Playing with Mantra

The concept I've been playing with put in as simple of terms as I can muster:

Completely engagement of the ego self while at the same time identifying solely with the transcendent self.

The mantra I use to keep this idea present:

Atman David

I use mantras a good deal in my yoga practice. After engaging rhythmic breathing I follow this formula

First inhale: AT
First exhale: MAN
Second inhale: DA
Second exhale: VID

Atman is the Hindu term for the transcendent self or the "self behind the self" and David is the name I was born into. I only started using this last week but it's interesting how charged the use of my own name is. It can open a trance state pretty quickly, I suspose it's the vast degree of connection.

Whether or not mantra "sends out energy" or "taps me into the universal self" is beside the point. A good mantra can very easily create a very steady and solid rhythm for your breath and it can also help the mind to relax into a trance or semi-trance state. Practicing yoga from this state is great as the postures are usually deeper and the mind less concerned with what is happening outside of the mat.

Communicating The Invisible (part one)

Got home last night from a party and started to chat to Noel about metaphysics. It's been awhile since I've thought and talked so near to the boundaries of reason. I love moving conversation to the point where it is almost invisible, meaning that the ideas you're talking about are near impossible to describe so the terms used are very soft and non-binding, and both parties in the conversation acknowledge that the words themselves are simply stairs to a destination rather than concrete debatable items. It's a testament to our relationship that Noel and I have a conversation like this and not have it end with passive "in one ear out the other" listening on one side, or debate over terminology, or a big "you don't get it" denouement.

We were talking about the ability to fully engage the ego self while at the same time remaining attached solely to the transcendent self. The ego self is necessary to create motion and engagement however if you get attached to this self and the "fruits of the labor" of this self you push yourself into the painful spiral of want/need/happy/sad whereas if the perspective remains only on the side of the transcendent self you watch the fully engaged ego self move through the same fields, but due to the fact you're not personally invested in what the crop yields, the wheel of pain and joy can be avoided. It's not that you no longer feel pain or joy it is simply that you are no longer attached to the pain or the joy nor concerned with the labeling of pain or joy so they become raw and pure experience.

This may seem like a lot of conceptual masturbation or gibberish from the outside but when I've lived inside of the "full identification with the transcendent self while keeping the ego self fully engaged" concept, life has been very fine. Putting the words down here are in no way meant as a way to tell anyone else how to live, it is more a personal exercise and experiment in playing with the ability to communicate invisible ideas successfully. Please post a comment if you have a chance and let me know if this makes sense or not. I have the feeling that I may be going through various permutations of the same ideas a number of times here because, like robots last week, this is what excites me.

DND