Hey Kaj, I was introduced to your content on craving a week ago and have blown through a number of your posts since then. Thanks for taking the time to compose such informative write-ups!
As someone who is currently around Stage 4-6 of the TMI roadmap, I’d be interested in hearing you elaborate on why you consider TMI post-Stage 6 to be dangerous or risky. If it’s dangerous because of suppressing undesired content, what do you think about jhana practices?
Mostly because of the possibility of suppressing undesired content, and because around Stage 6 was where I noticed myself picking up the ability to just completely exclude unwanted parts of my mind from consciousness. A friend who did TMI all the way to stage 10 also said that roughly this stage was the region where it might get tricky.
To be clear, it doesn’t seem to me that TMI past this stage would automatically cause harm: it’s just something to be aware of, in case you notice yourself suppressing subminds rather than taking their concerns into account. A TMI teacher who I spoke with said that the most typical outcome of trying to use the system to suppress some of your desires is that you just stop making progress or revert to an earlier stage. The mind does have its defenses against this kind of a thing.
Not sure what you’re asking about jhana practices, but I have very little personal experience with them, and I haven’t heard them described as having the same problems. (Especially since people typically don’t do strong jhanas off the couch, and suppressing subminds in your daily life is the part that seems most risky to me. If it’s just that you concentrate really deep during formal meditation, that’s probably not an issue.)
Hey Kaj, I was introduced to your content on craving a week ago and have blown through a number of your posts since then. Thanks for taking the time to compose such informative write-ups!
As someone who is currently around Stage 4-6 of the TMI roadmap, I’d be interested in hearing you elaborate on why you consider TMI post-Stage 6 to be dangerous or risky. If it’s dangerous because of suppressing undesired content, what do you think about jhana practices?
Thank you! I’m happy to hear that.
Mostly because of the possibility of suppressing undesired content, and because around Stage 6 was where I noticed myself picking up the ability to just completely exclude unwanted parts of my mind from consciousness. A friend who did TMI all the way to stage 10 also said that roughly this stage was the region where it might get tricky.
To be clear, it doesn’t seem to me that TMI past this stage would automatically cause harm: it’s just something to be aware of, in case you notice yourself suppressing subminds rather than taking their concerns into account. A TMI teacher who I spoke with said that the most typical outcome of trying to use the system to suppress some of your desires is that you just stop making progress or revert to an earlier stage. The mind does have its defenses against this kind of a thing.
Not sure what you’re asking about jhana practices, but I have very little personal experience with them, and I haven’t heard them described as having the same problems. (Especially since people typically don’t do strong jhanas off the couch, and suppressing subminds in your daily life is the part that seems most risky to me. If it’s just that you concentrate really deep during formal meditation, that’s probably not an issue.)