One Direction - No Control (Audio)
This is the classic case of one-way or no-way audio, where a voice call is successfully completed, but either the voice packets only successfully travel in one direction, or neither end successfully receives voice packets. It may be difficult to understand why this happens, especially since the phone does ring, both physically for the called party and via the ring-back tone for the calling party. It seems counterintuitive that the transmission of voice packets could be unsuccessful if the call was successfully set up.
One Direction - No Control (Audio)
Call control for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) occurs using the TCP or UDP transport protocol on ports 5060 and 5061. Interestingly enough, SIP is only involved with call control; that is, the signaling portion of a communication session and is not responsible for the transmission of voice packets. In most implementations, the protocol that carries voice packets is the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), a protocol designed for real-time applications such as voice and video. The range of ports used by RTP for voice packets varies by manufacturer and is typically, although not always, from 16384 to 32767.
Having said that, it is quite clear that if the ports used by RTP are being blocked somewhere in the voice stream, but the SIP control ports are not, then calls can be set up and teared down successfully without any successful exchange of voice packets. The vast majority of one-way or no-way audio problems are a result of the blockage of RTP ports for the voice stream.
This is especially true if one of the telephony endpoints is on one side of the NAT router and the other is on the other side, namely, the Internet. As is well known, NAT will block all transmissions from the Internet. This is perfectly fine, and is desirable in most cases. However, it can be terrible when trying to employ VoIP. You can easily configure the router to unblock the two SIP control ports and allow for call control to occur, but since the voice packets pick a random port from within a range of over 16,000 ports to use for each call, it would not be safe or proper to unblock the whole range and open up the network to potential attack. There are several techniques for allowing VoIP to function over NAT, including drastically reducing the RTP port range, using UDP Hole Punching or Session Traversal Utilities for NAT (STUN). For more details on how to resolve NAT-related audio issues, see our article on how to resolve one-way or no-way audio on VoIP calls.
True meditation has no direction or goal. It is pure wordless surrender, pure silent prayer. All methods aiming at achieving a certain state of mind are limited, impermanent, and conditioned. Fascination with states leads only to bondage and dependency. True meditation is abidance as primordial awareness.
True meditation appears in consciousness spontaneously when awareness is not being manipulated or controlled. When you first start to meditate, you notice that attention is often being held captive by focus on some object: on thoughts, bodily sensations, emotions, memories, sounds, etc. This is because the mind is conditioned to focus and contract upon objects. Then the mind compulsively interprets and tries to control what it is aware of (the object) in a mechanical and distorted way. It begins to draw conclusions and make assumptions according to past conditioning.
In true meditation all objects (thoughts, feelings, emotions, memories, etc.) are left to their natural functioning. This means that no effort should be made to focus on, manipulate, control, or suppress any object of awareness. In true meditation the emphasis is on being awareness; not on being aware of objects, but on resting as primordial awareness itself. Primordial awareness is the source in which all objects arise and subside.
The goal of meditation is to meditate. There is no end to meditate toward or for, but the goal is an ongoing flow akin to being in a flowing river but not aware or sensing being wet but being in the flow, in the current. This awareness is not something one works toward; the awareness arises from within and emerges outward as I let go of awareness. It may be more related to a concurrence where I am in agreement or harmony or equanimity with the flow or current of life about me. I experienced it significantly once as I sat in my car listening to a musical piece. I paused as I was to go and purchase lunch. In my pause I saw/heard/felt the wind blowing the trees in front of me; I saw a hawk swoop to attempt to capture a squirrel; and I was aware of my mother-in-law who was dying at that time. I was aware of being in the flow of life changing, living and dying, and felt a deepened sense of awe, a loving awe, arise. I felt that awe again while standing on a ledge in the Badlands and becoming aware of the magnificence of the Master Craftsman who created this environment using volcano, rain, wind, heat, revolution and millions of years to etch the land on this tiny orb hurling through the infinite universe. Even as I allowed my thoughts to progress on what was happening in my backyard from the grass growing to the ants, spiders, flies, roots, moisture, worms, and all being their perfect selves in living as they are...I became aware of the life flowing through my veins, lungs, nerves all uncontrolled or directed or even considered by me yet empowering me to enter into that being awareness. I am saddened that I cannot sustain that sense all through my days, my conversations, and my activities as I know it would create life in ways I cannot imagine.
The description of "true meditation" in this article cannot be comprehended by human beings in general. Only those who have made some progress toward achieving a meditative state, even if for brief moments, can get an understanding of what this article describes. Normally, human beings need to set goals and follow directions to make any progress toward a state when they can get an understanding of what this article describes. Even Buddha had a goal when he left his kingdom and searched for the right direction for achieving his goal for many years before he finally found what he was looking for. Is there anyone who is born with the understanding of "true meditation" let alone experiencing it? I am sure there are some people, but understandably very rare.
I don't think this passage means that one should have no goal and no direction, that one should deny the role of the intellect. There is a place for all this. But I think it means that meditation is an inquiry into the nature of the one mind, where all thoughts originate, whether yours or mine, traditional or not traditional., inefficient or efficient, futile or purpose oriented. What is the state of the mind when it is not identified with any thought? Is it different from silence and is silence different from beauty? When does one best see the great beauty present in nature? Can there be depth and beauty in the field of relationships or must there always be struggle. I think all this is part of meditation and I think meditation proceeds through endless observation and questioning. I may be wrong but this is what I understand Raja Yoga to be.
To me, "being awareness," means being one with pure awareness, that is, with no purpose or goal, no attachment, no trying to control, no manipulation. I have only very brief moments of being awareness, and then I attach to some thought or concern or fantasy which takes me out of being awareness. Attempting to get to true meditation means I have a goal that I am trying to get to, and having a goal that I am trying to get to is a problem. It's not being awareness. It is trying to get to true meditation rather than being true meditation. The trying gets in the way of being awareness, and true meditation is being awareness which is without trying and has no predetermined direction or goal. I believe that in true meditation I only know the direction looking back in hindsight. I only know where I have been and not where I am going. If I have a predetermined direction or destination that I am trying to get to, I'm not in true meditation.
Unless one has inquired into meditation with the help of those who have made it into an art and a way of living it is very common to see silence as the doorway to some ultimate state. This is the essence of seeking and seeking implies one has a goal, a direction. Adyashanti says in another, closely related passage: 'Sitting in silence is not a goal. The goal of sitting is not to attain silence. There is just sitting in silence and recognizing yourself to be the silence...But if I seek silence as an object, as a state I am trying to sustain, it means I am still seeing silence as an object, as something different from me.' J. Krishnamurti made a very similar answer to someone somewhat stuck with seeking something beyond silence. His answer was: ' Can silence listen to silence in silence? '. Both these statements make it very clear that meditation has neither goal nor direction. When this is clear, when one is not attempting to get somewhere one can, tentatively, 'feel the quality of silence'.
Saddened by the loss of their bandmate and, well, best mate, Louis, Liam, Harry, and Niall went back into the studio and released One Direction's fifth and final album in 2015, without Zayn. Made in the A.M. (After Malik?) is a hybrid folk-rock-pop self-homage to the group's legacy and a gorgeous farewell to the fans responsible for their fame. The video for the single "History" made it clear that this was the end. Imagine an intimate slideshow, a collection of images of the boy band throughout their career, beginning with their X Factor auditions, and ending with the image of them hugging, the final four members walking away in separate directions and amicably waving goodbye to one another. Lyrically, "History" doubles as a grateful breakup anthem (clever boys, these) and possesses a chorus that reminds me of Randy Newman's Toy Story tune, "You've Got a Friend in Me." For 1D fans, thinking about it is enough to evoke tears. Not that I'm speaking from personal experience or anything. 041b061a72