solomon buccola:
First, I still have some trouble distinguishing A&P events from cessations. I frequently experience one of these when waking up from naps. This is not a natural, not forceful, awakening. As I am trying to rediscover myself in the awaken world, I seem to stumble into nothingness. It seems to me more likely to be cessation because it feels more like "reset" than "explosion." But is either one of these more likely to occur in this circumstance?
What path do you suspect you are? Further, do you notice that this event happens after a certain point in the cycles, or is seemingly random? At any rate, the events preceding and following it will be tall-tail signs. Further, a cessation is generally a very short-duration experience, lasting from build-up to after-glow only a few minutes, whereas an A&P will likely last much longer than that and include a much wider variety of "stuff" that may happen.
Also, you may want to give the relevant mctb chapters a very close read; the answers are there if you read closely and carefully. The questions I ask are only as to aid you in the process.
solomon buccola:
Second, there is a common experience, when watching a wheel spin forward at a certain rate that it looks like it is spinning backwards. Then, as the rate changes, the wheel can look like it is standing still, even though one can kind of tell that it is moving. I sometimes experience a similar thing while watching vibrations: things can be vibrating in a somewhat choppy way, but then vibrations seems to sync up in such a way that the object of attention seems almost solid, even though I can still have a sense that it is less solid than normal. Does this correspond to a particular stage?
Again, read the mctb chapters closely and you'll likely figure it out. If I had to take a guess, based just on what you've provided thus far, I would say it's the shift from 3rd vipassana jhana (dark night) to 4th vipassana jhana (equanimity). The main reason I say so is because equanimity has a "sync up" quality that is quite distinct. However the "sync up" could be relative to the "choppiness" in a more narrow way than what I am accustomed to and may thus be pointing to something else entirely. So again, what path do you suspect you are? And how quickly do you cycle?
Best,
Trent
