Sat-Chit-Ananda
Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 3:33 pm
Cheltenham group meeting report - 16/02/2012
The meeting started with a discussion of the previous exercise, and sharing experiences. An account can be seen here posted as a reply to the meeting report on Vidya.
This week's topic was Sat-Chit-Ananda.
Discussion started with the idea from Nisargadatta that "once you have passed through this experience you will never be the same man again". Two members of the group said they had had experiences of the type described by Nisargadatta that had permanently changed their lives. Another had had brief experiences of this type, but it had not produced any permanent change. It seems that if the experience lasts only a few minutes, the memory remains, but it does not have a permanent affect on one's life. It seems to be the longer experiences that produce real change. It's not something we can make happen. All we can do is to try to be still as much as possible, mentally if not physically.
Group members agreed that it was memory and love of those moments of real unattached happiness that bring us towards stillness. Also remembering, as Chris Frith has shown, that actually we don't do anything. We just need to watch attentively as the drama unfolds, without claiming ownership of the action. The group appreciated the analogy of the river moving rather than the person on the bank. It is just like being on a train that is actually stationary, when the train next to it starts to move. We think it is ourselves who are moving. It is easy to get caught up in the apparent movement and we need to make use of Buddhi to see what is real.
A question was raised: "when Tolstoy says 'recollection is not the past, it is always the present' does he mean the memory is always entirely fresh in the present moment, or is there more to it than that?" One person thought it might be connected with illusory dimension of time being seen as a fourth dimension of space when one is experiencing a higher level of consciousness. So everything is present all at once. Meditation was mentioned as being a key source of the 'moments out of time' described by Dr Roles.
Someone else was particularly interested in our experience of time in relation to the 'real meaning of happiness'. Real happiness is always in the present moment. Another agreed and said that she found desires were what takes her away from happiness. She saw desires as always containing two opposites: love and longing for something in the future, and dissatisfaction with something in the past. These combine to take her away from the present moment.
This week's exercise to "explore real happiness! What does it take to get you there?" received a warm welcome from everyone.
The meeting started with a discussion of the previous exercise, and sharing experiences. An account can be seen here posted as a reply to the meeting report on Vidya.
This week's topic was Sat-Chit-Ananda.
Discussion started with the idea from Nisargadatta that "once you have passed through this experience you will never be the same man again". Two members of the group said they had had experiences of the type described by Nisargadatta that had permanently changed their lives. Another had had brief experiences of this type, but it had not produced any permanent change. It seems that if the experience lasts only a few minutes, the memory remains, but it does not have a permanent affect on one's life. It seems to be the longer experiences that produce real change. It's not something we can make happen. All we can do is to try to be still as much as possible, mentally if not physically.
Group members agreed that it was memory and love of those moments of real unattached happiness that bring us towards stillness. Also remembering, as Chris Frith has shown, that actually we don't do anything. We just need to watch attentively as the drama unfolds, without claiming ownership of the action. The group appreciated the analogy of the river moving rather than the person on the bank. It is just like being on a train that is actually stationary, when the train next to it starts to move. We think it is ourselves who are moving. It is easy to get caught up in the apparent movement and we need to make use of Buddhi to see what is real.
A question was raised: "when Tolstoy says 'recollection is not the past, it is always the present' does he mean the memory is always entirely fresh in the present moment, or is there more to it than that?" One person thought it might be connected with illusory dimension of time being seen as a fourth dimension of space when one is experiencing a higher level of consciousness. So everything is present all at once. Meditation was mentioned as being a key source of the 'moments out of time' described by Dr Roles.
Someone else was particularly interested in our experience of time in relation to the 'real meaning of happiness'. Real happiness is always in the present moment. Another agreed and said that she found desires were what takes her away from happiness. She saw desires as always containing two opposites: love and longing for something in the future, and dissatisfaction with something in the past. These combine to take her away from the present moment.
This week's exercise to "explore real happiness! What does it take to get you there?" received a warm welcome from everyone.