Just wondering if anyone hear has actually experienced the silent mind. Would anyone agree that the way in which we experience our inseperability with the whole natural universe, or the whole of reality, is by not thinking?
I would liken this to conversation. If I’m talking all the time, I obviously will never hear what anyone else has to say. Now, in the same way, if I talk to myself or think all the time, I have nothing to think about other then thoughts. If we can all agree that reality is not a concept, then can we agree the way to experience our unity with reality and our true nature, where questions are irrelevant, is to become interiorally silent? Devoid of all conceptualization?
Actually you are correct. Sleep is actually a very deep form of meditation, because there is no verbal discursive thinking going on during deep dreamless sleep. Now to be concious while in deep dreamless sleep, that’s another experience entirely.
I never said concepts and realities were meaningless, concepts are very meaningful in exactly the sense of the word. They allow us to conceptualize. They allow us to express what could not be expressed by mere “being”.
The very nature of the mind is to think. The mind itself can never be silent. The mind is not the master, it can be mastered. The mind can be aligned with Silence. Now that is a different matter.
i found a study once (wish i could find it) that shows there’s no such thing as a dreamless sleep. you always dream. but you just can’t always remember your dreams.
and yes, i do meditate from time to time. although it’s extremely hard to keep your mind quiet for any period of time. i just try to focus on the rhythm of my beathing, and that helps a lot.
Interesting topic, and yes - I meditate frequently. The Silent Mind is what I’d refer to as ‘no-mind’, as the essence of the mind itself is without thought, although it is able to contain thoughts and exemplify them. Meditation is a great tool for insight, and I’d suggest it to anyone who is searching for some kind of truth, philosophical or other.
Not to mention, the act of thinking actually does save those in a life-threatening situation (it’s been said that people who were able to keep thinking while sort of “dying” have a higher survival rate than those who actually close their eyes and go out of consciouness, like fall asleep). A few times I’ve seen on tv when medics, working on people involved in an accident or bleeding seriously from gunshot wounds, would instruct the victims to keep the eyes open and to keep eye contact with the paramedic, and to try to listen to the words they hear. (Sorry, this is an off-topic, but I was just reminded by this discussion).
I’ve experienced something, and I’d like to share it with everyone.
I’m not positive if it’s the “Silent Mind” that we’re talking about, but I think it can be likened to “Zoning Out”, “Spacing Out”, “Vegging Out”, but not day dreaming. Imagine when you stare at something, deep in a sort of trance, waiting for something to spit oput of your mind, but enjoying imensly that there isn’t anything there. This happens all the time, particularly in Algebra class ( ), but it could be because of a timulant that I’m taking, Adderrall.
Or are we talking about the exact opposite, which I don’t find pleasant at all, but which I think of as the “Crazy Room” in everyone’s head. This is where you go when your mind becomes overrun by questions, when you enter a particularly dazzling concept that you’ve never heard of before, and you momentarily lose it, just kind of sway in disorientation.
Basically what I’m talking about is two descriptions of two seperate states of mind that throw you into a “Silenced” state, in which your mind is quiet either because you’ve fallen off a cliff by asking yourself too many questions, or by complete lack of thought. Only the latter seems appealing, in the minimal experience I’ve had with these things. But is there something else I haven’t considered that could be the key to unlocking this “Silence” of the mind?
Hello all, this is oddly enough my first post, though I read many philosophy forums all the time, this subject just seemed to make me want to post.
Personally I really do not understand the silent/calm mind, I like to have my mind ranting on, visualizing things etc. I seem however to get a silent mind all of the time, tends to happen right after I feel discouraged by something. It is silent linguistically, you know how you think in words? You still feeling emotions however, and probably thinking about allot of things on the subconscious level. I suppose your supposed to practice listening to things, or seeing things, so you can some how have a psychic television telling you something, I never think to do this when my mind is quite however.
If the object of attaining a quite mind is to listen, then what exactly are you listening to? Are you silencing your conscious mind to hear what your subconscious has to say? Or is it to achieve some sense of calmness away from the daily stressful routine, if that is the case I feel it would be better to simply focus our thoughts in a positive way, and away from negative thought, rather then simply squelching our mind, though I suppose if
