Friday 17 June 2011
Another Brief Note on Laser Focus
13:30 | 
Posted by
Alexei
adsdas, if that is their real name, posted a comment which I feel deserves closer attention:
"Velorien ,how you look to see if the belief is true?I mean , all beliefs are false and all thoughts are false, and all beliefs about self are false because self doesn't exist."
There are a number of things worth saying in response.
First off, it is not true that all beliefs and all thoughts are false. If I think "the sky is blue", that thought is true, and I can verify this by looking out of the window. If I believe "most people have five fingers on each hand", again, this belief is true and can be verified (though perhaps not by me personally, because there is an awful lot of people).
Secondly, while all beliefs about self are false, I've found that beliefs are worth examining on more levels than just that. Here's a real-life example.
I am afraid of failure.
Looking at this fear, I see that the belief behind it is "if I fail, I will be somehow diminished".
I can look at the "I" part of the belief, and see that it is false because the I doesn't exist, and therefore will not fail or be diminished.
But I can do more than this.
I can look at "fail" and "diminished". I can ask "will failure really lead to diminishment?" This leads me to at least two new lines of inquiry.
What is failure? By looking honestly, I realise that failure is simply when the reality of what has been accomplished does not measure up to my pre-existing image of what needs to be accomplished. In other words, failure is when I compare a thought to reality and discover a mismatch. As a concept, it is no more meaningful or threatening than that.
What is diminishment? By looking honestly, I see that it means that instead of thinking of myself as good at something or good in some way, I will start thinking of myself as not good at something or not good in that way. In other words, diminishment is when I trade one thought for another thought. As a concept, it is no more meaningful or threatening than that.
By putting these two insights together, I see that "if I fail, I will be somehow diminished" actually means "if one of my thoughts turns out to contradict reality, I will replace it with a thought that doesn't". I have not only eliminated a false belief, but I have gained a deeper understanding of it that will serve me when addressing other beliefs and other aspects of human experience.
Finally, to return to the original question of "how do you look to see if the belief is true?"
You literally just look. What would you be experiencing if the belief was true? Are you experiencing it right now? There's no more to it than that.
Is it true that the sky is blue? If it's true, then by looking up I will see a blue sky. Do I see a blue sky? Yes? Then the belief is true.
Now, this approach is not omnipotent. There are two points worth bearing in mind.
1) You have to be clear about the limits of what you are testing. When you see a blue sky, all you know is that you are perceiving the sky as blue. You do not know - not with 100% confidence - that the sky actually is blue. You just know that it looks blue to you, and that if it's really a different colour, there must be a good reason for the mismatch.
2) You can never be 100% certain that a belief about something beyond your actual experience is true. It will only ever take a single counterexample to prove a belief wrong, and since you do not know the contents of the entire universe, you can never know that such a counterexample isn't out there somewhere.
On the other hand, it is possible to know that a belief is false with 100% certainty. If you believe that all swans are white, and you see a black swan, your belief is false. It is, of course, your responsibility to make sure that you are actually seeing a black swan, and not, say, a painted one, but beyond that there is no possible way for your original belief to still be true.
So look. And above all, if you haven't done so already, look at "the self exists". If you see no self, then either the self doesn't exist, or it is not something perceivable. If it is not something perceivable, then you must have concluded that it exists based on various other beliefs about reality, and those can be tested too.
Spread this:
"Velorien ,how you look to see if the belief is true?I mean , all beliefs are false and all thoughts are false, and all beliefs about self are false because self doesn't exist."
There are a number of things worth saying in response.
First off, it is not true that all beliefs and all thoughts are false. If I think "the sky is blue", that thought is true, and I can verify this by looking out of the window. If I believe "most people have five fingers on each hand", again, this belief is true and can be verified (though perhaps not by me personally, because there is an awful lot of people).
Secondly, while all beliefs about self are false, I've found that beliefs are worth examining on more levels than just that. Here's a real-life example.
I am afraid of failure.
Looking at this fear, I see that the belief behind it is "if I fail, I will be somehow diminished".
I can look at the "I" part of the belief, and see that it is false because the I doesn't exist, and therefore will not fail or be diminished.
But I can do more than this.
I can look at "fail" and "diminished". I can ask "will failure really lead to diminishment?" This leads me to at least two new lines of inquiry.
What is failure? By looking honestly, I realise that failure is simply when the reality of what has been accomplished does not measure up to my pre-existing image of what needs to be accomplished. In other words, failure is when I compare a thought to reality and discover a mismatch. As a concept, it is no more meaningful or threatening than that.
What is diminishment? By looking honestly, I see that it means that instead of thinking of myself as good at something or good in some way, I will start thinking of myself as not good at something or not good in that way. In other words, diminishment is when I trade one thought for another thought. As a concept, it is no more meaningful or threatening than that.
By putting these two insights together, I see that "if I fail, I will be somehow diminished" actually means "if one of my thoughts turns out to contradict reality, I will replace it with a thought that doesn't". I have not only eliminated a false belief, but I have gained a deeper understanding of it that will serve me when addressing other beliefs and other aspects of human experience.
Finally, to return to the original question of "how do you look to see if the belief is true?"
You literally just look. What would you be experiencing if the belief was true? Are you experiencing it right now? There's no more to it than that.
Is it true that the sky is blue? If it's true, then by looking up I will see a blue sky. Do I see a blue sky? Yes? Then the belief is true.
Now, this approach is not omnipotent. There are two points worth bearing in mind.
1) You have to be clear about the limits of what you are testing. When you see a blue sky, all you know is that you are perceiving the sky as blue. You do not know - not with 100% confidence - that the sky actually is blue. You just know that it looks blue to you, and that if it's really a different colour, there must be a good reason for the mismatch.
2) You can never be 100% certain that a belief about something beyond your actual experience is true. It will only ever take a single counterexample to prove a belief wrong, and since you do not know the contents of the entire universe, you can never know that such a counterexample isn't out there somewhere.
On the other hand, it is possible to know that a belief is false with 100% certainty. If you believe that all swans are white, and you see a black swan, your belief is false. It is, of course, your responsibility to make sure that you are actually seeing a black swan, and not, say, a painted one, but beyond that there is no possible way for your original belief to still be true.
So look. And above all, if you haven't done so already, look at "the self exists". If you see no self, then either the self doesn't exist, or it is not something perceivable. If it is not something perceivable, then you must have concluded that it exists based on various other beliefs about reality, and those can be tested too.
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5 comments:
''By putting these two insights together, I see that "if I fail, I will be somehow diminished" actually means "if one of my thoughts turns out to contradict reality, I will replace it with a thought that doesn't" ''
So ,is it enough to accept those thoughts that contradict reality or to just see this mechanism for eliminating belief?
For example, ''my'' mind is always caring what other people will think of me.It doesn't want to seem bad in others people's opinions .Although, There's no me to seem bad ,there'are still thoughts about ''What they will think of me'' which cause anxiety in my body.Tell me please what steps I need to do to solve this problem.
Anyway, thanks for this post, and waiting for reply.
As it happens, I'm working on something special right now which could solve this problem if it turns out to be effective.
In the meantime, Ciaran has some insights on the matter that you could look into: http://ruthlesstruthdotcom.blogspot.com/2011/06/deepening-of-liberation.html
This post elaborates on it: http://ruthlesstruthdotcom.blogspot.com/2011/06/and-this-is-solution.html
And this post relates it to anxiety: http://ruthlesstruthdotcom.blogspot.com/2011/06/hey-newly-liberated-with-anxiety-or.html
See if that's of any help to you.
Yeah,I have read it already.But is it possible to solve fear problems by observing and understanding the thoughts ,not by focusing on void?
Oh, and as you said negative emotions occur in a body when reality is not the same as in our thoughts.Why it is important for thoughts to correspond them in reality ?How to remove that importance.
Quite honestly, I don't have the magic bullet answer to self-related fears yet. I have plenty of my own too. I have a variety of approaches I'm trying out to deal with them, but nothing more effective than what I've posted so far.
In terms of methods which have nothing to do with the no-self insight, you could always try out http://www.personalpowermeditation.com/forum/general/circuit-ii-social-success-through-effective-neurotransmitter-management/ as well. Just don't lose track of what's happening: an illusion being traded in for a different illusion.
When I come up with something better, this blog is where you'll see it.
Thanks )
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