A discussion of meditation esoterica for everyday utility.
Meditative Tech, Part 1 is about some esoteric thoughts and concepts. And Part 2 is the so what? What are some emerging everyday pragmatic applications and utility.
Clif High was again the inspiration for this week’s post. This post is about laying out some thoughts to consider based on my experience. As always, use your own sovereignty and discernment. Consider the links below to gain some reference and context.
https://clifhigh.substack.com/p/the-undiscovered-country
https://clifhigh.substack.com/p/the-aard-corps
Gap of Now
I often note “jump into the now.” Abide in the gap of now, between the past and future. It’s where freewill, sovereignty and consequences (or feedback) reigns supreme. It’s quite simple… the gap/now is where you choose or decide to be what you are. If you have the courage to choose to be and align with your love, passions, and what brings you joy, it cannot be denied… if you have the audacity to choose. Because you flow (change) with that which is.
It is simply Love, Change, Grow. Love it’s what to do, who you are, and your being. Understand patterns and thus the opportunities for change. Know the framework and process of growing, e.g., gardening. You are the gardener of your own soul, the garden, and the tomato plant in the garden. To prepare in the spring, do in the summer, harvest in the fall, and dive into the introspective work of being a gardener during the winter.
Love is the greatest force in the universe.
Change happens, is constant and inevitable.
Growing can be simple, intuitive, and elegant.
Vipassana Meditation
Vipassana is a very accessible and applicable form of meditation. Think of it as a two-stage operation. The first mode is basically observing your breath. Observing one’s breath helps trains the body to become non-reactive. Helping the mind to become one-pointed (i.e., focused awareness or attention). It also helps soften or readies the heart to become open. This mode is like turning on and controlling the laser. A laser that can penetrate or burn through the superficial crap of things.
The second mode is about equanimity. The ability to observe the forming, release and transforming of phenomena or experience. However, remain in an observation awareness without judgment, attachment, or reactivity. It is the calm equanimity observation of what you just blew up with your laser-focus. You calmly observe the release and transformation. Vipassana notes this is the insight mode. It is a clearer sight to understand the thing is that you just blew up. It is a meditative technology of clear light or sight. But it is not the supreme clear light. Vipassana is a very useful tool, much like a hammer used to smash illusions and see what is inside. Mindfulness is a popular notion of equanimity, but needs to be taken apart. In Vipassana, mindfulness has two aspects. There is the one-pointed mindfulness of focus and that of observation. Laser-focus is active, penetrative, and male. And the other position of mindfulness is being open (non-judgemental or gracefulness), receptive, and female. Both modes are required to understand what is happening and to make something happen.
Breathing and Mindfulness https://lovechangegrow.com/breath-and-mindfulness/
Wrathful Deities https://lovechangegrow.com/wrathful-and-peaceful-deities/
Floatation Tank
This is a discussion of a three hour experience in a flotation tank, using Vipassana meditation and a catalyst. My experience of Vipassana while in a floatation tank was the opportunity of awareness at a whole new level. Floatation tanks significantly change one’s experience because of the attenuation, mitigation, or reduction of distractive influences/pressures from the external environment. There is no light, no sound, no gravity, no external distractions. You are literally thrown into yourself. Eventually quieting all the usual environmental factors that our brain processes in the background at the subconscious level. Because of this non-stimulus environment and the reduced need to react to external environmental factors, the brain no longer needs to actively attend to the proprioceptive (sensory) processing of the physical body. It is like switching the body to “sleep mode.” And the body in sleep mode can still do all kinds of maintenance, repair and rejuvenation where if we were actively attending (with conscious awareness) to this, would muck things up. The physical body is an elegant vehicle for our soul’s time on the planet… unless we impede it and start mucking around.
The Bubbling
However, there is a bubbling up of subtle knots that float up and into awareness. These are the physical, emotional and energetic knots of tension and blocks that come into awareness. Again, using Vipassana as a mindfulness tool, one attends and allows these bubbles to rise to consciousness. And observe, allow them to release their energy and move freely. This is the insight mode. It is like watching clouds form, appear, float by and then reform, dissipate or transform. The technique or insight mode of being non-attached, non-responsive and non-reactive (non-judgmental… neither acting in fascination or aversion). And yet, at another deeper level of insight, you notice the patterns of existence, karma, dharma, patterns of cycling, attention, reaction, etc.
The freeing up of a lot of mental energy via the dampening of external stimuli allows easy habituation to “nothing,” a unique low stress in a reduced differentiation environment. This results in a loss of boundaries between the self and the environment (or other). Often described as time distortion, loss of body awareness. It is where thoughts and feelings meld into being or taking on a translucent existence. In a sense, these are experiences of “translucent existences” and can be viewed as intuition or intuitive insight, epiphanies, ect. But do not come into reality until a person consciously brings them into form or utility.
Supersensitive and Dropping Out
In a sense, the physical awareness of the body, both become supersensitive for a short while. But then the awareness quickly and easily drops out of awareness. For a short time, one becomes more sensitive to hearing and feeling their breathing and perhaps blood flow, but then the steady rhythm of breathing habituates or disappears into and as part of the droning white noise. Your awareness of the body drops out of conscious and only consciousness remains. Your active consciousness or awareness releases (dissociates) from body awareness. Untethered from the body, conscious can wander about. The external environment and worldly reality have dropped away. Along with the sensory or proprioceptive activity, which is no longer required and body awareness quickly drops or habituates from awareness. A person then a person notices their internal environment of thoughts and emotions. Various subtle emotional and/or conceptual knots bubble and float up into awareness. Using Vipassana, these more subtle knots/disturbances are noticed, observed and released.
Because there is a lack of subtle disturbances and differentiation, there becomes a “clear light of awareness” which opens or releases into just “being.” In this “being,” consciousness is out beyond the expansive parameters/boundaries, or alpha and omega. Initially, this experience of being is an oceanic bliss state similar to being in the womb… no worries, no cares or no concerns. Perhaps an alpha-omega nirvana of pure being.
But then this formless and non-manifest awareness wants stimulation. In a sense, one’s consciousness gets bored and goes wandering/wondering about. Searching for something novel and interesting. Having lost or dropped your heavy physical body awareness, you can easily do “cartwheels” in space. Realizing that you can meld thoughts and feelings into “being.” You can travel, morph, and be whatever one wants. In just “being,” there is no concept of linear time. Thus, whatever you think, feel or imagine instantly occurs. In relation to your “normal reality based” awareness or processing, this can be quite disorienting, confusing and quite terrifying. Unless you understand a few things. Which is understanding that you are producing what is happening, that you can influence what is happening via your attention (focus) and equanimity. I.e., the same tool and positioning as Vipassana. And remembering/knowing that you are creating the producer, director, actor, and audience of the entire show.
Knowing all of this enables one to create, explore, understand and access an infinity of experience. Which is only limited by your own self-determined capacity. You can get as jiggly, wiggly and weird as you want. For example, it becomes child’s play to visualize/imaging a ball of light. Then enter the ball of light and become the light. It is quite easy to empathically experience archetypes, e.g., being a mother, father, warrior, fish, toad, plant, etc.
The danger or thought is that you can get easily become seduced and addicted; forgetting that you are the creator of the experience. The experience of you forgetting that you are the creator… is the new drug, new addiction, and results in an infinite cycling through heavens and hells. A whole other level of angels and demons, gods and goddesses, aliens, fairies, crystals, toads, galaxies, ravens, jesters… the royal court of existence where no one gets out alive. Below is another post and aspect of the experience. https://lovechangegrow.com/psychedelics-out-of-the-closet/
Why does this royal court occur?
The pattern is like the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Where, upon death, there is the immediate “clear light” state. And then because of our proclivities, propensities, and perversities we are attracted to certain colors of light. Which eventually leads us to the wounds (that require our attention) and thus the womb of the next reincarnation.
Does this sound like the Hotel California? Or perhaps Kaos… a tv series of Prometheus stealing fire (consciousness) from the gods. I wonder, if in season 2 of Kaos, what happens to Prometheus (representing ego consciousness)? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaos_(TV_series)
Conclusion of Part 1
Anyway, at some point we get pooped back into physical reality… https://lovechangegrow.com/crawling-out-of-the-rabbit-hole/ In a sense, we are Prometheus who has stolen fire from the gods and the question is “so… now what?” What does one do with this stolen fire… destroy or create? Of course, we do. The moment of destruction is also the moment of creation. But this depends on which way one looks. Are you looking at the past (destruction) or to what is emerging (creation). The wonder and horror are that you get to decide, create, and experience… and by-the-way there is no “or not.” Sometimes you choose to play the victim of your creation… and other times the creator. But most of the time (i.e., now) is being on the path, working the process of alchemy, pouring back and forth, mixing and distilling the essence of being… to become… and be.
To be continued next week, part 2… is the so what. This week’s post just became too long. But in the meantime, if you want some more, here is a link to a post for some context. Psychedelics out of the closet https://lovechangegrow.com/psychedelics-out-of-the-closet/
Blessings,
Tim