Thread: Memory: the Forgotten Fundamental

Originally Posted by Sageous

For me? At this point, during waking-life I use a version of RRC that manifests in an almost unconscious manner: I am registering my interaction with reality almost constantly now (which drives my wife nuts, BTW), but very rarely actually ask questions or wonder -- I guess I've left my own teaching behind! I still have many moments of mindlessness, but whenever I do I'm somehow reminded that I've "left" my presence in reality, and maybe need to move back in. Since the RRC tends to reflect the overall, yes, tenets of my general practice and life experience, I would imagine that it is more involved in my daily life than that, but I'd have to give it some real time to map out and describe this involvement

I find that interesting, because I wonder if I might be on my way toward steering down that sort of path myself. Although I still do some RRCs (or their equivalent) occasionally, I have for a while now found myself focusing on more directly trying to develop a more continuous, nonverbal memory/self-awareness state. I still zone out sometimes, but as time has passed, it seems to take less time in general for me to “wake back up” and realize it's happened.

Back when I was still learning about the concept of self-awareness and toying with the RRC exercises, I admittedly didn't feel much like I knew what I was doing at first, but I decided to stick with it for the time being to give it a chance. I suspect that over time I've started to figure out what the self-awareness state is supposed to “feel” like, and maybe it was around that point that I started branching out a bit and experimenting with methods of my own for trying to further that.

Perhaps tying with some of the things said in the last few posts, it really does seem to me that a key part of this whole LD journey is for every person to do some critical thinking, try things out, and explore to find the specifics of their own path based on what they experience. The discussion of fundamentals and many of the techniques found in places like this forum are no doubt helpful for steering beginners in the right general direction, but I wonder if at least many of the really successful LDers are the ones who then took steps beyond the literal tutorials to map out their own personally-tailored variations of the practice.

^^ That. I couldn't have said it better myself (and am always glad when I don't need to!).

Also:

Originally Posted by Travis E.

... I wonder if at least many of the really successful LDers are the ones who then took steps beyond the literal tutorials to map out their own personally-tailored variations of the practice.

No need to wonder about that; be confident that it is the case.

Most of the advanced LD'ers that I've come across (myself included) invariably have their own techniques (or none at all), though they all seem to deeply know and respect the targets and processes of all the major techniques (i.e., MILD, WBTB). Their personal LD'ing techniques vary widely, but what they all seem to share is an active, clear sense of the fundamentals... including some additional fundamentals of their own (like focus).

There is indeed a point where the techniques as dictated in the books and tutorials become obsolete or inadequate by themselves, and advanced LD'ers realize that they (the techniques) might not matter as much as they first thought they did; all that really matters in the end is their mindset, and that mindset is invariably resting on a thick foundation of the fundamentals.