Re: [BardonPraxis] Re: First 3 steps- questions-experience-clarification

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

Dear 'setiamon',

>> I guess i'm over complicating things, <<

Yes. It's a very self-defeating habit.

>> Also i thought master'd meant the ability to sustain thouse mental
states forever, <<

I suggest that you re-read Bardon's exact words. He very clearly stated
what is required from each exercise and what constitutes "mastery" of
each exercise.

>> i find any state of concioussness i stress internal pressure builds
up untill i have to release the excercise,of course i tend to do these
excercises for an hour or more. <<

Why? I strongly recommend that if you are going to pursue Bardon's
system, you follow *Bardon's* instructions. He very specifically stated
that 10 uninterrupted minutes is what is required of the first mental
exercise.

>> Also i was thinking of thought as verbal thought,chatter. <<

For most people, thinking occurs in the form of words but for some,
thinking occurs as a series of emotional states, a series of images,
sounds, smells, etc. Whatever medium it materializes through, it still
amounts to "mind chatter" at the surface level of awareness (the first
layer observed in the first mental exercise). It meanders along without
any lasting focus as it goes about reflecting one's inner and outer
states.

With the second mental exercise however, thought becomes a matter of
personal will or intention and has a prolonged and disciplined focus.

>> is awareness in general considered thought? <<

No. Thinking is only a very small part of awareness. Just one of its
capabilities.

>> like my awareness shift to my shoulder or my stomic etc is that
'thought' even if it doesn't have any word/threads? <<

It is thinking *if* you start thinking about the fact that your
awareness has shifted to your shoulder, etc. Or you start thinking
about how your shoulder feels in that moment, and so on. Thinking is so
dominant a part of our normal life experience that it can pop up in the
most subtle ways.

>> I find that in any mental excercise that at a certain point sometimes
the state shifts, it automates like my unconciouss is doing all the work
and my will is free, almost like looking at a reflection in a pool of
water,is this what i should strive for or should i try and maintain the
state concioussly? the only problem i have is that it produces a third
state like a bubble emerging from the two like my mind is trying to
creat a new objective mindstate which disrupts the pure flow between the
the will and excercise should i strive to repress this bubble from being
formed? <<

I suggest that you try attaining and maintaining the mental state
required by the exercise. One main point of the Step One mental
exercises is to develop your mental discipline -- your control over your
own mind. In other words, how to make you mind do what you want it to
do when you want it to do so and for as long as you want it to continue
doing so. If your mind automatically does something other than what you
are wanting it to do then that is not mental discipline.

My best to you,
:) Rawn Clark
19 Dec 2004
rawnclark@...
rawn@...
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