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This sort of touches on something I can't figure out how I want to think about. I always get stuck with the "fact" that this reality feels so real! If this is an assumption, it happens at a much deeper level than, say, assuming there is a money system. I don't know how to get beyond this being convinced by the evidence of my senses. Intellectually, I can, but experientially, I can't.

I was struck by something that Thomas-Mellon benedict wrote and I have seen expressed elsewhere. As he had an NDE, he realized:

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OK so there goes the criteria of feeling "real."

But I don't know how to choose to get to the place where Benedict was so I can experience for myself. It is comforting to me to think that, as real as this place seems, there might be a place that seems even more real. or is it a fallacy to confuse "real" and "vivid" in this context? (woops my intellectual side took over.    )

Now recently I was reading something else and the author was discussing methods of meditation. She spoke about using the technique of watching your breath because your breath is the one thing that you know will be there. (True as long as you are alive). That puts one back at the level of the senses for defining reality. But focusing on breathing is a time-honored technique. So I assume that means you can learn about what is beyond C1 by focusing on something that is intrinsically tied to C1.

This discussion isn't just an intellectual exercise to me. I'm always looking for practical applications. It seems useful to have a definition, or at least an agreement, about how C1 might basically differ from other realms. It does seem to be a scaffolding on which to hang our many other created endeavors. But sometimes it is diificult to say where the real limits are.