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So you're saying 'go and practice harder and longer'. That doesn't help me.
You're saying 'don't question the status quo'. Why not? I always question my own assumptions and those of others. The fact that the sytem is 1500 yrs old (thanks eran) doesn't concern me. Things evolve. Processes evolve. Human consciousness as a whole evolves.
Hey CCC,
I am definitely not saying `Dont question the status quo`, I am saying the exact opposite.
Question it! But question it in a way that really matters, by actually doing the experiment.
I am not saying 'Go practice harder and longer', I am saying that if you wish to understand this, you will have to actually practice, period, because if you haven't gotten to even the first insight knowledge, you're not doing it.
This forum provides great resources for either: 1) Excellent practice since you can get advice from advanced yogis. 2) Mental masturbation with plenty of information.
You have made almost 300 posts on the DhO, and less than 3 that I remember are about actual practice that you're doing.
If you actually try to practice what is being shared here, you may just understand these things at the level that actually matters.
When the mind is applied to the present moment, wholeheartedly, the insight stages show up.
It becomes more and more obvious as one progresses, and it is clear as day light once one crosses the Arising and Passing Away (Insight #4) and then the Dark Night, and even clearer once you get to Equanimity (11th Nyana) (And beyond that, but that's what I have personally seen).
Now, for a person who hasn't seen this, it remains in the realm of words and concepts, and thats when you can come up with things like:
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Might this "stages fixation" be the mind creating a mountain to climb because it is afraid of experience the truth right this instant?
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Because once the mind is applied to the 'truth right this instant' thats when the insight stages show up.
If one is obsessed, fixated on ideas and thoughts, not looking into the true nature of each sensation that arises, they do not show up.
And when I say 'they show up' I dont mean to say that these words come to your mind 'Arising and passing away!!', 'Mind and Body!!'. Each stage has a different flavor of experience, a different focus, etc. Sometimes it is not clear where one is, but that doesn't matter, because one's job is to keep applying the mind to the 'truth right this instant' , as you said, and then it becomes clearer.