A new way to concentration!

[Logan]

Hi I'm Logan, I am looking for people that are interested in the practise of concentration. I want to discuss a new approach and system of achieving concentration in a more practical scientific manner. To discover what we truly can achieve and the best approaches on this journey. It is my belief that once we have done some of this work, then and only then can we turn our attention towards better achieving other tasks such as lucid dreaming or projection.


Firstly I just want to ask, are there any people really interested in practising concentration from scratch even if you have done before. I mean to begin again with an open mind and do so in a systematic way???

[roman67]

Yes, I agree with you. We have to do meditation daily for 20 minutes.

[SoulSail]

Hi Logan,

Please go ahead and share what you're proposing.

Thanks,

Soul

[Logan]

No matter what way you look at it, doing concentration exercises requires a great deal of discipline and above all determination ,and the one thing you cant leave out is motivation. You have to really want it, and above all, in order to keep going, you need to be able to see results. Waiting months on end for a possible result that may or may not arrive, is somewhat soul destroying. Most people will not do such exercises because its a long term project, and if they don't see direct results, then its hard to keep faith.

Meditation, in some ways is like this, but the moment you start practising, you do see some benefits. Now with concentration it takes time. I cant even say how long, or exactly what will happen, few people can, because very few have bothered to really explore it, instead, its typical human nature to-go for gold and practise exactly the discipline they desire, thinking with enough effort they might succeed. Well the problem is, if we don't have a highly focused minded will, then much of these things we would like to study become nothing more than dreams. We love to dream, but doing has always been our trouble.

For me, I have struggled many years with dreams, and dabbled here and there. I want to find a way to be able to focus and control my mind, that at any given time, under any conditions, I can decide what I want, rather than be forced to always pay homage to desire. You see what we are is desire, we move from pain towards pleasure, no matter how twisted we become, and even if we desire to leave this world, we still follow this rule of motivation.

What I want todo is explore ways to move your own will without needing motivation. But there is a catch, you still need motivation to begin the training. I'm interested in tailor made methods, of concentrating that reflect normal living and the society we live in. I have doubts about many of these ancient methods and don't see how they can really change the full spectrum of the mind. We don't want to just develop one aspect of concentration, we want to be able to-do it when ever we like and on whatever we choose.

I want to explore motivating exercises that can be done with relative ease, and the results are we are at least getting things done we needed too. On the other hand, I want to embrace the science, by closely monitoring results and finding ways to maximize concentration, like little Tricks we can use. The term Tricks, might be confusing, what I mean is the creation of a mechanism, like habit or code, in a way that creates an effect, one day when it becomes a true habit, the very Trick, becomes a real part of us, like a connection we never had. I want to find out what happens if we dabble in certain focuses and if we create a new one, how they can meet the demands of creating a single minded state. What would it mean to you guys to be able to have a concentration that was at your command, beyond desire, the real you and if needed at the drop of a hat it could become a single minded focus to get whatever needed to be done? What would it mean to you if you had this ability?

[SoulSail]

What I want todo is explore ways to move your own will without needing motivation. But there is a catch, you still need motivation to begin the training. I'm interested in tailor made methods, of concentrating that reflect normal living and the society we live in. I have doubts about many of these ancient methods and don't see how they can really change the full spectrum of the mind. We don't want to just develop one aspect of concentration, we want to be able to-do it when ever we like and on whatever we choose.


Hi Logan,

I've snipped much of your post, but hopefully I can scoop up a meaningful counterpoint to most of what you stated.

In a nutshell, the energy required for adequate motivation arrives naturally once it is redirected from upholding a fractured reality. And the more we experience what really is, the more motivation naturally arrives to peel away illusion. What you're describing, this effortless focus and concentration and motivation are states that just take time and work, but there's a paradox here for sure.

If we think there is a more spiritual state or destination than the one we're currently in, and that ideal state is only attainable after much effort, we may just ensure that it takes just that much effort to arrive at. We become the man holding a flashlight, trying to outrun the beam shining out in the dark.

So how does the paradox break open? that is largely dependent on what we believe AND do. You ARE all those things you seek already, only obscured.

How to remove the obscurations?

Experiment. Adjust. Experiment. Adjust.

And some good meditation texts don't hurt. I suggest you pick up Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha by Daniel Ingram. he outlines plenty of techniques one can employ, stuff devout Buddhists have been practicing for a very long time, but mostly keeping to themselves.


My two cents,

Soul

[SoulSail]

One more point to add...


Motivation is a force that shows up as we begin something, not before. Movitation waits for us to engage while we're waiting for it to engage us.


Make sense?

[Logan]

One more point to add...


Motivation is a force that shows up as we begin something, not before. Movitation waits for us to engage while we're waiting for it to engage us.


Make sense?

I will look into that book. I am not discounting older methods, but I do want ones relevant to everyday life, not just aimed towards meditation. I think the main thing like you mentioned is the experimenting and adjusting. For me I struggle to keep faith in these things. I don't want to run the risk of watering down the methods, but I do want to understand how we can tailor them more.

I do not follow what you say about motivation, my understanding, it's simply the build up of a cocktail of feelings, and desires that are normally linked to a thought, and only resolved by the action or task to be executed. We can be motivated for an entire day, long before we act or even if we never act. Once it hits the right level, we become compelled to act. This we can fight against, but like anything we all have our limits.

I think the problem I mention is how to nurture it towards this journey and how to ultimately defy it completely if needs be, that would be the ultimate goad. Having a free will! I think it's a sad state of affairs when all we can do is draw deals with our emotions and desires, every time we want a task done, or this self deception of creating a positive spin just in Oder to get something done. You know when they say, like in NLP, let yourself see the result of your goal and link it to this and that, creating an anchor. This to me, is a failure of control, its striking false deals with yourself. The art of manipulating your thoughts towards something. I would rather know that the task I am about to-do may be of little hope, and may even cause harm, be able to weigh that up and just do it, no bull and have the full facts all the time, rather than creating all this deception and filters.

I also seek this goal, because the rewards can bring us towards out full potential. The art of deception will get results, but never develop the inner mechanism.

[Logan]

Let's see how many people this interests, maybe we can work on exercises and see what results we can bring in, that would be my aim. The power of a group is a faster way forward in understanding some of these things!

[Logan]

I'm not sure about how it's broken, I guess finding the methods is the first place, and defining the fist goals. One step at a time!