'pondfrogleapsplash' is true prior to belief or opinion, and it's direct experience requires no proof. The proof is the experience itself, uncolored, as it were, via preconception or social indoctrination as filters which could render it illusory. The literature is filled with examples of those who have realized sudden enlightenment via of unexpected incidents wherein the mind was completely open. The clatter of a tile; the sound of a pebble striking bamboo; the splash of a frog into a still pond; have in many instances led to the powerful transformative experience of satori.
These experiences are not black and white. Sometimes one only catches a glimpse; other times the experience is more prolonged, but may not be that of Supreme Enlightenment. There are stages/levels and/or brief exposures, while one may still be attached to one's ordinary life. The letting go, or dropping away, of ego can occur over a very long period of time. I do not claim Supreme Enlightenment by any means, but I have had enough of these experiences that my life has been changed by them forever, and by which I see beyond a shadow of a doubt that my former life was one of a conditioned mentality, much of which I have been able to approach in a very different way than before. I am certain that such changes came about, over a period of time, as a direct result of my exposure to Higher Consciousness. But in response to your labeling these experiences as beliefs, I can only say that when they occur, no belief is present. They are pure experiences, without concept or thought, and are unmistakable as to their authentic character. The more dramatic of these can go on for weeks, as the subject can be in a complete state of rapture. The paradoxical thing about these experiences is that they do not seem to have any set pattern or prerequisite. They can happen to anyone at any time. In contrast, one who studies and/or meditates for decades may not make any progress at all. This is what occurred to the Zen nun, Chinono, who struggled for years without result, but whose enlightenment came suddenly, in an instant, as the woven basket she carried water in suddenly burst, releasing not only the water it held, but the reflection of the moon on its surface. The conditions were just right for her experience to complete itself in fullness.
Maybe we'll talk more later, but for now, it just appears to me that you have already set up your barricades to NOT allow you to lend any validity to these experiences, as your rational mind dictates to you. All I can say is for you to empty your mind and hold no preconceived notions about what they are, and go see for yourself. As long as you hold onto your logic, your reason, your analytical mind, you will never see anything, unless, of course, these methods act themselves as a self-destruct device, as the koan does, for example. In other words, the logical mind, to be honest, must indeed be tricked to see its own illogic as it applies to a higher vision.
In short, the spiritual experience simply shows one, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that what one thinks one sees as real via the rational mind, is not, although, paradoxically, great doubt is what allows one to see. There are, it seems, two kinds of certainty: one that comes via dogma, and the other via seeing things as they are.
Thank you very much.
