Athanor

I don't know whether it's possible to stop associative thinking. But I don't even understand how it's possible to think - I mean according to the physics of the brain it should simply follow the stimuli received from the environment, and it should give a specific response according to the current state of the neural net. However, it very much looks like our thoughts can be controlled via something we call free will. It might turn out that our free will, our dilemmas we face before a decision, this little "tennis match" we play inside our heads, this can also be part of the strict process, since it can always end up in only one result. That we only feel that we have free will but we don't actually have a choice, is a possibility. Of course it's also possible that we have free will. But then how does it work? No physical, biological, neurological or any kind of laws can determine it. And thus we can't determine how we think. The source of this very thinking process, which is guided by our will, or our awareness, is unknown. It is the realm of spirituality, which is mostly guessing, hypotheses, and reliance on other people's words. So I don't know whether it's possible to stop associative thinking. But I think that it doesn't matter - we don't need to. We don't need to stop it because it's not the associative thought that makes up the problem, but the emotion bounded to that thought. The problem is that when you face something with a certain strong emotion, then together with the memory of that something, the very emotion is also stored in your neurons. And every time you think of that thing, you also feel something of that emotion. So even when years have passed since that event, whenever you think of something in association with that event, you trigger the same emotion. However, it is possible to overwrite that emotion with others - this is how psychotherapy works. This proves that it's possible to get rid of the emotions attached to the associative thoughts, or any kinds of thoughts for that matter, and thus get rid of the unwanted habits driven by our undesired emotions. But you don't need to lose associative thinking for this. In fact, your personal associations are part of your personality, I don't think you should lose them, even if you can.

Mind chatting may be called passive, but still, it is something that holds our brain function in a specific manner: it keeps some ideas and thoughts fresh while it leaves others to be forgotten... This is not "modest degree of science", this is logic based on neural network observation made with PET scanner, fMR, not just once but many times in different researches. It may be just a theory, as everything might be in science, but feel free to come up with other (not "modest") scientific evidences to refute what I've written. So then, why does it happen that people become isolated, associative, and nihilist, when they practice meditation for a long time? Why do some people become like this while others don't? You can say "because they don't meditate properly". OK then, what is the difference between proper and improper meditation's effects on the mind-brain continuum?

Hello everyone. I'm Gabriel, 29, graphic artist from Hungary. This is all I have to say about that.

Just as the brain cells stay too even when the mind becomes still. And just as the water molecules are changing and moving even in the still water, so do the synaptic connections change in the still mind.

Do you mean I'm wrong? You are free to refute if you can.

No one told me that, and I never thought that it would be its goal. On the contrary, I read everywhere that meditation creates a very sharp consciousness. It's just hard to grasp this process - how does it work? How can I gain consciousness in a process where I leave my thoughts? What are the differences between thoughts and consciousness? Is consciousness rising in my brain? Or is it something beyond it, and my brain is just a tool to express it? Indeed. But people who meditate are much more than people who've learned how to meditate. So ending up in a false condition is quite possible since there are many people who never actually learned how to meditate. For instance, I didn't. I simply don't know a master. There are people around me who teach meditation but I wouldn't call them a master, I wouldn't rely on their instructions. So I try to learn it myself, according to scriptures, but this is much harder because I don't understand many things. So I started to figure out what is actually going on while I meditate.

Human stupidity is limitless

There are billions of receptor cells on your skin. All of them sends an electro-chemical impulse to your brain, and this impulse goes through your spinal column. All the other sensory organs' receptor cells, like the millions of cells in your eyes, ears, nose and tongue, they also send impulses to your brain. While having sex, you don't get any more sensory impulses than on a boring day with bad weather. The difference is that while you are having sex, you are focused on and aware of these impulses on a much higher rate. So the ultimate spiritual purpose of sex is to gain focus and awareness. If you practice normal, simple meditation, then you can observe that awareness is much sharper if you don't bother yourself with shallow thoughts. Then you use this experience in sex, and you stop thinking - and start focusing on your senses. When you stop thinking, you start to be aware, you simply start to meditate... It's just that you don't focus on your breath, or the dot in front of you, but you focus on your senses. Hindu tantra works with this. My opinion is that sex makes lot more sense if you do it this way, but I don't really think that most people could use this as a spiritual practice. For one thing you practice is to avoid addictions. And while you practice this kind of tantric sex, it's hard to decide whether you do it for joy or for enlightenment... As much as anything can be used as the path, there are some things which should rather not be used as the path

I only read about it. As far as I could grasp it, the whole thing is based on a personalized mantra. Now, according to the effects of sounds and vibrations (like mantra) on the mind, there might be something like a personalized mantra because one mantra has a different effect than the other. But this effect or result doesn't differ from any other noise you meet during your everyday life. However, according to the sacred texts about mantras, the main thing about them is the transcendental connection, and not so much the vibration and the sound. If it would be the vibration and the sound, then it would only be effective if you'd say it in a specific language, in one specific dialect. But we all know that's not the case. As far as vibration goes, sound vibrations don't make much of an impact on the mind but thoughts do. So I think it's more effective to create a right thinking routine and practice that regularly, instead of paying a lot for a TM course and talking the mantra to yourself. So, if you ask me, TM might be just as effective as any placebo stuff, but you can get others cheaper