Transcription:
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back. This is Brendan Lea for Consciousness and Skill Worldwide.
Another question about glimpses today, “Today in my meditation/concentration practice, there was a short moment, less than one second, where it was like I experienced what was already there but with no thoughts about the things I was experiencing. Then the mind came back to normal again silently, having labels for everything and dominating my experience. Is this state of no-mind something that could indicate that someone is having a glimpse? If no, is there a way that somebody could recognize it that he or she has had a glimpse? Is there a way that someone could recognize having a glimpse while still having it? I tend to think the recognition can only happen afterwards, and then it’s only your mind judging a past event.
Let’s dig in a little bit, okay? Shall we? Just for funsies, just check it out. Okay, so you had… “In my meditations last, you had a moment where it was like I experienced what was already there but with no thoughts about the things I was experiencing.”
Okay, cool. If you experienced what was already there, I would likely question if you were to come to me and you have, in a certain sense, come to me and ask me this question. I would ask you, well, what was that experience that you had? Could you describe it and describe it further in detail, really get rigorous with what exactly occurred for you as best you can? So, I would first of all start with trying to clarify what it is you experienced.
…”And then the mind came back to normal again silently, having labels for everything and dominating my experience.”
Well, right there, you might want to be careful or consider what it is you’re calling mind in this case because it just depends on how you hold mind. In the sense that, well, if you mean mind is like some sort of intellectual activity that you have in your head that occurs as like, “Okay, here’s a normal state of mind,” and then you experience something else and then you come back to normal, AKA like you have your normal thoughts and your normal judgments in the normal chatter and the normal emotional reactivity and whatever you have, you know, or reactions to things that are very normal and the judgments, the good and the bad. Then you can notice that there is one… you’re concentrating and meditating, then something happens, and then hit, and then back to normal, so you noticed a difference.
Now, “Is this state of no-mind something that could indicate that someone is having a glimpse?”
Now, if, and now I again I’m curious what it is that you mean when you say having a glimpse because that could mean something totally different and different things to different people. Now, given you’re writing to me, I imagine, and I could be wrong, that when you say having a glimpse, you mean some sort of direct consciousness. And the answer to your question of this question here is yes and no. Could this indicate that you’re having a glimpse, and by a glimpse, I mean having a direct consciousness of the true nature of something or having an, and or having an insight or a breakthrough? If you’re having a glimpse, you’re having a glimpse. If you’re not having a glimpse, then you’re not.
Now, creating the thought that and or trying to make or draw a connection between, “Well, if I have a state of no-mind, that means I’m having a glimpse,” I would say you’re incorrect, or I would be very careful in making those kinds of conclusions about reality because then you may shoot for, “Okay, I need to achieve a state of no-mind, and as soon as I do that means I’m glimpsing something.” You may not.
The reason I say this is because I’ve experienced many, many, many, many different changes of state during my contemplative training, and I’ve had states where my mind is gone, things are real quiet, or I’m real big, or you know, or hallucinations and different, like many, so many different things are possible. And does any of it mean anything? Ultimately no. It’s just another experience. See that’s my experience on the matter, so I would invite you to consider that for yourself and consider like, okay, well, you know, if you’ve done a few thousand hours of contemplation, you’ll likely agree with me, maybe you don’t have that much experience, I don’t know, I don’t know you, see?
So, my main advice here would be to consider, be careful of drawing conclusions or manuals, okay, of this. Something happens in reality, it means this, also is true when it may not be, you know? And let the part of having a glimpse or a breakthrough stand on its own so that then you can, you don’t confuse things. That’s my advice there.
“Is the state of no-mind something that could indicate someone is having a glimpse?” It depends. “If no,” which I said no, in a certain sense, “Is there a way that somebody could recognize that he or she has had a glimpse?”
And again, if you mean glimpse in the way that I’m thinking here, we’re talking insight, breakthrough, direct consciousness, some kind of thing, you know? Is there a way that you can recognize that? Yeah, when you have it, you go, “Ah, yeah, got it!” You become conscious of something you weren’t conscious of before, you know? Then you’ll know. Now that’s how you recognize that stuff.
Also, and here’s another aspect, which really makes it a pain in the ass and tricky. Is I’ve seen people, I’ve seen myself, fool myself into thinking, “Oh, I had something, but I really didn’t.” It was like a conceptual construct, and or I’ve seen people have a glimpse, and then their mind comes back in and muddies the waters, and they confuse the stuff that happens with their mind with the glimpse that they had. Glimpse, direct consciousness, you see? And they don’t realize that they’ve done that. And or I’ve seen people do this one, they have like some, they have their intellect is so, they’re so wrapped up in their intellect and conceptualization that they have a massive intellectual thought, and then some kind of change of state where they’re feeling like super blissed-out or something, and then they have this intellectual, narrative about what they’re experiencing, and they confuse that for a glimpse, and there too, and it’s, you know, it can be very confusing because their state is just massively shifted, and so they don’t even recognize it.
Like, “I’m having a huge change of state. This means I must be glimpsing the ultimate nature of reality,” or whatever, like, “I’m so blissed-out and whatever,” and they’re wrong f*cking wrong or confused, excuse me, not wrong as a human being, but they’re confused. I’ve seen that happen. And so this is, I’m sorry, I wish I could make it simpler for you. But on the bright side, there are certain things that one can glimpse that just, it’s obvious one instant, BAM, change your whole life as if change everything, and it’s obvious. “There is no doubt you’re just clear, you know, so I want you to open to that possibility, because that is a real one. I’ve seen it, I’ve been in it, seeing others, and it’s clear, you see.
So go for that, go to have your glimpse be something that you don’t need to rationalize or justify or try to figure out. You just let it be and let it stand, and you’re clear. I would recommend that course of action, so that’s how I would answer that question, “Is there a way to know?” Yea know, that’s how you know. So you don’t need somebody to verify it for you. You don’t need a teacher or a guru to talk to you and tell you all what you had is the right thing or the wrong thing or whatever, or you’re confused. It’s like, no, open up to like you can do it yourself, of course. So, you don’t need the guidance in a certain sense, although these things can be really tricky, so I balance between those two. But I do want you to be open to that possibility, then you write the book, you be the teacher, cause you know and you’re clear. So do that.
“Is there a way that someone can recognize having a glimpse while still having it?” Sure, do it and find out. Report back to me ASAP, let me know what happens.
“I tend to think the recognition can only happen afterwards, and then it’s only your mind judging a past event.” I understand that thought. I appreciate that thought, and I want to invite you to consider that, right now, that is a thought you’re having pre… what we’re calling glimpse. You’re having a thought about what it’s like to glimpse something before you’ve done it, and it’s okay to have these thoughts. But I want you to recognize that they are thoughts, and they are not the glimpsing itself. And perhaps the most powerful thing I could tell you is you can acknowledge the thought, but I would just let that one go, and f*ck it if you’re working on having a glimpse, and again, what I’m saying with a glimpse is like some direct consciousness or a breakthrough, an insight, its just screw the thinking, get to experiencing what’s true! Don’t worry about the thought, have the thought after, tell me what happens.
You see, its like go make the discovery! Go for it! Don’t worry about what anybody said, what anybody’s told you, any books you’ve read, any of that stuff, I think, yeah? And just go for what’s true. You know? And again, and I keep repeating myself, obviously, so okay, maybe not obvious reasons. But, there’s a danger in getting lost in the word glimpse because you said, ‘a glimpse,’ I need to know what it is you mean, and I’ve tried to elucidate what I mean when I say glimpse so that you know more what I’m talking about, and if it matches the question that you’re asking me, that’s better. But if it doesn’t, please hit me back, let me know so I can make a correction. Okay, so I hope that’s been useful for you. This is Brendan Lea for Consciousness and Skill Worldwide. Thanks, catch you later.”