Meta-cognitive Thinking for Abstinence

[Clear'Waters]

Many times when we strive for celibacy, we encounter temptation and other obstacles that hinders us. In my case, I have went through periods of depression where I thought things weren't going to change, especially since we live in a sexually oriented society, and you can't turn a corner or bat an eye without seeing some form of this. Many times I asked myself why? I considered it karma from the past....

 

When one desires, the desire is completely formulated and inseparable from ones emotion and opinion. If you aren't in a good mood, certain comedy will not make you laugh. As well visa-versa, when someone is happy, certain unfortunate things will not bring them down. Desire and emotion all are both dependent. If a situation happens, these two things are easy changed without much thought. One can consider these two as a thought themselves. Without intention, they are simply motionless in a sense. But the moment one acts out out of these desires and emotions, they gain meaning in a more physical aspect. 

 

To 'combat' these things, you must pay attention to the root. Asking yourself meta-cognitive questions like:

 

What significance does this thought have?

What does it mean to me?

Do I consider this negative or positive?

If negative, why would I think about it in the first place?

If positive, how would this affect my life?

Positively or negatively?

How is my heart rate affected?

What about my breathing?

If it is emotion your feeling, does it sprout desire?

If it is desire, does it sprout emotion?

Are they positive or negative?

Where does this thought root from?

Does it come from incidences in the past?

Where in the past? 

Who was I compared to who I am now?

If I was different, why does it still affect me now?

etc..

etc..

 

If emotion does arise from thinking these things, don't consider it. What i mean it to allow it to go. Don't consider it's coming. Let it be distant from you if you want it to be. 

 

Lastly, when you do let go, ensure that you let go of letting go. This is a good technique because once you let go and there is nothing left, but yet you are still trying to let go, this intention will create something more. That is why many times abstinence can be disrupted. When one is too concerned on the cause, it concerns the mind, and makes it a bigger situation. 

 

Thinking about it, before I intentionally went abstinent, I could have just wen abstinent... if that makes sense. 

 

Please comment on what you think. Add more meta-cognitive questions, give advice, etc... Thank you to all those who have read this, and good luck! :-)

Edited May 22, 2016 by Clear'Waters

[mindtooloud]

im not sure what these questions are supposed to abstain you from but i approve of the questions that i do understand

[Clear'Waters]

im not sure what these questions are supposed to abstain you from but i approve of the questions that i do understand

 

Its not necessarily the questions, but the certain thought process that one uses. It like changing yourself from first person to third in a sense.

[mindtooloud]

Its not necessarily the questions, but the certain thought process that one uses. It like changing yourself from first person to third in a sense.

so like, instead of thinking we think about thinking and see what those thoughts make us do and find the thoughts that are right for us to get the right results?

[Clear'Waters]

so like, instead of thinking we think about thinking and see what those thoughts make us do and find the thoughts that are right for us to get the right results?

Kind of.. Its like taking yourself out the situation without any emotional or opinionated biased to evaluate it a different way in the present tense. 

Edited May 23, 2016 by Clear'Waters

[Clear'Waters]

Well, since you only have 23 posts, I took the liberty to look over all of them. It appears that you haven't mentioned any particular qigong practices that you are involved in. I will guess that it is because you are not doing any.

 

Even though I think that the mind is a powerful thing, I think that "metacognition" won't be helpful. There are a handful of reasons for this. One is that the contents of the mind have very fine and not-always-perceivable triggers; engaging in any type of linguistic mode of self-relating in your mind will virtually always miss these triggers.

 

The next feature is one which is a fortiori more relevant. Mind, as you experience it, is the byproduct of energy states. In general, the experience of mind is blurred for a lot of people. There are different things with different levels of resolution and, usually, they get strewn together and given variable emphasis while they are mushed together. I wanted to get a diagram so it could be easier to understand but I haven't found a good one yet. Anyways, the level of linguistic expression in mind is very superficial and doesn't engage with the things that are actually responsible for your mental state.

 

So, above and beyond "metacognition", I would advocate qigong. If your mind is disturbed, it is because your energy is disturbed. Even though mind-based things like meditation and different patterns of thinking can influence energy, it is very weak by comparison (at least, in the beginning). It is like trying to re-orient a sailboat by just saying words. Unless you're very windy in your speech, it will be easier to just adjust the sails.

 

To this end, I simply advocate qigong. There are a number of free ones on youtube which could be of benefit but, in general, you get what you pay for.

 

 

Edit: maybe I should have re-read your post. Reading it again, I can feel more of your mental state than before. If you can understand this, there are different levels to work with. You are still contrasting ideas. The entanglement of energy with ideas can allow your methods to work for a number of things. My advice, though, would be to clear the mind to the point where energy and idea are almost completely separate. if you can do that, then my post will probably make more sense (as you should have the clarity to perceive the negative image of the objects/reference points that are present but not mentioned in the post).

In many daoist texts, they refer to the 'shen' as mind or spirit, which in turn is followed by qi. So really, if ones qi is turbid one should first calm the mind and the qi will follow its calmness.

[Clear'Waters]

Qi follows yi. Yi, however, is not everything in the mind; it is a particular feature of mind. To this end, yi is only a director for a finite quantity of qi; not  a modulator for the entire system. Shen might be a substance of mind (it also might not, as there are variations in opinion on this matter) in any case, you're still dealing with the configuration of a very small set of mental resources without any real means of expanding the changes to the total system of the energy body.

 

In this way, you're not really stabilizing anything except a small range of symbols/mental-objects that you're choosing to pay attention to. The issue is to get beyond the symbols and to work directly with the "stuff" within which the symbols inhere.

 

So really, and in practical terms, if one's qi is turbid, one usually adjusts breathing because this is the most simple form of qigong and it is mentioned in many daoist texts that mind follows breath.

 

(sorry, that last paragraph was a little snippy because I get irked when people cite written works in a way that covers over direct, experientially-derived information and, also, that's an oversimplification of shen; it's not just in the main stuff of the conscious mind---it, also, is distributed in the body)

Its ok.. I understand. I was only giving a minor method that works for me when I am in public.. I see your point of view though...

[Synchronic]

Its ok.. I understand. I was only giving a minor method that works for me when I am in public.. I see your point of view though...

 

so like, instead of thinking we think about thinking and see what those thoughts make us do and find the thoughts that are right for us to get the right results?

 

Check out this post here, especially the writings about Horse Stance (Mai Bu), and Quick Fire Breathing (Fast reverse breathing) helping with abstinence and building Qi.

 

http://www.thedaobums.com/topic/40918-thoughts-about-chunyi-lins-spring-forest-qi-gong/?p=686011

 

Also if you have not heard of (Dr) Yan Xin, I definitely would recommend doing some reading about him, in my mind he is the great living qigong master known to the public. He has participated in numerous published scientific studies, being able to influence many different types of matter with his external qi, including changing the decay rate of radioative isotopes.

 

 

Here is a good thread with some information, and techniques given by him.

 

http://www.thedaobums.com/topic/30754-what-became-of-qigong-master-yan-xin/page-4

 

Goodluck guys!

[Synchronic]

Some "Qigong Essentials" from Dr Yan Xin, simple but good advice, seriously this guy is really worth listening to and looking into.

 

 

http://web.archive.org/web/19970615222922/www.owlnet.rice.edu/~tanzil/80char.html

[ganapathi]

Some "Qigong Essentials" from Dr Yan Xin, simple but good advice, seriously this guy is really worth listening to and looking into.

 

 

http://web.archive.org/web/19970615222922/www.owlnet.rice.edu/~tanzil/80char.html

Thank you very much,....