Exercise induces a momentary reprieve from the past and future

“The iron (i.e., weightlifting) has saved my life, repeatedly” (Tom Platz, bodybuilder)

“Indian marathon runner enters a state of Samadhi (enlightenment) and continues running long after crossing the finish line.”

There is a moment during intense exercise where fatigue sets in and the mind can no longer race with thoughts about the past or future, and can only be in the present. At that moment of being totally in the present, you are in a state of enlightenment (spiritual bliss).

An enlightened Ph.D. program is one that …

… requires candidate doctoral students to simultaneously follow these two paths:

1. Master the subject: the student must master the subject matter – the student must put in the 10,000 hours needed to attain mastery. I would expect the student to put in 50 hours per week studying the subject. This means it will take 200 weeks (about 4 years) to master the subject. At this point in his education he should be able to teach himself, so I would expect this would be a time mostly of self-study.
2. Quiet the mind: the student must learn to align with his deeper self, so that he can tap into the source of all creativity. I would expect the student to put in 10 hours (or more) per week learning to quiet his mind. There are many choices available, including following the breath, mantras, mindfulness, mediation, and taking long walks (“Never trust a thought that didn’t come by walking.” — Friedrich Nietzsche).

Upon completion of these two paths, the student has prepared a vehicle for receiving insights on the subject matter from his deeper self. The student is now ready to bring forth new, deep insights.

Feel the tingling energy in every part of your body and become the sun

I am often 100% absorbed in my thoughts. I am unaware of the rest of my body, and unaware of the environment around me. That’s not good. Recently I have been learning, from Eckhart Tolle, to spread attention to my body. I pay attention to my hands; I notice a tingling. I recognize that tingling as energy. Then I pay attention to my feet; I notice the tingling energy there as well. I continue, paying attention to other parts of my body, noticing the tingling energy.

I think that I now understand this picture:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think the picture indicates that this person has succeeded in giving full attention to every part of his body, noticing all the tingling energy. When that happens, it must feel like one has become the sun.

Prepare a vehicle for receiving creativity and power

Suppose that you fully align with your deeper self (the source of all creativity and power). Can you then make amazing scientific discoveries and/or perform superhuman physical feats? No. The reason is that there must be a vehicle that is prepared to receive the creativity or power from the deeper self. That is, there must be vehicle that is ready for the power to flow into. The vehicle could be the human mind. There must be something that has already been prepared for it, in the human world. In the book Outliers, it says that one prerequisite to achieving mastery of something is 10,000 hours of practice. Then the possibility arises that the vehicle is ready to be receptive to the power that flows from the deeper self.

The above is a paraphrase of a fantastic talk that Eckhart Tolle gave on creativity (starting at 20:40).