After a long while I finally pushed myself into reading Initation into Hermetics by Franz Bardon again , this time reading the second part of the book as well .
His style is usually characterized as fairly straight forward , with great attention to the details of the exercises , howewer I encountered a problem at the Mental Practice of Step I , either due to his explanations or due to my ignorance on seeing the obvious.
I can't really tell if he wants the student to just detach himself from his thoughts and avoid day dreaming or/and the student should also be able to recount his thoughts after he finished ?
I encountered the first variation several times , but I don't think I saw the emphasis on ''seeing the thoughts'' instead of just ''watching'' that frequently.
Single question about IIH
Single question about IIH
Vjalár mekrum wyrd hrywn.
Re: Single question about IIH
It's all about control of thoughts, which is what the exercise is called. You should be able to recall them. What you are doing is tracing the actual origin of the thoughts, and as you do this you get a better handle on quieting them down. You want to be able to sit for a 5 minute period of clear concentration where little to no thoughts popped up, and the few that did should be obvious as to why they did, like you saw a friend that day you hadn't in a long time, or you have to pee, whatever it is. The hardest and final ones are thinking about the actual practice
Thoughts present themselves visually or acoustically or through any other way you can sense or imagine. The main goal here is to get a foundation in meditation which is all about getting a handle on your thoughts, whether that is remembering a bombardment of stream of consciousness type thoughts or quieting your mind for as long as you need
Thoughts present themselves visually or acoustically or through any other way you can sense or imagine. The main goal here is to get a foundation in meditation which is all about getting a handle on your thoughts, whether that is remembering a bombardment of stream of consciousness type thoughts or quieting your mind for as long as you need
Only right reflection and right meditation can free you - Ananda Metteya
Re: Single question about IIH
Thanks fraterai , that pretty much cleared it up for me. I'm familiar with several meditation techniques already, I just wanted to make sure I understand what this one is all about . [thumbup]
Vjalár mekrum wyrd hrywn.
Re: Single question about IIH
The confusing part to me was when he summarizes it in bullets at the end, to which I took as not only doing this in a meditation setting but trying to apply it to my life, as in pick a thought to avoid for the day, etc., similar to many Crowley and Yoga training methods. Glad it helped!
Only right reflection and right meditation can free you - Ananda Metteya
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Cybernetic_Jazz
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Re: Single question about IIH
My problem with the thought watching was that when I cleared my mind...........nothing. Eventually enough stillness would seem out of equilibrium and I might fidget a little, or I'd run into the ever insidious 'thinking about the exercise', but there wasn't - and I don't know if I've ever experienced in my life - an autonomy between me and my thoughts. There've been times in my life for sure where thoughts got so bad that I openly rebelled against their content because it was the kind of stuff that you couldn't let bother you and go on living whether it was true or not, just that those extremas were something I'd encounter during an occasional tempest life-shitstorm rather than during an IIH Step I exercise.
You don't have to do a thing perfect, just relentlessly.
Re: Single question about IIH
The first step of Thought Control is to simply watch the thoughts, to develop an awareness of your own internal processing which is usually done unconsciously. You don't have to see the thoughts or recount them, just become conscious of your unconscious thinking without getting sucked into daydreaming. The second step is to focus your mind entirely on a single thought, idea or object, without being distracted by any other. The third step is to do away with all the thoughts entirely, and sit in the void-mind state.
The trick is in understanding Mental Relaxation. Most people are very mentally tense, and the mind is consequently a storm. Observation of Thoughts helps you see that the storm is there. Once you observe the process, you can use your will power to bring it under control by exerting focus and relaxing until only the object of focus occupies your mind. And then, when you relax further, the mind becomes silent.
How long it takes you to get to mental silence depends on how good you are at relaxing and concentrating. Dr. MK, Bardon's direct student, completed Step One in just one week. Other people have been stuck on Step One for years. But as long as you practice regularly and correctly, you will get the results.
~:Shin:~
The trick is in understanding Mental Relaxation. Most people are very mentally tense, and the mind is consequently a storm. Observation of Thoughts helps you see that the storm is there. Once you observe the process, you can use your will power to bring it under control by exerting focus and relaxing until only the object of focus occupies your mind. And then, when you relax further, the mind becomes silent.
How long it takes you to get to mental silence depends on how good you are at relaxing and concentrating. Dr. MK, Bardon's direct student, completed Step One in just one week. Other people have been stuck on Step One for years. But as long as you practice regularly and correctly, you will get the results.
~:Shin:~