The job that I was referring to, in its proper context, was the goal of actually sitting and meditating every day. I have to purposefully schedule some things or else it would be too easy to forget to do them like the daily routine things that have to get done such as eating, brushing teeth, taking a bath, washing clothes, etc… Meditation is no different than those kinds of things.
Ah, got it. I thought you were referring to something else.
I would say that I am happily content almost always. Too much happiness can actually become irritating as giddiness can become a form of manic suffering.
Hehe ya i didn't mean walking quivering with excitement, a huge smile on your face, not being able to contain yourself. Happily content was closer to it. Reading your posts they came off a bit morose, but I wasn't sure if that was the case or if I was projecting, and it seems to be the latter.
I have no difficulty in meditation types of concentration, but I have much difficulty concentrating on dry facts and scientific analysis types of things. It takes a long time for me to study something to the point of remembering it and recalling it quickly. I want that to change. Would achieving higher paths fix those kinds of problems, or would they just remain as the frailty of the human condition?
Further progress will free up your mental processes more, and probably result in less mental friction, so you'd probably be able to concentrate more on such things. For example, Daniel Ingram says somewhere in
this long thread that when he is in PCE mode (an AF term for an
unaltered state of consciousness - you can read about it
here), he can work his high-pressure job (as a doctor of some type) much more easily, return home not nearly as tired as usual, etc. UPDATE: Ah I found the paragraph I was thinking about:
Daniel Ingram:
As I have started to get used to being at work in my very high-volume, high-intensity emergency department physician job where I have to be extremely clear and on-target in my interactions with people, my processing of extremely complex information and my ability to be with what is happening, I can now attest that doing this in PCE mode is way better than Cycle Mode, which can be problematic at times, even at the arahat level.
I have worked probably a total of 5-10 shifts worth of work now in PCE mode and so have a pretty solid basis for comparison, and there is simply no argument at this point for Cycle Mode at all in that very high-stakes and demanding situation from my current point of view. It did take a little while to get used to the fact that the cues to do things are different and the thing functions differently (an example being that in Cycle Mode I might remember to order a chest x-ray after putting in a central line because there was this weird nagging ache in my stomach that I would look at and try to figure out and then would emerge the realization that I forgot to do that as compared to just the body remembering and doing that, which is so much more clean and less fatigue-producing and more pleasant all around), but the adjustment has been relatively easy in comparison to all sorts of other things I have had to adjust to, such as functioning in the Dark Night.
James Eric Barnhouse:
It is always good to make my life better for my own and everyone else’s benefit.
It sounds like you're doing just fine. I would recommend looking into Actualism/Actual Freedom. See if you can't remember any PCEs (the theory is that everyone has had them at some point, most likely during childhood) or cultivate any, to see if there isn't something worth exploring there, for you. You can read some
descriptions of PCEs. The method one would apply to get there is detailed
in this article (also linked by Bruno above). I've been at it for about 3 weeks and there has been a marked change in my level of happiness (not the giddy over-excited kind =P) and enjoyment of life, and more and more I appreciate just how wonderful it is to be alive.