Well I’m sorry, and hope it won’t stop you achieving Nora Batty.
I only accept what can be objectively evidenced, and again I did not believe any of the woo woo claims made about Aikido meditation, and have been very careful to only assert about it what can e objectively evidenced. Had your claims stopped similarly short of unevidenced woo woo, and stuck solely to what can be objectively evidenced I should have had no objections to such claims.
I made no such claims, disbelieving your unevidenced claims doesn’t represent a contrary claim, and this must surely have been explained enough times by now.
Then it is possibly a valid memory recall. Though I can’t be any more sure than you of course, false memories seem to be part and parcel of the way our brains work. I have a similarly old memory, my earliest, of being at a local beach, no older than 2 years, and possibly younger, but I’d stop short of claiming it was an objective fact, though the memory is quite vivid in my mind, it’s also possibly a false memory.
I use a very simple technique to get me to sleep when I know I could stay up later just thinking crap.
It is not magic or woo woo, and nothing supernatural is involved. It involves how the brain works, on a known and scientifically understood process.
When I use this practice, I immediately slip into a brain state where I am completely mentally relaxed.
But the woo woo artists attach special significance and attach supernatural beings, just like theists do with their god of the gaps nonsense. No astral travel, no Nirodha Samapatt, no BS.
LOL: I have been using the same technique for 40 years. The way I learned it is with counting. Breath in 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, and then out 2, 2, 2, 2… (This generally begins following the beat of the heart). He is completely right about forgetting numbers. Beginners should only count to three, and then repeat. (That is what is recommended.) I have always used 5. Can you imagine how many times I have counted to 5 in my lifetime? He he he…
Excellent video on beginning meditation. Were I instructing someone I would mention focus points, and feeling more relaxed or sinking into the bed or floor after each breath. With that said… I probably will not change the way I do it; however, I fully agree with the idea of two different sounds. It seems like it would be much easier than counting, even just counting to 3.
I am confidant you will agree with me that such techniques are identical to what rat_spit describes, achieves the same brain state, yet he tacks on the supernatural crap. He just wraps all of it in woo woo.
I’m sorry. I thought you wanted to know what Sheldon’s claims were. Not my premises.
In any case, these are my premises and my conclusions.
There are sense faculties (eyes, ears, nose, etc.)
There are sense objects (sights, sounds, smells, etc.)
There is sense consciousness (a different area of the brain processing data as it is filtered through the senses from the outside world in order to be made “perceivable”
When sense objects meet sense faculties and sense conscious is present we have contact between sense object and sense faculty; implying perception or feeling has occurred.
When the same is true but sense consciousness does not arise (as would be the case in a dead man) then we do not have contact and/or perception and feeling.
Conclusion: It is the case that perception and feeling cease in a person who has sense faculties and is in the presence of sense objects but does not have sense consciousness because he has extinguished it.
I assume Sheldon disagrees with the conclusion.
Initially I thought # 4 and 5 were conclusions. I add them here as additional premises.
The effectiveness of your breath meditation is not contingent on providing objective evidence of said effectiveness.
Nor is the proficiency of an archer dependent on some kind of objective evidence. Meditation, like archery, is not a science. It is a craft or an art form. The instructions on how to do it get handed down through the generations, practiced, and perfected.
If you only accept what can be objectively evidenced then would it be impossible, say, for you to assert that Pink Floyd is better than Led Zeppelin? Or that you like one band more than the other?
When there is a sense object, a sense faculty, but no sense consciousness then there is no contact.
Sorry. “Denoting” would have been a better choice of words. “Contact” denotes the occurrence of sense consciousness (ie. some kind of perception and/or feeling).
Everyone here seems to have the privilege to throw a variety of insults at each other - while it is understood that no one takes them seriously.
Sheldon recently called me a “fucking muppet”. I don’t take offence. I find it liberating that we can express our emotions in this space.
To explain, I was still under the mistaken impression that Sheldon wanted me to provide objective evidence for all of my claims.
So, long story short, I put my shoe in my mouth by calling him a fussy baby.
A person can hold any position or believe anything. I must assume that is what they believe. But that does not mean it is real, only that they believe it is real.
For example, my father was a devout christian, he sincerely beleived in god and heaven and all that stuff. But I do not accept the god stuff.
But when one asserts something that is external to them, such as “the God Woo Woo Brahamaladischious is the cause of such a brain state”, then they must provide evidence to support their assertion.
You have not really addressed this question either. Do yourself a favor, and write out each case, instead of trying to make un-explict piecemeal changes to a seperate premise. Could fix all that garbage by writing one short explicit sentence.
Turns out you had several other dubious premises. Notice when suspicion was cast on your premises; you transformed (a straw-man) the criticism into an attack on just the first premise (the easy one to defend). Then told us that any fool could understand it. Then refused to listen as numerous people pointed this out to you; instead insulting them.
Intentional or not, your effect on the forum is indistinguishable from that of a troll.
You tell me: what do I have to do, to ensure you stop turning the forum into a circus every time you go off your medication?
I need to reestablish my focus. I find that grounding my self and maintaining any kind of discussion here are two opposing forces.
So, I’d like to respectfully bow out of this particular debate, in order to focus more on grounding my self.
Defending my views on meditation is taking a toll on the amount of time I actually meditate. Which is likely the cause of me reading things that aren’t really there.
So, all you need to do is let me bow out of this debate with some dignity remaining and I will return when I’ve gained some sense of balance. Under those conditions I should be able to not turn the forum into a circus.
I never made the claims, it was another lie from you. Though please quote any post of mine denying we have senses, or that we don’t have eyes noses ears etc…
And there’s the woo woo part. Sensory deprivation is not a cessation of our senses. We can focus our thoughts and over time and practise can become adept at lessening the impact on our senses of all else. The woo woo language is what religions always use to dress up their claims, whilst making a lot of noise about the smattering of irrelevant facts they’ve cited prior to drawing their woo woo conclusion.
You assume correctly, unless you can objectively evidence the claim. We control the input through our senses all the time, and all meditation does is train us to focus so intently and completely on one thing that our senses are not bombarding our mind with other data, which our mind would otherwise be drawn to. Think of your involuntary reaction to loud noises or pain. One can overtime become accustomed to pain that at first is intolerable. The best example I can think of is a chef’s ability to withstand handling extremely hot things.
