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When you've been doing it for a while your mind will be blank all the time, which sounds kind of bad but it's actually great, but the interesting thing is once
by Cozumel 10y ago
When you've been doing it for a while your mind will be blank all the time, which sounds kind of bad but it's actually great, but the interesting thing is once you can control your own thoughts you'll start to realise that not all of them are yours.
People are like radios and broadcast their thoughts, and you'll be picking them up without knowing it. You'll also be able to project them i.e influence people. Those powers known as 'siddhis' are just a fraction of what you can attain.
Much like everything western though guided meditation is a horribly bastardised version of the real thing, if you're interested look into Raja Yoga when you're ready.
Edited: http://www.yogebooks.com/english/atkinson/1906-09rajayoga.pdf http://www.yogebooks.com/english/atkinson/1906-09rajayoga.pd...
This is the definitive course guide, the first lesson can take a year, 10 years, or a lifetime, don't go past the first lesson till you're ready. You'll know when you are.
- mythrwy 10y agoIf this were true I'd expect to see yogis running the world. Instead, running the world are people who I suspect aren't much into meditation.
- dgfgfdagasdfgfa 10y agoPerhaps the overlap between people who meditate and sociopaths is low.
- noxplode 10y agoWhy would yogis want to run the world?
- koliber 10y agoI don't think the parent said he wanted yogis to run the world. I believe he said that if yogis could really project their thoughts, it would be a super-power which would enable them to run the world. The conclusion is that since they do not run the world, they likely do not possess such super-powers.
- roansh 10y agoI do not believe that one can achieve supernatural powers with meditation either (for I have not seen someone with those). Assuming they have such superpowers, they also need the desire to run the world. Hence, this way of concluding that they do not possess such powers does not seem right.
- koliber 10y agoI like this mental exercise. I agree that it is possible that they have the mental projection superpower and no desire to run the world. That would make sense, at least from my cursory knowledge of yogis :). However, their philosophy has a central tenet of minimizing suffering. Wouldn't they use their superpower to eliminate suffering to any extent possible? And a counter-point to that is, what if they do have the superpower, and they do use it, and that is why there is less suffering in the world than there otherwise would be. It looks like what we need is a double-blind study.
- 1602 10y agoRunning the world is quite troublesome, and usually, motivated by qualities like greediness, jealousy, &c. Those qualities are very first ones to avoid as you start getting into mindfulness state. Hence even with superpowers (especially with those) yogis should more likely stay away from running the world, just by nature of the things.
- beachstartup 10y agoyou're not doing meditation any favors by promoting it in this light.
- djKianoosh 10y agowhat's the problem? the concepts in that first lesson on the link/pdf Cozumel shared seem pretty relevant to someone learning the basics of meditation.
- djKianoosh 10y agook maybe not the siddhis related stuff ;-)
- hueving 10y agoSaying it gives you the ability to read minds and inject thoughts into other peoples' minds puts it in the same category homeopathy.
- metaphorm 10y agowhat favors is it due? how would you promote it?
- kranner 10y agoI'd be happy enough with increased focus and less anxiety: that's all I'm aiming for as a daily meditator. Siddhis and the rest of it I believe as much as I believe in God (not at all).
- mbrock 10y agoThis is religious proselytizing.
- nonsince 10y agoI have lots of respect for spiritual people and adherents to both religious and non-religious supernatural practices, but I can't pretend that the association with supernatural beliefs didn't put me off getting into meditation and yoga for a long time, despite the very real empirical benefits. I understand that for you these beliefs (which, whether they are true or not, are not scientifically proven, which is important for me) increase the benefit you get from meditation, but for the non-spiritual these associations are a barrier to entry that must be overcome. I now meditate regularly and love it, but I still have some measure of resistance to yoga.
- metaphorm 10y agoso...why do you call it "supernatural" practice? if you admit that there are very real, empirically verifiable benefits and results, then doesn't that make it part of nature? where's the "super" coming from? you say "these beliefs are not scientifically proven, which is important for me". What constitutes scientific proof? what do you suppose ought to be proved, that isn't proved? You already admit that there are very real benefits. A followup question for you: if you meditate regularly now, what do you meditate on? Mindfulness based stress reduction? That's like dipping your toes into an ocean.
- E6300 10y agoI assume that by "supernatural" and "these beliefs", the above poster is referring to the stuff about > People are like radios and broadcast their thoughts, and you'll be picking them up without knowing it.
- tombh 10y ago> When you've been doing it for a while your mind will be blank all the time As others have suggested, this is hyperbole, verging on proselytising. Whilst there is rigorous scientific evidence for the therapeutic benefits of mindfulness, "blank minds" and other exotic states are anecdotes from those heavily invested in particular religious systems. I have no reason to disbelieve the less fantastical claims such as a blank mind, but I see absolutely no evidence to suggest that they are an inevitable and universal climax of those who practice for long periods.
- gerbilly 10y agoI think it would be better restated as 'when you've been doing it for a while you can make your mind blank all the time.'[0] But it turns out that even though this can be really peaceful, it is not as useful as keeping your mind just at the threshold of the blankness, with just enough thoughts and sensations left.[1] Why? Because you can use this state to investigate the workings of the mind, and to start to see how sensations cause thoughts, which can cause further thoughts and on and on etc. [2] Meditation in many Buddhist traditions is to be used as a tool of investigation. It makes the mind just calm enough to enable you to study it. It is a form of introspective psychology. An analogy from fluid dynamics: It can be almost impossible to predict the behaviour of a turbulent fluid, in fact this is one of the few remaining unsolved problems of classical mechanics. But we do have laws for laminar flows. In the same way, calming the mind just enough, can be a great way to learn more about its workings. And having experiential insight into how your mind works, not book knowledge, literally can change your life. I know it has changed mine. [0] The four 'Jhanas' (http://www.imsb.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/FourJhanas.pdf http://www.imsb.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/FourJhanas.pd...) [1] Access concentration. [2] Dependent co-arising. (Great analogy on that here: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/resonance.html http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/resona...)
- dahauns 10y agoMeditation definitely has its merits, but... > People are like radios and broadcast their thoughts, and you'll be picking them up without knowing it. You'll also be able to project them i.e influence people. Those powers known as 'siddhis' are just a fraction of what you can attain. ...now you make it sound like NLP.
- metaphorm 10y agoWhat is language except a means to project your thoughts into the minds of others? NLP literature sometimes makes claims that aren't robustly supported, but it's not really that exotic of an idea.