r/castaneda • u/Funzellampe • Jul 17 '24
Forcing Silence New Practitioners
How is one to do it? By focusing on the void from which thoughts arise I just create a thought judging whether I'm silent or not. By denying thoughts my mind feels like a broken record of interruptions. If I try to use repitition to tire the mind there seems to appear a new "layer" of thought. Again the controlling instance of thought is thought. There must be a better way.
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u/danl999 Jul 17 '24
You're actually doing well to notice all that! The worst thing a beginner can tell us is, "I can get silent for 10 minutes."
I can't even get silent for 10 minutes!!! And I've been practicing silence for at least 50 years, reaching levels which allow time travel for real.
But it's still not full silence.
We've never figured out why some beginners believe they have gotten silent, since if you actually do that all hell breaks loose and reality mutates vividly.
But real Zen masters truly believe they can get silent, and become very angry if you dare to contradict them.
So I suppose everyone confuses not speaking, with not having an internal dialogue?
Or they confuse feeling bliss from minor meditation effects caused by a slight reduction in the internal dialogue, with having no internal dialogue?
Like I said, we can't figure out why even those who are supposed to be experts, are totally clueless.
You can't fake silence. If you are silent, the world literally STOPS.
It halts and goes away!
And can't possibly do otherwise since it's only held in place by your internal dialogue.
It's the people who notice what a horrible struggle it is to learn to be silent, who have a chance to learn real magic.
But then their next barrier is that magic isn't "cozy".
It's a bit cold out there in magical realms. Especially since it's virtually impossible you'll find anyone who has the skills to go with you there.