Symphony

[AshvinP]

Yes, our verbal thinking mediates between the imaginative space and the sensory space. Here I am speaking of the form that sensory experience takes through the physical organism. We could think of the article Cleric recently posted about the Himbas possibly perceiving the color spectrum differently through the mediation of linguistic space. This clearly doesn't' mean the linguistic space solely governs the objective and lawful transformation of sensations in relation to our will activity. Even if I liberate my thinking from the conceptual space and enter the imaginative state, I won't be able to walk through a wall or fall through the floor. It's only that the sensory qualities will be released from their constricted form and will become the ideal background of existence, which still orients all spiritual activity as a standing 'gravity wave' but experienced 'from the same side' as that activity, unlike normal sensory experience (especially colors and sounds) that seem to confront us from the 'other side' of thinking consciousness.

I think the statement in that article is a presupposition (that language shapes perception) and not at all an evidence emerging from the study (by the way, the linked study does not report any of the visual tests given in the article). To state that they don't see the one blue tile among the series of green ones because they don't have a specific word for the color is like saying that a baby doesn't feel any difference between a soft summer breeze and a cold strong wind since it doesn't yet have the words to tell them apart. For the Himba, the other possibility is that - since percepts of colors and percepts in general are never perceived in isolation, their human organization and environment lead them to experience color in frames that are very different to the ones we may be used to . So their ideas that comprise the color concepts are different from the usual Western ones, and their language reflects that, it follows the shape of their visual flow as it combines with their ethnic soul configuration.

When you speak of the 'language to understand' in this context, do you see how simply reasoning through what we are communicating and seeing if it makes some intuitive sense in light of the facts of living experience you are familiar with already gives some of that language?

Yes, to the extent that both activities (reasoning through what you are saying, and effectively doing the exercise) are executed through thought. When I say "language" in that context, I am using a common "language expression". I could have equally said "medium".

That could be right, but I think it's basically the same thing - the linguistic space is the living idea that structures their ethnic soul configuration. The words of the language are simply a dim reflection of that space. In any case, it is important that we keep sight of how our perceptual experience is mediated through the structure of our language and concepts, which again is not the sole factor for the lawful transformation of that experience, but still an important one.

[AshvinP]

So there's no real-time awareness of the meaning of the Phonograph metaphor for me, as I walk down the street, or do everyday work. If I want to recall that meaning - with effort - I have to pause and detach from the sensory spectrum. This is what is missing. Not that I don't get how it makes sense.

One more note here. Living in expanded consciousness in our daily lives is not something that we should aim for. The key here is that through our work in the specially designated time, we gradually transform the elemental macros, we're instilling good habits. In our daily life we depend on these good habits. The most we can do is pray, even if for a split second. We can say in our mind "Dear God, be with me in every step and in every move." This takes only an instant. As a personal example, in my profession when I have some more demanding installation of equipment, I constantly use such split-second prayers. Not only that they in no way act as a distraction but quite the opposite - they only intensify the focus, calmness, smoothness of movements, and so on. But of course, the working habits need to be also developed independently. In the intense work conditions we only seek the center of coherency that helps us unfold these habits in the most beneficial way. And this holds true in all areas of life. In sports, all the good habits are formed through long hours of training. At the time of the event we simply try to play out these habits in the best way. It's too late to experiment, analyze, etc. So it is in our spiritual development. If we speak with somebody and we try to observe our thoughts at the same time, we'll look spaced out. Not that there's no value in such experiments, but we certainly shouldn't see it as something that should become the norm. Instead, in daily life we should have confidence and faith (further facilitated by the split-second prayers) that we can be constantly inspired to play out the best we have developed in our quiet time.

I see that one can't force a permanent state of exercise into everyday life, but I was referring to the naturally occurring (after spiritual development is pursued) loss of demarcation between perceptual and soul realms described by Ashvin:

In addition to what Cleric mentioned, I would say certain resistance exercises during the normal flow are really simple, quick, undistracting, and should be very helpful for strengthening concentration in our meditative times. If we resist impulsively bouncing the leg, scratching an itch, allowing certain automatic verbal expressions, or some other mannerism, we can actually feel the intense presence of the "I" that spans our resistance period. We should feel it in a very concrete way. It is isn't distracting because, when we think about, it is usually the times our "I" is intensely focused on some supersensible idea, such as reading through or expressing phenomenology, that we seamlessly resist impulsive behavior. Something of that same state can be brought into our daily work as well through the resistance exercises, even if the thinking required for work is mostly elemental macros. That is the same sort of intense presence we will need when we concentrate into the center and relax the periphery during meditation.

[Cleric K]

Another tremendously effective and very easy technique is simply Thanking. Anytime we awaken from the hamster wheel, we can simply Thank with every fiber of our being, for everything. The more grateful we are, the more we feel in the Flow. On the contrary, when we are ungrateful and grumbling, we unspokenly declare that we don't appreciate the tunnel of experience that we're flowing through. It's like saying "I don't deserve this tunnel, I'm tailored for something much better, the Universe is cruel!" However, we can only transform our present tunnel by first becoming fully concentric to it, by fully realizing that there's nothing arbitrary in it, that we have deserved it. Then thankfulness acts like expansion. Inspiration flows which will help us steer the tunnel into higher resonance. As Masuro Emoto concluded from his snowflake experiments, Love and Gratitude had the most powerful effect. Hopefully, the coming cultural epoch will begin to realize this ideal more and more, where Love and Gratitude will be the natural soul atmosphere of our Earthly humanity.

[Federica]

Another tremendously effective and very easy technique is simply Thanking. Anytime we awaken from the hamster wheel, we can simply Thank with every fiber of our being, for everything. The more grateful we are, the more we feel in the Flow. On the contrary, when we are ungrateful and grumbling, we unspokenly declare that we don't appreciate the tunnel of experience that we're flowing through. It's like saying "I don't deserve this tunnel, I'm tailored for something much better, the Universe is cruel!" However, we can only transform our present tunnel by first becoming fully concentric to it, by fully realizing that there's nothing arbitrary in it, that we have deserved it. Then thankfulness acts like expansion. Inspiration flows which will help us steer the tunnel into higher resonance. As Masuro Emoto concluded from his snowflake experiments, Love and Gratitude had the most powerful effect. Hopefully, the coming cultural epoch will begin to realize this ideal more and more, where Love and Gratitude will be the natural soul atmosphere of our Earthly humanity.

Yes, this I am very aware of. It's been a few years since I realized the power of Thanking, and the sense of righteousness and alignment it provides. Previously, I was sometimes wondering why "life was being unfair", with me, at times, but especially with others. As you say, I used to think: "this illness, or that dramatic event is not deserved".

Later, I began to feel an impelling need for meaning, and I started exploring various spiritual paths. Many of them speak of the importance of gratitude. Also, the idea of gratitude has become more and more popular in general, over the last few years, in various domains, even if in a somewhat flat way sometimes. In any case, I was exposed to it and tried to adopt it. It took some time before I could really let it blossom in a heartfelt way. I remember the first time I felt completely overwhelmed (in a positive way) by a strong feeling of gratitude for the chance of life. It was a dark winter night and I was walking home through a quiet and silent neighborhood. There was hardly anyone or anything moving in that dark area, and lifting the eyes towards the moonlit violet sky, I was suddenly filled by a warm feeling of thankfulness for everything. At that moment, I barely noticed the silhouette of a man walking his dog on a leash into my direction. When our paths were about to loosely cross, the dog very swiftly pulled on the leash into my direction a little, licked my hand, then immediately aligned back by the man's side, following his steps. The man was embarrassed and apologizing, but for me that little strange gesture was like the seal on my 'awakening' to a deep sense of gratitude Still, your reminder is entirely useful, because it's very variable how often and how well I "awake from the hamster wheel" to acknowledge the luck of life and summon the feeling of gratitude. Thank you

[Cleric K]

Yes, this I am very aware of. It's been a few years since I realized the power of Thanking, and the sense of righteousness and alignment it provides. Previously, I was sometimes wondering why "life was being unfair", with me, at times, but especially with others. As you say, I used to think: "this illness, or that dramatic event is not deserved".

Later, I began to feel an impelling need for meaning, and I started exploring various spiritual paths. Many of them speak of the importance of gratitude. Also, the idea of gratitude has become more and more popular in general, over the last few years, in various domains, even if in a somewhat flat way sometimes. In any case, I was exposed to it and tried to adopt it. It took some time before I could really let it blossom in a heartfelt way. I remember the first time I felt completely overwhelmed (in a positive way) by a strong feeling of gratitude for the chance of life. It was a dark winter night and I was walking home through a quiet and silent neighborhood. There was hardly anyone or anything moving in that dark area, and lifting the eyes towards the moonlit violet sky, I was suddenly filled by a warm feeling of thankfulness for everything. At that moment, I barely noticed the silhouette of a man walking his dog on a leash into my direction. When our paths were about to loosely cross, the dog very swiftly pulled on the leash into my direction a little, licked my hand, then immediately aligned back by the man's side, following his steps. The man was embarrassed and apologizing, but for me that little strange gesture was like the seal on my 'awakening' to a deep sense of gratitude Still, your reminder is entirely useful, because it's very variable how often and how well I "awake from the hamster wheel" to acknowledge the luck of life and summon the feeling of gratitude. Thank you

Great story ! Thank you!

[Federica]

As mentioned numerous times, concentration is not about feeling as a conscious container that looks at a point. Instead, if we compare our inner experience to a fruit, then concentration is like peeling off the skin, the fleshy part, etc., approaching more and more the stone, which is infinitesimal. That's why we have these two otherwise contradictory elements - relaxation, letting go, and concentration.

We fall to sleep when our "I" is enmeshed with the bodily processes. Then as the body transitions to its sleep biochemistry and neural patterns, the "I" loses the ground beneath its feet - we lose consciousness. Thus, when we feel that we fall asleep in meditation, this hints that our ego is still too spread out, trying to control everything, and is being dragged down into sleep by the sinking body.

This also leads to the other problem. That by letting go in this way, we begin to feel the anthill, intimate inner activity that is beyond our control.

Consider the following. When we dream at night we never know how the dream started. We simply find ourselves in certain circumstances, where the dream world is completely independent of our dim dream activity. This is very different in our waking consciousness. The sensory spectrum is quite independent but in our inner life of thinking and imagination we feel more or less the solitary master of our inner world. Even if thoughts emerge spontaneously, we simply assume that we do it subconsciously.

Now imagine what it would be to pass from this waking state into a dream state without losing consciousness. At what point would the inner imagery begin to have life on its own? We see that this feels disturbing. Normally, if we begin to be overwhelmed by imagery that flows on its own we'll most likely decide that we're losing our mind, that we're going crazy! However, this is precisely what must happen if we're to transition to the elemental state. Not to become crazy, but to find inner experiences that are quite independent of our activity. Our sanity is guaranteed by the concentration and the . So we need to lose our (ordinary) mind without losing the inner core that normally animates it. Then we may feel as if our being falls apart. Just as we can see our body as made of parts, so our whole personality feels as composed of short first-person 'clips' of existence. These are the elemental patterns that weave our habits of will, feeling, and thinking. The disturbing thing is that they seem relatively independent. In our Earthly life our inner being clothes in them. I don't know if you have used macros (short for "macro instruction") in products like Microsoft Office. In the simplest terms, these can be considered as a sequence of several actions that can be pre-recorded and executed with a single key. So in that sense, our elemental nature is like such living macros that we trigger with the impulses of our inner activity. However, these elemental macros are dynamic, they grow and develop, and could do so by different influences, not only those that go through our "I". One such macro could be 'loading the washing machine', but things become more recursive when we begin to realize that even most of our thinking patterns are such macros. Language is essentially macro-based. We barely need to construct our sentences word by word. Except when we struggle to write a phenomenological essay for example, where we fight to forge every word. That's why this is so beneficial - our "I" has to be present all the way down to the finest details.

The secret is to overcome the fear that we'll lose ourselves. This is what really happens if we enter such a state without preparation but when we have our stable center of concentrated spirit and we are further united with the that keeps our back so to speak, not only that we don't lose ourselves but we find ourselves in this ever thinning but more and more brightly shining Sun-like point.

The fruit metaphor is good, it helps reconcile the paradox of concentration and relaxation. For now, I have to admit I am still trying to neutralize the tendency to remain in control. Probably the reason why not much happens for me is because I'm not yet able to release control, to really relax. A part of me remains alert and wants to survey the very interesting things that could happen (I am sure they would be very interesting).
I haven't fallen asleep, but I was going in that direction, anyway. Maybe I should stick with the first subsidiary exercise for longer, with a man-made object, moving it, rotating it - very simple. Because until I was doing that one, I was getting some sense of the effect of concentration, and receiving some insights and new ideas. There was less complexity. As I feel dispersed in my daily activities, I don't feel I have the capacity to add a complex and long exercise on top of that. Maybe if I took a break from daily flow for a week or two
I think that, even if this path is accessible in principle to anyone, there might be degrees of ability to open up to the phenomenological approach. In my case I feel both resistance and a lack a spiritual fit, so to say. But I'm sure there's still something I can do, even if I can't make progress at a fast pace like you and Ashvin did. Maybe this is relatable for someone else reading here.

[Cleric K]

The fruit metaphor is good, it helps reconcile the paradox of concentration and relaxation. For now, I have to admit I am still trying to neutralize the tendency to remain in control. Probably the reason why not much happens for me is because I'm not yet able to release control, to really relax. A part of me remains alert and wants to survey the very interesting things that could happen (I am sure they would be very interesting).
I haven't fallen asleep, but I was going in that direction, anyway. Maybe I should stick with the first subsidiary exercise for longer, with a man-made object, moving it, rotating it - very simple. Because until I was doing that one, I was getting some sense of the effect of concentration, and receiving some insights and new ideas. There was less complexity. As I feel dispersed in my daily activities, I don't feel I have the capacity to add a complex and long exercise on top of that. Maybe if I took a break from daily flow for a week or two
I think that, even if this path is accessible in principle to anyone, there might be degrees of ability to open up to the phenomenological approach. In my case I feel both resistance and a lack a spiritual fit, so to say. But I'm sure there's still something I can do, even if I can't make progress at a fast pace like you and Ashvin did. Maybe this is relatable for someone else reading here.

I can add few things here but first it would be interesting to me if you could (if you would like, of course) to share what was new to you when you said that you've never considered things from such a perspective. How did you imagine things before and how did this change?

[Federica]

The fruit metaphor is good, it helps reconcile the paradox of concentration and relaxation. For now, I have to admit I am still trying to neutralize the tendency to remain in control. Probably the reason why not much happens for me is because I'm not yet able to release control, to really relax. A part of me remains alert and wants to survey the very interesting things that could happen (I am sure they would be very interesting).
I haven't fallen asleep, but I was going in that direction, anyway. Maybe I should stick with the first subsidiary exercise for longer, with a man-made object, moving it, rotating it - very simple. Because until I was doing that one, I was getting some sense of the effect of concentration, and receiving some insights and new ideas. There was less complexity. As I feel dispersed in my daily activities, I don't feel I have the capacity to add a complex and long exercise on top of that. Maybe if I took a break from daily flow for a week or two
I think that, even if this path is accessible in principle to anyone, there might be degrees of ability to open up to the phenomenological approach. In my case I feel both resistance and a lack a spiritual fit, so to say. But I'm sure there's still something I can do, even if I can't make progress at a fast pace like you and Ashvin did. Maybe this is relatable for someone else reading here.

I can add few things here but first it would be interesting to me if you could (if you would like, of course) to share what was new to you when you said that you've never considered things from such a perspective. How did you imagine things before and how did this change?

Oh sure. The new part was the step by step relaxation process, when you breathe out the contractions from the body, and then from the face and head, and you expand to a volume outside the physical body in this way. It's a relaxation that transforms into concentration, without separation.
Before, I was simply, generally and briefly, trying to get into a calm mood, as a preliminary, separate step. Basically by leaving behind daily affairs and possible preoccupations.

[AshvinP]

I think that, even if this path is accessible in principle to anyone, there might be degrees of ability to open up to the phenomenological approach. In my case I feel both resistance and a lack a spiritual fit, so to say. But I'm sure there's still something I can do, even if I can't make progress at a fast pace like you and Ashvin did. Maybe this is relatable for someone else reading here.

I also have a question here, Federica. Is there something particular in the recent phenomenological essays that you are struggling with at a conceptual level, or is it just that the harmonious conceptual framework which you grasp seems to remain floating from your direct experience of spiritual activity in relation to the layered constraints of the World groove? Perhaps not only your direct experience, but it remains floating from the understanding of human historical development as well?

[Federica]

I think that, even if this path is accessible in principle to anyone, there might be degrees of ability to open up to the phenomenological approach. In my case I feel both resistance and a lack a spiritual fit, so to say. But I'm sure there's still something I can do, even if I can't make progress at a fast pace like you and Ashvin did. Maybe this is relatable for someone else reading here.

I also have a question here, Federica. Is there something particular in the recent phenomenological essays that you are struggling with at a conceptual level, or is it just that the harmonious conceptual framework which you grasp seems to remain floating from your direct experience of spiritual activity in relation to the layered constraints of the World groove? Perhaps not only your direct experience, but it remains floating from the understanding of human historical development as well?

Ashvin, It seems to me that you have already asked me this ‘question’ at least two times in this thread.
I tried to answer it thoroughly each time, but apparently the responses do not satisfy you?
To repeat: I don’t have conceptual issues either with the essays, or with Cleric’s additional elaborations above.
What exactly are you trying to say?

Can you just remind me what we are concretely discussing at this point?

When you say, "how perceptions can be experienced as resonant with our soul currents and gestures", I'm trying to understand what is still missing for you.
...is it that, somewhere between here and the sensory experience of music, or between there and animal behavior, you feel the soul volume must exhaust itself and no longer coincide with the outer physiognomy in a way that can be realistically reached in an experiential way?