Theos-Talk Archives (March 2004 Message tt00244)

In a message dated 03/09/04 11:02:42 AM, stevestubbs@yahoo.com writes:

>If you take time to get a book in vipassana and note how it is 
>trained you will see why your statements are not true. It appears 
>the subject is not one the nature of which is intuitively obvious to 
>someone who is not familiar with it.
>
>It is simply a fact that the question: arre you aware of your left 
>ear? is a question typical of the ones used to teach this. You ae=re 
>only considered mindful if yo already were aware of it before I 
>asked. Trust me on that one. Mindfulness is not about reading 
>magazines and arguing on the Internet. It is about being in the here 
>and now and being aware of your body. Anyway, the next step is to 
>read about it, and then you will see what I am saying is true. Dpn't 
>feel embarrassed. It is an out of the way sort of subject, not 
>familiar to most people.

Wow! You really Know how to make some wild assumptions and subtly slick 
innuendoes. :-) What makes you think I have anything to be embarrassed about, or 
that anyone thinks that Mindfulness has anything to do with reading magazines 
or arguing on the Internet? And, judging by those remarks (and some of your 
previous prejudicial and opinionated innuendoes and other negative comments 
about theosophists and their teachers -- what is there to trust in anything you 
say? (Just kidding -- in my rant mode) 

In any event, "hindering the modification of the thinking principle" does not 
mean stopping all ideation's in the entire dual mind... Since that admonition 
is only for the first phases of meditation and refers only to the lower mind 
and its tendency to discursive thoughts... Not to the higher intuitive mind -- 
that can be awakened to direct perception of the higher principles (where one 
can hear the "voice in the silence") only after all "rational thinking" or 
lower level sensory "noise" has been silenced. But, nothing in that implies 
that intuitive thinking must stop on the Buddhi level. 

How can anyone know when the first stages of Dyana or Samadhi is reached if 
they don't "feel it" in their higher intuitive Buddhi mind? And, isn't that 
still thinking about it -- albeit on a far more subtle level -- that can only be 
known when it is actually experienced? The higher levels of meditation 
cannot be understood if all one relies on is the dead letter concept of "stopping 
the mind" -- as if that's all there is to it. So long as one is conscious, one 
must continue thinking -- even if that thought is concentrated on a single 
point of emptiness. And, isn't concentration the same as focussing the mind? 
And, isn't that the same as having a controlled thought? So, while we may stop 
discursive thoughts and other hindering modifications of the thinking 
principle, we can never stop thinking altogether. Otherwise, we would lose our 
desire to maintain concentration and continued meditation. WQJ made that perfectly 
clear in his articles on the subject and other comments on Patanjali's yoga 
aphorisms. 

The mind has seven levels (and with Buddhi, 14), and that "stopping" (or 
rather, hindering) only refers to the first three or four. After that, one must 
continue to remain fully conscious (Buddha's "constant vigilance") -- so that 
each stage can be fully explored, understood, and absorbed before reaching the 
next. No one can describe those states to anyone else (except metaphorically, 
as in the Voice of the Silence) -- but, nevertheless, wakeful consciousness 
must never cease. And, that consciousness includes being constantly aware of 
the higher thoughts or knowledge in the mind, as well as being in complete 
control of the will so as to maintain concentration. Otherwise, the meditator is 
subjected to falling asleep or becoming self hypnotized. It's only when pure 
Samadhi is reached and the mind is open to recollection and reflection that 
one can remember the primal source of pure bliss that one originated from. And 
that remembering is pure thought on the level of Mahat itself. Once there, 
one can relive the instant of awakening and thereby become cognizant of the 
first and "ultimate division of time." Such "emancipation" must come before 
"isolation" or enlightenment can be attained and maintained for any period of time.

(BTW, if you wish to discuss this intelligently and in more depth, I wish you 
would talk straight to the point and leave out all the ad hominem innuendoes 
and back stabs from your private correspondence with gossips who are 
apparently "embarrassed" by their inability to understand or absorb the subtle meanings 
behind what I say, or are too fearful they might expose their own ignorance 
by asking for clarification.) 

Anyway, I guess you didn't read or understand my last letter, and continue to 
think you know something special about Vipassana that I don't. But, maybe 
that's so. Since, after around three years of direct Vipassana practice on a 
daily basis along with the Indian guru who trained (and, BTW, also lived with) 
me -- I never heard that "left ear" question. Perhaps your teachers or books 
need such elementary nonsense to wake up a beginner, but I got my 
straightforward practical training directly from the horse's mouth. There was no need to 
play any elementary verbal tricks with me. Since, although I knew little of 
Vipassana beforehand, my teacher recognized that I was as cognizant of the deeper 
theosophical principles as he was -- being 30 years his senior when we met 
and having already been deep into occultism and practicing Jnana yoga for more 
than 20 years previously. This, incidentally, included devising my own "in the 
now and in the body" Zen type meditative practice that combines all the 
physical, astral, mental and spiritual healing yoga's, simultaneously -- while 
going about one's day to day activities with perfect focus and concentration. It 
was only later that I realized that my self devised intuitive yoga practice 
had elements of Vipassana in it. 

In this all encompassing yoga, mindfulness has a much broader and deeper 
meaning than the relatively simplistic and limited definition described in most 
books on Vipassana -- since it extends to everything experienced and thought 
about during every moment of ones life, and spreads out to being mindful of the 
entire universe from the smallest particle to the largest galactic cluster. 

Being "mindful" of the "now" in this practice, also means being mindful of 
all its past causation's and future potentials resulting from every thought and 
act in each moment. The fundamental idea is to eventually link up and be 
simultaneouusly mindful of ones awakening at the beginning of the Manvantara and 
one's rest at its end -- with perfect awareness of every life and step along 
the way. How many lifetimes of meditation this would take, is strictly up to 
each student and dependent on his/her present level of development. 

Through this practice, one is able to awaken true intuition and visualize the 
entire transformation of absolute primal force to relative mass-energy on 
each level of descent from the spiritual to the material. And through such 
meditation, it becomes possible to eventually visualize the multidimensional 
reality of the nested fields of consciousness and their dynamic coenergetic 
relationships (similar to those postulated in my ABC theory of consciousness, mind and 
perception), as well as understand the true meaning of the "wheels within 
Wheels" described by HPB... All of which is consistent with the most advanced 
scientific theories of matter-energy and multidimensional fractal and topological 
mathematics -- down to the origin and nature of the genetic code expressed in 
the DNA molecule. 

BTW, FYI, this intuitive understanding of the higher dimensional fields came 
to me while I was working in the early pioneering development of 3-D computer 
graphic animation and movie special effects systems (at the NYIT-CGL) during 
the early and mid 70's. It was my (and other graphic experts) steering of the 
visual arts limited computer science nerds that ultimately led to Pixar, 
Lucas' ILM, and the modern digital 3-D animation and CGI motion picture special 
effects of today. Now, these systems are also used in the study of complexity, 
chaos, and superstring/M-brane unified field theories. 

Incidentally, I didn't work on actual programming, but was just one of the 
3-D stereo art, animation and special effects experts whose minds and talents 
were picked while the computer scientists worked out the 3-D algorithms. 
Nothing like transforming one's mind into a digitally visualized hyperspace field 
matrix and traveling down its Mobius pathways to get an intuitive handle on how 
the universal fields interrelate. All the mathematics and algorithms do is 
blind one to that reality -- since it can only be seen internally, in all its 
multidimensional and multicolored reality, by limiting the linear or rational 
thinking of the left brain-mind, and opening up the full nonlinear capabilities 
of the right brain-mind. This process cannot be explained in words -- but can 
be partially simulated in 3-D animation on a computer screen. 

In any event. I was discussing the meaning of the word "mindfulness" as it 
applies on all four Kosha levels. It's application to the practice of Vipassana 
for purposes of achieving personal healing being only one of them. 
Incidentally, Vipassana means simply, "to see things as they really are" and not how we 
are conditioned to see them. Even on its highest level, such "seeing" is 
still a process of the mind on its most subtle level of thought. 

Of course, even in Vipassana, there are also subtle differences of focus when 
applied for the purpose of self healing on the astral and physical planes, as 
well as when applied to projective healing on the psychic levels. The 
Buddha's teaching of mindfulness goes much deeper, esoterically, than simply "being 
in the here and now and being aware of your body." Of course, I don't expect 
everyone to understand these deeper meanings that cannot be adequately 
described in words (and especially, in English). As, HPB would say, only the truly 
intuitive student will know what the Buddha meant by "mindfulness" along with 
"constant vigilance." (Unfortunately, all others might very well be embarrassed 
by their lack of perception, and inability to see the forest for the trees. 
:-)

As WQJ said in his commentaries on Patanjali's yoga aphorisms, there is much 
that cannot be taught in writing and has to be learned intuitively by the 
individual student (if not demonstrated by a living Master). The same thing 
applies to Vipassana, as well as my personal "Uniomniyoga" [sic] practice (which 
includes both Vipassana and Rajah yoga, among others)... And, the method of 
training must vary depending on the psychic development as well as motivation of 
the particular student. That is why, in the particular yoga teachings I went 
through with several personal trainers, which covered the complete scope of 
Vipassana yoga (and that also included aspects of Hatha, Siddha and Rajah 
yoga's) I was not instructed in any of it "by the book." 

Having a direct personal teacher who is capable of hands on contact 
demonstrations (asana's, shaktipat's, mudra's, mantra's, etc.) as well as direct 
demonstration of breath control and psychic healing, (not to mention dream teaching 
and other advanced techniques) is far different from such indirect book 
learning -- (as you should know if you have ever been so instructed). It's almost 
impossible to understand how Vipassana actually works unltil you have been 
physically "healed" by a Master of its practice, and walked through a "body 
awareness" to "mind awareness" trip, step by step. 

For the benefit of any other theosophists or students of yoga who may read 
this, I hope it adds some food for thought about our lively (and sometimes 
contentious:-) discussion related to the Buddha's and Patanjali's understanding 
(and some of their disciples' misunderstandings) of "mindfulness," "vigilance," 
and "hindering the modifications of the thinking principle."

Of course, if you (and your correspondents) still think I'm wrong about any 
of this -- without further thoughtful and reasonable elucidation on your part 
-- what more can I say? 

Best wishes,

LHM

P.S. Since this is a public forum, for the benefit of the skeptics and nay 
sayers who might stick there noses in, let them be assured that I know nothing 
about what I have read in books or people have told me (including scientists, 
philosophers, and theosophical teachers) -- but only what I have intuited for 
myself, personally experienced, or tested for its validity by tempering it with 
my reason. So, either take it or leave it... But, if there are 
disagreements, or further comments are warranted, please back them up by reasonable ideas 
and logical conclusions.