well no, not exactly, but have been some pretty dark rooms I've been in, in my own bedroom at time...a  dark night of the soul.

in a society like ours, there are not many opportunities if one works every day for that kind of intense focus, but if one is wanting a spurt of forward thrust, tell the cable guy to disconnect the cable for a couple of months  one naturally finds one's self thrust into what the meaning of life is..and from there you can see what habits we are addicted to and might even lead to soul searching which is good thing all in all.

but on the side, some can afford TMI, or other like programs. TMI has sound proof rooms and so do many other programs.
like a little waterbed in there, in a booth I hear. very dark, and then you wear the ear phones which make tones across the brain, making both sides work together for various journeys.

these are a week or two type trips among the like minded. then when you get home, you feel the internal changes beginning. and one your mind has had the two sides brought into alignment with the tones, the memory of how it felt, is recorded and you can slip into these focus areas much easier at home through the memory of how it felt, it makes meditation much easier.

Group type spiritual things are good if everyone knows what they are there for, even AA meetings will induce spiritual/psychological growth patterns as they force you to be honest. I've never been to one, but from AA meetings I was involved in the children of the parents for awhile, had their own little group because they had to deal with parents who drank.

thanks for the post, are u thinking of doing a retreat?
alysia

I have attempted to meditate in my waking hours. Usually if I'm up at an odd hour like 4 AM and I think of trying it I will go into the living room with all the lights off, breathe deeply and think about the breathing. Sometimes I will get a slight calm. Haven't been able to keep it up long enough for anything big to happen even though I have prayed for guidance and had resulting dreams within a few days to a week. Since it is impossible for the mind to not think of anything at all, I'm told that the best thing to think about during meditation is the breathing itself although with my autism, I get constant irrational thoughts every minute or so that I haven't figured out how to stop yet. Perhaps that may have something to do with the meditation difficulties.

And I can vouch for the retreat away from home making things slightly easier. I often forget about all my problems when I'm not at home. There is something about being away that causes thoughts of what is going on in life, namely stressful things, those thoughts seem to be noticeably less intense. My 2 cents on the matter.
Peace,
David

Quote:



  It (extended periods of darkness and sensory deprivation) seems to have the affect of stimulating the Pineal gland, which is the gland which resonates with and is connected to the 3rd eye/Anja consciousness center. 

  But, that consciousness state is a rather passive one, and is one of perception primarily.  Perception and passiveness does not lead to real spiritual growth in a direct sense, though it can facilitate real service and practice in ones day to day life.   Hence its important and necessary, but shouldn't become the primary focus.

  However, the above is just another outer 'prop' like any other, though somewhat different than the others.   Any tuning out of the physical and using one's imagination in an active and trusting sense, stimulates and opens the Pineal gland as well.    The above practice seems to 'force' it more so, and in a sense is similar to but safer than taking DMT or any chemical compound which strongly stimulates the Pineal gland.    But do either, or any outer method actually bring spiritual growth?  Can anything outside of us bring same?

  If you want the affect of long retreats, without the actual time and dedication of same (which is an important aspect of same, probably the most growth fostering aspect of same in actuallity), then just wear a largish piece of a deep indigo blue piece of Azurite and during meditation put in on your third eye area.   This also stimulates the Pineal gland and quite strongly.   But again, it's just a prop, it doesn't directly bring any real growth.   

  To me, what brings real growth is constant daily service with little thought of the separative self.

  A perfect illustration in this concept is Bob Monroe's account of meeting He/She in his last book Ultimate Journey.   One of the things that He/She tells Bob about their life, is that they spend practically every minute of their physical, linear time in service to others and working many, many different jobs.    Since He/She doesn't need to eat nor sleep anymore, then its safe to assume that He/She doesn't do this for the money as we say.   The reason that He/She gives is they like people.   

  This, this is true service and what brings the development of one like He/She.  He/She doesn't seem to need to meditate anymore in the sense that we do, their whole life has become one pure and active meditation (active meditation is being directly involved with others in the day to day life).    A person can sit alone in the dark for aeons in meditation and not remember full Source consciousness like He/She realized.    If fact, such over passive practices can block the full realization of the Soul's deepest desire if one becomes over attached to and spending most of their focus on.   

Hi Vajra

  There is modern taoist master, named Mantak Chia that offers darkness retreat.  In the documentation on his website, it's is written that after 2 weeks in total darkness, the pienal gland would awake and produce a huge amount of DMT molecule. 

  The gland produce this molecule at low level when we're asleep and dreaming.  It is known as the spiritual molecule. 

http://www.universal-tao.com/Darkness_Technology.pdf

hi PM..I couldn't open that link (mac user quicktime problems) so I googled universal tao and would like to share this link to a truckload of articles related to Tao concepts, looking forward to reading these articles of diverse content. Alan Watts is even there with an article. as well physical approaches to spiritual body constitution. I'm a big fan of PH proper balance in the body.
thanks!

http://www.universal-tao.com/article/index.html

Recoverer, I have wondered the same thing; does solitude bring you closer or further detached? I have observed in myself this dilemma. I work, have a husband, two daughters, and go to school on-line. I crave and need quiet alone time but too much of it and I find myself resentful at the interruption even if I have been alone for some time. I have often wished that I could be a monk with nothing to do but sit and think but I believe now that it would not bring me any closer to what I desire which is to be able to be quiet in the midst of chaos. I want to feel inner peace but not at the cost of detachment from the ALL. I believe that we are All One and want to be a part of it. I want to have patience and have PUL for everyone. How would solitude bring me that? Does higher awareness bring us closer to our fellow man or only make us set our sights on what awaits us?

Sorry to change the subject.

With Love,
Michelle

Hi guys. I think i'd echo Blink's comment. Perhaps the issue is basically that the Grace/intuition/knowing/access to the true nature of mind that brings higher consciousness/loving behaviours/wisdom/genuine intuitive knowings comes in on a very low strength signal.

One which gets drowned out against the babble of compulsive egotistical thought that fills most of our heads pretty much all of the time.

It's said that meditation/monastic life/retreats/isolation in caves or whatever/darkness potentially play at several levels to help us to receive this signal.

In normal life we're continuously faced with the need to respond to our environment, and these responses are inevitably driven by selfishness. That's not a judgement, just a statement of the inevitability of the fact that we cannot normally by act of discursive intellect/thinking mind somehow magically decide to make decisions which transcend/place us outside of the whole logical framework on which the very perception of self that allows such thought is built.

You can't for example quiet your thinking mind by direct application of willpower. Any more than you can directly apply willpower to the act of 'not thinking'.

This is the mechanism that (normally, see below) no matter how unhappy we become keeps us trapped in this self reinforcing reality. Samsara in Buddhist terms.

This inevitably means that the most available way for most of us to tune into the low volume higher knowings above is by placing ourselves in conditions where ego thought are slowed, and eventually stilled.

The alternative (as enlightenment experience) seems to happen spontaneously in only a very few (e.g. Eckhardt Tolle) - life seen through the egotistical lens becomes painful enough to trigger some sort of rejection of this way of seeing - a reboot of consciousness. Once we make this break it seems we no longer perceive through the filter of ego view and so can not be taken in by it again.  Trouble is most of these seem to have first served their time on the 'slow' road'.

The theory is that the various methods listed above help create circumstances that make the gradual stilling easier. Monastic life eliminates most of the need to worry about life issues and removes most external stimuli. (unless you happen to be a Burmese Buddhist monk  ) Meditation is effectively the practice of not doing, and more importantly of not thinking. Mind settles slowly over time, even when meditating. So more extended periods of meditation as in retreats and isolation allow for further settling. Extended retreats in darkness are I guess the ultimate in bringing together of all the factors.

The above booklet proposes a biochemical framework that underpins this shutting down.

What's the reality of this? I'm not sure. My experience is that a week's meditation retreat definitely produces a  stilling that develops all week - there seems no reason why it should not continue. This stillness carries for some weeks after the retreat, and in fact seems to produce some sort of real ongoing change in the individual. Tibetan Buddhism regards multi year retreats as an essential part of spiritual development - albeit only when one reaches a defined stage of development.

I don't know for sure, but it's probably a dynamic process. When for example we indulge the sub personalities in our ego (the pain body/victim, the bully, greed for wealth/power whatever), especially when we do this intensively we pour energy into and build ego in a manner which presumably can reverse the benefit of whatever meditation and other spiritual work we do.

We drive ourselves deeper into Samasara and cut ourselves off from the Grace/love/higher mind that's necessary for happiness...

Yet another reason why lightness, openness and spaciousness of view are such an important part of the spiritual life......