[Buddha-l] consciousness

[StormyTet at aol.com]

Hi Hal,

Hal> Consciousness is one of the 5 heaps or Skandhas.  Also the  12 Links of
Causation is worth looking into.   Somtimes there is a  likening to milk in
water when many students study together for 108 days  before taking monastic
precepts.   IMHO The Internet is about the  worst place to look for it;
although, Buddha-L is probably one of the best  places to find an inkling.
Meditating with real folks and reciting mantras  with real flesh and blood
sentient beings will trump the Internet very  easily.
 
stormy: Thank you for the direction.  I don't understand the milk in  water 
analogy? Though I do not doubt that meditating with real people and being  
involved in a grounded tradition is the most healthy and sane path, the truth is  
that people are having all kinds of experiences brought on by the focus, 
sensory  deprivation, immersion, and jolting encounters with disembodied  sentient 
beings in this virtual world. For good or ill, it is  happening.


Hal:One big limiting factor, or problem that can arise is the  Ego.  People 
who
just talk about their own consciousness and shut off  their ears while other
people contribute will not be very successful at  consciousness integration.
 
Stormy: It is this integration issue that is key to my study.  It is  rare to 
see any manifestations on the internet of integration, but some of the  
theories born out of this medium seem to me to have an eastern wisdom. When I  ask 
and look, I am finding that many of these people are dedicated meditators  and 
social progressives. 

Hal: What is not consciousness integration?  When two ships pass  in the 
night, is
there consciousness integration?  Perhaps the whole  concept of a
consciousness needs to be investigated...   Is it  real?  What is it made of?
Inside? Outside? etc..




Stormy: Between reading Techgnosis and Rational Mysticism and various  papers 
on the evolution of language and communication, my brain is fried on the  
concept of consciousness. I don't know what it is. My tendency is to say that it  
is, at least in part, Mystery and that this mystery is what ultimately  leads 
us forward for good or ill. If you can forgive my esoteric fallback on  
Mystery, I guess that I would say that the reason that I can talk about an  
unintegrated conciousness is that so many people are struggling to 'know'  mystery by 
avoiding acceptance of it. I also think that at times when the  existential 
reality of our existence overcomes people through practices like  extended 
internet immersion that their brain circuitry is not at all prepared  for the 
reality they experience. I think that I am beginning to  develop a definition of 
integrated consciousness though -- it is a consciousness  that is aware of and 
comfortable with subjective, objective and  mystery dimensions of reality.    
It seems to me that lack of  integration comes from either too much ego or an 
underedeveloped ego. Any  thoughts?
 
Stormy
 
 
 
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