John Wilde:
As a result of this thread (http://www.dharmaoverground.org/web/guest/discussion/-/message_boards/message/5567489), I've been remembering and reflecting on what was a very fruitful period of practice in 2006.
I find myself in a somewhat perplexing position. I can't intellectually accept a Consciousness Only model of reality, and can't imagine ever being able to. Nevertheless, the benefits I get from treating experience this way are profound and consistently repeatable.
Among them:
- Marked reduction in the feeling of separateness.
- Pervasive lack of friction: everything feels easier, more fluid, lighter, less clunky, less effortful.
- Greater aesthetic appreciation of forms, patterns and colours... like a mild psychedelic effect without the psychic side-effects.
- Feeling like I have more time to observe, absorb and respond to what's happening, with less pressure.
- A natural / unforced equanimity: upsets are fewer, and quicker to subside.
- A natural / unforced benevolence without moralistic or self-righteous overtones.
- An oddly wider perceptual acuity: both central and peripheral vision seems clearer and somehow more stable, higher res.
- More restful sleep (less confusing dreamlike ideation during sleep; fewer involuntary attempts to reason with half a brain).
- Feeling deeply rested and soothed on a psychosomatic level.
- A general feeling of easy, limpid alertness, as if there's plenty of calm energy, and nothing being frittered away uselessly.
These all seem like qualities that are well worth cultivating, even if they require some philosophical artifice. And I don't get these benefits from any other mode of practice. Maybe I'll somehow come to understand it in a way that makes sense intellectually too, which would be great. But if not, I can at least treat it as a kind of experiential art and/or therapy... and see where it leads.
Yes, this is a very interesting subject. Maybe it depends on the definition of consciousness, and/or conscious states.
First one assumes consciousness as the five senses , plus thoughts.
Then there is the consciouness of bare awareness and/or formless realms (consciousness without sense contacts)
Please correct me if I am missing something, I am always open to learn.
So if one goes by the above assumptions, one might say everything is consciousness, and how else could it be?
For instance, if one sees and object, one might state that the object exists, plus one can reach out and touch it, smell it, etc.
BUT, what really happens when one sees something? Light waves hit the optical nerves, which are translated into siganals, that are interpreted into a visual image that is perceived WITHIN the mind. And because all of this doesn't happen instantaneously, we are actually seeing in time delay, or seeing memories (kind of).
So, from my view, the reality is that when we see something, None of the experience is actually happening( for the individual ) outside of the mind. So, one could say, in that fashion, everything is consciousness.
But, when one hits a baseball and watches it line drive into the second basemans's glove, it sure seems like there is a ball and a bat and all the other external components of 3 dimensional space.
If I remember correctly Schopenhauer said it is like two sides of the same coin, though he called it the Will, then what we have is a re-presentation of the Will. (And I am no Schopenhauer expert, so I could be incorrect on his view, but it does seem he was big into Vedanta and Buddhism, though his ideas seemed to have mostly developed indenpendently, and he did name his dog Atman, after all)
Anyway, good subject, one worthy of contemplation, and how to gain wisdom (insight) from this, and then apply the wisdom to daily living.
If it works, and it seems to be the case, then it must be wholesome, and close to the Truth, regardless of words and definitions.
So, "talk" with y'all later...
Psi Phi