Re: [BardonPraxis] What Is a Thought?

["Rawn Clark" <rawnclark@...>]

Dear Tony,

>> This is actually a practical question regarding Step 1, Mastery of
Thoughts. I can sit for 5 minutes and have 6-8 thoughts. Typically these
thoughts will be sentence like "be vigilant!" or "the trick is not to
follow the thought" i.e. comments or self-questions on my progress. Lots
of background noise pops up - voices, words, random images, the
occasional memory. I figure if I quash these and don't pursue them, they
don't count as a thought, so I don't count them on my beads. So if an
image of an eye (or anything) spontaneously pops into my consciousness,
and I dismiss it, I don't count it. In fact I count only memories I
pursue or sentences I let complete (and some of them are pretty fast) as
thoughts. Is this acceptable, or should I be striving for complete
blankness, with nothing emerging spontaneously? Is this even possible?
<<

The focus of this exercise is upon the quiet, not upon controlling the
noise, and this is what distinguishes it from the first and second
exercises. If there is still noise that takes your focus away from the
quiet vacancy, then it means you need to better master the previous two
exercises. The goal of the first exercise is mastery of your ability to
disengage from the noise and the goal of the second exercise is mastery
of your ability to focus your mind upon a single thought while
disengaged from all background noise. So by the time you reach the
third exercise, you should have already mastered your ability to
disengage from the noise and to focus your intentional thoughts. This
sets the stage for the third exercise in which you are focusing yourself
completely upon a vacancy and upon true quietness of mind.

My best to you,
:) Rawn Clark
11 Oct 2004
rawnclark@...
rawn@...
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