INTELLECT AND EMOTION - AT THE INTERSECTION

WHY AM I DOING THIS BLOG? I am seeking people who enjoy applying emotion to intellect and to meditation experiences. My recent readings about and by "spiritual teachers" lead me to wonder who is using the emotional discharge process as they reflect on the ideas and experience that occur during meditation. Does anyone select an experience or idea, one's own or someone else's, think about/concentrate on it, and invite any emotion associated with it to surface? Once the emotion has surfaced, do they feel it and discharge "on" it, i.e., cry, laugh, and then do they describe/think about the thoughts that surface?

FOR EXAMPLE, if you had what you would describe as a transcendent experience during meditation (an experience that occurred with or without deep emotion which you may or may not have "dicharged,") when you reflected on it later, ideally with someone present, were emotions triggered (perhaps again)? If they were, what did you "do" with the emotion? Did you try to prolong that "discharge." Did new thoughts emerge? If so, what were they?

HERE IS AN EXAMPLE

While I was reading someone else's ideas, I suddenly began crying. Taking the emotion seriously, I deliberately allowed it to continue by connecting with the physical sensations. In my upper right visual field I "saw" a square and thought, "It's like a window." (This has happened before.) I maintained the emotional discharge and thought, "I'll take a closer look." I sponaneously "zoomed" in on it and thought, "Why, I'm looking down a long black corridor. It goes on forever! Why, it looks like infinity. It's like I'm looking into infinity." The long black corridor seemed to open out at the distant end and as I felt as though my face was plastered against the window I seemed to see white spots everywhere and I thought, "Why, I'm looking at Mind."

Now, I had cried heavily through the entire experience. Without the maintenance of emotion I doubt that it would have occurred. Reflecting on it later, without any additional emotion evoked, I decided it had been an extremely enjoyable experience but I could draw no conclusions from it. I didn't need to. But, in the future with the right setting, I might attempt to re-connect with the chain of thought/emotion and follow it to it source, knowing that that "source" might only be one of innumerable "sources." That is, my mind generated the entire experience based on need, perhaps, or simple association. At the very least I can say that it was "fun" to experience my mind's integration of each discrete thought and emotion.

Your experience?

YOU ARE YOUR GURU, OR, SURFING YOUR OWN NEURAL NET

THE BEGINNING
1/20/06

This blog may be useful for those of us who are engaged in spiritual exploration that involves using the processes of "intentional emotional
discharge " (cying, laughing, etc.) and meditation (of any type) to uncover emotion/experience and generate thinking, i.e., ideas (about the nature of Reality, Life in all it forms including humanity, your own experiences so far on precious Planet Earth).

If at this moment you feel committed to: (1) the pursuit of deeper reality (your own definition at any particular moment in time) using emotional discharge and meditation, and to (2) deepening your connections with others (your own definition at an particular moment in time), and, (3) if you practice on a regular basis both emotional discharge and meditation, please share your experiences and the thinking that these practices generate.

This website is not for discussion of spiritual teachers/trainers/schools of thought. It is not for complaints or commendations. There are websites/blogs for communication of such valuable information. However, you may provide links to websites.

If you post here, it would be helpful if you would:
1. Reflect on the questions you ask yourself when you contemplate your spiritual quest and then list them for each blog session, as they apply to that session.
2. Summarize your objectives for the blog session before you proceed.

Please feel free to ask questions that all contributors can respond to.

Thank you.
Pam M.

ASK YOURSELF A QUESTION AND GET STARTED. MINE WILL BE, WHY AM I DOING THIS? (ANSWER, NEXT POST)