I have been working with NEW for over a year now and I recently came to the conclusion that I need to refocus my attention on more thoroughly mastering the core skills you talked about in Astral Dynamics, most specifically silencing the mind.

I reread the relevant section in AD (my copy of Energy Work is on loan) and I find my greatest confusion is what to keep my mind occupied with, if not thoughts. If I'm not occupying it with anything, am I trying not to exist? "Me" is the thing that thinks and feels and so on, right?. Then I decided to try focusing entirely on what I could feel, see, and hear all at once and filling my mind with only these things. I got some strong energetic reactions to this which distracted me from emptying my mind, which is my real goal.

I would like you to please describe as precisely as you can an optimal silenced mind, what it feels like, and how it can be recognized once achieved, if indeed it can. Also, any additional advice you can offer on technique would be very much appreciated.

Thank you.