Sunmaster

As I was watching this new movie "Spaceman", where the astronaut is on a 6-month solo journey in space, I was wondering whether astronauts learn meditation as part of their training in order to aid their mental health during long missions. From the (very short) google search there doesn't seem to be such a training, but something else piqued my interest. I came across 2 interesting articles, talking about how several astronauts had a so-called "overview experiences" that changed their lives. Some people need extreme conditions to feel this overview, but it's available anytime, anywhere. https://qz.com/496201/astronauts-report-an-overview-effect-from-the-awe-of-space-travel-and-you-can-replicate-it-here-on-earth https://www.vice.com/en/article/53dgp5/the-metaphysical-astronauts

Not that strongly if you turn your back to "him" at the first sign of trouble.

There are many ways and techniques. I will tell you a simplified technique I've been using for the last 5 years. 1) Time: the best time is early in the morning. The mind is fresh and not yet filled with plans and worries. Try to start a morning routine and keep doing it every day. 20 minutes is enough to start with. You can also do a short session just before going to sleep. It frees the mind and helps you to have a good sleep. Plus, you know the saying..."The last thought at night, is the first thought in the morning." 2) Place: Find a quiet and cozy spot in your house. You can decorate it if you like, so that it will remind you of the task at hand. 3) Technique: Sit down on a comfortable pillow. Wear loose clothing. You can sit in the lotus position (difficult) or half-lotus position (easier). If you're not the youngest anymore, you may sit on a chair with your feet planted on the ground and your arms relaxed on your legs. Now close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths, it will help relax the body. You can set your intention for the session now...for example "I'm here to observe my mind." I always start with a few sentences of gratitude. So the first "obstacle" is the position of the body. Your aim is to find a neutral position. Sometimes you will notice your upper body leaning forward or backwards. Simply find your neutral position again. In time this will get less and less. Next is the breath. Simply observe how you breathe in and out. Don't try to control it. It will be challenging at first, but this too will get easier with practice. You will notice that thoughts will take away your attention again and again. No problem, simply go back to the breath. The breath will be your anchor that keeps you from going off in the distance, jumping from one thought to another. I also use a mantra in conjunction to the breath. (HONG when inhaling, SOO when exhaling). You could try later on. It's important that you do this regularly, every day. Do what you can, the best way you can. Let me know if you have any questions.

I don't concern myself with beliefs either. All that matters is my own connection to the Infinite...and your own connection to the Infinite. What others do or believe is irrelevant. I replied to your post because you seem to think that such things are only a product of the mind (fantasies), and I disagree on that point.

Maybe read the autobiography of Gopi Krishna "Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man", or for that matter, any account of spiritual rapture of Christian mystics, Buddha's enlightenment, Eckhart Tolle's awakening and many, many more. All made up? All fantasy? All simply chemical reactions? 😄

States of mystical ecstasy have been reported in all cultures throughout history, so this should not come as a surprise to you. For most people it's not like it happens all the time, so maybe it's not really feasible to have a team of scientists following you around all the time, just waiting for you to enter that state. Also, if I were in the position to have such experiences, I wouldn't give 2 figs whether a scientist or anyone else believes me or not.

I'm not sure either, but I was just trying to make a point.

Any idiot is capable of believing something, be it God, the Big Bang, the Flat Earth and so on. The wise man however, is not satisfied with believing alone and wants to find out by himself. Asking questions is good of course, but if after getting the same answer 10 times, the answer is still incomprehensible, maybe the problem is not the answer, but the ability to understand it. Don't just settle for believing in something, but get to know it personally and intimately. Then you won't have to ask questions to anyone.

No, the questioner is branded an idiot, not for asking the question, but for asking the same question again and again even though he was already given an answer.

Nice. Since beliefs are made of thoughts, this means the best and safest of all drugs is your own mind. Placebos work when the individual believes them to have beneficial effects. What if we could strengthen our minds in a way to consciously harness this mental power?

Another simple concept that atheist and materialists seem to completely ignore, is the fact that science can only successfully explore the material/objective world. That's why everything that is part of the subjective world (ie mystical experiences) is reduced to mere biological phenomena. No real explanation has ever come out following this path. If you're happy to believe that, up to you, but it's a BELIEF, not a fact. Science has no clue whatsoever about what consciousness is nor how it is produced. They look at the brain and stipulate that it must come from there, but correlation is not evidence of causation. So, we have a non-explanation given by science and all would-be scientists on this forum BELIEVE it to be true. On the other hand, we have a different explanation rooted in direct and verifiable experience, that doesn't rely on believing anything. Yet, this explanation is not being taken seriously because the findings are not verifiable by science. To exclude millennia of knowledge and wisdom on the grounds that it doesn't fit in the restrictive and incomplete scientific paradigm, is not just completely irrational and illogic, but quite frankly utterly stupid. No doubt you will read this and all you will come up with will still be "But where is the proof!?" 🤣

Waking up at 5? That's perfect. Use that time to do a meditation routine and your life will improve on all levels. You think you are being handed lemons, so make a nice lemonade out of them. 😉

As far as I know, nobody is forced to follow this thread, so feel free to leave any time you feel threatened by new ideas. If I remember correctly, you already left 2 or 3 times, yet (inexplicably and regrettably maybe) you came back every time. The mysteries of life....

I've never heard about Vishwananda before watching this video, but it took me all of 2 minutes to find out that he is not Indian nor does he live in India. As far as I can see, he is not marketing himself as a cancer healer, so your allegations of him being a money-hungry fraud are just baseless accusations. If Jesus himself were to make his long-awaited comeback tomorrow, I'm sure you'd be first in line to throw stones at him. It's not the first time you start a smear campaign without evidence, and probably won't be the last. And what you say about his attire isn't even worthy of a reply.

Yeah...got home and commented at 01.30 in a not so crisp condition. 😅

Your points are valid on some level, but I think you are overthinking it. The point is not to find some alternative explanation to what is being described, but to examine the explanation given by those who are studying the phenomena and more importantly, those who are actually doing it. In this case it is mastering a specific mediation technique that, as a byproduct, allows for a remarkable control over the body and the senses. Would this explanation be really so preposterous that other even less likely scenarios have to be conjured up? I mean, you could think of a hundred different explanations, but why not focus on the one given? Instead of investigating 100 different explanations, investigate the one offered and come to your own conclusion whether it is true or not. That's just common sense really.

You'd be surprised at what the mind is capable of doing when trained properly: Meditation changes temperatures — Harvard Gazette

Excellent. Very nice life you have carved out for yourself. The perfect time and environment in life to direct the focus within. Astute observation about the mind observing the mind. I think it's true that the mind is observing itself, at first. It's the ego looking at itself, playing both the role of the thief and the policeman simultaneously. At a certain point however, something else emerges behind the mind, and the mind becomes just another object that can be observed. This perspective allows you to see the body and the mind as parts of a bigger "I". They appear like a costume you have to wear for a limited period of time. And when you slip into that costume and take on the role it comes with, you also take up its duties and responsibilities. You are also given the tools (a body with senses and a mind to process them) to enjoy life if you choose to do so. From this perspective, life looks a lot different. The bit you said about the environment is also true, to a certain point. As a beginner in meditation, I'm still easily distracted by the environment. It's much easier to quieten the mind in an environment that promotes this silence. Silence in the sense of sound and in the sense of other senses. Meditating in a cave has a different quality compared to a room or in a forest. I've tried. However, people more advanced than me have mastered this "shutting down" the outer senses that they are not perturbed by external inputs. Some people can meditate on the snow in the Himalayas, for example. Of course, these are 2 extremes and there are many shades of grey in between. But the important thing here is to remember that you can train your mind to shut down the outer senses and thus find the silence within. Silence is the fertile ground from which all else emerges. As you see, so far the instructions are very simple and straightforward. They don't require you to change your beliefs. There is no admission fee, nor do you have to read any manuals. They only require you to divert the focus from the outside to the inside. Not just by thinking about it, but really taking the time to sit down and practice. It might sound extreme, but I think that if you are not the master of your mind, then you are its slave. If you believe you are the mind/body, then you are its slave. There is only one way to find out whether this is true or not. Practice looking within regularly. Of course, the question for all of us is, is there a desire to do so?

What is the source of all experience? One thing we all have in common is the fact that we are all conscious/aware. Without that, we wouldn't be here discussing anything. So, I would say that this consciousness is at the base of all experience. Our 5 senses perceive the environment and send signals to the brain. The mind then evaluates those signals and categorizes them in 2 main boxes: good "I want more of that." or bad "I don't like that, avoid!". Perhaps we can agree on this. Where we might not agree is on the nature of consciousness. As a materialist, you probably believe that consciousness is a product of brain activity. It's a belief as good as any, because ultimately there is no concrete scientific evidence either way. Sure, the brain and the mind are linked to consciousness, but correlation is not equivalent to causation. We can say that the 5 senses are like sensory tentacles that take inputs from the external world, feeding data to the mind by way of the brain. So, in this case, the mind is turned outwards. But the mind can also be turned inwards. To do this, we don't need the 5 external senses. Actually, when we do this, we try to "switch off" the 5 senses (sitting still, eyes closed, in a silent room), and only focus our attention on a mantra or the breath or a personal God (whatever the personal preference is). We become a detached observer of the breath. We learn to observe the mind itself. That's why we can say "We are not the mind". If we can observe it, it logically means that we are not it. In regard to happiness then, I can see 2 sources: one is from the outside, perceived through the 5 senses, and one is from the inside. I think we all start out to find happiness in the first one, and we all know that this type of happiness is temporary. Fame, wealth, sex, relationships...they come one day and are gone the next. There comes a point when a person gets tired of this endless chase and starts questioning the whole rat race. Such a person will then look for a different type of happiness, one that is not dependent on external factors, but always available, wherever they are. In my case, I found it on the inside. Don't get me wrong, I still experience happiness from the outside (a good meal, good company, a walk in the forest, playing with my cats, creating art). In fact, these external joys are amplified by the happiness I find within. So, it's not a renunciation of the outside at all, but rather a full embrace of it, while being firmly anchored in the inside. You haven't answered the first question though. What is your source of happiness?

Maybe it would be even more precise to say that the source of happiness is in the mind first, which then translates into physical effects such as the release of endorphins, serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin. The brain doesn't release these hormones by itself but needs an input from the mind. I'm sure you'll agree to this. Science does. Take sport for example. Practicing sport can be a source of happiness for some and a source of pain for others. We can't say it is a universal source of happiness. It's a variable. Or fishing, or mountain climbing. It makes some people happy and leave others completely unfazed. Some brains produce happiness hormones, some don't. Why? Different temperaments, different expectations. Where are these expectations formed? In the mind. The mind then interprets which activity gives pleasure and which doesn't. In this process, the brain is the last one in line, producing the physical results we can measure. So be careful....the brain and the mind are not the same thing. Red Phoenix's quote of M Aurelius is relevant because it highlights exactly this. Thoughts are formed in the mind. The mind uses the brain, and the brain responds to the mind. The mind also changes the brain. People choose their actions—their brains do not force them to do anything. There would be no conscious experience without the brain, but experience cannot be reduced to the brain's actions.

Interestingly, neurologylive.com states the following: 1. Happiness activates several areas of the brain, including the right frontal cortex, the precuneus, the left amygdala, and the left insula. This activity involves connections between awareness (frontal cortex and insula) and the “feeling center” (amygdala) of the brain. Apparently, happiness activates areas of the brain. It doesn't say that the brain produces happiness. So where does happiness come from??

Where exactly? Left side, right side, frontal lobe, medulla oblungata, cerebellum....?

I, on the other hand, stopped wondering why people post ignorant comments and seem to be proud of them too. Evidently, their brains aren't receiving enough signals...

Sure. The difference is where one expects to find happiness. Where do you find it?

The difference between knowing and realizing....