While I haven't achieved this, I've read enough material(BGI TOE, QUANTUM THEORY) to grasp the general idea. So, our body/avatar, in this reality is made up of thousands of sensors (technically every hair follicle is an air disturbance sensor). If we concentrate and attempt to consciously recognize/identify as many of them as we can (the amount grows with practice), we will essentially wake or detach, "consciously" speaking from our avatar/body and transcend into a higher consciousness. Put a different way, we have been staring at a projection screen (reality) for thousands of years, that our avatar subconsciously accepts this simulation as reality. Thru meditation, we can awake from this trance and be conscientious of the true nature/state of our avatar.
Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?
151–160 of 163 posts
Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?
#152Earlier quoted context omitted.
These whole stages thing looks too much like a sales funnel. What if I don’t buy your descriptions and don’t accept this narrative? Then who is to decide which stage I’m at?
You decide, and you're free to do as you see fit, including adjusting the goals or stages to match your experience, that's just first-hand (and second-hand, from others) testimony that you requested. The wealth of literature on the topic is at your disposal. My recommendations if you'd like to have a skim are Waking Up (Harris), Happiness Hypothesis (Haidt), both of which take a bird's eye view of the practices and t…
I am grateful for sharing your personal experience.
I’m not criticizing your experience, but rather the general picture described. The questions I would ask some monk representing some tradition.
You gave a good answer btw, thanks.
Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?
#153Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?
#154I think of mindfulness in the following way. I don't consider it a meditation. You can meditate on how to be mindful or how you could have been more mindful in a past circumstance, but that is different. Meditation is actively thinking on how to do something, training yourself to do something you ought to be doing. Mindfulness is maintaining a state of mind at all times.
I think of mindfulness as developing as complete an awareness as possible of the present without any past biases or perceptions affecting you. This is done to respond to the present situation you are facing more effectively. Too often, we associate a past experience with current experience, and react to the current experience as if it should play out in the same manner as the past experience had played out. We do this because we lose all situational awareness because the bond we have to this past connection is too strong. Mindfulness is intended to understand the present situation, what your possible present responses are, and to evaluate them to determine what to do this time around. The technique is effective because the situation is oftentimes more significant than our past experience even if we didn't realize it.
Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?
#155Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?
#156I think of mindfulness in the following way. I don't consider it a meditation. You can meditate on how to be mindful or how you could have been more mindful in a past circumstance, but that is different. Meditation is actively thinking on how to do something, training yourself to do something you ought to be doing. Mindfulness is maintaining a state of mind at all times. I think of mindfulness as developing as comple…
> as complete an awareness as possible of the present
Who and how defines the level of completeness of the awareness?
That’s the whole point.
If i buy into some teaching telling me that my awareness is not complete - I’m on the hook that same moment and have something to fight for.
But why can’t i buy the idea that Im already complete since it’s anyway a subjective matter by definiTion?
In such case - there is no a single objective reason for the meditation industry to exist for me or any person who didn’t buy into that original assumption.
Where am i wrong here?
Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?
#157I think of mindfulness in the following way. I don't consider it a meditation. You can meditate on how to be mindful or how you could have been more mindful in a past circumstance, but that is different. Meditation is actively thinking on how to do something, training yourself to do something you ought to be doing. Mindfulness is maintaining a state of mind at all times. I think of mindfulness as developing as comple…
> as complete an awareness as possible of the present Who and how defines the level of completeness of the awareness? That’s the whole point. If i buy into some teaching telling me that my awareness is not complete - I’m on the hook that same moment and have something to fight for. But why can’t i buy the idea that Im already complete since it’s anyway a subjective matter by definiTion? In such case - there is no a s…
I don't think you're wrong. You can buy the idea the idea that you are complete and could very well be that way. I personally don't find myself to be that way, and that having this frame of reference is helpful for myself, and that's as far as it goes. For example, in a development project, I get caught up in getting a feature to how I perceived it ought to have been and become dismissive of other's objections or ideas on how it is different or should be implemented differently considering the actual utility of the feature or complication that I didn't recognize. Those are the types of situations where I find I need it. Sometimes, I assume that someone has a perception and work based on that, and don't realize that that perception was incorrect, or even if correct at a time, had changed. Because the world is very dynamic and ever-changing, that's why I feel that I need to spend more time staying aware of what changes and what needs to change about me because I don't do that enough.
In terms of subjectivity, it's subjective to the extent that it's not affecting the outcomes of what you attempt. If you perceive that the results of what you are working on and responding to now are affected by your biases, that's the only time you can practice mindfulness. If other people perceive that, you can evaluate if their opinion holds value. You can only take an action when you sense something is wrong, realize something could be realistically better regarding how something is being handled now, or have an epiphany by happenstance. Much of the effort spent in meditations and the likes is the idea that by maintaining a certain level of fitness at an activity or state of mind, when a situation presents itself, you will be ready and able to handle it more reasonably. In reality, this means that much of that effort will not be of use in few cases. Whether that is worth it is again subjective.
> In such case - there is no a single objective reason for the meditation industry to exist for me or any person who didn’t buy into that original assumption.
It exists objectively for the same reason that the education industry exists. Not everyone has the same characteristics or capacity to solve problems they face and reason through situations by themselves in the best possible way. Much of the knowledge we need can be obtained online or reading a book, or in gaining experience and developing intuitions on how to approach and experiment with things, but many people can't do this, or need assistance to do this better or develop the mentality to do this in a way they find better. Industries don't exist for individuals; they exist to accomplish things for a group of people that find something is lacking, regardless of whether they are right or wrong about why they need that.
Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?
#158In my experience mindfulness meditation is prayer. It seems more hip now to call it something else. I pray every morning which involves me both sitting quietly and using words to talk to God. Sometimes I meditate on a verse from the Bible I have just read. There were a few comments about peaceful sleep in the Psalm I was reading this morning. I thought about this for a while and then got up and washed the dishes.
Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?
#159Check out Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). This is a proven method for many "hard to treat" psychological issues especially emotional issues from serial suicidal attempts patients and BPD, to depression (not so much on anxiety). This method combine mindfulness and you can have a real understanding of what "being at right now" truly means, and how to do it, from meditation to application on daily life. I recommend this to you because there has been thousands of clinical use and data, and it has a more comprehensive directions on how to do it, you will get the best result if you want to try mindfulness.
Free resources here: https://dbtselfhelp.com/dbt-skills-list/mindfulness/
Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
> as complete an awareness as possible of the present Who and how defines the level of completeness of the awareness? That’s the whole point. If i buy into some teaching telling me that my awareness is not complete - I’m on the hook that same moment and have something to fight for. But why can’t i buy the idea that Im already complete since it’s anyway a subjective matter by definiTion? In such case - there is no a s…
I don't think you're wrong. You can buy the idea the idea that you are complete and could very well be that way. I personally don't find myself to be that way, and that having this frame of reference is helpful for myself, and that's as far as it goes. For example, in a development project, I get caught up in getting a feature to how I perceived it ought to have been and become dismissive of other's objections or ide…
Good points.
> It exists objectively for the same reason that the education industry exists.
But if I’m right above - there is a subtle but crucial difference. Education has (at least tries to have) some objective, applied and reproducible element to it.
While meditation is reduced to religion by its nature.
It doesn’t make it any less valuable for society etc.
But it means we need to call things by their names and stop pretending it’s something else. Like Sam Harris and others do.