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That's definitely an important distinction. I find myself approaching my consciousness in much the way a scientist might approach an issue of the physical realm. I develop a hypothesis and test it against the course of everyday life and see what the results are. I don't just take everything that comes at me as "true". It is through this path that more and more "strange" experiences have come my way as I have grown more accustomed to and aware of what exists beyond what we can see. While it does not mean there is necessarily a "God", I can completely understand how pre-scientific people could create such a notion if they have no concept of human consciousness.
I have read a philosopher who wrote that mystics and scientists walk parallel paths - both seek experiential evidence to explain reality. One focuses on the ever more microscopic while the other on the ever more expansive.
What I have found most interesting is experiencing a state of consciousness that defies what one otherwise believes. The question then becomes, do you trust in your experience or do you trust in the world view created over your lifetime by your rational mind. A third alternative seems to work for me. When I am 'thinking' about anything, I trust my thought processes. When I am in a mood to focus on, remember and feel my mystical experience I believe in the ME absolutely. I am amazed that I can hold completely contradictory notions about the same event at different times. But that is exactly the case.
Thanks, Redbird, your explanation comes from an unbroken tradition whereas someone born, educated, and living in ("central") europe would have to rediscover intuition and evoke memories..
This is a profound understanding of the evolution of the capabilities of humankind. Clearly we started as right brain dominant animals with little left brain involvement. This meant our right brain capabilities were developed far more than our left . . . unlilke today's modern educated humans with atrophied right brain skills.
What I have found most interesting is experiencing a state of consciousness that defies what one otherwise believes. The question then becomes, do you trust in your experience or do you trust in the world view created over your lifetime by your rational mind. A third alternative seems to work for me. When I am 'thinking' about anything, I trust my thought processes. When I am in a mood to focus on, remember and feel my mystical experience I believe in the ME absolutely. I am amazed that I can hold completely contradictory notions about the same event at different times. But that is exactly the case.
You trust in both . . . as long as you retained conscious control over your altered states. It is not difficult to ascertain which is objective reality and which is subjective.
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Originally Posted by effie briest Thanks, Redbird, your explanation comes from an unbroken tradition whereas someone born, educated, and living in ("central") europe would have to rediscover intuition and evoke memories..
Quote:
Originally Posted by MysticPhD
This is a profound understanding of the evolution of the capabilities of humankind. Clearly we started as right brain dominant animals with little left brain involvement. This meant our right brain capabilities were developed far more than our left . . . unlilke today's modern educated humans with atrophied right brain skills.
I saw something on TV the other day on the PBS channel that denounced the right brain and left brain theory and said that the human mind requires the whole brain. I did a quick search and have found the Whole Brain Model.
Quote:
Whole Brain Model (Herrmann)
The Whole Brain Model is a mental model that describes thinking preferences. These are the ways of thinking that satisfy us the most and seem natural for us at this point in our lives. These ways of thinking can change, often as a result of significant emotional experiences, life transitions and other important insights. Thinking preferences describe the patterns of what we prefer to pay attention to and what we don't prefer to pay attention to.
You trust in both . . . as long as you retained conscious control over your altered states. It is not difficult to ascertain which is objective reality and which is subjective.
Ironically, the very process of gaining conscious control over mystical states of consciousness causes them to go away.
since everyone's experiences are very different, all REAL explanations have remained with orally passed-on traditions.
whatever you find written may only be a confirmation for those truly wanting to go beyond the beginner stages.
you ask me to explain, and i have to answer you, there is no recipe and no formula.
go to those who will accept you as their "student".
Thanks for your advice. I have never had a 'discipline' and I agree there is no recipe or formula to attain the type of ME I had in Western traditions. There are written accounts and explanations of what I have experienced but the people who had those experiences and wrote those books are dead. As for someone to accept me as their student, first I would have to find someone who has experienced what I have and has something to offer. So far, I have found no believable living person who has had Western style, extrovertive mystical experiences without the aid of drugs or hallucinogens.
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