Question
Hi Mr.Dave
I watched some youtube videos about how to meditate, especially this one: youtube.com/watch?v=UY6o3U5GVSs
I think it could be really helpful in my life.
But I would like that you explain me some thing that I'm still not understanding:
When we are meditating, our main objective is to let all thoughts go away?
When we are in that "No thought state", is it normal to see visions?
Sometimes when I'm meditating I use to see some shadows moving in a dark background. Is this normal ?
I hope your help
Thanks
Answer
Andre, Thank you for your question.
Trying to learn anything with inadequate instructions will raise these kinds of questions rather than provide any beneficial results.
It would be best if you sought out the best instruction, not the quickest and worst! If you had a toothache, would you go to a cheap dentist with no training who simply pulled the tooth? The end result will be no teeth!
Similarly, asking someone who has just learned some method of meditating to teach you will end up giving you worse suffering than you already have, perhaps insanity as your thinking becomes increasingly corrupted!
I recommend Transcendental Meditation and NSR Meditation. Either of these types of instruction gives you a good head start, giving you a natural state of restful alertness instead of stimulating questions that have no good answers.
A question like the classic "have you stopped beating your wife?" simply has no good answer, since it is based on incorrect assumptions (in this case, the assumption is made that you have been beating your wife--well, have you?).
Similarly, questions about "visions" and "states without thoughts" are based on several incorrect assumptions, such as that it is good to be in a state without thoughts (it may be good or bad, depending on what else is happening), that the way to eliminate useless thoughts is to try to eliminate them (this approach actually opposes the natural functioning of the mind, and leads to results like effort and headache), and that it is normal or abnormal to see "visions" (it depends on so many other factors, such as what the visions are, why you are having them, and so forth).
It would take forever to try to correct your underlying assumptions. It would be a waste of your time and a waste of my time as well. It is really not helpful to answer bad questions. Far more helpful is the suggestion to seek the best possible initial instruction.
You can find out about Transcendental Meditation at www.tm.org, and about NSR Meditation at www.nsrusa.org.
David Spector
President,
NSR Meditation/USA
