Transcendental Meditation
Ahnimus
Posts: 10,560
Does anyone actually do this?
There has been some scientific evidence that this can reconnect regions of the brain that have fallen out of use. There has also been evidence that this can make a person insane.
There has been some scientific evidence that this can reconnect regions of the brain that have fallen out of use. There has also been evidence that this can make a person insane.
I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
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http://www.myspace.com/illuminatta
Rhinocerous Surprise '08!!!
Except, it's not, it is a hyperactive state of brain activity. It's putting the brain into overdrive. Which potentially has some damaging effects.
It's not actually leaving the brain, or reality. It's a state of hyperactive frontal lobe and temporal lobe activity.
I would suggest something of this sort would be good to heal the brain, but not as an everyday practice.
Most people think they are the external world of objects and really they are looking outward all day, and yet do not have the balance of understanding the one who is doing the looking. If we don't understand the lens we look through, we definitely don't understand what we see.
http://www.myspace.com/illuminatta
Rhinocerous Surprise '08!!!
Well, at least I know what you are talking about now. I watched that Dan ___ guy from "What the BLEEP" talk about this for 2 hours and couldn't figure out what the heck he was talking about. Talking about wholeness and stuff. Finally they brought a guy on stage and performed a live EEG of the brain state during TM and now I know what you all mean. But I don't think it's a good idea.
Hyperstimulation of brain regions can cause damage.
Intense activation of the temporal lobe, hippocampus, and amygdala has been repeatedly reported to give rise to a host of sexual, religious and spiritual experiences; and chronic hyperstimulation can induce an individual to become hyper-religious or visualize and experience ghosts, demons, angels, and even God, as well as claim demonic and angelic possession or the sensation of having left their body (Bear 1979; Daly 1958; Gloor 1986, 1992; Horowitz et al. 1968; MacLean 1990; Mesulam 1981; Penfield & Perot 1963; Schenk, & Bear 1981; Slater & Beard 1963; Subirana & Oller-Daurelia, 1953; Trimble 1991; Weingarten, et al. 1977; Williams 1956). Indeed, as detailed in chapter 9, the temporal lobe, amygdala and hippocampus enables humans to have religious, spiritual and mystical experiences (Bear 1979; Daly 1958; d'Aquili & Newberg 1993; Mesulam 1981; Trimble 1991).
In one case, a 37 year-old manager of a car dealership had been struck by a car while walking across a street, and was slammed against the pavement, striking his head. According to this fellow (GM), once he gained "consciousness" he realized he was standing next to his body, which was still lying in the street. He could see that his head was bloody, and he could see that he was unconscious and he could see other people rushing over to where he lay. However, this dissociative hallucination only lasted a few seconds, and then he was back in his body, regaining consciousness. GM states that his experience was a "revalation" and although he had never been religious, that he became very religious, and began reading the Bible, volunteering at a local church, and writing a religious column for a small local newspaper. He also began having repeated episodes where he would float beside his body. As his wife complained that he was repeatedly "blanking out" and as he was also having memory problems, he sought medical help, was referred for neuropsychological testing, which revealed significant disturbances of memory, and evidence of temporal lobe epilepsy. Subsequent EEG demosntrated bilateral spiking and theta activity over the temporal lobes.
http://brainmind.com/Area34Uncus.html
Also, I've tried clearing this up before and you have disregarded my experience, but for the record, I personally have not ever had an out of body experience. All of my spiritual experiences have been about the stream of life meeting my conscious awareness, or my conscious awareness meeting the stream of life. This stream is what enlivens me in each day, and therefore it's my ground nature. We all can tap it at any time. Most of us don't because we're busy living out our conditioning.
Hopefully you are finally getting what I'm saying. It's not magic and it's not weird. It's just somewhat uncommon in terms of experience. P.S., I don't remember that part of "what the bleep" so I don't know what you are saying. Have you seen the movie "The Secret"?
http://www.myspace.com/illuminatta
Rhinocerous Surprise '08!!!
It wasn't part of What the BLEEP it was a lecture at the University of Washington
http://www.uwtv.org/programs/displayevent.aspx?rID=4169&fID=871
Why does it sound like I'm talking to Chopra all the time? Can't anyone talk about meditation normally? In normal terms!
However, the effect of meditation Theta waves is the identical to half-half sleep-wake state. I call it day dreaming or going to sleep. Or taking a break. Like when I just want to sit and think about nothing. It's the same deal. I don't think there is anything mystical or supernatural about it, it's just called being relaxed. Whatver mysticism people attach to it, is because they can't explain it or want to sell it as a magic remedy.
http://www.mum.edu/tm_research/tm_biblio/physio_a.html
I'd like to see some corroborating evidence, though I don't doubt what is claimed. I just don't see why it has to be flipped over from science to mysticism.
from my window to yours
I'm just now learning what these people are talking about. They don't use terms like Theta waves, Frontal and Temporal lobe, or anything like that. They use terms like "wholeness" and "stream of life" which don't explain what they are actually experiencing.
Also, meditation has not been mentioned in any Psych books I've read. Must have been omitted for lack of a decent explanation.
So Buddhists meditate, but also recognize that they are experiencing an altered state of consciousness. As far as I know, it's not catagorized as an interaction with the outside world, but an internal subjective experience caused by hyperstimulation of various brain regions.
^^^^^^^^ That's how it should be explained, in terms like that.^^^^^^
neither of you is talking about it normally or using normal terms.
Well, normal in terms of brain-consciousness study.
That lecture at the University of Washington was like no other lecture I've ever seen. There was maybe 5 mins of actual scientific representation. The rest (1:25:00) sounded like mysticism or new-age psychobabble. Just listen to David Lynch talk for a few minutes and you will want to turn it off.
It's important for forum communication that we use concise descriptive words.
Been doing it since the early 70's, on and off.
It makes me feel good.
Still here, still feel good, but it's never helped me remember where I left my car keys.
Don't be mankind. ~Captain Beefheart
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It sounds like it's good for relaxation. It also sounds like something I do regularily without a mantra or any attached mysticism.
What irks me the most about it, is if you want to learn it, there are hundreds of mystics ready to leech your wallet.
I also worry that it's not actually a hightened state of awareness, but a hightened state of creativity. Which, when misrepresented gives the illusion of a reality that does not actually exist outside of the creativity of our minds during such practices.
I think it's like everything in life anymore. Somebody wants to make a buck off it, some teachers are legit and some aren't and you don't HAVE to pay somebody a lot of money to do it, although there are plenty of people who will gladly take your money!
I've never paid anything to learn it. I started doing it years ago with a teacher and now when I do it, it's routine, and it clears my head, and I really don't get into the mysticism, and never met anybody who has.
A mantra helps you get into your meditation, and some people use it, some people don't need it.
If I think too deeply about it, it defeats the purpose to me. I've never actually sat and thought about it being better for creativity, or heightened awareness or if my brain synapsis are shorting out.
I actually think of it as rebooting my brain. It shuts off, then starts up on its own when I come out of it.
haha,, now you have me worried!
I think in the last 15 to 20 years or so, a lot of people tend to want to quantize exactly what something is doing, be it TM, Yoga, or who the best band in the world is, or the best song of the year, etc.
For instance, I do yoga, too. I don't own a special mat, or a special set of clothes, and go to a class only on occasion. I learned from some classes and now I go upstairs in my house, roll out a towel and just do it, and it's the best thing I've ever done for my body.
When people find out I'm doing it, a lot wonder if I'm into the Dalai Lama, or how I do it without being in a class, because the perception to some people is that we need to be doing it and keeping records of how much farther we can stretch or move, and in reality, it should be non competitive and something that makes your body and mind feel better.
The whole practice of yoga is to TAKE your mind and body away from the daily rigors, but some people feel that need to go through those very rigors to DO yoga.
haha,, I forget what I was talking about! Some help TM is!
Don't be mankind. ~Captain Beefheart
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Well, I find listening to Kitaro helps me to relax.
http://www.amazon.com/Mandala-Kitaro/dp/B000005WN6
Yoga is actually good for the brain. Suprisingly, anything that is not routine is good for the brain. E.g. if you are right-handed, using your left hand to perform routine functions exercises the brains ability to use the left hand. Eventually becoming ambidexterous. Likewise, when a person is learning to ride a bicycle or swing a golf club, they are exercising their brain as well.
Physical exercise in general exercises the brain. Walking oxygenates the brain providing greater clarity of thought.
http://www.fi.edu/brain/exercise.htm
Much is left to know about how the brain works, of course. But one well-known fact is that the brain causes consciousness. So, if a person feels that their consciousness can exist outside of their brain. That's getting dangerously close to psychosis or dementia. Perhaps there is a thin-line between healthy brain exercise and unhealthy brain exercise.
http://www-csli.stanford.edu/~paulsko/papers/SearleHowtoStudy.pdf
from my window to yours
I'm always learning. The biggest mistake people make is to read a book or take a course and think that is everything. We have to constantly be learning to exercise our brains and to learn new information and to relearn old information.
http://www.myspace.com/illuminatta
Rhinocerous Surprise '08!!!
oh my gosh, you are an IDIOT! ha. i am just saying that it seems like you are taking a survey course because you have something NEW every other day. so, are you really learning anything...or reading, regurgitating, and moving on? your sympathy for murderers is interesting though based on your belief that everything is pre-determined, yet, still misguided.
from my window to yours
Many people talk about meditation in a way the majority understands, using objective accounts. In other words, talking about what can be mapped and understood by everybody. People can relate to sitting on a mat, closing the eyes, even chanting, or whatever. The people who talk about the experiential aspects from a subjective point of view are sharing a perspective that significantly fewer people will understand. It's not something that one can comprehend except by experience. Just like "God" stuff. People can relate to shared subjective experiences, like if I say I feel sad, you don't feel that I sound odd and "out there" because you also have that experience and can relate. Those who actively delve deeper into consciousness go beyond the standard understandings. Even talking about it, one often feels the need to use metaphors half the time in order to give someone a hint of what one means. ie: "stream" of life. To use thought to explain what is beyond thought, in itself distorts the experience.
http://www.myspace.com/illuminatta
Rhinocerous Surprise '08!!!
What is the opposite to learning something new everyday? Learning nothing everyday. Which I assume is your practice.
So, you resort to labeling me an IDIOT? Does that strengthen your ego?
Pathetic.
That makes sense, up to "what is beyond thought", makes no sense. What is beyond thought?
hahahahaha. this has become quite humorous to me. you don't seem to be LEARNING anything. you just seem to read the basic tenets of something and then spew them at the message board. you OBVIOUSLY cannot understand what i'm saying. again, the way you come here and blather on about this and that makes it seems like you're an 18 year old freshman finally getting out of the holler and opening a BOOK! me calling you an idiot was a joke, hence the ha. but, now, gloves are off. go read something else that you don't really understand and come here and start a "debate" about it whilst you read more about it.
from my window to yours
Why would you assume to understand my actions at all? You can not see what I'm doing, you can simply read what I'm writing. Your knowledge of my actions are null. It would seem your only purpose in addressing me is to question my motives, based on your hypothesis that I know nothing. I think your motivation for your hypothesis is self-gratification. This is evident by your lack of constructive input.
What I can say, in more "normal" terms is how meditation affects me in my day and out life. First of all, when you spend half an hour, or a whole one each day for years, doing something, you become quite good at it. I sit in meditation, every day and consciously detach from my thoughts, from concepts and from their value to me. So rather than focus on my thoughts, I focus on what is beyond them. It's like if you look to clouds in the sky, and then let go of that focus and instead notice the sky that is behind the clouds. The clouds float in and out, and yet that is not all that is there. Thoughts, desires, ideas and beliefs come and go. The ground upon which the thoughts, ideas and beliefs travel remains consistent.
Basically, this experience in meditation feels like nothing to me. And yet, it's the extra edge I bring to my "real" life that I thrive on. Through daily meditation, I have learned to focus and hone in on things to a very serious degree because I train my focus daily. I can see further into subjects than the average person because I can focus more intently than is usual. Sometimes it's almost "otherworldly". I can keep control of my attention, for my specific purposes. Many people are like feathers in the wind, at the mercy of the forces around them. They don't even realize how they are caught up in dramas and conditioning. I thrive on being quite independent of those forces, relatively speaking. Due to the fact that I can hone in, focus, and avoid ugly entanglements, I am much more potent in problem solving than I was pre-meditation. Due to this, life stressors, to me have become muted. My victim-stance of the past has become mostly eliminated. I feel like I'm walking around in life, through these easy secret corridors that others can't see, where all my choices are made with ease and certainty, while others at times appear as though they are trudging through sludge each day.
Every day, I detach from my thought processes and conditioning. From a postion outside of them, I observe them "objectively". By detaching from these thoughts and conditioning, I take a stance beyond them effectively hiving off a truly objective part of myself that is unhindered by my subjectivity. From this detached place beyond the thoughts, my awareness then embraces these thoughts and I realize I am not merely them. Therefore I realize I can alter, manipulate and adjust my conditioning at will. I am no longer programmed by conditioning, but rather, I take the role of command of myself.
http://www.myspace.com/illuminatta
Rhinocerous Surprise '08!!!
Wow, that was so much easier to read. I do that without meditation or free-will. I know exactly what you mean.
Cool. I was going to add that you should find similar benefits, especially due to the fact that you have a similar intuition to myself. And since we both have been known to have "attention issues".
I thought you would relate. It looks like our communication glitches are due to that you prefer to speak and hear objective stuff, whereas it's more natural for me to speak subjectively. (which is exactly the difference between our almost-identical personality types, by the way)
http://www.myspace.com/illuminatta
Rhinocerous Surprise '08!!!