Astrall
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(continued)
Meditation means living totally. And you can only live totally in silence. By silence, I don't mean unconsciousness. There is unconscious silence, but it has nothing to do with living silence. And then again, you miss the most important thing.
With the help of mantras, you can hypnotize yourself. By simply repeating a word, you can create such boredom in your mind that the mind simply falls asleep. And you sink into sleep, into the subconscious. If you keep repeating "Ram-Ram-Ram" over and over, the mind will fall asleep. The barrier of language will disappear, but you will be in an unconscious state.
Meditation means that there should be no language, but you must remain in a conscious state. Otherwise, there will be no communication with the existing, with what is. No mantras, no chanting will help. Self-hypnosis is not meditation. On the contrary, being in a state of self-hypnosis means regressing. This is not going beyond language; it is falling below its level.
So, discard all mantras, all techniques. Allow moments without words to exist. You cannot get rid of words by repeating a mantra because the process itself uses words. It is impossible to exclude language with the help of words!
So, what should you do? In reality, there is nothing to do; you just need to understand. Whatever you do, it all comes from where you are. You are confused, not in meditation; your mind is not silent, and everything that comes from you is capable of creating even more confusion. The only thing you can do right now is to start to become aware of how the mind works. And that's all – just become aware. Awareness has nothing to do with words. It is an existential act, not a rational one.
So, the first thing is to be aware. Be aware of your mental processes, of how the mind works. In the moment you become aware of the actions of your mind, you cease to be it. Awareness itself means that you have gone beyond it: you have become a detached observer. And the more you become aware, the more you gain the ability to see the gaps between experience and words. These gaps are always there, but you are so blind that you never see them.
There is always a gap between two words, however small it may be. Otherwise, it would not be two words, but one. There is always an interval, a silence, between two musical notes. Two words or two notes would not be two if there were no interval between them. There is always a moment of silence between them, but to feel it, you need to be very attentive and aware.
The more you become aware, the slower the mind becomes. This is always interconnected. The less you are aware, the faster your mind; and the more you understand, the slower the mind works. When you are more aware of your mind, it slows down, and the gaps between thoughts increase. Then you can already see them.
It's like a movie. When the projector runs in slow motion, we see the gaps. I raise my hand – this movement must be captured in hundreds of frames. Each of them is a separate photograph. If these thousands of separate photographs flash before your eyes so quickly that the gaps
can be seen, then raising your hand appears to you as a process.
But in slow motion, the intervals are visible. The mind is like a film. There are gaps. And the more attentive you are to your mind, the more gaps you will see. This can be compared to a Gestalt image: it simultaneously depicts two different images. You can see either one or the other, but it is not possible to see both images at the same time. These can be two portraits – a young woman and an old woman, but by focusing on one, you will not see the other. And when attention switches to the second portrait, the first disappears. Even being sure that you have seen both portraits, you cannot fix them simultaneously.
The same happens with the mind. Seeing words, you do not see the gaps, and seeing the gaps, you do not see the words. Each word is followed by an interval, and each interval is followed by a word, but you do not see them simultaneously. If you focus on the intervals, the words will disappear, and you will be thrown into meditation.
Consciousness focused only on words is not meditative; consciousness focused only on the gaps is meditative. When you become aware of the existence of the gaps, the words disappear. If you observe carefully, it is impossible to find words; you see only the gaps.
You feel the difference between two words, but you cannot feel the difference between two intervals. There are many words, but the interval is always singular. All intervals merge and become one. Meditation is focusing on the interval. Then the whole Gestalt changes.
Meditation means living totally. And you can only live totally in silence. By silence, I don't mean unconsciousness. There is unconscious silence, but it has nothing to do with living silence. And then again, you miss the most important thing.
With the help of mantras, you can hypnotize yourself. By simply repeating a word, you can create such boredom in your mind that the mind simply falls asleep. And you sink into sleep, into the subconscious. If you keep repeating "Ram-Ram-Ram" over and over, the mind will fall asleep. The barrier of language will disappear, but you will be in an unconscious state.
Meditation means that there should be no language, but you must remain in a conscious state. Otherwise, there will be no communication with the existing, with what is. No mantras, no chanting will help. Self-hypnosis is not meditation. On the contrary, being in a state of self-hypnosis means regressing. This is not going beyond language; it is falling below its level.
So, discard all mantras, all techniques. Allow moments without words to exist. You cannot get rid of words by repeating a mantra because the process itself uses words. It is impossible to exclude language with the help of words!
So, what should you do? In reality, there is nothing to do; you just need to understand. Whatever you do, it all comes from where you are. You are confused, not in meditation; your mind is not silent, and everything that comes from you is capable of creating even more confusion. The only thing you can do right now is to start to become aware of how the mind works. And that's all – just become aware. Awareness has nothing to do with words. It is an existential act, not a rational one.
So, the first thing is to be aware. Be aware of your mental processes, of how the mind works. In the moment you become aware of the actions of your mind, you cease to be it. Awareness itself means that you have gone beyond it: you have become a detached observer. And the more you become aware, the more you gain the ability to see the gaps between experience and words. These gaps are always there, but you are so blind that you never see them.
There is always a gap between two words, however small it may be. Otherwise, it would not be two words, but one. There is always an interval, a silence, between two musical notes. Two words or two notes would not be two if there were no interval between them. There is always a moment of silence between them, but to feel it, you need to be very attentive and aware.
The more you become aware, the slower the mind becomes. This is always interconnected. The less you are aware, the faster your mind; and the more you understand, the slower the mind works. When you are more aware of your mind, it slows down, and the gaps between thoughts increase. Then you can already see them.
It's like a movie. When the projector runs in slow motion, we see the gaps. I raise my hand – this movement must be captured in hundreds of frames. Each of them is a separate photograph. If these thousands of separate photographs flash before your eyes so quickly that the gaps
can be seen, then raising your hand appears to you as a process.
But in slow motion, the intervals are visible. The mind is like a film. There are gaps. And the more attentive you are to your mind, the more gaps you will see. This can be compared to a Gestalt image: it simultaneously depicts two different images. You can see either one or the other, but it is not possible to see both images at the same time. These can be two portraits – a young woman and an old woman, but by focusing on one, you will not see the other. And when attention switches to the second portrait, the first disappears. Even being sure that you have seen both portraits, you cannot fix them simultaneously.
The same happens with the mind. Seeing words, you do not see the gaps, and seeing the gaps, you do not see the words. Each word is followed by an interval, and each interval is followed by a word, but you do not see them simultaneously. If you focus on the intervals, the words will disappear, and you will be thrown into meditation.
Consciousness focused only on words is not meditative; consciousness focused only on the gaps is meditative. When you become aware of the existence of the gaps, the words disappear. If you observe carefully, it is impossible to find words; you see only the gaps.
You feel the difference between two words, but you cannot feel the difference between two intervals. There are many words, but the interval is always singular. All intervals merge and become one. Meditation is focusing on the interval. Then the whole Gestalt changes.