Strange phenomena of meditative concentration

Mr Hải was sweeping the meditation hall when a few friends came by to greet him. Mr Hải invited them to help themselves to boiling water and make tea while he finished sweeping the hall clean, since that afternoon everyone would come to sit in meditation together. A little later he came out to the sitting room to chat with his guests. The conversation wandered a little and then came back to the practice of meditative concentration. One guest asked:

• Hải, I've heard there's a school of meditation where people can see their own organs, their liver and intestines. What's that about?
  Mr Hải replied:
• That is a little progress, or else, if someone is too eager to see their organs, hallucinations appear. What matters in settling the mind is to see the faults hidden deep in one's own mind. The more the mind settles, the more ethical one becomes; that's what is right. Seeing your faults matters more than seeing your liver and intestines.
  Another said:
• Hải, I've heard of a school of meditation where, after practising, people's spirits leave the body and fly here and there, and they know this and that. What's that about?
  Mr Hải replied:
• Wherever the spirit flies off to, the ego flies along with it. The more the ego flies, the bigger it grows, and that is what's dangerous. So we don't need our spirit to fly anywhere; we simply abide in our own body and mind, know this whole body and mind clearly, and know that this body and mind are temporary and impermanent, know clearly that this body and mind are only an illusory ego. In that way the mind is at peace and the ego grows lighter, so that arrogance and conceit cannot arise. That too is what I mean by: the more the mind settles, the more ethical one becomes.
  Someone asked:
• Hải, I've heard there's a school of meditation where people see the spirits of the dead. What's that about?
  Mr Hải replied:
• Once the mind is still, one sees and knows this and that, including seeing the spirits of the dead. That's ordinary. But what matters is not to let those spirits make contact and lead you far off, talking of mysterious things, so that you get hooked and addicted; afterwards the mind becomes disturbed again, and sometimes even completely deranged.
  Someone asked:
• Hải, I've heard that there's a school of meditation where, after practising, people can walk on burning coals. What's that about?
  Mr Hải replied:
• At that point a zone of vital energy appears beneath the soles of the feet that protects them so that the fire does not burn them. In fact everyone's feet normally already have this energy; now, after practising breathing for a while, that zone of energy grows stronger, and together with the will not to be burnt, you can walk on hot coals straight away. It's not difficult. What's difficult is not letting your feet walk into wrongdoing. When your feet walk into wrongdoing, your whole soul is burnt.
  Someone asked:
• Hải, I've heard that there's a school of meditation where, after practising, people can know the past and the future. What's that about?
  Mr Hải replied:
• In fact it's not only the ability to know the past and the future; they can know the thoughts in other people's minds, and know a great deal about previous lives. But the more one knows, the more it tests one's humility and ethics. If you know many things but can't keep a humble mind, and keep boasting and blurting things out, then one day all your work will collapse, and sometimes you even go mad.
  Another asked:
• Hải, so now that you've practised settling the mind for so long, what powers have you gained? Tell us.
  Mr Hải smiled and replied:
• My ability is sweeping the house clean.
• Everyone knows how to sweep a house; there has to be something special.
• If you see where each of your movements comes from, you'll understand what I mean. 🧙‍♀️

For a long time scientists have understood that human beings have many special abilities. Evidence from all over the world shows people with extraordinary powers. Not knowing how to explain it, they put forward the hypothesis that humans use only 10% of the brain. If we could use more, extraordinary abilities would appear. Representing this view, Hollywood made the film LUCY, about a girl who accidentally comes to use 100% of her brain and becomes godlike.
Later, with modern machines, scientists established that humans are always using 100% of the brain. The brain works without pause at every moment. So we have a new theory: it is when a person uses less of the brain that extraordinary abilities appear. This theory coincides with the results of practising the settling of the mind. The more someone settles the mind, the more easily they gain special abilities.

But settling the mind has many purposes. We can settle the mind for health, to develop intelligence, to gain strange abilities, to gain ethics, or to awaken to non-self.
Depending on the teacher we follow, we will achieve the purpose of our own practice of settling the mind.