused, which relaxed me, if that makes sense.

Paying attention to how relaxed your body felt is a good thing :-)

lavaman · 03-10-2008, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexSem

My concern is that it feels like people here aren't particularly enlightened or even on a path to enlightenment and are using meditation as some mega-technique to let go of stress.

While that is great, it is ultimately a waste of time. The equivalent of Tylenol to fix a permanent issue, it's just not going to do it.

It's great? Or a waste of time? Which is it? How can letting go of stress be a waste of time?

Well, if you allow yourself to get stressed all the time and only come down through meditation, I certainly wouldn't call that a waste of time. But ideally we'd be using meditation to practice avoiding stress at the source - that is related to your point. But again, I think that arthritis sufferers hardly think taking their pain medication is a waste of time.

manupod · 03-10-2008, 01:53 PM

Question-

Thoughts on keeping a journal for this, so I have an idea of what worked for me/ didn't work, how each session went, things to try, etc? Is that just overkill and defeating the point of something that's supposed to be simple and relaxing?

inferno · 03-11-2008, 02:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexSem

amplify,

I hope this doesn't sound like hate hate hate but... You have 18,000 posts. What has meditation and knowledge about enlightenment realistically done for your life?

My concern is that it feels like people here aren't particularly enlightened or even on a path to enlightenment and are using meditation as some mega-technique to let go of stress.

While that is great, it is ultimately a waste of time. The equivalent of Tylenol to fix a permanent issue, it's just not going to do it.

What do you think?

So you need to have done something in the past to be on the road to the future to become in the present moment? I think you are missing the whole point. You can be in the now, now.