Daniel Andersen Thorson:
Physical and mental raptures: As I said above vibrations are nearly always present if I tune into my body. Since my last ten day retreat strong vibrations and movements occur in my chest area. This movement usually goes rise from my belly to my sternum. Often during and after a longer sit I feel movement in my head sort of like a gyroscope.
on your sits, you're kicking around either 3rd nana (3 characteristics) with past dark night experience influencing it, or 9th/10th nana (late dark night: desire for deliverance/reobservation), with my guess being the latter. either way, if, on a longer sit, the vibrations are rising far enough to make it to your head and mess with your sense of orientation (things moving opposite directions at the same time), you're not far from 11th nana (equanimity regarding formations) and have probably been there before, as your very description of the gyroscope effect suggests that its territory you've crossed before. there is a sense in which the late dark night and equanimity are part of the same territory (the visuddhimagga counts them together as a triad). pay close attention to what the vibrations come and go in and out of.. what is this 'quiet background'? and what is the mind that has to be very gentle and careful to perceive it? don't stop practising.
Daniel Andersen Thorson:
My self-diagnosis is that I've entered equanimity but I might problematize this for a few reasons. First is that while I've been 'practicing' for about four years now I've only been on two ten day retreats and otherwise my out-of-retreat practice has been pretty lazy. I have used holosync for about an hour a day for the past four years without much vipassana while not on retreat. It seems unlikely to me that I could have reached equanimity after sitting two ten day retreats. Is it possible that I'm deluding myself and that I'm actually in three characteristics or A&P? I have a tendency to intellectualize the path and I wonder if I've selectively picked experiences that could be attributed to equanimity because that's what I want.
yes, its possible to delude yourself that way, but it's also possible to be cowed, for whatever reason, into a self-defeating exercise of humility that will limit your ability to make progress. while it's good to not mislead other people, it's better to just get stream-entry already, so make your call and move on.
Daniel Andersen Thorson:
The main reason I ask is for retreat preparation. After consuming Daniel's book for the umpteenth time and stumbling around these forums I've mostly been focusing on what somebody in equanimity should do to encourage stream entry. Should I instead be preparing for Dark Night?
given what you've written above, do both, as going on retreat tends to re-set the progress of insight and you will probably cross the a&p and go through the dark night again before you get to your 'okayness'.. which you should make full use of when you get there (don't slack off consistent practising).
tarin