The blogpost “What is an ‘E(e)nlightenment’ experience'?…a new scientific, secular model” detailed Dr. Andrew Newberg’s research and personal experience on enlightenment experiences.
With over 100 research publications and 8 books on the cognitive
neuroscience behind beliefs, mystical experiences and religion including the
best-selling “Why God Won’t Go Away”, and Oprah's “must read” - “How God
Changes Your Brain”, he is a critical resource.
His current “How
Enlightenment Changes Your Brain: The New Science of Transformation”, gives
a useful, researched, secular understanding of the neuroscience of enlightenment
experiences.
Andrew’s research demonstrates that whatever “enlightenment” approach we take - Eastern, Western, religious, secular - the frontal and parietal lobes are critical. Earlier posts ("How the brain creates mystical states...how we activate them") and videos showed that deactivating two centers in these regions in the Default Mode Network (DMN), generates the mystical experiences of “All is One” and “now, now, now”.
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| Dr. Andrew Newberg U of Pennsylvania |
Andrew’s research demonstrates that whatever “enlightenment” approach we take - Eastern, Western, religious, secular - the frontal and parietal lobes are critical. Earlier posts ("How the brain creates mystical states...how we activate them") and videos showed that deactivating two centers in these regions in the Default Mode Network (DMN), generates the mystical experiences of “All is One” and “now, now, now”.
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| Frontal (MPFC) and Parietal (PCC) DMN key centers |
Newberg differentiates between enlightenment experiences, a) aha(s), or "e"s, that feel good and produce insights, and b) "E"s that produce fundamental behavior and belief change.
Typically, brain activity doesn’t change more than “5 to 10
percent throughout the day”.
However, spiritual practices increase frontal lobe activity, producing clarity and the feeling of "control" and "purpose". Increases in parietal lobe activity increase awareness of self/I in relation to objects, and movement toward a goal.
These increases can be > 20% before practice ends and you feel alert and peaceful, but no "e" or “E" manifests as activity returns to "baseline".
However, spiritual practices increase frontal lobe activity, producing clarity and the feeling of "control" and "purpose". Increases in parietal lobe activity increase awareness of self/I in relation to objects, and movement toward a goal.
These increases can be > 20% before practice ends and you feel alert and peaceful, but no "e" or “E" manifests as activity returns to "baseline".
However, if at this peak, a “sudden and substantial” rapid decrease in frontal/parietal activity back to "baseline" occurs, it generates major decreases in sense of control, boundaries and self/I and an "e" with blissfulness, and new understanding.
OTOH, an unexpected
dramatic change from + 20% above
baseline, to - 20% below
baseline (40% shift), is overwhelming - total surrender results in an "E" w/"All is One", and "Now, now, now" experiences w/fundamental changes in beliefs and
behaviors. Larger total changes produce longer and stronger "E"s.
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| Pentecostals worshiping in Slovakia |
Newberg studied Pentacostalism for National Geographic. This involves singing and dancing to emotional gospel music and sermons, entering a trance “without warning”, and then “speaking in tongues”. This produces deafferentation, "E"s, ecstasy (w/o Molly) and surrendering to/being “one with God”.
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| SPECT scanner |
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| SPECT scan of Healthy and Alzheimer's brains |
Newberg uses Single ProtonEmission Computed Tomography (SPECT), which involves an IV injection of radioactive tracer at the “critical” moment. The tracer is specific for certain tissues and goes to, and remains there, until later scanning gives a 3-D image.
Newberg studied Sufis, whose Dhikr/Zhikr involves powerful chanting, head rocking, hand clapping and/or drumming and/or whirling. Deafferentation occurs and "E"s result w/“extraordinarily real” states of "One with everything" and opening “one’s heart to a direct experience of God’s love”, lasting hours or days.
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| Sufi whirling |
Barbara Fredickson and others showed that every negative feeling/thought/story needs to be offset by at least three
positive ones to maintain optimism. If it is < 3/1, you’re
likely to be depressed.
(Positivity, 2009).
Newberg studied the difference between doing a practice "habitually" and doing it with intention and concentration in the Salat(h) done by Muslims. This involves standing, bowing, sitting, arm and hand movements, and prostration
while reciting various verses wherever they are - a deafferentation approach.
Doing Salat habitually produced no increase in frontal lobe
activity different from any other habitual routine.
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| Salat |
However, doing Salat slowly, with intention, focusing on every word and movement, produced significant decreases in frontal lobe activity and increased activity in the brain’s dopamine reward system, creating “great joy” and a deep surrendering to God.
Studies showed that Salat also affects autonomic nervous and cardiovascular systems.
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| Kriya mudras |
An 8 week, 12 min/day program of Kirtan Kriya with patients with memory and cognitive impairment produced "positive changes in mood, anxiety, and other neuropsychological parameters...correlated with changes in cerebral blood flow". (Moss, et al, J. Altern Complement Med. 2012). (Partial funding from the Alzheimer’s Association of America.)
In Shabad Kriya, practice intensity increases produced increases in frontal and parietal
regions, followed by significant
decreases (the 40% shift), producing increased
oneness and connectedness. (Hansen, G. Ugeskr Laeger, (1995).
Nonduality's equivalent is more complex - the Gayatri mantra, praised by Buddha in the Pali Canon, by Ramana Maharshi and in the Bhagavad Gita. i do it daily w/mudras, as shown by Richard Miller, who taught it to me.
Nonduality's equivalent is more complex - the Gayatri mantra, praised by Buddha in the Pali Canon, by Ramana Maharshi and in the Bhagavad Gita. i do it daily w/mudras, as shown by Richard Miller, who taught it to me.
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| Franciscan nuns SPECT scans Baseline vs Prayer |
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| Tibetan Buddhist meditators SPECT scans Baseline vs Meditation |
Advanced meditation practitioners also had significant, long-term functional changes in the thalamus, which builds “reality
models of the world”.
"The more frequently a person engages in meditative self-reflection, the more these reality centers change”. Colors were more vibrant, folk more empathetic, experiences more pleasurable and intense. (Newberg, et al, Psychiatry Res. 2001.)
Takeaways:
1) Complex practices with activities engaging different brain regions simultaneously can produce enlightenment experiences and improve memory and cognition.
2) If your practice has become habitual, stale, lifeless, w/o bliss, you're not "done", you're stuck. Go further. As the Ribhu Gita says "anandam param manam" - bliss is the primary measure.
With self-inquiry, change questions, try negations/affirmations. With yoga, add breath focus, negations, "not this", and "yes". Watching the breath, see where it comes from/goes to, when/where it goes from exhale to inhale. If chanting, add mudras. The more engaged you are, the more effective practice will be.
3) To produce enlightenment experiences, practices must significantly increase activation of the frontal and parietal cortexes well over baseline, and then have a decreased activation to, or, well below baseline. The larger the total change, the longer, stronger, and deeper the experience will be.
"The more frequently a person engages in meditative self-reflection, the more these reality centers change”. Colors were more vibrant, folk more empathetic, experiences more pleasurable and intense. (Newberg, et al, Psychiatry Res. 2001.)
Takeaways:
1) Complex practices with activities engaging different brain regions simultaneously can produce enlightenment experiences and improve memory and cognition.
2) If your practice has become habitual, stale, lifeless, w/o bliss, you're not "done", you're stuck. Go further. As the Ribhu Gita says "anandam param manam" - bliss is the primary measure.
With self-inquiry, change questions, try negations/affirmations. With yoga, add breath focus, negations, "not this", and "yes". Watching the breath, see where it comes from/goes to, when/where it goes from exhale to inhale. If chanting, add mudras. The more engaged you are, the more effective practice will be.
3) To produce enlightenment experiences, practices must significantly increase activation of the frontal and parietal cortexes well over baseline, and then have a decreased activation to, or, well below baseline. The larger the total change, the longer, stronger, and deeper the experience will be.
i was interviewed again on the VoiceAmerica Business channel
- "Using
Brain Science to Enhance Leadership Ability" .
i was also interviewed on the MysticWealth/StoicInvesting
podcast - "A fascinating conversation
with Gary Weber"
Hi Gary
ReplyDeleteGreat post. You bring a science of understanding to spiritual practice. I felt immediately reading this post that I have work to do in exploring this understanding of practice and making sure to be more "effective" in engaging various areas of "my" brain.
Love and gratitude
Guillaume
Hi Guillaume.
DeleteGreat that you found it so useful. It was fascinating to see how consistently the practices matched across such diverse populations when the neuroscience is applied to them. Best with your exploration and practicing.
stillness, love and surrender
gary
Hi Guillaume. BTW, have found your video "Cognitive Exercises for Health Living" @ https://youtu.be/DknD6sqaLFI to be really excellent and useful.
DeleteVery clear and interesting and covers the latest cognitive neuroscience effectively and accurately. Really useful perspectives on cognitive exercising being just like physical exercising, thinking through vs thinking about, and understanding the operation of the default mode network vs the task positive network in everyday language. Great you introduced the sa/ta/na/ma Alzheimer's exercise as well.
stillness, love and letting go
gary
Hi Guillaume, On the topic of what does "sa ta na ma" mean, many sources say it translates as "true essence" or "true self". However, "true essence" is "satnam" @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satnam. The "a"s are critical in Sanskrit.
DeleteA correct translation gives a different version entirely. Some sources say that "The five primal sounds Sa, Ta, Na, Ma have a literal Sanskrit connotation: Sa means birth (some say infinity); Ta means life; Na means death; and Ma means rebirth."
The incorrect "true essence" interpretation may fit with some religions, but it isn't what the Sanskrit is about. The correct translation, as interpreted, is also a "good" message, fitting some religious traditions' beliefs.
However, both are religious and insert "meaning", IMHO, where none is necessary and may be confusing to the deeper working of the four sounds by engaging the intellect when it isn't about that.
Since i don't believe in reincarnation, i just take it as four pleasant and deeply resonant sounds from the Sanskrit alphabet.
i often chant just the Sanskrit alphabet with 50 phonemes which is an amazingly powerful practice, particularly as it has no "meaning" that one can get lost in intellectually or religiously. Just watching "Who hears?", IME, is more than enough...
stillness, love and letting go
gary
Thanks for taking the time to check out the video Gary, much appreciated.
DeleteLearning from your work has been an instrumental part in what was presented.
Kind regards,
Guillaume
Wonderful review and scientific references to help us the yoga teachers (Kundalini) make the clinical point to the unbelievers. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHi Laura LM. Yes, i spent years wandering around in the dark, doing lots of different yogas, including Kundalini and having no idea what was going on "inside".
DeleteIt has been a wonderful time to see all the serious scientific studies that are being done to understand what is going on in the body-mind. It is incredibly useful to have a scientific perspective established for the "unbelievers", without which they just won't pick up the practices.
stillness
gary
Thank you Gary and Andrew for sharing this. These types of articles really inspire me to keep my practice going. I found the differentiation between habitual practice and practice with intention to hit the nail on the head. I did a year of breath meditation and noticed that it turned into a habitual practice that wasn't giving me benefit like it originally was. Recently I started doing walking meditation and found that it gave things a new life to my practice.
ReplyDeleteGary, once again I deeply appreciate you sharing your personal experiences and taking the time for doing so. Your presence/teachings are a balance between logical basis and clear personal experience. Thank you once again.
Hi Beau,
DeleteGreat that the scientific research and the sharing of this work has been so useful for you. i found the studies to be incredibly useful, myself, as i had been wandering around in the dark for many, many hours of practice having no idea what i was really doing.
Gratitude for taking the time to send the feedback.
stillness
gary
Hi Gary,
ReplyDeleteThanks for another really concise synthesis of Newberg’s work. Your point about “complex practices with activities engaging different brain regions simultaneously” is an important one. Although the frontal and parietal lobes play a central role, it seems that “the whole brain needs to get it”. Certain meditation techniques, particularly those focused on single pointed concentration, seek to unify the brain in this way. In Culadasa’s recent book, “The Mind Illuminated”, he speculates on a mechanism for how this occurs; all of the unconscious processing of the brain remains “tuned in and receptive to the contents of consciousness, while at the same time, none of them project any content into consciousness. Then consciousness ceases – completely” for a moment. It will be interesting to see how this can be tested.
As far as breath meditation, I'm working with your book and there is emphasis on where we draw our breath from. I seem to have a habitual pattern of my breath getting very odd during meditation, seems to stem from anxiety and stress. Shallow tense breathing, pressure develops, also feels like I need to voluntarily take the breath or it wont continue on its own. This happens in other areas of life but it is now a recurring theme within meditation I've emphasized putting a lot of work it to how my response to this has been, more recently with inquiry.
ReplyDeleteI apologize for the length of the question. Your response would be greatly appreciate as I find you to be a fantastic model in a subject matter that it is so easy to get caught up in fluff.
Beau
Hi Beau,
DeleteIt is important, as you point out, to see if during your breathing you are accessing the shoulders, chest or belly, which are increasingly efficient in that order.
A "complete breath" would use all three, the sequential order, top to bottom or bottom to top, changing depending on what activity was being engaged in, which is described in detail in Happiness Beyond Thought. In meditation, the breath is typically arising only from the belly, the depth decreasing as one gets more and more still.
It can be very helpful to actively, and consciously, lie down and place our hands on your belly, ribs, and shoulders as you inhale and exhale using each of those areas to see what you aren't engaging fully.
There are many yoga exercises that can be done to loosen any areas that are tight or constricted. Any good yoga teacher can help you with these.
Also realize that this tightness can be a sign of psychological trauma, or repressed fears locked in those regions which may well be accessed as these regions are stretched and loosened. If/when that happens, see if you can find a "story" or "message" arising from that region and use the Byron Katie and/or Sedona methods to deal with it.
Trust this is useful.
stillness
gary
Hi Ron,
ReplyDeletei had a very different take-away. It was interesting that all of these very different awakening practices from different regions and traditions actually could be characterized and their ability to produce transcendent experiences ascertained by using JUST the frontal and parietal lobe activity. In some instances, the thalamus played a role as did the asymmetry in the lateral prefrontal cortexes, but that was enough. What the rest of the brain was doing was not significant at that level.
As far as "the whole brain needs to get it", that isn't indicated. The very recent Science paper "A Multi-Modal Parcellation of Human Cerebral Cortex" by Glasser, et al. now identifies 180 areas per hemisphere with different "architecture, function, connectivity and/or topography". Thankfully, the brain doesn't need to engage all of those regions for an awakening experience.
Re Culadasa's book, which integrates "Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science", as he is director of the "Dharma Treasure Buddha Sangha" and is ordained in the "International Order of Buddhist Ministers", it doesn't pass the secular, scientific screen and appears from the folk who recommended it as just another Buddhist meditation book. Culadasa's "speculations" are hence of no interest.
i'll continue to work with peer-reviewed, unbiased secular research from widely-published, and credentialed faculty at the nation's, and world's, premier research universities.
stillness
Very interesting and thanks for highlighting this research for us Gary.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm a bit worried that this pushes us towards an "extreme dualist" position. These experiences are "just" sub-routines that small parts of your brain can run with the appropriate encouragement. It's all just chemical and electrical activity. Just because one can experience non-duality doesn't mean that at the bottom reality *is* non-dual.
It's all consistent of course with a non-dual model where duality arises out of non-duality. But if one can eventually easily trigger such "E"s - it says nothing much about reality. Just about our growing knowledge.
As always though, thanks for encouraging me to pay attention! :-)
J.
Hi John D,
DeleteWell, if "reality" was only dualistic, then we would never be able to experience "nonduality", even for a short time. All of our experiences, however short, or originating from a few, or many, regions of the brain, would all be dual.
Psychedelic experiences, similarly, would only be dual, and there would be no spaces between thoughts, no stillness when one first awakens in the morning before "the day starts". Mystical experiences wouldn't be consistently reported as "more real" than "reality".
So there must be nonduality, but which is the "real" reality.
Re the "nondual" practices also being (initially) dualistic, yes, that is where we start from, given our heavy conditioning and (very recent) evolution to that bias. Challenging that presumption seems ridiculous.
However, if we just being investigating the source of the duality, the subject "I", it begins to weaken, fight back, create stories about why this is a problem, bring up old fears and suffering, etc. If we persist in that careful investigation into what/when/where this "I" is, it amazingly begins to fragment.
If reality was dualistic, questioning its source would be futile, but it quickly brings the perception of nonduality. This isn't just "growing knowledge", but decreasing our conditioning and modifying the current OS.
Even more interesting, as we deconstruct this "I", our bodies and lives function better without it. The ongoing, consistent perception is of a nondual, Oneness, and of living only in the present, instead of in the unreality of the remembered past and projected future.
A great question. Trust this has been useful.
stillness
gary
Gary,
ReplyDelete-Was going to send this as an email, but thought everyone else would benefit from the questions ...
You mention +20% from baseline and a -20% swing from the baseline as being fruitful--I understand that perhaps zazen may not be enough and using some kind of bodily motion would help involve more areas of the brain, but could you be more specific about how one "flips" up and down from the baseline?
Does this mean one should meditate, then switch to a non meditative ("noise" producing activity), and switch back? Are we to literally shake the bottle, or stir the pot this way? Or is that just silly allegorical thinking?
Also, any thoughts or speculation on using transcranial direct stimulation?
Last question--are you familiar with James Austin's books--enough to say a few words about your memory or impressions of them?
Thank you, I know these are open-ended questions and I appreciate your time. :)
Hi Anonymous,
DeleteLet me answer that by describing how “my” process unfolded.
I was a runner and found that after 35 minutes or so, the well-known “runner’s high” (an “e”) manifested, which was a big incentive to keep running, so the brain learned how to create that “runner’s high”.
When I started meditating, the brain applied that learning and created an “e” there in a process which it apparently saw as somewhat similar. The meditations used were basically those in the “Guided Meditation” playlist on my YouTube channel @ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMSnyxnteEx7IOPIFkfh3og. They lasted until the “e” happened and stopped when the “e” faded away, however long it took. It was so pleasurable that it happened thousands of times.
As Andrew Newberg’s work shows, every one of these changed the brain.
The major “E” in which self-referential thoughts, fears, desires, etc., fell away, occurred after meditation, during a complex yoga flow using “I am not this body” while going up into a difficult yoga-posture, and was totally unexpected. After this was presented @ a SAND meeting, James Austin, Roland Griffiths and i were discussing it. Austin correctly guessed the type of posture it would have been.
This deep meditation transitioning to a difficult posture in a complex yoga flow routine while doing an inquiry, produced the + 20 % to – 20% shift, unexpectedly, which matches with what is described in the blogpost.
Re transcranial direct stimulation (TDS), there is a lot of interesting work happening there, but it is premature and potentially dangerous. There are 50 trillion synaptic connections and we currently have no idea what we’re really doing to the brain. New Federal Guidelines were just released by the FDA @ http://www.fda.gov/downloads/medicaldevices/deviceregulationandguidance/guidancedocuments/ucm429674.pdf, specifically identifying “electric stimulation” as a product “that would not be considered low risk” …”due to the risks to a user’s safety”.
I read James Austin’s early books, but haven’t seen his latest ones, so couldn’t comment on them.
stillness
Hi,
DeleteSo does this mean, in order to make the Big E manifest, I have to take up Yoga? I don't know any yoga.. could you suggest any book or website which teaches nondual yoga?
Is yoga (or other physical exercise) necessary.. Wouldn't the 'Big E' naturally manifest after giving so many 'small e's' to the brain through daily meditation/inquiry?
- Anonymous II
Hi Anonymous II,
DeleteNo, as i've pointed out many times, yoga is what i primarily did, but you can do tai chi, martial arts, running, swimming, etc. i also did tai chi and running for years.
i stuck with yoga because i took so many different teachers' courses and knew so many different lineages that it was possible to access every region, piece and part of the body and the energy that manifested was more balanced than anything else i could find.
It is really critical to do some physically-demanding exercise to access "somatically" all the memories, suffering, fears, etc. that are locked in the body - mind. The "Big E" won't naturally manifest, nor will so many "small e's", unless you are reaching every place in body-mind. This is a big drawback to many meditative traditions. you can't get there, IME, just by sitting.
stillness
Hi Anonymous II,
DeleteBTW, if you look in Happiness Beyond Thought, you'll see three yoga "nondual" posture flows discussed in some detail. Also, the video "Using Yoga Posture Flows for NonDual Awakening" @ https://youtu.be/J9bAXk5VEQI?list=PLuH37Fyz9VEOWwN2BE0L2PBAuu7VDj6kL on my youTube channel in the "Practices" playlist, demonstrates the two most useful of these three posture flows with instructions on exactly how to do them most effectively.
stillness
I will definitely try to integrate those "yoga posture flows" into my daily practice. But it might take some time as I'm not that familiar with yoga at all.
DeleteThere are some related questions I would like to ask you about:
1. Does practicing 'spontaneous body movements' with eyes closed.. and feeling into the body while doing that.. and perhaps imagining up some mystical/trance-like state while doing that.. count IYO as a useful practice in this nondual endeavour? Just doing spontaneous mudras using the arms and yoga-like bodily movements (without any actual understanding of the principles of yoga/mudras).. is it a good practice?
2. Could I use music to trigger mystical states? Yesterday, I sat down to meditate and it felt somewhat flat and found myself drifting off into thought.. so I got up and put on some "chill-out/trance/dance music" and did this "intense emotional-release kind of dancing" (as described in OSHO's 'Meditation: The first and last freedom' book). Do you use music as a non-dual practice?
3. Should I shun myself from music that would evoke sexual feelings? Sorry for asking all these questions all at once, but I have one question that I'm kind of confused about. Since I'm in my twenties, porn and masturbation is a big temptation. I don't know whether I should let go of my porn-habit, in order to advance in the spiritual-work. I guess I should let go of that. But it would be useful if you could give some confirmation or insight into why it would be a good idea to let go that, if I need to let of that.
- Anonymous II
Hi Anonymous II,
DeleteOn 1. Yes, that is a very powerful process that i would strongly encourage folk to explore. my first yoga teachers' training course focused on the spontaneous generation of posture flows. It is a great training in listening to, and surrendering to, the body's wisdom.
i have also found it to be very useful therapeutically as those strange, bizarre arrangements of different body parts is often exactly what is needed to reach some misalignment or stuck energy.
On 2. Along the same lines as 1., it is a powerful way to release some intense emotions. i was fortunate to take a workshop w/the late Gabrielle Roth @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabrielle_Roth who was the master of this process. It is similarly a great way to "nondually", spontaneously move your body and see where the ego/I comes in and says "What are you doing? This is crazy!!" and then let go of that.
On 3. Yes, absolutely, addiction to porn is an increasingly significant problem in today's on-line world. The blogpost "How the changing brain turns our pleasures into addictions" @ http://happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2015/01/how-changing-brain-turns-our-pleasures.html goes through how the brain creates our addictions to porn, social media, etc. The amount of bandwidth that is used daily on porn is a huge number, perhaps as much as 1/3 of the bandwidth consumed during certain hours.
It isn't easy in your twenties, but find something else to displace the porn, perhaps your emotional release music, and spontaneous posture flows whenever you feel the urge. Going "cold turkey" is not typically successful.
stillness
gary
It's really helpful for my mind to get these confirmatory statements from you. It's like I already intuitively know these answers or my body already knows that these practices are essential, but the mind is the one that's skeptical of the intuitive understandings and demands an external confirmation. Thank You for clearing the doubts.
Delete- Anonymous II
If self inquiry leads to a state of stillness, no thoughts, oneness, peacefulness etc that you describe, it seems to me that these are experiences being experienced by an experiencer (albeit a very subtle one) and so there is still a self to inquire about. It seems that this search for self would never end because as soon as there is any experience it is happening to someone and so further inquiry is needed. As you are an advanced practitioner I hoped you might clarify this for me?
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous. Yes, quite right. As long as someone is reporting on their experiences, there is an experiencer there, as you say, albeit a very subtle one. A better, readily available, indication is whether you have any self-referential, autobiographical, internal narrative (SRIN). If you have any, then clearly, there is still a "self" there as part of those thoughts. The more SRIN, the stronger the "I" is that remains.
DeleteAs i have reported many times, i only have a few sporadic SRIN if my blood sugar gets very low as i am hypoglycemic, or if i am extremely tired. Otherwise, for > 90 % of the time, there is really no awareness of what is occurring in consciousness. There is just this, and this and this, now, and now and now with no memory of what happened even 1 minute ago, and no possibility of recalling it.
As the self/I gets deconstructed, the SRIN gets less and less problematic, and sticky, and the numbers decrease, and "life" improves dramatically. However, almost no one persists to the point of having no SRIN as it requires letting go of all of your attachments, every one, and all the fears and stories that you have.
IME, unless someone has their "hair on fire" for nondual awakening, they just won't persist to get to "now, now, now" but will stop when they reach attachments , fears or stories, they just won't let go of.
It is certainly possible to get to no SRIN the vast majority of time. All of the awakening traditions cite it as the goal of meditation, as pointed out in many blogposts and videos including the blogpost "Who else believes 'no thoughts' is the goal of meditation?".
stillness
Thanks Gary, I can only imagine this state at this point, maybe one day! At your level do you have any fear of death left?
DeleteHi Anonymous,
DeleteAs this work deconstructs the the "I" that is the creator of the illusion that we are this body, then the passing of the body is not a problem. What remains after that illusion falls away is what has always been there and will always be there, this Deep, Vast, Sweet, Stillness which is far beyond anything experienced through this body.
stillness
Hi,
ReplyDeletegreat post! Very useful!
After reading the questions and answers which are also very useful, some follow up questions came to mind...
1, Am i understanding correctly that these e's and E's are not the same as no self?
1.1, After having an E, can the SRIN come back? or would that mean it was only an e?
2, So the buddhist monks and the other traditions are doing these practices while still having a self?
3, If no self is (as in there is no more SRIN as for example in your case), are these practices and e's/E's still relevant? Even if as you say "there is really no awareness of what is occurring in consciousness".
Maybe im totally misunderstanding, any elaboration would be very appreciated.
And a last separate question...
4, Im finding that there is more and more falling into a "state" which feels like zoning out. At least at this point id describe it as zone out, what happens is blurring of the vision not watching anything specific but eyes still open, and having no particular thoughts...
It happens spontaneously. Is that related to the meditation/inquiry practice or do you have any experience what it could be? is it "a good thing"?
Thank you!
Anonymous III
Hi Anonymous III,
Delete1. The "e"s and "E"s are brief or longer interruptions in "selfing", all of which the brain uses as data to reconfigure its neural structure to support remaining there longer. The brain doesn't want to be crazy, anxious and frightened; it wants to be sane, still, peaceful and quiet.
1.1. Yes, the SRIN does return after an "E" or an "e", and typically does until the ego/I has been deconstructed. The important thing is that the longer and deeper it is, the more data the brain gets. It's chipping away at the ego/I structure, in bigger or smaller chunks. As the research shows, every chip changes the neural structure, permanently, even if only slightly.
2. The Buddhist monks and other traditions are "doing" these practices while having a self, that is why they feel they are "doing" it. They are "doing" it to hopefully create an "e" or "E". If they had no sense of "doing "it, there would be an "e" or "E", until "doing" returned.
3. If the SRIN is persistently, and naturally, effortlessly stopped, the practices aren't relevant. However, that takes a lot of practice and many "e"s and "E"s to get to that level of deconstruction. The SRIN is the best possible measurement available to see if you still have work to do on attachments or deconstructing the ego/I structure.
4. Yes, that is a "good thing" and it always happens "spontaneously" as does every "e" and "E". It only happens when the ego/I is out of the picture, even briefly, and out of "doing". It may still be totally related to the preceding many inquiry and letting-go practices, but if it's real, it's spontaneous.
stillness
gary
Hi Gary,
ReplyDeleteIn your opinion, what are the most powerful and efficient deafferentation approaches that you know of?
Are the practices in HBT "enough" to produce the big "E"?
The gayatri mantra chanting coupled with hand mudras seems to be the most "engaging" of the nondual practices that I have experienced. Are there any similar practices that you can share your knowledge of?
Do you have experience with Shabad Kriya? From this article it seems to be a highly effective approach.
gratitude
Hi Anonymous,
DeleteThe practices in HBT, like self-inquiry, negations, affirmations, chanting and use of Nirvana Shatakam to identify and let go of all attachments, will clearly produce the big "E", as that is what many folk have used.
The Gayatri mantra chanting with hand mudras is a powerful and engaging practice that i do most days.
The challenge is to have a practice that really engages you, and continues to do so. That is why there are so many different self-inquiry questions and negations and affirmations and chants. The brain eventually learns/gets tired of the same practice day after day so it loses its impact. Adding complexity is important to keep challenging the brain.
Building on the Gayatri mantra chanting practice, to get more complexity, i chant Nirvana Shatakam with the Gayatri mudras. As you work with it, you'll see that the Gayatri mudras break into four different segments, like the 4 different lines in each Nirvana Shatakam verse.
It's close, but an not exact fit, which is what is challenging. Many of the mudras fit so "perfectly" and feel so "Yes!" into what is being chanted in NS that it feels like it was made for these mudra sequences. i'll be making a video of this for youTube soon, but it's really useful to work it out for yourself.
Yes, on Kirtan/Shabad Kriya, it is highly effective as Newberg describes and i use it every day. It obviously breaks into four parts which fits well with most verses in Upadesa Saram (in HBT) and many of the Bhagavad Gita verses in HBT and "Dancing Beyond Thought".
Each verse has two lines and the meter they are chanted in breaks each line into two parts, so the "sa" position is used for the first part of the first line, and the "ta" position for the second part of the first line, etc.
It also works perfectly with the Ribhu Gita, which is featured in my upcoming book, as it has the same two lines/verse which easily breaks into four parts fitting the four Kirtan/Shabad Kriya positions.
When that gets "boring", then you can do the chanting of these verses, but using two hands with each hand doing the Shabad Kriya mudras. Then try doing the two hands in different orders, i.e. one going "top to bottom" while the other goes "bottom to top" of the kriya mudra positions.
Explore all of these...i have found it really fascinating and it not only produces "e"s and "E"s but great cognitive enhancement and stress relief.
As the new book manifests, i'll put a video up on youTube showing how to do Shabad Kriya mudras in these different ways and with the Ribhu Gita.
stillness
gary
Hi Gary,
DeleteThanks so much for the detailed and insightful reply, it is extremely useful.
I am very excited at the prospect of new youtube videos featuring these practices. It is such a blessing for you to be sharing your knowledge with us; so many will benefit for years to come through finding these hidden gems in your blogposts and youtube videos.
The more detail you are able to share through your youtube videos and blogposts, the more "efficiently" She can evolve.
gratitude
Gary, Thanks for this post. My practices were becoming stale and I was stuck a bit. This scientific approach is revigorating my practices. I read this blog post couple of times in the past one year, and thought about reading one of Andrew's books, but I didn't since you didn't make an explicit recommendation to read his book. Anyways, I downloaded the Kindle sample of his book on how enlightenment changes the brain. In the sample he clearly mentioned he is going to teach scientifically proved techniques which can accelerate anyone's E o e eexperiences. This is a critical statement. I decided to buy it and started reading it. Getting immersed into a book after a long time. I will try to take the help of science to accelerate myself. Thanks again
ReplyDeleteHi Talat khan,
DeleteYes, the science is continuing to reinforce and expand our understanding of our practices and how to do them better. Great that you did get Andrew's book on "How Enlightenment Changes the Brain"...one that i refer to, and recommend a lot.
Along the lines of " scientific understanding", another book i recommend a lot, and which is very important, is my good friend, Robert Wright's "The Moral Animal; Why We Are the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology". This book created the field of evolutionary psychology and is scientific writing at its best.
stillness
Hi Gary,
ReplyDeleteI very much liked your presentation on non-duality and the fact that you have reached a state of no thoughts when you don't have to. I am aiming to reach to that state eventually.
I have been practicing some of the techniques described in your book. While I am meditating, I am asking questions about who am I? where am I? If a thought arises, I am asking to whom the thought arises. The process has been working well for me. However, lately whenever, I am focusing on the enquiry process, I am hearing tinnitus like sound (it is not loud at all and not unpleasant either, but worried if it will become louder). I then ask who is hearing this sound... the hearing still continues without anything happening. I am wondering if you have any suggestions on how I should progress in my practice.
Hi Random vibes,
DeleteIt is likely that the self-enquiry process is stilling the mind after the questions are asked so much that now you can be aware of a "tinnitus like sound" that was there all along. As a decades long sufferer of tinnitus, that is what happened for "me".
Thankfully, there are now some approaches to dealing with most types of tinnitus.
Tinnitus sufferers should check out "LipoFlavonoid Plus", which is available OTC in virtually every pharmacy, and on Amazon. It has 50 years of clinical research behind it from real doctors and researchers and was developed by one of them many years ago.
Reportedly a survey of 250 "ear, nose and throat" (ENT) docs, 77% of them recommended these eriodictol bioflavonoids for their tinnitus patients. They offer a several months long supply to try it out with a "get your money back if it doesn't work" guarantee. It has made a big difference in my tinnitus levels from 10% to 80% reduction depending on diet, energy levels, etc.
There is also some excellent research now on exercises for somatosensory tinnitus, which is about 2/3 of the cases, conducted at the University of Michigan by a senior professor in the field. An article discussing a device to stimulate the key bodily sensory areas, all around the neck, jaw and tongue, to significantly reduce tinnitus is @ http://www.futurity.org/tinnitus-device-1645732/.
The article has a good video and describes that sticking out your tongue, turning your head, or deeply yawning/clenching of your jaw can make a big difference, even without the machine. That has been my experience as well.
your approach is the one that i did as well, which is to ask "Who hears?", which breaks up the creator of the storylines about "it becoming louder" and impossible to bear. Just engage it whenever the stories start building up.
"Who hears?" is a great practice at any time as it is the only sense we can get "in the middle of" and watch carefully for the emergence of the "hearer/analyzer/storymaker" about the sounds that impinge on our hearing apparatus.
Some folk have committed suicide over tinnitus, but there are now some approaches to dramatically decrease its problematic nature and actual intensity.
Trust this is useful
stillness
gary