People already tell me I have good vibes, and feel like I listen to them[1]. I give off an air of nonchalance, because I think I kill[2] my emotions in public.
But I do it because it’s one more thing to deal with that I generally don’t have energy for. I’m already bothered by all the light and sound.
It seems like you’re saying “I meditated, and while at first that made sensory issues worse, eventually they just stopped.” And I’d like to know why, if that was legible to you.
Would appreciate any advice. I can probably say more about my experiences, but I’m not sure what more, if any, would be helpful.
I don’t know if it’s the same as you. I think I’m maybe not as active a listener? I don’t think I’m incapable of the way I see you listen in your videos, but I’m not sure I put the energy into it.
It seems like you’re saying “I meditated, and while at first that made sensory issues worse, eventually they just stopped.”
This is accurate, though it must be understood in the appropriate context. I’ve been meditating for years. Then my sensory issues fixed themselves relatively suddenly, over a period of a few months. This happened after several insight cycles, and well after stream entry.
The way insight cycles work, it’s like you used to be a hoarder and you’re not anymore because you took to heart Marie Kondo’s book. But you live in a house that’s full the garbage you used to hoard. You throw out everything in the basement, and discover there’s another basement below it that you’d forgotten about years ago and it’s full of more garbage. Then you clean up that basement and discover there’s another basement below that full of another different kind of garbage. Each process of “clean up a basement; discover another one’s below it full of new, exciting garbage to throw away” is an insight cycle. This sensory issue thing was Basement #9. (The number 9 is just a guess. I don’t know the exact number of basements I’m at. I’ve stopped counting.)
All of this garbage in the basement puts a constant low-level stress on you until you clean it up, just like real garbage in a real basement. Cleaning it up Basements #1-#8 gave me the tools and bandwidth[1] to deal with Basement #9. In this way, “dealing with my sensory disorder” constituted an insight cycle.
On Emotions
When you kill an emotion, you suppress it or distract yourself from it. In mystic practice, you listen to it without reinforcing it or getting tangled up in it, and it goes away on its own. Killing an emotion is like using your parasympathetic nervous system to neutralize your sympathetic nervous system. If you are able, it’s healthier to let both of them shut off. To do this you need to be in an safe environment.
On Listening
Listening when you’re at high samatha (such as after meditation) doesn’t take effort. Putting effort into things reads as strain which signals low status.
For me, I got these effects as a side effect of mystical insight. Is that the right course of action for you? It depends what you want. Mystic insight has lots of different effects you get as a package deal.
Thank you for the reply. I think I’ll need to look into things more.
One clarification I wanted to make. I wouldn’t have normally said that I need to put effort into listening. I think I generally feel like it doesn’t take effort. But somewhat recently I had an interaction with someone go poorly. It was a date, and they said afterwards that they didn’t feel like I wanted to get to know them, because I hadn’t asked enough things about them[1].
So I figure there’s something lacking in my interaction with people. Something that I’m not doing that I should, and doing things requires effort, so therefore I’m lacking in effort in some way.
I think you’re saying in some state it won’t be effortful, because it will be the path of least resistance. But I think my problem was not knowing what they wanted, and I don’t see how a state of mind would give me that information “for free”.
Possibly this was just idiosyncracy on their part. Other people have not expressed this feeling to me, so I have considered I’m putting too much weight on a single interaction.
Is there any more you can say about this?
People already tell me I have good vibes, and feel like I listen to them[1]. I give off an air of nonchalance, because I think I kill[2] my emotions in public.
But I do it because it’s one more thing to deal with that I generally don’t have energy for. I’m already bothered by all the light and sound.
It seems like you’re saying “I meditated, and while at first that made sensory issues worse, eventually they just stopped.” And I’d like to know why, if that was legible to you.
Would appreciate any advice. I can probably say more about my experiences, but I’m not sure what more, if any, would be helpful.
I don’t know if it’s the same as you. I think I’m maybe not as active a listener? I don’t think I’m incapable of the way I see you listen in your videos, but I’m not sure I put the energy into it.
I use a visceral word because I don’t approve of this practice in myself. Perhaps “ignore” or “block” would be more accurate?
This is accurate, though it must be understood in the appropriate context. I’ve been meditating for years. Then my sensory issues fixed themselves relatively suddenly, over a period of a few months. This happened after several insight cycles, and well after stream entry.
The way insight cycles work, it’s like you used to be a hoarder and you’re not anymore because you took to heart Marie Kondo’s book. But you live in a house that’s full the garbage you used to hoard. You throw out everything in the basement, and discover there’s another basement below it that you’d forgotten about years ago and it’s full of more garbage. Then you clean up that basement and discover there’s another basement below that full of another different kind of garbage. Each process of “clean up a basement; discover another one’s below it full of new, exciting garbage to throw away” is an insight cycle. This sensory issue thing was Basement #9. (The number 9 is just a guess. I don’t know the exact number of basements I’m at. I’ve stopped counting.)
All of this garbage in the basement puts a constant low-level stress on you until you clean it up, just like real garbage in a real basement. Cleaning it up Basements #1-#8 gave me the tools and bandwidth[1] to deal with Basement #9. In this way, “dealing with my sensory disorder” constituted an insight cycle.
On Emotions
When you kill an emotion, you suppress it or distract yourself from it. In mystic practice, you listen to it without reinforcing it or getting tangled up in it, and it goes away on its own. Killing an emotion is like using your parasympathetic nervous system to neutralize your sympathetic nervous system. If you are able, it’s healthier to let both of them shut off. To do this you need to be in an safe environment.
On Listening
Listening when you’re at high samatha (such as after meditation) doesn’t take effort. Putting effort into things reads as strain which signals low status.
Advice
Some people do use meditation as a targeted solution to things like chronic pain. I expect this works for some people and doesn’t work for others.
For me, I got these effects as a side effect of mystical insight. Is that the right course of action for you? It depends what you want. Mystic insight has lots of different effects you get as a package deal.
Not just mental bandwidth. Physical capital too, like clothes made out of bamboo-rayon.
Thank you for the reply. I think I’ll need to look into things more.
One clarification I wanted to make. I wouldn’t have normally said that I need to put effort into listening. I think I generally feel like it doesn’t take effort. But somewhat recently I had an interaction with someone go poorly. It was a date, and they said afterwards that they didn’t feel like I wanted to get to know them, because I hadn’t asked enough things about them[1].
So I figure there’s something lacking in my interaction with people. Something that I’m not doing that I should, and doing things requires effort, so therefore I’m lacking in effort in some way.
I think you’re saying in some state it won’t be effortful, because it will be the path of least resistance. But I think my problem was not knowing what they wanted, and I don’t see how a state of mind would give me that information “for free”.
Possibly this was just idiosyncracy on their part. Other people have not expressed this feeling to me, so I have considered I’m putting too much weight on a single interaction.