Let us assume the point of meditation is to have no thoughts or feelings or their attendant pressures. One, therefore, becomes empty of thoughts and pressures, yet awake but unaware of what is up.
If one is unaware, then one is unconscious. If so, one's consciousness is not present at that moment. Another way to say this is to say reflecting consciousness or awareness is absent, even though it may come and go.
One becomes aware of this unaware state when one reflects on it, for the reflecting awareness may become aware of what is up once it shows up.
In some cases, I noted, the reflecting consciousness does not come back after meditation ends so that people tell me something but Idon't process that information so that I lose the opportunity to act upon that information.
I remember reading from somewhere that reflection on information or phenomena in general, this is what is meant by perception, serves the purpose of guiding action. Absence of reflection, that is mere sensation of phenomena without processing it, according to this view, inaction prevails. This implies samadhi is restful time, because there less urges to act, this is perhaps what is meant by absence of causation in samadhi, in addition to absence of awareness of space and time.
A good example of this is a dream i had a while ago. I was with someone,whom I had, in retrospect, had two contradicting views in relation to her, so I decided to shout but then I shouted like a goat or something.
It occurred to me that my company will run after me and catch me. I was still unaware but then I made some efforts and then I was out of it and awake. I, immediately, slept in the way that I was sleeping and and then reflected on it. When you reflect on fresh experience you learn a lot from it.
I did recall of being in something bigger and deeper ,like being in big egg shell that is erected vertically so that it has depth. I also remember managing to get out and becoming awake.
I also remember at some point of being aware that I was inside that depth and I was confined to small part of it, shaped much like human fetus in a womb, albeit facing downward.
I recall seeing known person and unknown persons, some going about their business and others were watching me.
Why would someone enter samadhi or reflect on dreams? The simple answer is I just do it because it is sort of things that I like to do.Post-reflection or rationalization answer is I desire to know about the nature of my existence and the mysteries of life and so on and so forth. Meditation is promising way to learn more of these.
Having reflected on why samadhi or dreams or for that matter any of such strange worlds, after watching movies, I noted, it is substance. For instance, if an actor is acting in ways that has reproduced the strange world after reflection, thereby completing the two wheels of cognition, then such an actor or action is sort of things that people want to watch on account of its appeal.
If, however, the action is devoid of other world, then it is pretentious or so I maintain, it lacks substance and thus its unattractiveness.
The same applies also to wide range of phenomena, if not whole phenomena.
Psychologists like Freud say the unconscious determines behavior. One therefore becomes what determines one's behavior. You have now an opportunity to change if there are something you would like to change.
I noted that I am able to self-control myself as far as what my thoughts are concerned, or what goes in my head, when I stop breathing and when I just finished successful meditation. This capacity decreases gradually until I can no longer self-control myself effectively, because I find myself, again and again, upon reflection, in on preoccupation after another. This is a fundamental truth that I gleaned from this chapter. It led me to meditate, before I start work, until I am able to control my thoughts and then use my reflective awareness to reflect on chosen data, be it from a dream or from experience. When I reflect on substantial material such as dream or wakeful experience, I am able, generally speaking, to gain knowledge that will be useful in guiding action in view of attaining desirable ends for extended period of time.
I thus have self-interest in knowing how I can maintain continuous attention to get work done, for instance.
Attention can be maintained, the author propounds, as long as tension can be maintained in the lower abdomen.
The essential idea of this chapter is tension in the lower abdomen generates attention and power to get work done. This I think comes from the toned or strengthened muscles. Muscles are toned by the brain as a result of that tension in the tendon sending impulses to the brain, especially to a center called wakefulness. Stopping breathing is one way to place tension in the tanden. Other ways will be discussed soon that will place tension In the lower abdomen.
In this scenario one finds himself or herself in situations where one is ble to pay attention and work.
One can also imagine the possibility of stress being placed not on tanden but say on somewhere on the upper part of the body. If so, the more the tension is sustained, the more one sleeps or enters sleep like state, where one is not awake or attentive as a result one losses self-control, different thoughts occupy him one after another. He may wake up now and then but he is not attentive.
I noted also the opposite scenario: if one’s attention is dispersed and no tension in placed in the tanden, then one loses capacity to labor and starts to feel tired.
The main question of this reflection is to mention what I have learned from this chapter, the chapter on physiology of attention that has allowed me to meditate well.
Why would anyone pay attention? You pay attention to save yourself, if possible, from danger, to use your time and resources more effectively. I also noted when I pay attention much of the day by tensing the lower abdomen, my desires for sweet stuff drops, as if attention is highest sweet. That suffices for now.
Long time ago, before I was exposed to this book, I noted, that stillness, not moving at all, while on the bed, allowed me to stop thoughts and thus enter a state of mind where occasional thoughts that bob up or story telling thoughts don't arise. What is going on then ? nothing save a sound that is very much like the sound of deep cave in the middle of no where at night, around 3:00 am in the morning. The sound appears to be uniform, no matter where I am, space wise, being In different lands, or time-wise, now or five years ago, it remains that same. Sometimes, the intensity changes, and becomes very immediate, as if small particles are bounding a surface. It occurs to me this is the edge of the universe and it strikes as if this whole thing is lifeless owing to the absence of variation. There is general uniformity prevailing. This is perhaps what is meant by transcendence of duality or absence of differentiation, unity.
