Hi DhO,

I wish to collect some testimonials of yogis who have used the AF inspired use of the question: How Am I Experiencing This Moment Of Being Alive? (HAIETMOBA). I will then use the testimonies in a blog post for the Hamilton Project. So if you do post your experience, I will use it in the post but anonymously.

Nick's testimony

I started using HAIETMOBA in a serious way as an ongoing practice in the beginning of April of this year. It was extremely effective in bringing the mind back to those moments of apperceptive awareness. Continuous application of this questioning eventually led to some kind of automatic recognition of apperceptive awareness in any given moment when the mind remembered to do so. Felicity levels were automatically boosted with this practice and life improved immensely over the months I used it. I wrote about its application in my practice in the following links:

http://nickdowntherabbithole.blogspot.com/2011/04/talking-pces.html
http://nickdowntherabbithole.blogspot.com/2011/04/todays-practice.html
http://nickdowntherabbithole.blogspot.com/2011/04/talking-pces-conversation-2.html
http://nickdowntherabbithole.blogspot.com/2011/04/talking-pces-conversation-4.html
http://nickdowntherabbithole.blogspot.com/2011/04/talking-pces-conversation-6.html
http://nickdowntherabbithole.blogspot.com/2011/04/practice-update
http://nickdowntherabbithole.blogspot.com/2011/05/talking-pces-conversation-7.html
http://nickdowntherabbithole.blogspot.com/2011/05/talking-pces-conversation-8.html

What has been your experience of using HAIETMOBA? Please share your experience for the benefit of others.

Nick

i dunno if this is material for your project, but it's a testimonial

got pulled over today and got just a warning, i think it was because i had been practicing my variant-haietmoba technique and was so naive and open and even though the police officer wanted to be mad at me we both ended up laughing.

Bump!

I've been using it to good success so far. Pretty much everything you'd ever find out reading the AF site seems to be contained in that one little question if you really, sincerely, honestly PROBE the hell out of it constantly. Keeping the question wide open all the time seems to be really key. I'm not AF though so take my advice with a grain of salt.

Keeping the response wide open all the time is key too. As in, being wide open to anything that happens when the question is asked.

Apologies for the delay in getting 'round to posting on this one, you're free to use whatever you like from this.

It's easy to take this technique for granted, it's simplicity makes it seem like there must be more to it than just enquiring into the quality of ones current experience, of what it's like to be in this world at this moment in time, but it really is as straightforward and practical as it appears to be. To add anything to it is to miss the point, the directness of the question, sincerely asked, directs the attention to exactly where it needs to be, this immediate sensate experience, for one to begin the process of peeling back the affective layers to reveal actuality.

One thing I've found through using HAIETMOBA is that it reveals layers of this experience which are usually obscured by the affective overlay. It brushes the leaves from the path and makes the way forward obvious, it becomes clear that constant attention to the point of sense contact leads to apperception and so anytime one becomes distracted from this, the question brings one back. The remaining obstacles, the beliefs and though processes still hindering progress, become more obvious and the means to bring them to an end through continued investigation and observation is effortless, and all because of asking oneself: How am I experiencing this moment of being alive?

Hope that's of use. If not, I can add some more I'm sure.

I usually ask this along with an implicit subordinate question that guides me to analyze more skillfully my moment of being alive: How far am I from a PCE?

One thing I've noticed about HAIETMOBA is that it not only directs attentiveness both outward and inward, it implies felicity in a sort of "why not" kind of way. This simple yet powerful directive seems to really do the trick to not only pay attention to this moment, but to really revel in it in a clear, sensate way, as well as engendering delightful contemplation in the manner of, "oh, hey, yeah. this moment really is nice, this is nice, this thing is nice, there's lots of good things going on right now! ha ha!"

I was just using it a lunch and it stood out to focus on the 'How' part. Literally by what wondrous means is this experience even possible? It brought a smile to my face and a chuckle. Saying the whole thing out loud slowly and really pondering of the levels of meaning in it, seeing the sensory aspect, the emotional aspect and the mental aspect.

It is a good one to start off a noting session with as well. Especially to keep the focus on the 'How' of experience, not the just the 'What'.

That I'm experiencing anything at all is pretty amazing really. That right now the whole lot is passing through firstly the pure pre-symbolic awareness then through a symbolic layer of mental /emotional identification. Keeping it in mind that it (pre-symbolic pure awareness, or pure consciousness) is already happening, I'm not adjusted enough in my perspective to appreciate it just yet.

I am pretty new to AF and not sure this will answer your question but I've spent the last 2 days asking myself a variation of HAETMOBA, which is going to sound a bit strange but its HAETMOBAA 'how am I experiencing this moment of being an alien?" I read in posts about seeing the world with a child's perspective, or as though you are looking at something, really looking at something, for the first time ever. Going round pretending I had just been zapped into this body, had never heard sounds before, had never seen colors before, had never seen matter or shapes, gave the everything a fresh, unfamiliar feel.

If it works, do it.


Bang on. Do this with sincerity, have fun with it and enjoy what it is to just be here in this moment, sooner or later a PCE will happen and you'll get what all the fuss is about...Ha!

Thats gold, Carolin! Nice..

Great advice about keeping the answer open. It seems like such an obvious thing to do but realised there were certain things I expected and wanted as an answer. Thanks.

I've noticed the separate mental and emotional qualities to the question. Like how I keep on asking HAIETMOBA without changing the phrase (mental element), but sometimes it has different intents or I'm looking for different things (i.e. how close am I to a PCE, what is hindering me, why am I experiencing this). Either way, asking the question seems to draw forth the intent or driving question which means the most to me at that particular moment.

This makes it a very personal, intimate question- which makes it more meaningful since I know that what it is for and what it comes from 'me'.

I personally don't try and craft out a particular intention when one asks HAIETMOBA. That is nowhere on the AF Trust website (that I've seen) Why not ask it and see what one's intention while asking it turns out to be? What is meaningful to you at this moment?

Also, Caroline, that alien thing is adorable. I think I'm going to be an alien one day : P

Edit: If this came off as rude, I'm sorry. I edited it a bit. But maybe I make a good point?

Great tip Oliver, that is a really good point you make about intention.

[In a "Rocky" theme style]

Bump-bu-bu-bump-bu-bum-bu-bu-bump...