Thinking
deeply about something – concentration (may merge, immerse) (?dharana)
Thinking
about thinking – metacognition
Being a
witness to thinking – mindfulness (Dhyana?)
Total
silence, aware of the silence - Samadhi
A state
beyond thinking and silence, not for ordinary mortals.
“Meditation is the first-person science of the mind” says
Alan Wallace, in that we are observing the subjective reality of the mind
itself. During meditation, objective sensory inputs and our perception of those
inputs, become objects of inquiry. They form the substrate of deep-looking. At
the same time, the thoughts and emotions that are generated by those
perceptions become subjective experiences. The substrate for this
subject-object nexus is the substrate consciousness (Thich Naht Hanh calls it
Store Consciousness). Becoming aware of this substrate consciousness is
meta-awareness.
Information is that which informs. What informs us is the input
by sensory systems. We then interpret and modify these perceptions, codify and
name them, using our thinking, memory, imaginations, bias etc. Whatever it is,
Information about things is the content of the mind. When we reflect on it, it
should be clear at the outset that Information about a thing is not the
same as the thing. We can look deeper at what the connection is and what
reality is. In deeper meditation, we learn to focus on the mental space without
information. No one has seen space, atom, energy and mass. Nor has anyone
seen information.
Both Buddha and Ramana ask us to reflect on the “I”. What
stage am “I” at in this quest?
Who am I? On reflection, I decided to split this question
into two parts.
1. Who am I? “I” am Balu, an impermanent, inter-being
(as Thich Naht Hanh would define). In this sense I am a practical entity
existing and interacting with the world around “me”. “I” am part of a whole.
“I” interact with and depend on the whole and its contents and occupants. The
whole resides in “me”, is part of me and in everything else. In this sense, "I" was there always and will be there in the future. In a more tangible form, "my" thoughts, words and actions will be the residues of this brief existence. But, who is asking
that question?
2. What am “I”? “It” is a conceptual entity created
by “my” mind as part of its function in dealing with the physical realities. It
develops as I live and experience every moment, by owning up to each experience
(saying that it is “mine”) and storing them for future reference. It also owns
up to the actions of the physical body (“I did it”) in which it is generated. By repetition, it gives an impression of powers such as ownership and will which
it does not have. There can be no more of “It” (Balu in “my” case) once the
body and the brain (with the associated mind) are gone.
That is where I am now.
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