Can you forget everything?

DeadCircuits
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Re: Can you forget everything?

Post by DeadCircuits »

What happens to memories when you aren't remembering them? Is not remembering anything at a given moment the same as forgetting everything?

Forgetting everything seems hard if we imagine it like wiping a hard drive. But not remembering anything happens all the time. Until just now I didn't remember that Doritos exist, there was no effort involved in not remembering that fact.

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LastLegend
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Re: Can you forget everything?

Post by LastLegend »

DeadCircuits wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 12:34 am What happens to memories when you aren't remembering them? Is not remembering anything at a given moment the same as forgetting everything?

Forgetting everything seems hard if we imagine it like wiping a hard drive. But not remembering anything happens all the time. Until just now I didn't remember that Doritos exist, there was no effort involved in not remembering that fact.

This message was not affiliated with Doritos
It’s not meant like you walk around forget work and stuff. It’s more like a moment of that so you can transcend the division of consciousness.
It’s eye blinking.
master of puppets
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Re: Can you forget everything?

Post by master of puppets »

DeadCircuits wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 12:34 am What happens to memories when you aren't remembering them? Is not remembering anything at a given moment the same as forgetting everything?

Forgetting everything seems hard if we imagine it like wiping a hard drive. But not remembering anything happens all the time. Until just now I didn't remember that Doritos exist, there was no effort involved in not remembering that fact.

This message was not affiliated with Doritos
In fact I didn't mean to forget when I say to forget.

I mean in the mean of practice; like forgeting the daily life problems, philosophical questions that busy your mind and such, so to have a new beginning in the sense of having a fresh mind.

a footnote

btw having a fresh mind in all means could nicely be a new topic


:alien:
TheRainsSeason
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Re: Can you forget everything?

Post by TheRainsSeason »

master of puppets wrote: Sun May 03, 2020 5:51 pm Can you forget everything?
First, try to gather everything. Once you have succeeded, forget about it.
SilenceMonkey
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Re: Can you forget everything?

Post by SilenceMonkey »

What if you forget your master's teaching?
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FiveSkandhas
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Re: Can you forget everything?

Post by FiveSkandhas »

Some say forget everything. Some say remember your original nature. Either way both injunctions are verbal formations, words are slippery and expedient, and concepts like this are provisional "medicine" for different conditions.

If you are slouching on your mat, spaced out and drooling with a cloudy mind, your trusty master might give you a whack with the stick, tell you to sit up straight, pull yourself together, and wipe that silly look off your face. Maybe he'd tell you to go study Sutras or other writings for a while and use that big beautiful brain. On the other hand, if you are hunched over your mat obsessed with some arcane intellectual puzzle to the point where you can't achieve calm abiding, your trusty master might give you a whack with the same stick and tell you to forget all that and clarify your chattering mind by following the breath.

In yet another case if you were a Vajrayana student preparing for a sadhana and concentrating on getting the details of your visualization right, I'd imagine you'd be a lot more intent on remembering which hand of the yiddam holds which implement and which mudra is formed. I don't think sinking into forgetfulness would help with that particular task, in that time and place.

Many different paths, many different twists and turns on each path, many different expedient means called for. I guess we have to stay on our toes.
"One should cultivate contemplation in one’s foibles. The foibles are like fish, and contemplation is like fishing hooks. If there are no fish, then the fishing hooks have no use. The bigger the fish is, the better the result we will get. As long as the fishing hooks keep at it, all foibles will eventually be contained and controlled at will." -Zhiyi

"Just be kind." -Atisha
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PadmaVonSamba
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Re: Can you forget everything?

Post by PadmaVonSamba »

At any moment that you are thinking about one thing, simultaneously you are not thinking about a million other things.
But “not thinking about” isn’t an activity in itself.
It’s a type of ‘lack of activity’.
It’s like if you say there isn’t a baby zebra in your house: your house doesn’t possess some kind of
“baby-zebra-less” quality. Likewise, not thinking about something isn’t a thing or an event.
So, we can’t really refer to not thinking about things as “forgetting” them. If you forget where you left your keys, that’s a mental event. You are thinking about your keys, but you just can’t remember where you left them.

Interestingly, we delete from our memories images of things which for a moment might have been crucial for survival. A specific example I’m thinking of is merging onto a fast and busy Highway in your car. You glance at the rear view mirror, look over your shoulder and see where another vehicle is. Maybe it’s a large truck. Maybe it’s a small red sports car. You have to speed up your car and time your merger with traffic so that there’s no collision. You’d think such a live-or-die moment would create a lasting impression in the mind. But that doesn’t usually happen. Moments later, we’ve forgotten all about that other car. If I ask you what was the color of the car you got in front of or behind yesterday morning, would you remember? Unless something out of the ordinary occurred, probably not.
EMPTIFUL.
An inward outlook produces outward insight.
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