For myself, I’m one of the people who, like the writer of that book mentions can happen, accidentally had my A&P experience before I had any meditation practice, back in freshman year of college. Also had several times when I had all the 1st jhana experiences spontaneously, too. All I can say is, my next 12 years (10 before I started regularly meditating) made it very clear to me that the “dark night” is real, and I’m so glad I’m 1) now out of it, and 2) have a name for it.
Wild! My experiences of unusual mind states have largely been pretty subtle, and mostly came after months of regular practice.[1] And I haven’t had any experience at all that I would be willing to point to as an A&P event. Of course, there’s ADHD and a complete lack of retreat time to consider in those results. Someday I’ll get out there and see what a good week of dedicated concentration in carefully crafted conditions can do for me.
On the other side of the coin, I’ve been able to use that I have learned from the last few years of meditation and absorbing lots of dharma talks (and a few books) to be a better parent, partner, coworker, and friend to the people around me; so good stuff there!
[^1] To be fair, I did have a few childhood experiences that are consistent with 1st jhana. I even remember having the spontaneous realization that the visual field was entirely a product of the mind. I think I was 8yo at the time.
Ah, I totally missed that! Makes sense :)
For myself, I’m one of the people who, like the writer of that book mentions can happen, accidentally had my A&P experience before I had any meditation practice, back in freshman year of college. Also had several times when I had all the 1st jhana experiences spontaneously, too. All I can say is, my next 12 years (10 before I started regularly meditating) made it very clear to me that the “dark night” is real, and I’m so glad I’m 1) now out of it, and 2) have a name for it.
Wild! My experiences of unusual mind states have largely been pretty subtle, and mostly came after months of regular practice.[1] And I haven’t had any experience at all that I would be willing to point to as an A&P event. Of course, there’s ADHD and a complete lack of retreat time to consider in those results. Someday I’ll get out there and see what a good week of dedicated concentration in carefully crafted conditions can do for me. On the other side of the coin, I’ve been able to use that I have learned from the last few years of meditation and absorbing lots of dharma talks (and a few books) to be a better parent, partner, coworker, and friend to the people around me; so good stuff there!
[^1] To be fair, I did have a few childhood experiences that are consistent with 1st jhana. I even remember having the spontaneous realization that the visual field was entirely a product of the mind. I think I was 8yo at the time.