|
|
 |
|
| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
gentlep
USA
114 Posts |
 Posted - Oct 13 2007 : 2:07:34 PM
|
Today while meditating I experienced that the mantra is going on in the foreground or background and I have some thoughts/images going on in the foreground/background(now-a-days I have hard time telling which is foreground and which is background). Then I notice that I am noticing both the mantra and the thought. And then I am aware that I am noticing both the mantra and thought. So there is this awareness->then noticing->then mantra->and thought/image all are running in parallel.
So WHO is the observer? It's like the thought observing the thought observing the thought observing the thought. Now it's all confusing. |
|
|
Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2007 : 2:17:28 PM
|
Yep, classic question. My suggestion: nurture the pure confusion aspect and drop the quandry itself (and the meta-observation on which it's based). Fall back into the feeling of confusion and disperse your molecules into it. Confusion is your friend. Seek to cultivate the sort of "senior moment" moments when your mind blanks out for a sec as it attempts to process and reconcile stuff (that's why Zen teachers offer koans, which let the mind f&$% itself silly until it just drops away stunned). Let go of the observation, the question, the questioner, the thought, and the thinker of the thought. Just yield it all up and let the cosmic garbageman cart it all away.
'Cuz if your mind ever settles upon a firm answer, you're in real trouble. Real answers to behind-the-curtain issues cannot be found in mind. So you should fully expect your mind to be dissatisfied with what I'm saying. Direct it, instead, onto tasks better fitting its purpose, like remembering to buy cream cheese at the store. And try not to ask yourself who's doing that directing! In yoga, we just keep letting go of it all (including the confusion), surrendering more and more to the cosmic consciousness that's all there is and ever was, anyway. Wise men (and your own inner guru) will tell you that it works, regardless of epistemological knots. |
Edited by - Jim and His Karma on Oct 13 2007 2:29:06 PM |
 |
|
|
Kyman
530 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2007 : 5:08:57 PM
|
Hello gentlep, here are some thoughts.
The mind's working memory holds the question of 'who is the observer', but this working memory is the culmination of so many processes going on. The mind often draws a blank, isn't that fun. When we don't want it we get it! The mind wouldn't even ask the question if it wasn't in a relaxed state, which is to say you aren't going to care if you are falling off a ladder.
The mind is taking in information, orienting itself, calling upon different sets of ideas in memory, like the immediate surroundings. How do you think when you are in a library verses getting out of your car while parked on a busy road? The mind is actually aware of everything that is going on at some level, but it is tuned into what we focus on. If sound registered to this level of mind as 'alarming!', the conscious mind would be fed information to arouse its attention.
Anything you apply your attention to, first the brain must call upon the memory to project familiarity. There is no familiarity with this who, or space rather. Deep meditation will definitely allow you to begin to abide in your continuum of being, so the who ideas and questions can begin to lose their projected meaning. When the mind stops, you deeply experience the basis of your who.
It is easier for the mind to pay attention to ideas or things the mind can know through memory than it is to simply focus on what is. To be an open space for the mystery of life to flow through requires the mind's silence. Jim mentioned redirecting energy as a way to stop creating obstacles or blocks to our dissolution into pure being. |
Edited by - Kyman on Oct 13 2007 5:21:44 PM |
|
|
|
Balance
USA
967 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2007 : 5:59:36 PM
|
"Who is the observer?"
I am
venture no further |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
| AYP Public Forum |
© Contributing Authors (opinions and advice belong to the respective authors) |
|
|
|
|
Who is the observer?
