Meditation on the Self

When the objective of meditation is to experience a thoughtless, idealess, imageless, non-motivational experience, then the problem which may arise is the need for involvement.

Some propose that in a thoughtless state, the self is absolute. Others say that in such a state, there is no self. However we may admit that the thoughtless state does not endure forever. The person resumes involvement both within and without the mind space.

How should one describe a self which is here today and is absent tomorrow, which disappeared when it experienced a thoughtless state and appeared after the experience ceased?

It is the self’s need for reliance which becomes latent in blank consciousness and which is compelling in others. As the self does not stay in the thoughtless blank state forever, so it does not remain reliant on some other principle at all times.

The habit of the observing self is involvement even if it is only involvement within the mindspace. Involvement as a social interaction is the least of a yogi’s problems. The big issue is involvement between the coreSelf and the intellect, as well as absorption between the coreSelf and the feelings within the psyche.

Some who meditate have difficulty sorting between the coreSelf, the intellect, the memories and the feelings. If for the meditator there is one cohesive non-partitioned self, then in meditation there would be no psychic parts to the psyche.

However if the meditator experiences a thought producing mindspace it is interesting that some students cannot sort between the mind chamber, the thought producing area of the mind and the observer or knower.

In my vocabulary, I use the term coreSelf for the observer. My idea is that there is a perpetual coreSelf which may be latent, which may disappear from manifestation but which will reappear when the proper existential conditions are suitable.

It is interesting that the observer in the mind may be regarded as a mere vantage point, a temporary mock-up, an ephemeral witness. I state that it is perpetual and stands in its own right as a perpetual existence but without being perpetually objective to itself.

My process is for this observer or knower to reflect on itself. It should use the thought producing area of the mind as a reference or as an alarm for it to turn its observing powers or interest upon itself, so that the vantage point observes itself, leaving aside the thought producing area.

And if when this happens the observer/knower finds that it loses its observing ability, that means that it naturally has no interest in itself but that interest should be cultivated. Just as it has a strong interest in what the thought producing area of the mind presents, so it should develop such an interest in itself.