disconnection from and reconnection with the Force

Hello! My questions are:

* Have you ever felt disconnected from the Force?
* What was the process of reconnection?

In my experience, severe stress may kick you outside of your focus and harm your nerves to the point of apathy - this is just biology and chemistry, AFAIK. And during apathy, when your body is compensating for the resources lost, the connection to the Force might be diminished to nearly null. The flow of the spiritual element, with which you aligned so much, is (temporarily) out of reach. So you need to reconnect through meditation and maybe deal with issues of trust to yourself and trust to the Force, which brought you on the hard path. Can you share your experience on this?

I guess it all depends on your conception of the Force.

For me the Force is all that is... even if we lose our awareness of that connection, that doesn't diminish it any more than closing your eyes makes the world pop out of existence

But once the awareness has been experienced it can undoubtedly be disorienting and stressful to live without it. The process of reconnection... that's an interesting one. For me it's not something one can "strive" for... it's one of those things that one has to make a space for, and then let happen, like setting up a camera trap and hoping to see some wildlife. The more you grasp for it, the further it slips out of reach... "chasing the butterfly".

For me those unexpected moments of awareness have only ever come when the conditions were right and I was still and open enough to let the butterfly land.

Your point about the difference between losing connection and losing awareness feels right. In terms of eyes and the world - I would describe disconnection as being unable to open your eyes for some time. It is disorienting indeed - walking with closed eyes )

The point about not striving to reconnect sounds right for me too. For now, I feel that I have to be not only open to the spark, but to exercise some patience and the art of letting go.

I wonder if meditations will be of any use for now. Wouldn't it be like contemplating the dawn with closed eyes?

I don't mean to be awkward, but again... depends on your definition of meditation

For me meditation is about becoming empty, open, still... in other words, the exact conditions I feel are likely to help create a space for that awareness to return. But only you know your own mind... I would say if it doesn't feel right, don't force yourself (no pun intended) to do it. Just try and get back into the flow of your life, and let the butterfly come to you.

I hope it lands soon

I`ll try some meditation and if it does not help for now - I guess I will just practice patience.

And on the definition of meditation - I have always done it instinctively and it helped. I think it is a separate topic. Maybe, it's something I have to look for in Initiate Programme to define consciously.

Thank you. )

Yes, tzb is correct ...

One is never 'disconnected' from the Force. We, as well as everything else, comes from it and exist only within it. We get distracted by the anaesthetising thoughts about how things are or should be, but that is no more 'disconnected' than would be an anaesthetised toe that we might think has been disconnected from the foot. In reality, it is very well still there and connected, regardless of the anaesthesia ... Or, as in dentistry : still drooling, even if I can't feel it happening. At least the tooth doesn't hurt any more ...

The Awareness of that connexion isn't made by anticipating something, but in the simplicity of present sensations - even if those aren't very pleasant. One can know quite certainly that there is a connexion with the Force when one forgoes the anaesthesia of thoughts about wanting things to be different than they 'are'. Granted, some pain is just too much (toes, teeth, tattered egos ...) but connexion to the Force is still there ...

I can't even imagine how one could 'lose' it.

Maybe, I should have said not "disconnection" but "losing the sense of the connection". The connection was and is permanent, but I was (and partly am still) temporarily blocked from the sense of it.

By the way, I think the better metaphor for "losing the sense of the connection" from the Force is being not only with closed eyes, yet with closed ears and no smelling or tasting or touching ability. The "sense of the connection" is the only sense we have to communicate to the Force, whilst in the "close eyes" metaphor you will still have 4 senses. It`s like sensory deprivation . That makes it a bit more difficult.

Don`t consider me complaining - I`m more like a person wondering on a discovery of a phenomena. )

"There are no ordinary moments" - Socrates (Way of the Peaceful Warrior)

On the TOTJO wall last night, I posted something about me eating my dinner... I'll paste it here:

I ate very attentively... put it on my fork... took a clear look at it... put it to my nose and smelled it... took one last look at it, put part (not all) of it into my mouth at a time... paid attention to the texture, the flavors, and the response of saliva development to help it process. I took my time. It was prepared exactly the same as it always was - but tasted 250% better than it ever did.

Why did it taste so much better?

Simply because I paid attention to it in the moment.

When someone says "the Force", and "sensing" it, I find that they often may mean "to feel it with their sixth sense" or the such. Indeed I do feel this level of sensation exists, and we all have this ability and opportunity. However, I don't feel this is necessary to "sense" the Force if the Force excludes no conceptual thing. While I ate and paid complete attention to the food, I sensed the Force. The Force was the texture, the taste, the smell, the appearance, the effect it had on my mouth, and more. Sometimes, all you have to do, is just pay attention.

Physical senses such as this can be used as a gateway into the deeper "sixth sense" that was mentioned above. It's just one part of the process of "paying attention" again, to the magic in every moment, which is where the Force is most radiant. The more you set aside your own social conditioning and ego (your desires, and judgements) and simply pay attention to yourself and what you are experiencing right NOW, the more you connect with your TRUE self (the "master" according to the Tao Te Ching), and then we can see, in a deeper sense, the Force (the Tao).

Just three questions:

Where are you?
What time is it?
What are you?

That what you are describing seems like an application of "acting meditation" - like when zen monks consider the manual labor (inside & outside cleaning of the temple) as a way of meditating, as an exercise.

I find no use in trying to tune up to my sixth sense while it is blocked. It would have provided me with better perception on my path, but I think that the Force will come when it is needed and when I am ready.

I love the saying that "When the apprentice is ready, the master will be found." That being said, acting meditation and patience seem to be the Way.

Thank you )

I have found that fasting for a brief period of time helps immensely with the process of reconnecting with the force...

I don't think one can be disconnected from the Force...it is sort of eveything.

But I DO think one can not be able to USE the Force.

This happens when we get upset and can not think clearly.

IMO Using the Force is interacting with reality purposefully and with forethought.

I have corrected the terms in preceding posts. Using and sensing the Force is what can be diminished. The connection continues to exist permanently, IMO.

I agree with you on being unable to use/sense the force. I think that stress, fear, external pressure may temporarily deprive a Jedi from the ability to use it. I think whether Jedi can use the Force under such conditions depends on his mental strength and experience. And if he can`t focus enough, than he should conquer outer threats first to restore balance, perform sort of battle meditation while acting against stressful source.

For example, if you`re a boxer and you`re nervous before a match, than relaxation techniques and sitting meditation or contemplation may not be of much help. As soon as you will go to arena, the harmony might be broken again.

I guess, discipline, training and experience are necessary to oppose outer pressure without losing focus and sense of the Force.

I often find I feel that extra/6th sense awareness of the force less strongly/not at all when I am stressed or having emotional distress. Using meditation to sort through your feelings and problems and relax properly has helped me find that feeling again. Feel where you are physically tense or uncomfortable and work outward from there to emotions and mental turbulence.

What the others have said is a great starting place though; paying extra attention to your physical senses and being aware of all that sensory input is the best place to start. Awareness/observation is a great meditation.

Thanks everybody for your answers. )

Hmm a few things run through my mind, once I had a hi res lucid dream where I accidentally flew out into space (too fast).... and that felt entirely disconnected (no gravity, no heat, no anything except a massive blue planet slipping slowly further away), but that was a 'dream' so I don't think it counts so much as given sufficient focus I like to think the connection doesn't stop, but changes.
But, the other more relevant one perhaps was once I think something stopped in my life force. It actually felt like my brain had stopped!!! Because it was unexpected, my focus was not on it... meaning whatever experience I could have had was left behind in my moment of disorientation/confusion - leaving a feeling of emptiness and isolation. How I reconnected was simply to start counting, and expand upon it by doing simple calculations. Got something to do with the structuralism in math, and its association with logic.

"Structuralism is an epistemologically realistic view in that it holds that mathematical statements have an objective truth value."

It's silly to think my 'God' is math, but in the circumstance of feeling like I needed to restart my brain (lol) a complex structure based on logic would probably share a lot with the what math represents.

On a more rudimentary level though, distraction is often the main reason that I might feel disconnected, and in that regard my Jedi path is all about fostering the connection and reconnection.

0. Disclaimer

I will lay my cards open, for the Jedi way means trust. That will be personal stuff, but it`s directly related to my way as a Jedi. I sincerely hope that I will find understanding. )

My situation was as follows.

1. Background

I have been in severe existential/endogenous depression for years. It wasn`t like I was crazy or vegetable-state, I was simply lost. And in the darkest moment I`ve found the Force and it guided me on my way out, which was long and tough.

And now I`m finally out of that depression - I`m ok, I can just live my life once again. And I`m on the crossroad - should I further live as a Jedi or maybe I can choose the easy way of living just like "average human".

I know that my disconnection comes from this uncertainty.

2. Ego, altruism and the middle path

It was easy to follow Jedi way through depression, but when it`s over - there are many distractions. For example, now that I`m ok with my health, I want to be successful in my profession, I want to be a respected member of society, I want to have enough money for me and to help my family, I want to have a lot of friends. I don`t want to be a loser or an outsider or a poor idealist or to be known as an eccentric person. That`s the monk-outside-the-temple situation. I, I, I - that`s unrestrained ego calls. The Jedi Way may contradict with this personal wishes - or it may harmonize them. For clouded by this ego is an individuality that flows with the Force, that is born out of the Force. It`s not an easy choice how to deal with ego.

It`s a choice between ego and pure altruism: whether I should trust only myself or blindly trust only the Force - or choose something in the middle. By middle I mean not an arithmetic compromise, but the Middle like in the middle way of Buddhism, the harmonizing middle. I feel it right - to serve the Force in the first place, but not to be a pure altruist. For being a pure altruist means ignoring your individuality, which is given to you by the Force. I solve this choice for the benefit of the balance between my individual will and the will of the Force. I don`t want to be a faceless servant to the Force and I don`t want to be a man that lives for the sake of his ego. The middle is a harmony between the individual and the Force.

3. The two parts of being a real Jedi

Now that I`m ok, being a Jedi means more responsibility - for myself, first of all. It means more Trust to the Force - when you`re in depression, you just have to find your way out and the Force helps and it`s very personally advantageous. When you`re out - that`s when a service to the Force truly begins. You got to give, you got to live up to the ideals, you got to choose the hard path.

In depression there is only one path to Life and it is already hard, so that Jedi Way doesn`t make it a lot more harder. In real life you have in-numerous ways. You can stick just to your personal benefit and the benefit of those closest to you - be a regular man. Or you can choose to continue the hard way and do what is right.

And if you choose to what is right it`s kind of big sacred duty. And you`re almost alone with it - there is only this virtual community to help you. There is nothing that is accepted by society about being a Jedi - it doesn`t pay bills and it is something for which you will be considered at first not a "hero" but rather an eccentric or infantile or strange or just geekish. I`m not afraid of that - but it is the objective reality of a new [meta]religion.

The questions arise. Is it right to buy this thing I always wanted or should I help my family or should I give money to charity? Is it ok to just do regular stable job or I should pursue something more challenging yet what gives me a way to help people, what makes me more socially responsible?

Only now I start to understand what it really means to be a Jedi.

It`s not about only being true to yourself - that I already know well. But that`s just one part of it. The another is - healing the world, giving, aiding. Because if you`re true to yourself and you trust the Force, than you have the resources for that. And it is your oath, part of the doctrine - seek not so much to be given but to give, for it is in giving that we receive.

4. The choice

I choose the hard path out of the in-numerable many, because it is mine. Because it is what makes me be me, it is what gives purpose to Life. Without being a Jedi, my life would be grey and small and boring.

And this is the start of my reconnection to the Force:
(1) resolving fear of impersonal service to the benefit of middle way harmony between me as individual and the Force, as my ally;
(2) accepting responsibility for a Jedi Way the same way that I accept responsibility for my life, for now it truly is my life.

5. The final and difficult question

And now I am left with this big question: how to apply the Jedi Way to my life?

How can I, 26 y.o. russian programmer, help change the world for the better? Can I somehow direct my professional life towards aiding people? Should this duty be outside of the job? Better help my family and support my friends? Or should I just perfect myself until the Force shows me the opportunity? Should I change profession which took so much of my time and which I am good at to do something more useful for society?

This question is difficult, but now when I sense the connection, it is something I can take beyond the rational analysis. Now I can meditate on it. I can use the Force. I trust that it will guide me in through the meditation towards harmony and balance.

So, this question is a whole different story. )

May the Force be with you.

den385 wrote: I`ll try some meditation and if it does not help for now - I guess I will just practice patience.

The following is my personal opinion and comes from my own past experience - it might not be true for everyone:

People with stressful jobs and lives will almost inevitably feel the way you do now at some point. Meditation does help, but it takes a lot of time. The positive effects of mindfulness meditation can take months and years to manifest themselves and they're usually not something you experience as 'relief' - they're not something you gain, they're the absence of something: namely the absence of the type of crisis you're in right now. These episodes of not feeling 'in tune' with the Force might have disappeared all together. This can be hugely positive for you but as it takes a long time to happen, you might not even remember the state you were in that prompted you to take up meditation.

From my own experience, I'd say it's best to start structured meditation practice when your crisis is over. Only then will you be able to permanently fit it in your daily program. Starting practice during a crisis is like doing a diet after someone has told you you should do so: you lose a couple of pounds, start feeling better, stop the diet and then rebound big time.

For me, it took a change of careers to get out of that cycle of permanent ups and downs. But if you feel you're happy with your job, there are other things you can do that will have a much faster effect on your wellbeing than meditation. I'd probably focus on these things:

1. Identify the main causes of your crisis and eliminate them

2. Reserve time for yourself (which can later also be used for your meditation practice) and try to relax. Choose one of the many relaxation techniques available. I personally used to do one that's not done a lot outside of Europe, basically because psychologists in other parts of the world don't seem aware of it. It's called autogenic training: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autogenic_training

There are online courses on YouTube if you'd like to give it a try.

Then, once you feel alright again, start with meditation and don't stop doing it. Set aside time every day for it and let your family know you do it, so they leave you in peace during that time.

Cyan

den385 wrote:


How can I, 26 y.o. russian programmer, help change the world for the better? Can I somehow direct my professional life towards aiding people? Should this duty be outside of the job? Better help my family and support my friends? Or should I just perfect myself until the Force shows me the opportunity? Should I change profession which took so much of my time and which I am good at to do something more useful for society?

I've only just started studying the way of the Jedi, so I can't really help you with the deeper meaning of the Jedi way.

What I've learned from Joseph Campbell's talks so far, is the following:

- there is no deeper meaning to life. We're all 'just here'. Not having to look for meaning when there, in reality, just isn't any, can be a liberating experience.
- we have a choice of how we want to participate in this life, which is full of ups and downs, light and darkness, pain and joy. We can be jerks or we can try to live decently.

Not being a jerk doesn't mean you have to change the world. That you care so much about your family already tells me that you're living a decent life. You're already contributing to society by doing so. You're leading by example, which your family, your co-workers and your neighbors will notice. Why not let it be at that for now? As you get older, you'll probably notice that you have more resources and you can use those for causes that extend past your immediate surroundings, but not now. So what?

Few of us will fundamentally change society and I personally don't feel there's a point in trying unless you feel that you have abundant resources to do so. Which brings me to how we (as teachers and learn coaches) usually approach questions like this:

1. Work with your resources.

Check, if what you have right now (in terms of time, energy to do things, money etc.) is enough to continue your life as it is. If it isn't, find out what's missing. If it's time and / or energy you're lacking: reduce whatever you're doing until you have created a balance. If it's money, seek professional advice (your bank, debt counselling, job counselling etc.).

2. Identify your goals in life.

Find out what it is you want to do in life (which is the phase you're in right now). Set realistic goals that are manageable with your resources. Setting goals that are too high for you to reach creates frustration and depression. Setting goals that are too low can leave your life empty. Again: there probably isn't a meaning to life and if your resources don't allow it, a simple goal might be to live your life as an example of decency to your immediate surroundings.

3. Once you've identified attainable goals in your life, find out how to reach them

Imagine yourself standing on a scale of one to 10. Where do you believe you're at right now in terms of realising your goals? If you're at a five, for example, what would it need for you to be able to move on to a six or seven? What could happen that would set you back to 4? And what do you believe it'll take for you to reach 10?

Then take the steps to reach your six. After that, reach your 7. etc. always keeping your resources in mind.

If this type of counselling appeals to you, you might also want to look for a coach in your region. This can't be done over the internet in the long run.

Where the Jedi way can help you right now: showing others kindness will mean that you'll also be shown kindness. This is a great feeling. Showing others kindness for you, at this moment, can simply consist of smiling at them and treating everyone around you fairly. Try to relax (perhaps using a relaxation technique), once you're in tune with the Force again, start meditating and don't stop. Set a fixed time of the day, download some guided mindfulness meditations, get the basics and do it every day, for the rest of your life. This will give you structure and will, over time, have a positive effect on your inner self.

Peter

There are some genuinely insightful and helpful posts here. Thank you all for your sincerity and compassion.

Den and Cyan, thank you for your trust in the sharing of your life's struggles and triumphs.

The suggestions regarding the benefits of focus, attention, and mindfulness are true for me as well. Eventually, the mental attitude that one experiences in meditation can be applied in all of the rest of life as well. The quieting of the many voices that is the goal of sitting meditation can be expanded to all of our experiences. The existential enjoyment of our senses is for me a vital aspect of being Jedi. Not hedonism, for the enjoyment of our embodiment is to be one of balance without excess. So also the ascetic: seeking, inviting or allowing the joys of that which is plain and simple. Enjoy without guilt and without disappointment that somehow what we do and who we are is insufficient. Happiness arises from this inner peace.

Thank you everybody! )

I could have replied here in detail, but it would be off-topic.

I can say only that insight comes to me now only after conquering fear. And the fear is rooted in some existential thing like "choosing your rules & your path in life". That can be made a topic of discussion of it's own (who doesn't want to share wisdom on this? ), yet some matters are better solved via silence. )