Transcendental Meditation

Ahnimus

gobrowns19 wrote:

I've never been taught meditation or anything, but I've taught myself something that sounds like it would be similar to meditation. And I do it occasionally. I'm sure a lot of you have actually done something similar. I lay on my bed, looking up at the ceiling, and listen to something through ear buds [Abbey Road works best for me.] I close my eyes halfway after a while, trace my eyelashes with my eyes, trace the ceiling, lay my hands over my heart, and just think and relax. Eventually, I'll "snap out of it," and notice 40 minutes have gone by. I'll get back into it like it's nothing, but once I finally decide to get up, I feel so refreshed and just so good. Nothing really can bother you, and you really just feel refreshed.

So to answer your question, I would say yeah, it's in the same vein as being in the zone.

Cool.

Didn't you know though? If time goes by like that, it means you've been abducted by aliens. You are supposed to go to a regression hypnotist, so they can plant some memories.

El_Kabong

angelica wrote:

Totally. I'm in the zone a lot. If you are referring to that state of heightened focus or awareness.

I think it's a continuum. To further degrees there is "cosmic consciousness" which was a term coined by a guy at your local psychiatric facility.

"Dr. Bucke, whose conclusions was presented in his remarkable book Cosmic Consciousness, was a descendent of Sir Richard Walpole, and was in the position of superintendent of the Asylum for the Insane at London, Ontario, Canada, for 25 years."
http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/c/cosmic_consciousness.html

is the "cosmic consciousness" like the "universal mind"?

gobrowns19

That explains it. But hey, I'll let them keep experimenting on me as long as they keep giving me that shot of relaxation.

Ahnimus

angelica wrote:

Totally. I'm in the zone a lot. If you are referring to that state of heightened focus or awareness.

I think it's a continuum. To further degrees there is "cosmic consciousness" which was a term coined by a guy at your local psychiatric facility.

"Dr. Bucke, whose conclusions was presented in his remarkable book Cosmic Consciousness, was a descendent of Sir Richard Walpole, and was in the position of superintendent of the Asylum for the Insane at London, Ontario, Canada, for 25 years."
http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/c/cosmic_consciousness.html

Well, I'm hesitant to suggest that it's a universal or cosmic consciousness. Seems to me it's just capitalizing on the superior computational abilities of the brain. With 10^14 ops, we can compute faster than our desktop computers. However, when we focus on conscious "decision" making, we ignore the computations we've already made with complete accuracy. To figure out simple mathematical problems like (29 + 7) / (3 x 2) shouldn't take us that long. Computers do it in nanoseconds.

Ahnimus

gobrowns19 wrote:

That explains it. But hey, I'll let them keep experimenting on me as long as they keep giving me that shot of relaxation.

Hehe, I was joking. Lost time is very common. Probably due to that kind of relaxation.

angelica

El_Kabong wrote:

is the "cosmic consciousness" like the "universal mind"?

To me it is.

angelica

Ahnimus wrote:

Hehe, I was joking. Lost time is very common. Probably due to that kind of relaxation.

You see, Ahnimus, you were talking about, I think, delta states or brain waves before. We very naturally go in and out of these states or different levels of consciousness all the time. For example, many of the people on this forum naturally operate in theoretical levels which is detached of "empirics". We naturally talk from almost completely our imaginations. This is beyond the normal average awareness that mostly focusses on things. This stuff is very normal.

Ahnimus

angelica wrote:

You see, Ahnimus, you were talking about, I think, delta states or brain waves before. We very naturally go in and out of these states or different levels of consciousness all the time. For example, many of the people on this forum naturally operate in theoretical levels which is detached of "empirics". We naturally talk from almost completely our imaginations. This is beyond the normal average awareness that mostly focusses on things. This stuff is very normal.

Theta waves refer to the state of consciousness we've been discussing.

I was confused by the terminology being used. Terms like "cosmic consciousness" strongly implies a unified consciousness spanding the entire universe and everything in it, including us. "Stream of Life" implied a hallucination to me. Neither of which I accept.

Ahnimus

Does the answer to this math question instantly pop into anyone's mind?

(29 + 7) / (3 x 2) =

No? Come on!

With a brain processing 100,000,000,000,000 operations per second, it should be easy!

I attribute this inability to our conditioning to focus on our consciousness as the decider.

angelica

Ahnimus wrote:

Theta waves refer to the state of consciousness we've been discussing.

I was confused by the terminology being used. Terms like "cosmic consciousness" strongly implies a unified consciousness spanding the entire universe and everything in it, including us. "Stream of Life" implied a hallucination to me. Neither of which I accept.

Do you recognize that you are life?

Ahnimus

angelica wrote:

Do you recognize that you are life?

I exist on the quantum level as anything else. Consisting of the quantum and biological building blocks of life. However, in the qualitative sense, I am merely a life not life.

Ahnimus

Check out this paper
http://www-csli.stanford.edu/~paulsko/papers/SearleHowtoStudy.pdf

Seriously, Searle represents the difference between Quantitative and Qualitative quite well. As he exaplains, something like, A table has both qualitative and quantitative properties. The fact that at the quantum level there is a lot of "uncertainty" and "empty space" does not change the fact that on the qualititative level, the table is solid.

angelica

Ahnimus wrote:

I exist on the quantum level as anything else. Consisting of the quantum and biological building blocks of life. However, in the qualitative sense, I am mere a life not life.

Do you recognize that life is in you, in terms of you are part of the biosphere? Do you see the life within you as the same life that is in a horse?

Ahnimus

angelica wrote:

Do you recognize that life is in you, in terms of you are part of the biosphere? Do you see the life within you as the same life that is in a horse?

To the extent that the complex rythym of molecules make two tables solid, independent of each other.

angelica

Ahnimus wrote:

To the extent that the complex rythym of molecules make two tables solid, independent of each other.

Are you going to join me in the context I'm speaking of, or are you prefering to not?

Do you find tables to be biological?

Ahnimus

angelica wrote:

Are you going to join me in the context I'm speaking of, or are you prefering to not?

Do you find tables to be biological?

I'm using an analogy. How two things can be independent, but share the same quantitative and qualitative properties.

The existance of one cucumber does not depend on the simulataneous existance of another cucumber. Only in respect to lineage and the food chain does life depend on life.

angelica

Ahnimus wrote:

I'm using an analogy. How two things can be independent, but share the same quantitative and qualitative properties.

The existance of one cucumber does not depend on the simulataneous existance of another cucumber. Only in respect to lineage and the food chain does life depend on life.

If your purpose here is to make your own point, there's a good chance you are not going to hear mine.

It sounds like you are responding to my point, but that you don't quite know what my point is yet.

Ahnimus

angelica wrote:

If your purpose here is to make your own point, there's a good chance you are not going to hear mine.

It sounds like you are responding to my point, but that you don't quite know what my point is yet.

I think the answer goes without saying. A person can not live without being within a "biosphere" or otherwise habitable environment, such as the bridge of a space shuttle.

angelica

Ahnimus wrote:

I think the answer goes without saying. A person can not live without being within a "biosphere" or otherwise habitable environment, such as the bridge of a space shuttle.

Do you recognize that we have the physiosphere. Then, transcending the physiosphere, and yet including it, when "objects" begin self-replicating, we move into the level of biosphere and into the realm of "life"?

Ahnimus

angelica wrote:

Do you recognize that we have the physiosphere. Then, transcending the physiosphere, and yet including it, when "objects" begin self-replicating, we move into the level of biosphere and into the realm of "life"?

Ok, do you mean, a distinction between normal phyiscal matter (Physiosphere) and Self-replicating Organisms (Biosphere)?