Sorry, I was being kind of snarky, I should have explained further. My point is that the other meditation instructions I’ve seen have said that it is in fact possible (but very difficult) to be successful at thinking nothing while conscious, and to a certain extent that is the point. So I’m not sure where you’re getting the idea that it is impossible. I think Eliezer has written a lot about prematurely concluding that things are impossible, when in fact they are merely very difficult.
I said it because of how I think about thoughts. When i say “thought”, I mean anything that is happening in consciousness. Any sensation, any mental event that you’re subjectively experiencing. When I say “conscious”, I mean “you’re experiencing things” (and maybe also you’re awake). So if you’re not experiencing things, you’re not conscious. So if I taboo “thought” and “conscious”, then I’d express this bit as “Try to stop having mental events. (You can’t actually do that while in a state that affords trying, of course. Trying is a mental event.)”
Sorry, I was being kind of snarky, I should have explained further. My point is that the other meditation instructions I’ve seen have said that it is in fact possible (but very difficult) to be successful at thinking nothing while conscious, and to a certain extent that is the point. So I’m not sure where you’re getting the idea that it is impossible. I think Eliezer has written a lot about prematurely concluding that things are impossible, when in fact they are merely very difficult.
I said it because of how I think about thoughts. When i say “thought”, I mean anything that is happening in consciousness. Any sensation, any mental event that you’re subjectively experiencing. When I say “conscious”, I mean “you’re experiencing things” (and maybe also you’re awake). So if you’re not experiencing things, you’re not conscious. So if I taboo “thought” and “conscious”, then I’d express this bit as “Try to stop having mental events. (You can’t actually do that while in a state that affords trying, of course. Trying is a mental event.)”
Oh, okay. To me a thought means something more along the lines of the things the little voice in your head says to you.