> I hesitate to admit this, but everytime I try to enter into a TAOIST frame of
> mind I get very confused. My attention starts to meander around. Usually I
> fall asleep. I hope this doesn't indicate a lack on my part. I've honestly
> tried...maybe I'm just not doing it right. I've entered meditative trances
> before, but only by focusing my concentration on a point in space or an idea.
> I've listened to my heart beating and to the humming drone of the city on a
> quiet night, but when I try to step out of my own perception...I'm at a loss.
> There isn't anything there, and that isn't very interesting.
Couple of thoughts that spring to mind based on this and Marc's TAOIST post:
The balinese have an interesting idea about trance.
They do trance dances which are not immobile or based on a fixed point of
meditation. They allow the trance to take them into action. My acting instructor
from when I was an undergrad (we had a number of balinese guest instructors)
used this as an analogy for performance. He said performance is a form of
trance. You enter a world that essentially exists in your mind but is readable
by the action of your body.
We also did a lot of spinning. (sufi style) You spin around for, like an hour at
a time. Surprisingly you don't get sick. Your perceptions just change and you
can see, through the blur, everything in the room in 360 degrees.
(I had a very unusual training process)
Afterward you feel really centered and buzzed. Colors are brighter, sounds are
sharper, emotional sensations are more subtle. (better than weed)
I know very little about taoist trance. Does any of this cross over?
I also thought, now this is WAY off topic, about Tarot cards. I am coming to the
opinion that Tarot and other forms of divination are a way of introducing chaos
into a process of problem solving. I have no technichal language for this so
I'll just explain it in a pedestrian manner. Say you have a problem. This
problem has the potential of putting you into a kind of brain lock- constantly
going over the same data without seeing your way through. The images and
meanings of Tarot cards, or Runes or whatever, introduce new angles, new
patterns and cause you to see your problem from a different perspective. It's
king of an randomizer and an organizer all in one.
I think this relates to trance because both kind of change your thought
patterns.
Maybe this is not news Oh well.... random ditherings... :)