Even though I'm in the middle of a book, I am taking time out to listen to a talk by an unnamed spiritual teacher. I don't know their name, so I can't tell you who it is. All I can talk about is the message.
I've just started listening to it today and took a few notes, so I thought I would share those notes with you. I have more to listen to.
There are things in front of us and behind us. In front, are the things we see, such as the mind, heart and sensory input (or thoughts, feelings and senses). By the way, the eyes and ears account for most of the sensory input. A good friend of mine - if I remember correctly - once told me that 90% of our sensory input is from vision alone.
These three things - thoughts, feelings and senses - absorb most or even all of our consciousness or awareness. We can't see behind us when we are absorbed by all of these things that are in front of us. The teacher says that the depth of the soul is measured by the portion that is not consumed by thoughts, feelings and senses, or maya. By the way, according to the speaker, maya is not the outside world. (In Hinduism, maya means illusion.)
I will share more later. I'm still at the beginning. I'm sure I'll find out what is behind me.
8 comments:
Ah,lovely sweet maya!
Yes, if you're enjoying the dance, you might as well keep dancing!
As a point of correction, most of our sensory input is from our largest sense organ, our skin.
I guess if 90% of the input were from our eyes, then a blind person could only get 10% enlightened. Why then do many folks go into dark places to seek enlightenment? That would say to me the eyes are looking in the wrong direction.
Attenuation (reduced sensory input) seems to be a common thread in most, but not all, methods of spiritual seeking.
Most of my meditation was on breath but there were techniques to see, hear and taste the inner world, which were to be given equal prominence. It all seems foolishness now. I suppose it may be able to make progress with these methods but I would never never recommend anyone to do them. I'd say "Let life itself be your teacher" and leave it at that.
Hi Joe,
Dr. Jacob Liberman says that vision accounts for 90% of the information we take in during our lifetime.
http://www.exerciseyoureyes.com/pdf/3ChangeYourVision.pdf
This page differs by 10%, but it says that, "The sense of sight is the dominating sense - it accounts for approx. 80% of our experiences."
http://www.nordicplate.net/nordicplate-en/fortheteacher/fordybelse/smag
A blind person actually could probably find it easier to become enlightened, since they're not having to deal with the visual input that we do, which can actually be very distracting, although for them, the sense of touch and sound is probably their source of distractions. Just a guess, though. The speaker of the talk I'm listening to says that thoughts, feelings and senses account for most of what absorbs us, and that of the senses, sight and hearing are the two that take in the most information.
A couple years ago I was looking everywhere in my area for a floatation tank (or Samadhi tank). I wanted to experience this because it blocks out most of the sensory input. In total blackness and quietness, one is left with only smell and touch. I'd imagine that one of these tanks would make meditation more successful. I never did find one, so I haven't tried it. I thought about buying one, but they're too expensive for me!
Hi Vincent,
You remind me of my husband. He keeps telling me that enlightenment is experiencing nature and "getting off the computer". :)
Aha, Sophia, he is jealous of the computer perhaps, or rather the people that may influence you there?
the computer is another window on the world. Now I have two windows: this computer and the view from my actual window, which shows houses covering the hill and the children playing just beyond the backyard in a playground, and a street where they cycle back and forth. Peace. Peace.
Vincent,
I hope he isn't jealous. He spends most of his time watching the television, and while I don't completely abhor television, I don't find much intellectual or mental or even spiritual stimulation watching it. I've been using the computer almost obsessively since we first met in 1997. He seems to accept the fact that I'm a computer nerd. Well, at least an Internet nerd. :)
I don't have such a picturesque view from my windows. Must be nice where you are.
Post a Comment