No Physical Sense Consciousness
About 45 minutes into this morning's meditation I had a unique experience of not being hooked up to the physical nervous system. I had reached a degree of concentration with few thoughts but then spontaneously adjusted the position of my hands which were folded in my lap. The shift in posture caused a nerve to pinch in my right shoulder. This has occasionally happened to me for around 15 years but never happened while I was meditating. Typically I lose sensation beginning at the corner of my right eye which then proceeds to numbness throughout the right face, shoulder and pretty much the entire right side of the body. It used to "unnerve" me until I figured out how to adjust my posture to quickly come back to normalcy. In meditation today, however, I just calmly observed the body and did not try to prevent it or correct the spreading of numbness. This of course, created a different event due to non-involvement, non-resistance, non-panic. The physical loss of sensation spread to probably 95% of the body with just a faint awareness remaining along the left side edge of the body. The psyche had no connection to nerves. What was left was no motion, no feeling, no vibration, no awarenss of form, leaving me in seamless stillness and peace. It was simply beautiful, smooth, glass-like, empty stillness. Gradually sensation came back by itself as I continued to sit without moving body or mind.
This is exciting as it gives me a big revelation as to what it is like to be without physical form and sensual consciousness. Consider it! Being just mind, with no sense based consciousness. It is unforgettable and I feel is a good development in the mindful awareness practice that I do.
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I feel the interesting thing about this experience is that it occured spontaneously, both the entry into it as well as the exit from it. That is wide open to further discussion.
In the sentence below the use of the word, mind, is technical but it suggests an observing (but not demanding) self and some space with consciousness. Is this correct?
Being just mind, with no sense based consciousness.
This sounds like a relationless single self!
A speck of reality with no other reality for miles.
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Yes, the use of the term "mind" is suggestive of an observing self.
And yes, I wasn't aware of any other reality within the confines of my current physical body along with its mental functions. The singular inner territory within me, stood on its own.
I was just in myself so yeah, it was relational only to me.
This stuff is way more real than ordinary bodily/social existence. What else might lie beyond or within this, awaiting discovery?
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Michael Beloved said:
I feel the interesting thing about this experience is that it occured spontaneously, both the entry into it as well as the exit from it. That is wide open to further discussion.
Looking back now, maybe I should say that it was a controlled event versus a spontaneous, since the observer remained confined to itself, not jumping out. If I had reacted in the least, it would not have unfolded within.
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Well, in conclusion, I shared the experience with a monk and he said that it was "a level of mindfulness". I am encouraged because if that stillness and peacefulness is a level of mindfulness, then the levels further inward must be wonderful indeed. This mindfulness is really points the way.
