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# Re: requesting help with chapter 1 of IIH

#### Message 01451 of 3835

- To: BardonPraxis@yahoogroups.com
- Subject: Re: requesting help with chapter 1 of IIH
- From: "Vernon" <djhuti_ankh@...>
- Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 01:27:23 -0000
- In-reply-to: <bjfn86+ejpl@eGroups.com>
- User-agent: eGroups-EW/0.82

    Maria,

    This is my third go at IIH and I'm on chapter one as well. But I am having a
    fairly good time with it. There are some things I've learned and practiced
    along the way that are of assistance to me. Some of all of these may have been
    included in other people's responses.

    First, many of the exercises in IIH have appeared elsewhere. Some people poo
    poo Bardon for this, but I don't see it as a problem...no one person owns a
    tradition or set of exercises. Bardon's assembly of these into a cohesive whole
    with his own insights and additions makes IIH the one book I would not want to
    be without.

    With that said, several of the exercises in IIH appear in a little blue book
    called Raja Yoga (RY) or Mental Development by Yogi Ramacharaka. All of the
    mental exercises of IIH Step I are included in RY and some of attention and
    concentration work is there as well. I've worked off and on with RY for a
    number of years. It only gives the mental side as the title suggest and lack
    the three-sided balance of the IIH. However, in the first chapter of RY the
    author speaks explicitly about the "I" and part of the quest of the book is the
    attainment of "I" consciousness. The exercises of the first couple of chapters
    aim at helping the student distinguish the "I" from the "Not I" things with
    which we may identify, i.e. the body, the mind/thoughts, and the
    emotional/passional mechanism and all that it can produce. Success with the
    first Step I of IIH results in some degree of "I" consciousness. We come to
    realize that we are independent of the body, the emotions, and the mind; that
    in a sense we cannot be that which we observe. (I think it was at this group
    that someone mentioned the "I" and "Me" of the Kybalion. It think the division
    is similar.

    With all that said, it's still difficult to achieve and retain detachment from
    the many thoughts and ideas and feelings that rush in upon us as we try to
    practice the exercise. It is sometimes like practicing non-response to children
    who are acting up on the theory that the attention will only make them act up
    more. "Just ignore her," my wife says to me when our 4-year old does her thing.
    I have an easier time with my thoughts :).

    My mind tells me that it wants to be mastered. With each evening of exercises,
    it seems sets new challenges. There are thought that arise that have a greater
    emotional charge or implication so as to trigger a response. They're kind of
    like the pesky tourist trying to get a response out of the stoic and silent
    guards outside of Buckingham Palace. What I have also experienced with the
    thoughts that arise during my thought observation exercise is that, so to
    speak, there is a ripple in the mind substance and it require involvement from
    the "I" to rise into more than a ripple. If I remain the stony, detached
    observer then not much more becomes of it and the ripple dies down.

    In any case, what may eventually happen is a "realization" of the "I" in
    relationship to the body-mind-emotions. Meditating upon some of the
    affirmations in RY may be useful in triggering this realization and may be a
    good supplement to IIH Step I.

    Hope this was useful.

    Cheers,

    Vernon

    --- In BardonPraxis@yahoogroups.com, "mariaclearwater333"
    <mariaclearwater333@y...> wrote:
    > Hi everybody
    > I am new to this group. For a very long time now (years), I am
    > working every day very diligently on chapter 1 and wasn't able to
    > stay for 10 minutes without thoughts. I feel quite desperate and am
    > reaching out for your help. What helped you? How did you get to the
    > place of having control over your thoughts?
    >
    > I am very thankful for specific help: Maria

- References:
  - requesting help with chapter 1 of IIH
    - From: "mariaclearwater333" <mariaclearwater333@...>

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