REACHING THE STATE OF PEACEFUL SUSPENSION
I have long felt, although not every time, a state of empty suspension during deep meditation. While it is hard to exactly describe this phenomenon in scientific terms, it is somewhat like being in a vacuum within your own body. This state appears suddenly but not always for me. During this state, I am still aware of my meditation activity and my physical surroundings; however, there is also a recognition for a gradual loss of physical coordinates and references. Surprisingly, this feels very peaceful and wholesome. You obviously know that you are still physically out there, but more importantly you feel that you are the experiential extension rather than just the body.
To understand this peaceful state of suspension, lets understand some functional aspects of our brain first. The human brain guides us physically with its high order abstracted actions (thinking) processed in the prefrontal cortex , some of which may become instincts in the long-term with enough repetitions. In conjunction with other brain faculties, these cognitive functions or abstracted actions then guide the body translate any given physical environment, accurate or not, to orient itself in the most favorable manner. It sounds logical that the computational power of the cortex can produce the closest possible abstraction of a situation based on the amount of situation-relevant memories stored in the brain. While the lower brain is instinctive and regulates the basic pre-programmed survival mechanisms that are downloaded by vertical transfer from ancestors (hunger, sex and fight/flight responses), the higher logical brain may have evolved to quickly process new information and formulate relative truths from the hidden networks of any new abstract reality. It is amazing how exponentially a human can learn new information from its birth to the end. The world being as it is now, our higher cognitive functions are under constraints from our own tools that have become computational. The evolutionary time scale is too small for us to create new instincts. So, we make computers to handle computers, tools for tools. The result is emotional flooding and over-stimulation of the higher brain when the tools are not available. When the higher brain is overloaded, the shunts or shut-down mechanisms hand over the roles to the lower brain. Then we operate with only a few reflexive tricks at disposal.
During deep meditation, the activities of our sensory pathways are toned down or oversimplified, either through prolonged attention to something or non-judgmental disposition to all thoughts. As a result, our cortex gets rest, which then allows a new state of mind to emerge. Here, thoughts simply pass by untouched and what is left is the basic minimal background activities of the brain. Whatever you name it, this vacuum-like state does feel peaceful. It explains why in this state of mind the worldly sorrows or thoughts do not seem to affect me because the lower brain itself is not capable of directly analyzing these cues no matter how much negative or positive thoughts come and go or even when the physical pain remains. Compared to us, I wonder if it is easier for animals with primitive cognitive abilities to feel peaceful when at rest. Perhaps, this is an evolutionary trade-off for breaking out of the typical ecological chain.
Spiritually speaking, the individual ego is weak when our emotions and thoughts are in check. The thoughts that collide within the wall-less walls cemented by our inner dialogues are probably not ours to begin with. Most likely, they were once things that we had heard from someone while growing up and they had inherited their thoughts from someone earlier. After-all, we are not born with our thoughts. Instead, their thought patterns could reflect the adapting memories of the distant and ancestral past. However, what we think is not always the best for situations we are in, especially when our environment and culture constantly and quickly change. We misjudge often. It is still hard to get rid of thoughts that we know are not really helping anyone. This mental coating can be shed off with the practice of mediation where we allow thoughts to freely move around as they wish and eventually, they dislodge from the equation. Thereafter, we can come out of meditation and perform better without overwhelming ourselves again.
As soon as I come out of meditation, the higher brain naturally creates the references in the outer dimensions of life and sense organs fire up again and it is easy to get caught up in worldly turmoil soon. The solution is to practice mediation even when we are awake. If we can implement a constant meditative state, mental peace is just a consequence.