how do you talk about mindfulness?

[Joe Mc]

Originally Posted by Maisy

The things we create can do so much more than us. Look at the wire in my house that is connected to the internet. One wire!

Just picking up on the technology bit. I recently bought a telescope and have had some spectacular views of The Moon and Jupiter etc.
Weather hasn't been great, pretty cold, so waiting for a bit warmer weather. Anyway, what the scope made me realise was that humans in general are often guilty
or have a propensity for trying to fit the Universe inside the Telescope. Before I got the Telescope I had many revealing let's say visions of the Cosmos based around the distances of everything and the entire vastness of it all. And when I acquired the Telescope I felt on some level at least I was trying to fit the Universe inside of the Telescope as I have said.

Your post on Billions of signals passing down an electric wire and transmitting so much information reminded me of these feelings. Somehow no matter how much information or electricity is moved it's an absolute drop in the ocean. Still doesn't take away the wonder of that phenomenon and it is miraculous no doubt about it but still I myself must remember that these things are incrediblely small, however, not insignificant.

My first glimpse of this was when I read somewhere that if our Solar System was represented by an LP or old type vinyl record. Then if you put 5 miles of LPs side by side in a line then that would be the distance of the Nearest Star to us and that Star is very very close.

When I saw Jupiter and it's moons, It was beautiful but it is only 600 million miles from Earth. That is like walking to your nearest shop as far as Cosmological distances go. It's really just around the corner ! lol. Anyway I felt inspired to write something based on your mention of technology so thanks for the inspiration. Do I put the telescope in the bin because I can't fit the universe into it ? Obviously not, do we do away with Computers because there is no teleporation yet ? No it wouldn't make sense.

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[CosmicWonder]

To me, its a few steps before zen. Where zen is stepping back. Mindfulness is learning to let it flow. Both is meditation. Zen is to me doing not doing. Mindfulness is detached caring.

Is this helpful?

Kind regards,

CW

[Maisy]

Originally Posted by Joe Mc

...the distances of everything and the entire vastness of it all. And when I acquired the Telescope I felt on some level at least I was trying to fit the Universe inside of the Telescope...

Your post reminded me of the ideas of contraction and expansion, of limited and unlimited, of the known and unknown. I think that's what mystical experiences are built of. Expansion, unlimited, and the unknown.

I think using things like thought, contemplation, looking inward, mindfulness, meditation, wonder, imagination, seeing beyond the known, awareness of mysteries, expands our perception and experience and awareness.

Like that telescope shows a small part of what is. A limited view. The more one "zooms in" the more the awareness narrows. It sees more detail in the view, but excludes more around it's narrowing view.

That's like our awareness. If we are in a room arguing with someone. Our view has narrowed to just these feelings and emotions and thoughts in us. If we are angry we are again contracting down to that emotion in us. It narrows our view. If we expand our view to include everything in that room, and don't narrow it down by giving our awareness over to our thoughts or mind, then our awareness expands outward.

Looking up at the night sky, all those billions of stars, can be boring. We might think, "who cares I got money problems." Or it can be the most wonderous thing and experience. Mind blowing really. Depends if we are narrowed or expanded. Perceiving limited or unlimited. Stuck in the "known" or willing to look and experience outside that.

That well known exercise where we are told to go look at a tree without any concept about it. Some might think that narrows things. Limits them. But really it does the opposite. The limiting factor is the concepts we have about trees. It is this or that species, this or that color, it's wood and whatever. It has no effect on me. But then without all of those thoughts and concepts and ideas about "tree" what is it? Looking without those, it becomes a living thing, a life, a vibrant mysterious thing. One enters into a sense of wonder.

It would be nice I think to always walk around with a sense of wonder at everything we are perceiving.

This beginning of the movie Contact zooms out on the universe a lot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWwhQB3TKXA

This trippy video zooms out and then in! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Are9dDbW24

What's even more mind blowing is these videos stop zooming out and in at some point but there is no "stopping point" one could literally zoom out or in forever. No end point is known either direction. What limits us is our instruments.

[Joe Mc]

Originally Posted by Maisy

Your post reminded me of the ideas of contraction and expansion, of limited and unlimited, of the known and unknown. I think that's what mystical experiences are built of. Expansion, unlimited, and the unknown.
.

Thank you for your really welcome post, sorry I didn't get a chance to reply earlier, busy busy expending my energy.
Thank you for the two video links they are super amazing and enjoyed watching them.

It reminded me of this movie called Fantastic Voyage, were they enter the human body in a little submarine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izKtT9IDk64

The Macro/Microscopic duality is fascinating isn't it ? and how one perhaps mirror the other and hence collapses the duality.

Couldn't agree more with you on closing down of awareness at such times as anger etc. Well observed thank you for sharing.
Wish I had of known this at times in my life to date. Anger is a real fire and gasoline thing, just unbelievable but also fascinating.

Thank you once again for your post, I will further contemplate the expansion and contraction of things and come back hopefully with something more to say. Best Regards, Joe.

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[Joe Mc]

Originally Posted by Maisy

Your post reminded me of the ideas of contraction and expansion, of limited and unlimited, of the known and unknown. I think that's what mystical experiences are built of. Expansion, unlimited, and the unknown.

The Universal and the Particular is another Binary set of terms that has been used to try to describe our experience. In terms of mindfulness the Particular might be an object of meditation such as the breath or some part/parts of the body.

Higher and more subtle states of consciousness are often disrupted or as you say contracted by the 'world' conditioning and fear. We are brought back down to earth, probably partly the reason why people retreat into quieter places and hermitages. I think with mindfulness the miracle is that everything is a miracle, at it's core is a deep mystery therefore mystical reality of some sort, so problems of ordinary life often appear insoluble and bring us sometimes to a dead end, a cul de sac. Mindfulness says, no there is more to the picture.
I think it was Leonard Cohen who said he may have saved Kurt Cobain's life if he has got to him in time to speak to him. Cohen obviously being a long term meditator at the time and a Mystic. This is probably an example of the terrible tragedy of where the human mind can lead us but it also tells us of how that same 'Bind' that the human mind sometimes finds itself in can be transcended or dissolved etc. etc. or (extinguished) of course, the meaning of the word Nirvana. I think lots of folks find it hard to live with 'the Particular', in the world known through the senses and desires.

The poet WB Yeats describes a mystical experience he had in the poem, The Cold Heaven,

Suddenly I saw the cold and rook-delighting heaven
That seemed as though ice burned and was but the more ice,
And thereupon imagination and heart were driven
So wild that every casual thought of that and this
Vanished, and left but memories, that should be out of season
With the hot blood of youth, of love crossed long ago;
And I took all the blame out of all sense and reason,
Until I cried and trembled and rocked to and fro,
Riddled with light. Ah! when the ghost begins to quicken,
Confusion of the death-bed over, is it sent
Out naked on the roads, as the books say, and stricken
By the injustice of the skies for punishment?

Speaking about the inner light and mystical experiences. So it is a universal thing, Joe Bloggs can be waiting on a bus under a bus shelter and find himself in an expanded state of consciousness, in a transcendent, ecstatic reality, and he might never have heard of mindfulness let alone meditation. Anyway thanks again for the inspiration, just some food for thought.

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[Gem]

I'm glad you brought up universal, because even though we think of mindfulness as Buddhist, it is really a human being thing which isn't relevant to any religion, but the background philosophy about it is mostly a Buddhist discourse.

The psychologists have cottoned on to it, so there is a whole psychiatric story about it, too, but I think on this forum we'd be more inclined to spiritual purification and liberation, though there is trauma resolution or 'overcoming of sorrows' as part of purification.

In Buddhism they say there are 4 purposes of mindfulness: purification, overcoming sorrows, walking the path of truth and liberation.

Mindfulness is always universal and always true. Just like breath is universal, there are no Christian breaths, Buddhist breaths or German breaths. There are no Christian, German or Buddhist sensations or emotions. It's universal. The truth as it is experienced by you.

[Joe Mc]

Originally Posted by Gem

I'm glad you brought up universal, because even though we think of mindfulness as Buddhist, it is really a human being thing which isn't relevant to any religion, but the background philosophy about it is mostly a Buddhist discourse.

Great post Gem thanks for sharing.


"In Buddhism they say there are 4 purposes of mindfulness: purification, overcoming sorrows, walking the path of truth and liberation."

Excellent piece of information very inspiring thanks.
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