Sargon

@Kini Having an ability presumes there is someone or something there to have it. For someone or something to be, there must be something there to "witness it" or allow it to be. If there is duality, there is distinction and so we are not yet at the true Self. If you feel another's emotions, hear their thoughts, etc. a distinction has been made between yourself; the other person; as well as the thoughts and emotions. There is a "me" who is aware of a "something else". In that case, you are aware of your distinction from another, but you are not awareness itself. In other words, there is something that awareness is aware of or is witnessing. That which can be witnessed is not the Self. In that case, how could you feel or hear that which is not yourself? Another thought you may wish to consider is that emotions, thoughts and activity happen post awareness. In order for an emotion, thought, etc, to be, there must be something there to "witness it" or allow it to be. All things regardless of whether they are tangible or intangible are what awareness "sees" or is aware of and so not awareness itself. Finally, who is it that wants to feel emotions or hear the thought? Is this a desire? What is a desire? Where does it come from? For whose benefit is it? Does awareness have any desires? Remember, this is all heresay. You will need to do the work and see if it is true for yourself. Not sure how much sense this makes to you, but I hope it helps.

Has anyone read the books the Tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet? Taoism based on Winnie the Pooh stories by Benjamin Hoff. These two books were my introduction to Taoism and eastern philosophy. I loved it. I really got into it, These led to me taking a Hindu Mysticism class in university which led to my discovery of Yoga, which led to me to the idea that one can experience true freedom of one's self. In the end, I agree with Leo in that Taoism does not provide any real guidance on how to achieve enlightenment, however, once a path to enlightenment is chosen, it does provide excellent contemplation material.

Greetings! I have been meditating consistently for 45 minutes pretty much every day (I may miss one or two days a week) for the past 6 months. I think I have a problem with falling asleep. I say think because I am not sure if this is actually a problem or something I just have to accept. To clarify, there are moments when I suddenly realize that I have "lost time". Sometimes I feel groggy, other times I don't. There are times I am "woken up" by my body tilting in one direction or another while there are other times I simply realize I've simply "not been there". There are no insights from these experiences or anything that would suggest an enlightenment experience. It is either I am quite sure I fell asleep or I'm not so sure because all that happened was that I simply was not there... but nothing else was either. I sit on the floor to meditate in a half lotus position. I have pillows under my buttocks, a thick cotton yoga mat and a towel under my legs, and I wrap myself in a blanket if the room is cold. I normally close my eyes. I have tried keeping them open, but they inevitably close even when I fight to keep them open. Is this something I should simply accept? If not, does anyone have any practical tips to avoid it?

Have you tried Yoga Nidra? I had a great deal of difficulty doing "traditional meditation" until I practiced Yoga Nidra a while. It taught me how to become more aware of my body and had the benefit of making me more aware of my surroundings. By becoming more aware of my body, I was able to locate and relieve tensions. This had the benefit of radically improving my "traditional meditation". My understanding is that there are two primary differences between Yoga Nidra and traditional mediation: 1. Yoga Nidra is a guided meditation, it does not allow for contemplation. 2. Yoga Nidra is practiced while lying down on a mat with one or two blankets underneath you, so it is easier to fall asleep. I you want to know more about Yoga Nidra, check out: http://www.swamij.com/yoga-nidra.htm. Also plenty of info if you just Google the term.

@Ayla It is amazing how much work there is to do... or not do... it gets confusing. I find it hard to express my thoughts without using ideas of control. In my response to DizIzMikey I was trying to convey a process to help become more aware of the moment so that he can become aware of the emotions before they generate the less desirable actions. The idea is to be aware and witness , not control or suppress, though I see how my words did not convey that. Thank you for your guidance.

@Ayla Sorry... to clarify, did you mean I am on the right track?

Sounds like you are doing some real hardcore work on yourself. Looking deep into yourself can reveal some scary stuff you don't want to see or acknowledge, but that's just part of the journey. Now that you've seen this, look into why it's there. Try to keep in mind that these are thoughts and emotions that "you" are aware of, and so are not really you. They are simply a reaction to something deep within your Self that needs to be addressed. When I am challenged by my Self or the negative thoughts I generate, I find it helpful to try to keep myself present and aware as much as possible. I achieve this by using the simple yoga breathing technique known as ujjayi breath. This slows "me" down allowing me to become much more aware of myself and others around me in the present. From there, I am better able to see my thoughts and be aware and control my emotions. Let me know if you try this and what your results are. I'd be curious to know. Good luck.

Has anyone ever experienced a sudden interruption in your meditation\contemplation practice? I was doing my usual meditation practice today. I was really going deep into the contemplation of "I" and looking to experience awareness. At one point, I could see the time lag between a thought that arose and the emotion that arose from it. In my mind, it was like the emotion sprang from the idea much like a water would from a fountain, visual and all. Here's where it gets interesting, at least to me. While my attention turned to the phenomenon of watching emotion spring form an idea, something suddenly stopped my mental process. It was only a flash; gone as soon as I became aware of it, but it was like I was interrupted. An analogy would be when you watch TV and suddenly your program is interrupted by an announcement. It felt like I was being shown something, only there was no image that I can remember. It really felt like "I" had nothing to do with it; as if "I" suddenly just stopped and restarted again . It was truly an interesting and funky experience. I immediately thought perhaps this was an enlightenment experience... or perhaps samadhi, which I understand is not quite the same thing. In any case, it certainly makes me think I am on the right track. Thoughts?

I agree with Leo. Inch, by inch, life is a cinch. However, I would like to share something that sparked one of my first deep "ah ha!" moments and I think might help. I got this from Sadhguru. The realization is that a given moment in time cannot be changed. Because the particular moment cannot be changed the only logical, sane choice is to accept and embrace it. By doing so, you empower yourself to respond to that moment in a way of your choosing. To elaborate, once again, there is nothing that can be done about any specific moment, the very precise now you are in, and I mean now. This is not a period of time, it is a very precise point. For example, reading this sentence consists of many moments; many "nows". The reason a moment cannot be changed, is because another moment is required to change it, therefore you are no longer in the first moment. If this makes sense, then perhaps you can see that you really only have two choices in any given moment: you can reject it, or you can accept it. Rejecting a moment means you consciously or unconsciously close yourself off to it; you push it away by feeling powerless, depressed, angry, etc. There is a feeling deep down that you do not have the power to respond to it. If you accept it, you open yourself up to it and see that you can respond in some way. Note the use of the word respond. Everyone can respond to anything. A response can be a very simple act to a very big act. In other words, by accepting, you acknowledge its existence and then can proceed to work with it being to being. Here's a simplistic example: Say you are having a nice pleasant day and someone walks up to you and calls you an idiot. There is nothing you can do about that. The person's already called you an idiot. That won't change. At this point, you can either become angry and quarrel with him (rejecting the moment because it creates conflict with your inner self - mostly an unconscious reaction), or you can simply register the comment, realize the person's comment is a fiction created by them and continue to have a pleasant day (accept). I realize this is not as easy as it sounds, but it was a big catalyst for me. Perhaps it can work for you as well.

What about: Hero (2002; Yimou Zhang) Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000; Ang Lee) Beautiful films...

Excellent quote! One of my favs: "Be quiet." - Papaji

Name: Adam Sargon Age: 39 Gender: Male Location: The Hague, Netherlands Occupation: Working on it Marital Status: Married Kids: No Hobbies: enlightenment, meditation, Yoga, personal development, reading, learning, healthy eating I stumbled upon self-actualization and enlightenment in the late 1990s. I was into defensive style martial arts at the time. I was very self conscious and had self-esteem issues. The father of my sensei (a man in his early 80s) always started the class doing crazy postures that I later discovered was Hatha Yoga. I picked up my first book and the journey started. I eventually came to realize that Yoga is not just a form of exercise, but a practical guide to enlightenment. However, it wasn’t until last year (2015) that my practice really took off. I came across an online course called Inner Engineering by Sadhguru (a proponent of the Yoga method). I also came across YouTube videos featuring Sri H. W. L. Poonja (Papaji) and Mooji, his disciple (proponents of the Self-Inquiry method), and of course Leo. This triad of thinking really put my practice into full gear. I am incredibly grateful for the discoveries of these people. Personal Challenges I have overcome: Used to be very shy, introverted, and socially awkward Use to have low self-esteem Cleaned up my diet, now eating mostly vegetarian (thanks to my wife who is a vegetarian) What I’m working on now: Enlightenment improving my health & diet Finding my life purpose

Ask yourself: "who is it that feels superior to others?" Where does this question come from? Is it a feeling of rejection (used in a very broad way here) of what you perceive to be a less "awake" state in others (perhaps a disguised fear of your own doubt) or is it a feeling of acceptance of your own state and a true desire to help those around you? In my experience, if I looked honestly, feelings of superiority originate from a state of rejection. I initially thought I was "rejecting" the person, but I discovered that I was rejecting my own fears about myself, my doubts, and my thoughts of being a fraud. This hit me when there was a moment when I was filled with acceptance. A spontaneous feeling of joy and love for those around me was simply there. I realized this was "acceptance". Acceptance of the moment. Acceptance of myself and of others. I also realized there was much more work to do. Honestly, I continue to cycle between both rejection and acceptance of myself and others. Asking myself who it is that feels superior or feels joy brings my attention back to awareness where peace and the joy of being await.

Like others have said in this forum, look to the source of your question and get a good sense of the emotions it generates. In my experience, these kind of questions arise from two categories. The first is fear; fear of being looked at as a weirdo, fear of being an outcast, fear of not being understood, and perhaps most importantly fear of failure and people seeing you as a failure. The second is pride. I have found it easy to proselytize about my ideas self-actualization and the ego when I see issues arise in others, particularly when I am in the "zone". Sounding holier than though can pop up quite unexpectedly, especially in the beginning of your practice. In the end, I think it comes down to being mindful and respectful of your parents selves. There is no reason to withhold who you are from your parents, but there is no reason to broadcast how wonderful you are either (not that I think you're doing either, I'm just representing what I think are the two poles). Be honest and open, but remember that they are their own selves and on their own journey and have their own ideas. Respect that. Hope that helps.

Mooji is also one of my favs. Papji is also excellent; I really like his stuff. I believe he is the disciple of Ramana Maharshi, the founder of the Self-Inquiry technique. You can find him on YouTube and on Mooji's site. Papaji keeps saying: "Be quiet", i.e., be still. This can be particularly hard to do, especially from a "monkey mind" perspective. When you realize you've had a thought or you've felt something or heard something, ask: "who or what is it that had or is having this thought, feeling or experience?" The idea is to look for that which is aware that a thought has occurred. The goal is to come to a point of emptiness, i.e., there is nothing left that is perceiving, only being. The key is to keep questioning who it is that says x, y, or z or feels x, y, or z. If nothing comes, ask yourself whether you are "x" or "y". Again, try to be that which is seeing the thought, of course, this is counter intuitive because if you try, then something is doing the trying. You must simply be, which loops back to Papaji's "Just be quiet". Anyway, not sure if this made any sense. I hope it helps. By the way, another guru I like is Sadguru. I really enjoyed his Inner Engineering course. That was the first real solid spark I had. But the Self Inquiry stuff has really helped boost my practice.