Mind

Dear all,
I would like to share and experience and a source of concern(?) with you.
The whole of last week I was on an online training course on airport master planning. Obviously the latter is a complex subject matter requiring high analytical skills and in-depth knowledge of aviation and airports. I found that while I was remained attentive to the instructor and ‘understood’ all he said, I could not retain anything. Even saying I understood what he said is not even quite true. I further read the course material “as homework”, typical study-mode and again - zero apparent retention. Words fall on a stainless mind and slide right off. No impact. I started to grow a little concerned at some point (was amazed at another point), then laughed it off and thought, let see how I do in the exam :grin:
I have done the exam - it was multi-choice and I’m pretty sure I have scored 100%. Go figure!
To be honest, I cannot totally attribute my ability to do the exam successfully to a clear (non-functioning?) mind. I have been in the aviation business for 30 years and airport master planning for the past 5 years, it could just be previously build-up knowledge and competences.
Seriously - do our minds even work as we think it does?
Sey :pray:

Sey, It’s hard to tell from your post if you are concerned you aren’t understanding the material based on your movement into non duality or aging. I am also 30 years into my career and, while I can succeed based on “previously build’-up knowledge and competences”, I do find the aging brain a little slower to process and tolerate the pace of new information. If you did score a 100% it would suggest you have enough “knowledge” to do the job. I suspect your bringing inner silence to the job can contribute to the “master planning” in other ways.

Dear Interpaul,
I acknowledge that as we grow older our minds are not as quick to grasp new information but that is not what is experienced here. When listening /reading your mind gives you feedback that it has understood; you can cross-check by repeating the information to yourself that you have retained it or analytically grouping bits of information that belong together to build the whole picture. I hear /read the words but it slides right off without impacting (staining) clear mind in anyway. I have actually noticed this for a number of years now, but it only became strongly evident when under the pressure of a complex training. I am used to it while reading fiction. I flow with the story with a vividness that was not there before but I am not retaining what I read on the previous page.
Ah…I give up, trying to put these things in words is too hard and sounds impossible. :slight_smile:
Sey :pray:

Sey, It was hard in reading your first post to see if you were suggesting you are bypassing your traditional brain function in a positive way or if you are concerned about some problem. Based on your response I sense you are suggesting the former. I suspect only people who are well down the path of nonduality understand what you are referring to. If this is the case, congratulations. I imagine it could feel a little lonely being in a place where few understand how you experience life.

Hello Sey,
This makes me excited. Memory has always been my interest. I have had a similar experience where it feels like I forgot everything that ever happenened. To me it was scary at fist but now it feels great and mysterious.
Who am I, or who was I? :pray:

Hi Sey,
I can relate to your experience. It seems to be triggered by the rewiring of the neuro-biology, which happens in stages. It feels like the mind gets rebooted at times. I remember an experience similar to yours, reading a passage and realizing that I had no idea what was about, and reading it again and again with the same effect. Just like you, I thought: “This is curious. I know all the words, there is nothing difficult here, but there is no retention of what I have just read. How did I make it through school? I do not know what is happening.” I would read a page, and re-read it, with no idea about its content.
This “blank mind” shows up at other times, too, like when I have to select media device in the car ( e.g. to play music from someone’s phone), and if I do not take a moment to think, I would choose to disconnect all devices - the mind likes it quiet, and my family likes music :slight_smile:
In time, the mind gets better integrated, but something shifts: there is less heavy reliance on mind and a deep intuition rises in its place. It feels like life is less directed by the mind, and it is more a flow of grace. :pray:

:pray: