I can come up with numerous occurrences in my life where I lost track of time, but not the loss of self-consciousness. I would imagine it must take vigorous training to learn this skill of such magnitude. Of course, there are instances when I have become very relaxed where I just think to myself and lose track of my surroundings. However, to me, this state of mind is more of a daydream state, which everyone has. It is still very far from losing your self-consciousness because even with that feeling I can still say that I am thinking in terms of "I" and not in terms of "IT". I can't say that I have ever felt this outside force of "IT" that Eugen mentions. Nevertheless, the closest occurrence I can think of is when reading a book, in which I am very interested. When I get into this state of mind I began to truly enjoy the experience, doing so with an extreme focus on the text. This is the best example I can supply that contributes to a very concentrated state of mind. The book example came to mind because I felt there were similarities in the activities that led to the Zen state that Herrigel explained. When indulging in a great book I can feel myself getting caught up with every word, and hanging on to every little detail. I can read a textbook and have minutes feel like hours. When reading a great book time can just fly away, and I can feel myself becoming one with the book, where it's no longer me reading but experiencing the words. I also feel this book example can relate to Eugen since he as well had to exemplify great focus in his breathing and in his form. However, I feel that it does not relate because, when reading a book, there is no need for me to achieve a purposeless an egoless state. In actuality, I need to maintain my purpose in order to sustain concentration, and this is the opposite of a loss of self-consciousness. On the other hand, there are probably examples in my life that I cannot think of, which might better rela...