Most difficulties arise when perceptions, memories and visualizations get suppressed. Such items stack up in the mind waiting to be inspected. Relief comes when the mind is allowed to un-stack itself.
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THEORY
The mind seems to un-stack its suppressed content in a certain natural order. Attempts to unstack the mind in a different order is deemed dangerous by the mind, and it stops responding to them. Left to itself, mind will present only that data, which is safe to look at. Hectic digging into the mind bypasses the self-protection mechanisms, and is known to drive people into madness.
When one follows the attention and looks at an area, the mind starts to bring up perceptions, memories and visualizations “stored” in that area. As one continues to follow the natural flow of attention, the mind goes into the mode of un-stacking itself. When one anxiously starts to dig into the mind for answers and explanations then this natural process of un-stacking is interrupted. One then starts to get into overwhelm.
ONE IS SAFE FROM HARM AS LONG AS ONE DOES NOT FORCE THE MIND, BUT ALLOWS THE MIND TO UN-STACK ITSELF IN ITS NATURAL ORDER.
A question, when asked, may not always parallel the natural un-stacking order of the mind. Therefore, when looking, one should simply inspect whatever is presented. If there is no response in the mind to a question, then one should simply drop that question and formulate another thoughtful question or follow Attention. A response would appear naturally when it is the right question.
DO NOT PURSUE A QUESTION WHEN THERE IS NO RESPONSE. THE RIGHT QUESTION WILL NATURALLY BRING UP A RESPONSE.
Regardless of the urgency, it is better to stop foraging randomly for an explanation and patiently follow where the attention takes you. You may just keep some attention in the area of interest and go about your business. As you wait patiently without searching, thinking, digging, expecting, etc., the mental fog is likely to lift and bring to view long suppressed material followed by realizations. Sometimes it may take days for the mind to sort itself out before the realization appears.
RELIEF COMES FROM LOOKING PATIENTLY AND NOT FROM DIGGING ANXIOUSLY INTO THE MIND.
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APPLICATION
In the absence of a partner these exercises may be done by oneself. The guide may help the student as follows.
(A) Go over the theory section with the student.
- Answer any questions as best as you can.
- Discuss the theory materials until no questions remain.
- Make sure the student understand the main points highlighted in bold in theory section.
(B) Have the student do the exercises in sequence.
- Guide the student through the exercises.
- Have the student look closely at each response that comes up.
- Maintain an open and friendly communication about student’s experience on the exercise.
- End the exercise when there is no response.
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EXERCISE
THIS IS THE EXERCISE FOR UNSTACKING. AN EXERCISE IS COMPLETE WHEN THE STUDENT IS SATISFIED THAT HE OR SHE HAS DONE ALL THE STEPS.
Exercise
Question: “HOW HAVE YOU BEEN RIGHT IN YOUR LIFE?”
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Look at the response to this question that appears in the mind.
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Please note that the response may not be an exact answer to this question.
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No matter what the response is, take time to inspect and experience it.
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Ask this question as many times as there are responses appearing in the mind. In other words, let the mind un-stack itself naturally on this subject of “rightness.”
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When there is no response to the question consider the exercise to be complete.
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Glossary
Stacking
Origin: “haystack.” Stack is a more or less orderly pile or heap. Perceptions, memories and visualizations may get suppressed and get stacked up waiting to be inspected and released.
Unstacking
Unstacking of suppressed data occurs in a natural order when attention is put in an area. Any effort to change this order simply creates more suppression.
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Comments
Great process IMHO. Haven’t tried it yet. One thing I noticed is that false memories are not considered important in the article. The article assumes our memories are accurate.
IMHO, a memory does not have to be accurate to help heal.
Someone may actually work through a false memory that deals with an actual tragic event beyond one’s ability to recall. By “unstacking” this “myth of the mind” the person may find freedom from the lost memory that still hijacks the amygdala for no known reason.
Confronting the type of story may have some of the positive effects as confronting the actual history.
Many of our memories are NOT accurate. Sometimes people can have deeply emotional reactions and scars to stories that never happened!
Just cuz something isn’t truthful doesn’t mean it isn’t useful.
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This is very true, Bunkai. The mind has its own reasons. You don’t want to second guess the mind when it is un-stacking itself.
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Here is an example of fiction creating a false memory for the purpose of healing: A friend of mine’s father was a Bombardier in WWII for the US. My friend read “Catch 22” and liked it so much that he thought his dad would like it.
His father read it and for him, it was a deep emotional catharsis. “Catch 22” is brilliant and funny not because Joseph Heller made it funny and crazy…
It was powerfully brilliant and funny because it really WAS that weird. The book was ACCURATE DESCRIPTION OF BOMBARDIER LIFE IN WWII. His father sometimes went on missions where 40% of the Planes didn’t come home. Milo Minderbinders were also real as well as Major Majors.
Because of the odds of dying, the pilots and bombardiers were promised a limited number of flights for their duty and then a trip home.
This was an ongoing lie …
The generals would always PROMISE that once you flew all your missions, you could go home. And then, the number of missions would ALWAYS go up with a new promise and rhetoric that they REALLY meant it this time. Honest.
IT DROVE PEOPLE CRAZY.
Now here is a story NOT part of a person’s memory, and yet created deep relief from his own life story.
Catch 22 helped a LOT of survivors recover emotionally.
False memories CAN help the real ones. Even if you don’t remember. . .
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Un-stacking to my mind is of the same type of mental operation as the emotional catharsis
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It’s true that processing false memories can be helpful. The problem is that people will not necessarily know the difference between a false memory and a real one, and may act in their present life on the basis of false “knowledge” gained during processing the “false memory”. If they are well coached not to credit or discredit the memory, but to simply process it, and to keep doing this until they have nothing left to process, that’s fine, but if they suddenly start putting on military uniforms and claiming they are the Commodore of this Sector of the Universe, and that they are 75 million years old, you’ve got yourself a big old problem.
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Processing per KHTK principles may only help. It cannot make it worse. Per KHTK principles a person looks at the contents of the mind non-judgmentally.
Both true and false are judgmental.
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I think that any “knowledge” derived from memory should always be checked for consistency in the present context. The perception of present with mindfulness is always more objective. Memory is subjective. If there is any inconsistency between the present and knowledge derived from memory then more weight should be given to the present.
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Could you explain more what you mean by “suppressed” when referring to memories?
Also, Do I understand you correctly when you say the mind desires to be unstacked?
Who or what is inspecting? or else, What do you mean by inspecting?
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Stacked unknowns are like a coiled spring. This force of the coiled spring is called “charge” in Scientology. This “charge” is held in place because of confusion. One doesn’t know where to start. This is where KHTK comes in. It tells you how to start.
“Suppression” is due to stacking. It is difficult to retrieve something buried deep without unstacking the stuff above it. So the basic suppression is likely due to the stack up.
There is nothing that desires to be unstacked. It is just the nature of the stacking phenomenon. See the coiled spring analogy.
As I have maintained, who or what is inspecting is unknowable. My recent realization has been that a “being” is simply a bundle of abilities.
I see a “being” as a bunch of abilities existing. Different permutations and combinations of abilities and degrees of abilities can produce infinity of beings.
I see a “body” as a bunch of manifestations existing. Different permutations and combinations of manifestations and their varieties can produce infinity of bodies.
The association between a particular “being” and a particular “body” may be made with the consideration of ownership or non-ownership.
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