a question about being in CONTROL

[bm1988]

Hi all,

I posted something a few days ago under the title "Intense and scary experience" and got a few comments about the concept of control.
The experience I had I think proved to me that I am a little scared to "lose control" over what is happening to me under a intense meditation spiritual experience.

I understand that losing control is a very good thing and concepts of letting and trusting are incredibly important.....but is control really an illusion?

Because I believe that we create everything that happens to us.....that we are the authors of the book of our lives....

Even in the post from a few days ago somebody posted a Bill Hicks video in which he says "life is just a ride and YOU can change it anytime you want to, its just a choice between fear and love". I totally believe this concept of ourselves being the ones who create everything we want by just being conscious of what that is.
Check out this video that talkes about this concept and please tell me what you think of it: Try to get past the drug stuff....good stuff at 4:54 and 7:19


YouTube - Terence McKenna - Life is a novel


Peace!!

[MetaCognition]

Who is in control?

Life is a grand collective novel, with an infinite amount of authors writing their own stories within that grand collective creation. There seems to be a paradox in "losing control" by realizing that control is an illusion yet at the same time realizing that life is whatever you make of it (suggesting that you are in control).

If you look deeper, though, these two concepts (meaning they exist only in the mind as opposing forces) are one in the same. It is true that control, in an absolute sense, is an illusion. You can't just control every other author's story, no matter how bad you'd like to. But what you can do is become a character in their story. You can influence them by bringing the "reality" of your novel into the reality of theirs, and suddenly, numerous authors are writing identical (or near identical) stories.

This is the pattern that repeats throughout history, though for many years, it has been dominated by cultural, socioeconomic, and religious identity. We can't just control our lives fully nor can we get every single being to start seeing the same existence, but we can always influence. We can always impact other's stories and help them write an ending they never expected.

Is control an illusion? Yes. Is influence over life an illusion? Absolutely not.

[Panthau]

I guess thats something to overcome for everyone who has a mind. A completly let-go means for the mind to die. This needs time and effort, as these fears are very deep burried within our unconscious behavior patterns.

In the end, its also just a thought... i guess the complete overcome of the fear of letting go, is the same as enlightement. To let go of all thoughts and experience to 100% the now.

[Edwin]

It's not so much about being in control or not, but more confusion about who is in control.

Neuroscientists have discovered that the human subconscious brain processes about 500.000 times more information than our conscious brain does.
Only when the subconscious has processed all the information and a choice has been made! an action is executed, and thus for instance your hand reaches out towards that nice cold beer. No action what so ever has been made by your conscious brain up to this point. Now however, the conscious mind becomes aware that a choice has been made, and a thought is made in an entirely different part of the brain, a part that isn't even directly linked to the part where the action originated from, and this thought is " I am going to get that cold beer "

However, this thought is faulty in two parts:
First of all, your consciousness can only register the body movement originating from your subconscious mind. The fact that you are watching the movement, observing, registering the sensations of thousands of nerve endings in your skin, noticing the sensations of muscles flexing, means that who you really are has nothing to do with your body and the movements it makes.

The second faulty assumption made by the conscious brain is the "I thought".
Just like you observe the body move, you observe thoughts popping into your head.
I can honestly say that I have not thought a single thought in my life. I have never taken a bunch of words, put them together and made a thought out of them. I simply focus my attention towards something, and the thoughts about those topics come up by themselves.
Just simple observation will prove this for you.
So, having established that, when a thought is formed saying " I did that ", is that thought made by you, or is it a thought observed by you ?
Who is that imaginary "I" in that sentence ?

Now comes the good part:
While trying to grab the glass of beer, you accidentally knock it over, and spill that sacred nectar all over the table and floor, ruining that old cloth that was made by your wife's great grandmother.

Your wife shouts "What are you DOING"
and you answer " I was trying to grab my beer but I messed up somehow, I am really sorry "

"Well don't just stand there, help me clean up the mess, oh my God nan's tablecloth is RUINED"

" I am so sorry, I don't know what happened, I was grabbing my beer and somehow I missed "

Notice how the talking part of you hasn't a clue what happened and why you missed ? How can this be, because it is saying that it is you, and you dropped the glass right ?

For the one that observes all, the part of you that sees and feels your body move, sees the glass tip over, sees the thoughts come up in your mind, notices the feelings of remorse towards your wife, watches the feelings of anger come up and slowly disappear about how unfair your wife reacts, you know, the REAL YOU, for You it is just a ride. Whatever happens in your life, your subconscious will handle it, your conscious brain needs to stop giving side-line commentary, and the real You will simply observe it all.

It's just a ride.