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Ecstatic experiences


Cnyb

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To be on the verge of tears while taking in/becoming immersed in the sublime beauty of Vladimir Ashkenazy's piano playing in the second movement of Beethoven's 5th piano concerto, to be at such inner peace in the woods on a rock by a river that nothing else seems to exist, to massage and feel one's hands merging into the energy of someone else's skin and muscles to the point where there is only a flow between two people, to be among musicians arriving at that wonderful zone, to raise hands and shout in jubilation singing praises, to be overcome with silence/purity /sacredness.

 

Lately I've been feeling extremely grateful for the ability to enter to some degree into ecstatic experiences.  It's so amazing that we can be drawn toward such beautiful focus/near-total involvement/such heightened awareness.  "Satisfied" is so much more than a raise, a new toy, an orgasm, personal approval, or other things we hungrily seek -- and it's amazing the things/situations/people that can become vehicles that help us travel to "Satisfaction", and so wonderful the ways the journey may unfold.

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everywhere and nowhere

I don't find it so easy, but I know what you are saying. And from that point of view it HURTS me how the word "ecstasy" is almost reduced to "sexual pleasure". And it's much more. Some people just don't have sex, or don't enjoy sex, and such reductionism means suggesting that they never experience intense feelings and live boring lives.

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24 minutes ago, Nowhere Girl said:

And from that point of view it HURTS me how the word "ecstasy" is almost reduced to "sexual pleasure

If it makes you feel better there's also a drug called ecstasy !!! 😛😛😛😛

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A summer or two ago I was following a mindfulness workbook and one of the exercises was to just spend a few minutes mindful of something pleasant.  The simple act of making space and inviting mindfulness of pleasantness is such a wonderful thing!  The next week in the workbook the exercise was to be mindful of something unpleasant.  Either way, that attentiveness towards WHATEVER, on its own seemed to draw out some kind of balance or poised calm or something, and the gentle re-focusing towards WHATEVER seemed to heighten some kind of perspective, allowed me to become more aware of things that were thankfully neutral or positive, or manageably negative.

 

Yesterday I merged into a massage, there was no relationship, no date, no romance, no intercourse, just wonderful being in the massaging.  I was on cloud 9 for a while.  And so I've recalled some other types of things that have been ecstatic, and wondered why I don't think to spend some time being more mindful in some of these directions, just to see what I stumble upon next time!

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Pretty much never had anything like this happen to me.  But then, I've wondered sometimes if I have elements of anhedonia.

 

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And from that point of view it HURTS me how the word "ecstasy" is almost reduced to "sexual pleasure".

Funny, the vast majority of the time I hear this word it's specifically referring to the drug.

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Guest Jetsun Milarepa

I agree entirely with your sentiments @Cnyb..I once had a 'merging' experience while snorkelling with a small school of fish off the coast of Greece...for a while, I couldn't see where I ended and they began, it was as if I was suddenly a fish! Beautiful experience.

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I'd imagine snorkelling itself can really just put you in a zone; being in a wetsuit or just feeling so immersed in the water.   I can see how being surrounded by a school of fish would take things up to another level!

 

I'm thinking of how I might carve out little moments of time here or there, opportunities, make myself available to getting into a zone or flow.  The heights of ecstasy may be rare, but possibilities in this moment are endless, how to be more open?  It's a bit cold to be exploring nature comfortably for too long, but I figure I can at least try to remember to be more in the moment and aware when I cuddle my cat, and just be more mindful that I can stop for a moment and get out of autopilot, be more aware.

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Days have passed.  A distant memory may still be accessible.  Life goes on.  Complications in life go on.  Anxiety and insecurity bubble up, and are sometimes pushed aside by work that must be done, or random distractions, or skillful efforts to re-contextualize... but tension builds as interpersonal miscommunication continues...  Craving of hope, effort to resist drama, tactics to avoid imbalance, finding a dry space with confusion and murky shadows and a lonely night of....  Where is that taste of ecstasy?  Just a taste, or a fleeting memory, please.  Can I hope to arrive at a peaceful balance, a stillness of soul?  No worries, they say, not offended, understood, course corrected.  Calmed.  A lingering whiff of taint is still perceptible.  A few breaths.  A possibility, a new equilibrium being established.

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7 hours ago, Cnyb said:

Can I hope to arrive at a peaceful balance, a stillness of soul?

Life is movement. Balance is temporary. With practice, you can reach balance more often, stay in balance longer. But it will always pass while you are alife.

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Guest Deus Ex Infinity
10 minutes ago, roland.o said:

Life is movement. Balance is temporary. With practice, you can reach balance more often, stay in balance longer. But it will always pass while you are alife.

Very true indeed. It's a contant process of daily training and voltion. Over and over again...

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Yeah and some prozac doesn't hurt either, ha!

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Had a very peaceful and pleasant time in a coffee shop, some mindfulness practice, also some concerns.  Interested in this mix of peacefully aware concern.  Interrupted sometimes by a sense of confusion or guilt/regret I should have known or done something differently, but not too much.  Not feeling absorbed in someone else's issues, not feeling completely free/untangled/healthy either.  Not feeling 'stuck'.  Wishing I could give peace to someone as easily as putting change in a tip jar.

 

A sense of wanting a bubbling-forth of emotion, wanting a bursting of tension or tears, or laughter, or sublime calm, something strong.  Tiredness.  Reminded of how it feels to be overwhelmed, with tunnel-vision, needing to hide.  Wanting to give peace to someone.

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Guest Jetsun Milarepa

Don't be hard on yourself @Cnyb, you don't have the ability to give peace to others because it's their job to find that for themselves. you can only be a support as it's their journey. As for guilt, I find that it hinders development because it traps you in a previous time. These moments are already gone, guilt stops you moving forward.

That's not to say that guilt/regret is a bad thing in the case of a serious misdemeanour, but if nobody is harmed and you just feel you could have done more, then it's not productive.

The thing about emotion is that what goes up must come down and the straight line of contentment is much more valuable than ecstasy or sadness. As long as you see those for what they are (just transient) then they can be enjoyed in the moment and let go when it's time. It's the clinging that hurts. Just MHO, if it doesn't float your boat, just ignore me!:lol:

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You are making sense @chandrakirti, I agree.  Thanks, the reminder helps.  I find myself having a healthier more balanced response than in the past. I can be partly mindful and content to experience without clinging, and try to do what seems compassionate and appropriate for the time, and let go.  But then I am also partly still caught up a little bit here or there, one way or the other.

 

I'd like to be more able to use memories of past ecstatic experiences to console myself, to say to myself "wonderful potentials are still available in the amazing realm of awareness", or use memories of when things worked out well to say to myself "sometimes I can be in a place to do some real good, maybe, relax", so I can have less anxious craving, to become more contented. 

 

I'd like to be more able to use memories of past sad experiences to acknowledge they were transient, they did not last forever, or to warn myself that getting tense and caught up in anxious/tense/sad/guilty trains of thoughts has been a trap and that I've seen myself get stuck in them, to direct me to step back a bit instead of identifying with what my brain (or whatever) is doing to me.

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Lately a sense of steadiness is predominating moreso.  The blips of wanting some experience are less pressured, openness to experience is something I'm aware of in the background more regularly, and avoidance doesn't have that awful desperation, none of it has so much of the tainted-ness.  I'm reminded of how it is said a bow can't be too tight or it snaps, can't be too loose or there's no power when pulling back and trying to aim an arrow.  I'm leaning towards the looser end of awareness, more relaxed, which is good.  Tenseness is momentary and not too strong, thankfully.  A decent balance, I could remember this and maybe cultivate it somewhat intentionally.

 

It's nice to have more energy, but sometimes instead of deeper calm awareness the result of more energy is irritation or tunnel-vision focus, so this lower energy less focused side of balance is helpful, close enough to a more energized balance.

 

I'm not thinking of ecstatic experience as super-energized or super-focused so much as more fully open awareness with a focus/concentration that is neither too strong nor too loose.  Open and then lost in an experience/awareness, yes, but not a tense/needy tunnel-vision, more of a strong immersion.  Flowing and not straying into distraction.  A deep balance, a very open and energized balance, a very responsive and free balance, able to be solid enough and liquid enough in various ways.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Wow, been going through a crush of some kind, squish or whatever.... stronger than before.  Quite a pleasant loopiness to it, whatever it is, because the recipient is flattered and we're on the same page with where things are.  Nice, not frustrating, hey that's good!  But wow, the waves of fond memories, sighs, desires to please someone, the sense of total connection despite just barely knowing each other...  It's nice to not have the pressure of feeling like I need to be in this or that type of relationship, it's nice to not feel like everything hangs on how the other person responds.

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Oh I want to melt like butter on an english muffin into the nooks and crannies of the universe of possibilities that manifest as my crush/squish.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Even keel is nice.

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