electroBeam

@Loreena I haven't but good idea! Thank!

@Arman oooo you used the word "I", I smell ego, ego ego, fraud, charlatan!

the first step to reaching enlightenment, is to realize that there is no such thing as enlightenment.

so what exactly do you mean? Call each other on skype and meditate? + what time is the doodle based on? US West time?

You're too nice! You know, if you do open up to them, that could possibly deepen your connection with your friends, and take it to the next level. The more you open up to them, the deeper your friendship with them will become, which is truly a beautiful thing to experience; to have a deep, intimate connection with people that you trust and love. But I personally don't open up to my friends. I mean I'm open to telling them about my political views, and giving them my opinion on sensitive topics like whether I'm jealous about someone or not, but I always act casual with it, and don't give them any hint as to whether I'm being serious or not. I keep my insecurities to myself(apart from talking about them on this forum) because I feel like the stuff I'm going through is stuff that nobody else experiences, and so I don't think they would understand, and even if they did, their unconscious behavior would lead them to judge, which would be a huge disservice. But if you have friends that would look out for you, compassionately understand your problems and talk with you about them, then you should definitely talk to them about your problems. Man it would be so beautiful to have a group of people you could care for selflessly.

I was listening to a guided meditation by Adyshanti today, and I had an insight, but I'm not sure on how to take it.... For a bit of context: Whenever I meditate, I'm always trying my hardest to get the most out of the meditation session, I make sure I focus really hard on the present moment, and make sure I let go of my thoughts as much as I can, any act that is the opposite of what mainstream society does -> get distracted by toxic thoughts, etc. So I've always subconsciously assumed that enlightenment would be something like this: my mind gets very still, my ego disappears, I start to see a deep pitch black void that's behind the experience I see, like opening a closet and finding god or something in it(makes me laugh now ) and boom enlightenment. But I always got really frustrated, because I could never seem to find it, no matter how much focus I put on it. And I could never drop beliefs I had that I intellectually knew were wrong(or so I thought) so basically meditation would just end up in one big frustrating cluster fuck, over and over again, and I wouldn't just do this for 20 mins a day, I would do this walking to university, in the shower, everywhere. But uh... Adyshanti said something in his guided meditation that hit me. He said that there is nothing to find, and that everything is already there. I've heard the mantra heaps of times(youre already enlightened, you just don't realize it, etc) but I didn't believe them because I'm still suffering and have an ego therefore im not enlightened. But I just realized that actually, everything that exists right now, everything that we already know, and have known just not acknowledged it, is actually all there is, and ever going to be. Like its not like awareness is just going to jump out of no where and go bam here I am! But does this actually mean that all awareness is, is that thing we've always been aware of since our birth? That thing that is aware of thoughts? Because there is literally nothing else it could be. But at the same time, its so simple and obvious, its always been there, like it hasn't come about just because we've started meditating, its always been about?? I'm expecting enlightenment to be more finding something, and not just accepting that the thing in front of our noses, like it has to be more than that, because if its not.... that's really fucking simple and obvious. The other thing I'm confused about is, if its really that thing that we all know, and can all see right now! Then why do people talk about it being so different to that? Like everything being one? And how are there multiple levels to this thing? All levels are in awareness?? And why does it take so long to realize this when its so simple? And why do people talk about different states of consciousness being required to realize this awareness? Like haven't we all been aware of it ever since we are born? And why do people go through so much shit on this path if its so simple, i.e. the dark knight of the soul, weird non free will realizations, and so much other weird stuff. Its not like anything has changed realizing what awareness is, consciousness hasn't changed at all hahaha. People make it seem so much like its about finding a needle in a haystack or something, like its hidden, and suddenly it will pop out of nowhere, but after that meditation session im not sure anymore. Am I just dreaming something up or not getting something? Because this is very confusing. Sorry for the disorganized post, kudos to someone who can understand it.

@Martin123 the thing im confused about is what do you focus on? hahahaha. Because its hard to focus on awareness itself. But yeah letting perception fade in the background is certainly good to do. But focusing on your ego seems to be a good practice to do.

When you're trying to find god though, how does that leap happen from not seeing awareness to seeing awareness? Do you just have to keep trying and hope for the best? Because there's been plenty of meditation sessions where I wouldn't discover anything at all, just have insights. Sometimes it can feel like you're wasting your time or being mislead or something. And also how do you actually break beliefs? Say you close your eyes and press your fingers real hard, and notice that you have an image of your fingers pressing and you really believe it, how do you break that belief? Because I've tried focusing awareness on it like a lazer beam in hope that it would lazer the belief in half, but that doesn't happen the belief just keeps with you.

@Barna if you are everything, can you make poverty go away plzz

Yeah this is something I'm confused with. Everyone says let go and just surrender and don't control anything... but if you do that, you become unconscious because if you don't control anything and just do what your ego wants you to do, it will dream about stuff, get angry at you, etc. So I feel like I do have to control my meditation sessions otherwise it will be just a waste of time. Or try and control and not control, do what Osho says and let meditation affect you, like meditation is a medical doctor/psychologist, but still do what the doctor says(like focus etc) so still control yourself to a certain extent.

@Martin123 https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjLzvKmw57TAhVKH5QKHXcECpMQtwIIGTAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DzQHv75ahYDQ&usg=AFQjCNF7DPt8-ZLqM4bO_A9YEpYSYTMoIA&sig2=qLHx9Mzy1eyNimNxpfFMyA&bvm=bv.152180690,d.dGo

One trap though is to get distracted by this. I do it all the time, get distracted by flashy colours and sounds so much that I forget to look what's behind it. That's why Zen Buddhist meditate in front of a flat, dull wall, in silence, to try and remove those flashy perceptions.

I think there is a very fine balance between desiring enlightenment and not desiring it. Because if you don't want enlightenment enough, you wont get it, it takes heaps of work to get. 99% of people don't want enlightenment, and they don't get it. But on the other hand like what Koi says, if you want it too much, you're actually getting attached to it, and that attachment will block yourself from attaining actual enlightenment. I think once you get to a certain point where you can't do any more enlightenment/you are tired of enlightenment, that's when you let go of your beliefs and desires. A 2 way process.

You sound like a monk

Last night I felt like reminiscing through my past to try and experience what it was like to truly believe in science and the physical world again, and decided to look for a crystal that my great grandmother gave me when i was 5. The crystal was always peculiar to me, it came from my great grandmother's crystal collection. She use to go around collecting crystals vigorously, though nobody knows why. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and consequently she sometimes use to seem like she was talking to ghosts, and other schizophrenic things. I felt so sorry for her, because she seemed so crazy and disconnected from this world. She seemed so deluded to me, from my perspective as a teenager. I could not understand how she could actually believe the things she said she believed in and 'saw'. She use to talk about seeing spirits and connecting with them, she use to use ouja boards to speak to the dead, etc etc. It intrigued me to try and feel what shes feeling, to try and actually be in a state where you believe those things, because back then science had a firm grip on me. But now things are very different. While I dont tell anyone, the stuff that experienced from meditation and spirituality is just as crazy, if not more crazy than the stuff my grandmother talked about. And its not just me, if you go watch Leo's dark side of meditation video, you'll see that its a universal theme. Spirituality is so radical and crazy that if you told someone your experiences, you would be called schizophrenic in an instant. That's why we dont tell anyone, because there are harsh consequences. But what if someone got so involved in spirituality that they just had to tell someone? And that everything they were seeing was valid to some extent? What if that person was my great grandmother? What if she wasnt deluded, but just saw things for how they actually were? ----- Or what if it was the opposite? Can't you see that the proposal that all of us arent seeing god, or mystical experiences, but are just seeing hallucinations is a valid point to make? It might seem silly to you to even consider that spirituality is just a form of our imagination, just one big dream. But you know what? It also seemed silly to my grandmother to think that she had schizophrenia. How would you feel if you for whatever reason were taken to the hospital, and were given schizophrenic tablets, and as soon as you took them and tried to look up actualized or leo's videos, or adyshanti's videos, discovered that you couldnt find them because it was all a hallucination? There are some clear signs of an unhealthy mind, like lake of iq or eq, but for me the lines between someone having a mental disorder and someone just having spiritual experiences are becoming very very blurred to me. Especially mental disorders like schizophrenia.

@zazed you must have been Pascal in your past life (pascal's wager) @Scholar is anything real truly though? Does truth even exist?

@aryberry just keep in mind that 'sense' is a concept. its very easy to confuse the idea of something with the actual experience. You might be contemplating on the idea of senses, without actually focusing your awareness on the sense itself. I'm not saying you're wrong, our senses might be wrong, and there might be a physical reality behind it, but that's just as likely as a jellyfish from a parallel universe created this universe and all of our senses are just replications of its tentacles. And unfortunately, there's no such thing as truth in reality. Everything is uncertain, you just have to use what you have and hope for the best

Does anyone on here have any experience with martial arts? And using it as a tool to attain enlightenment? Concentration and willpower are very important for the mind, and martial arts are perfect for improving these aspects of the mind. From my research, Tia Chi Chaun and Aikido are the best practices for martial arts. Which practice is the best for spirituality, and what are your experiences with them? Thanks!

@Stoica Doru Exactly what you've said. The "omg tell me the cure!" Is the very problem in the first place.

@aryberry i am aware of aura sensations, but these are illusory sensations, and in fact you might find that these sensations are apart of the concept sense I mean a totally different dimension. I dont know how to describe it. It has nothing to do with the physical world at all. No space or time. It feels like it comes from crystals, but that feeling is totally separate to the crystal itself. Im not even sure if everyone is aware of that sense. I dont think they are, if they were, they would be a lot more open minded to things. And I dont think people think through language. Like kids can think, before they learn language, and people who dont know a language can think of things. I dont think through language either. My thoughts speak to me through the language of feelings. Feelings can send info somehow. And thats exactly like the inner muse. Except the inner muse isnt made of thoughts or that sense of concept, its made of something totally different, hence why i called it a sense. And even emotions to me are a sense. They dont operate in any of the above senses either. Same with kundalini energy, totally different sense again. Its like different dimensions. Irreducible metaphysical qualities. These senses im talking about dont overlap.

@aryberry definitely not touch or sight or concept hahaha. I might be wrong, but people dont usually see crystals vibrate like a vibrator, or if you touch the feel a vibration from it. Its a completely different sense. Like how the inner muse is a completely different sense.

If you look close enough, you might find other senses, for example, ones that can sense vibrations in certain elements like crystals. Its not entirely limited to 6. Or sensing chi, or sensing energies in your chakra, another sense.

@username probably 80% are trying to love their enemies if we ignore the conmotation issue.

You cant love your enemies. The reason why they are enemies is because you h8 them. Its inherit in the meaning youve produced. Practicing loving kindness meditation though shows you that if you want to "love your enemies" you need to realize they arent enemies in the first place. Get to the root problem of h8tred.

What specific benefits are there to following a yogic practice, rather than say just meditating? What specifically is advantageous to performing certain bodily movements and holding certain poses for enlightenment, rather than just sitting and performing usual meditation? Does it help you concentrate? Does it make it easier for a dynamic mind to eliminate fluctuations? What are the Zen Buddhists missing out from the hindu yogis?