Physical and Mental sensation question

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Sam Roff, modified 3 Years ago at 11/5/20 5:58 PM
Created 3 Years ago at 11/5/20 5:58 PM

Physical and Mental sensation question

Posts: 16 Join Date: 9/18/20 Recent Posts
Hi everyone!
I must have read the section below 50 times but I’m still struggling to make sense of it.  Something about the way its worded/terminology used makes my mind clench and not process this properly. Maybe it’s just me.  I feel kinda silly and know I’m probably over intellectualising the sh*t out of this, but I’m hoping you can help me clarify the micro phenomenology so I’m not scripting in something in my investigation of sensate reality that isn’t actually happening, especially because Daniel states 'Engage with the preceding paragraphs. They are the basis of great insight practice'

From 3C's, Impermanence:

We are typically quite sloppy about distinguishing between physical and mental sensations (memories, mental images, and mental impressions of other physical or mental sensations). These two kinds of sensations alternate, one arising and passing and then the other arising and passing, in a quick but perceptible fashion. Being clear about exactly when the physical sensations are present will begin to clarify their slippery counterparts—flickering mental impressions—that help co-create the illusion of continuity, stability, or solidity. 

Immediately after a physical sensation arises and passes is a discrete pulse of reality that is the mental knowing of that physical sensation, here referred to as mental consciousness”.   This habit of creating a mental impression following any of the physical sensations is the standard way the mind operates on phenomena that are no longer actually there, even mental sensations such as seemingly auditory thoughts, that is, mental talk (our inner “voice”), intentions, and mental images. It is like an echo, a resonance. The mind forms a general impression of the object, and that is what we can think about, remember, and process. Then there may be a thought or an image that arises and passes, and then, if the mind is stable, another physical pulse.

Each one of these sensations (the physical sensation and the mental impression) arises and vanishes completely before another begins, so it is possible to sort out which is which with relatively stable attention dedicated to consistent precision and to not being lost in stories. This means that the instant you have experienced something, you can know that it isn’t there anymore, and whatever is there is a new sensation that will be gone in an instant. There are typically many other momentary sensations and impressions interspersed with these, but for the sake of practice, this is close enough to what is happening to be a good working model.
To me, this model is describing the process as:
Physical Sensation --> Mental Impression --> Mental Sensation --> Mental Impression (repeat).
Am I mistaken here?

Many thanks
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Chris M, modified 3 Years ago at 11/6/20 7:09 AM
Created 3 Years ago at 11/6/20 6:52 AM

RE: Physical and Mental sensation question

Posts: 5117 Join Date: 1/26/13 Recent Posts
Am I mistaken here?

Sorry to say this but you are over-analyzing. The best way to understand how perception and experience work is to investigate the process for yourself. No one else's words will work other than to create another theory that you haven't yet tested by sitting quiet and still and watching how the process plays out. You can't intellectualize or theorize your way to a deep, intuitive grokking of this stuff. You need to see it for yourself.

Good luck with your very own investigation (meditation)!
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Sam Roff, modified 3 Years ago at 11/6/20 6:38 PM
Created 3 Years ago at 11/6/20 6:38 PM

RE: Physical and Mental sensation question

Posts: 16 Join Date: 9/18/20 Recent Posts
Chris Marti:
Am I mistaken here?

Sorry to say this but you are over-analyzing. The best way to understand how perception and experience work is to investigate the process for yourself. No one else's words will work other than to create another theory that you haven't yet tested by sitting quiet and still and watching how the process plays out. You can't intellectualize or theorize your way to a deep, intuitive grokking of this stuff. You need to see it for yourself.

Good luck with your very own investigation (meditation)!


Thanks Chris,

After reading your post it motivated me to set the intention in my morning hour sit to investigate this more scrupulously as opposed to quite shallow investigation as I had originally been doing (maybe spending only 5 minutes at a time with occasional noticing of this interplay in other sittings)

--> Set intention to develop single pointed concentration on breath for 10 minutes followed by 50 minutes of investigation of interplay between physical sensations and mental impressions.
~20-30 mins in began to notice more acute mental sensations such as thoughts related to stronger magnitude physical sensations, but noticing this interplay was quite slow.
~30-40 mins realized that the slow-ness of realization was because my mind was very left-sidedly verbalizing and over-analyzing each occurence, so I tried to relax more into allowing the interplay of physical --> mental sensations inherently observe themsleves in a more right-brained way of investigation.
~40mins-1hr  Mental sensations following physical sensatiosn became quite obvious and could see more clearly and rapidly how quick this was occuring.

Will definitely continue to pay closer attention to this in subsequent sits.  I think the realization of how much the mind was verbalizing invesitgation was actually quite a significant discovery giving me clearer insight into causality.

Big love!
Sam
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Chris M, modified 3 Years ago at 11/7/20 7:28 AM
Created 3 Years ago at 11/7/20 7:28 AM

RE: Physical and Mental sensation question

Posts: 5117 Join Date: 1/26/13 Recent Posts
Best of luck to you, and keep us posted on how it's going.

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