Emptiness of Mental Imagery

Nondual Guided Meditation with Michael Taft

Mental imagery is a major component of thinking for a human being. However, How much of this mental imagery is available to conscious introspection varies widely between individuals. Some people see a lot of mental images all the time, some (consciously) experience almost none, and most are somewhere in between. Nevertheless, the brain makes use of mental images all the time to organize aspects of self and world. For example, we have a mental map of our house that exists as a series of images, either consciously or semi-consciously. We reference these images all the time (perhaps unconsciously) when we are remember how to get from room to room, what's in each room, and so forth.

For complex historical reasons, our society doesn't reference mental images very much; we tend not to consider them to be "thinking." Usually, when we say "thinking" what we mean is "mental talk." This bias is not present in every culture. And there is a case to be made that mental images are a much more important and fundamental aspect of thinking than mental talk. After all, animals evolved eyes hundreds of millions of years before articulate speech, and presumably the ability to generate mental images evolved hundreds of millions of years before the ability to generate mental speech. So it's probable that mental imagery functions at a much deeper and more fundamental level of the brain, and idea that is congruent with the fact that for so many people mental imagery is only available at a semi-conscious level (before sensitizing themselves to it in meditation).

One of the main goals of nondual meditation is to see the constructedness of our sense of self and world. Because mental images play such a fundamental role in that constructedness, being able to consciously meditate upon them and see their emptiness (i.e. notice their constructedness) is crucial to deepening awakening. In this guided meditation, we dig in and do vipashyana on mental imagery.

[SamRoff]

"It's like oh my fucking god the world is just a dream in my mind" man I love your dharma talks, have literally built a morning routine around listening to these guided meditations with dharma talks hahaha. Cheers again Michael.

[AriGrabb]

"maybe to you, Pikachu is an enlightened figure". I feel seen.

[knutfranke]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! A powerful meditation indeed. It fascinates me how even the sense of space itself seems to depend on subtle mental images.

[magalipeysha]

Thank you so much for a wonderful meditation!

[nunoconde]

Love this one all the way, super healthy helpful.

On a personal note; after being meditating a while without getting clear feedback, these sessions with all the "feed-front" poured on them, really feel like speed progressing medical school like Doogie Howser, M.D.

Best of best, thank you Duderino.

[MrCashy]

Fantastic meditation Micheal 😊
I loved the strong intention setting at the beginning. Makes a big difference to the sit!

[robinprospect]

I loved the extra attention on intention in this one. The mental imagery stuff was very interesting for me in terms of noticing the extreme instability and chaos of mental imagery I have (unless I apply effort to constructing something stable). I'm curious to see how this changes with more practice, as you said mental imagery can be farther back for some people and is connected to deeper awakening.

[whitenozze]

Saw the emptyness of the images near the end, gave me a buddha chuckle

[reimarscholz]

Wow!! This was one of the clearest meditations for me. So so so many mental images flashing and disappearing especially when you were talking. Also starting to notice the "stage" effect and this kind of dual picture created when "aiming" attention. I realise how wrapped up and automatic this process is. I have a long way to go to change this habit!

[MitziLewis]

I am finding gently setting intention and attitude to be very helpful, thank you :-)

[TintomaraAriadne]

Haha, I was wondering whether we would get to se the entire text of the t-shirt. Cool one.

[sammusic]

Thanks Michael! I find t interesting that at some point I couldn’t differentiate between sounds/feelings and mental images. Is that a good thing? Or should I clearly separate the different kind of senses in this kind of meditation? I also have synesthesia so maybe that is also a cause of my experience

[DPSAX]

hello favorite human, let's enjoy this sit.

[paolagomez]

Fuck, this is awesome.
Thank you ❤❤❤