Trom (The Resolution of Mind)

From Niz:

"The Sense of "I am" (Consciousness)

When I met my Guru, he told me: "You are not what you take yourself
to be. Find out what you are. Watch the sense 'I am', find your real
Self." I obeyed him, because I trusted him. I did as he told me. All
my spare time I would spend looking at myself in silence. And what a
difference it made, and how soon!

My teacher told me to hold on to the sense 'I am' tenaciously and not
to swerve from it even for a moment. I did my best to follow his
advice and in a comparatively short time I realized within myself the
truth of his teaching. All I did was to remember his teaching, his
face, his words constantly. This brought an end to the mind; in the
stillness of the mind I saw myself as I am -- unbound.

I simply followed (my teacher's) instruction which was to focus the
mind on pure being 'I am', and stay in it. I used to sit for hours
together, with nothing but the 'I am' in my mind and soon peace and
joy and a deep all-embracing love became my normal state. In it all
disappeared -- myself, my Guru, the life I lived, the world around
me. Only peace remained and unfathomable silence."

Nisargadatta Maharaj

Whenever I attempt this process or something similar but with more direction (i.e., "What am I") mind-stuff keeps coming up and out.   There is discharge accompanying this approach or else it would not be worth doing.

For example:  "What am I?"    Answer:  (Valence or identity name); this gets acknowledged and question asked again and again until person is VGI's ("Very Good Indicators"). 

I believe as Dennis says that the reason these sorts of processes come to a grinding halt is lack of some sort of havingness process.
You will notice that Niz probably got his havingness from smoking -- just a guess.

Quote from: Colleen on March 09, 2014, 11:57:12 am

Whenever I attempt this process or something similar but with more direction (i.e., "What am I") mind-stuff keeps coming up and out.   There is discharge accompanying this approach or else it would not be worth doing.

"What am I" is the question asked in Kwan Um Zen.
Focusing on "I am" cuts all thought at the root because behind every thought is the thought "I am this" or "I am that"

Quote from: Colleen on March 09, 2014, 11:57:12 am

I believe as Dennis says that the reason these sorts of processes come to a grinding halt is lack of some sort of havingness process.

I suppose when you are a Buddhist and trying to drop all attachment, you dont want any havingness
If this came to a halt or got boring, you could go on to Koan practice.

Quote from: Colleen on March 09, 2014, 11:57:12 am

You will notice that Niz probably got his havingness from smoking -- just a guess.

I dont know what you mean by "havingness process" and "getting havingness". Can you give some examples?

Dennis calls "havingness", Repair of Importances, and cites it as necessary for as long as we still have a mind that abhors a vacuum due to erasure during timebreaking.  It smoothes the path, temporarily quiets the mind. If I don't run havingness, or R.I. I get the munchies (havingness of mass).  Any creative practice could probably be equivalent.