Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).
I have that same experience! I’ve tried explaining it to others before but it comes out like just another spacey mind trip.
Is it like this?
I find myself in it just seconds (or less?) before falling into sleep; it’s like I wake up in the state of sleep, but it’s not the same as lucid dreaming. They say it’s impossible to stop the stream of thoughts, even when in deep meditation. But in this place time seems to stand still, and when times stands still, so does the stream of thoughts, pictures or inner dialog – and all the while I am fully conscious. At that point I can choose to move the stream or keep it still. If I stay there, however, I will wake up and then will have trouble falling into sleep. So I’ll usually hang there for only a few minutes, and then let it go and fall asleep. There is no sense of need to do anything with it, and I think if I did, it would immediately stop.
At the moment I'm in a let nature take it's course stance - my body knows what sleep it wants and forcing it to do anything always back-fires on me As long as I'm not restless and getting frustrated then the muscles and 'body' are getting the rest they need and if I am restless lying there is not doing any good whatsoever - it's almost as if I need to get up and do something to reset the clock and then try again. I've also found that I've 'thought' I've been awake all night and it turns out that I'm sound asleep having a boring dream of being awake
Interesting. When the cognitive machinery comes to a halt what remains is pure awareness, an empty sky.
The problem, if you want to sleep, is that this awareness can be too hard. Like in that song "I saw the Light, but the Light was much too bright", although that was probably indeed about an LSD trip or something.
For sleep awareness, the Light, needs to soften, to melt.
When you think of yang as hard (or too bright) and of yin as soft, hexagram 2 represents a complete softening. Line 5 emphasizes this even more. The yellow (golden) color that is associated with it has a melting quality.
How to soften, how to melt, how to go completely yin?
Thinking warm, soft, loving thoughts before you fall asleep may help. And breathing low, in the belly region, that also softens.
theory of one said:Funny thing is I've tried and failed to achieve this state by meditating
Theory of One: I hope to respond more fully when I have the chance. In the mean time ...
for the future, consider putting these types of queries about an individual reading in the Shared Readings section.
Regards, David.
I love this thread, and the idea of softening into the flow of sleep.
I got this line when I asked, "Will i go on as an entity after my death?"
It's very fitting and such a beautiful line. My ego is grappling with the idea because to me this says no, I will enter back into the golden thread but not be conscious as being Sue-beyomd-the-veil. More that I will be what I am now, which is the veil before Sue and the present Sue is now in and the veil that is after Sue, but that the concern that *I* go on is looking entirely through the wrong end of the telescope. I am That and have never been more or less, but Sue in Belgrave does not go on (I just misstyped on as om then, hehe). And that it is all perfectly fine because looking through the right end of the telescope, letting go of Sue from Belgrave is not losing anything at all, because there is nothing left to lose except that limited narrow view of "me". Let go of the idea of keeping and losing that, and that's when you can dance.
Anyone have any thoughts?
It is confusing, but that is the nature of a forum thread that can be revived and commented on at any time. I really don't care if it gets moved or not, but Shared Readings does seem a more fitting place for it.Please don't because 'Theory of One' posted this thread 11 years ago !
I think it is so confusing when people tack comments on to these ancient threads and then others come along and start advising the initial poster because they think it's a current thread.
It is confusing, but that is the nature of a forum thread that can be revived and commented on at any time. I really don't care if it gets moved or not, but Shared Readings does seem a more fitting place for it.
Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).