VioletFlame

Ted Talks has some incredible videos on Consciousness and Spirituality! Phil Borges' one on Spiritual Awakening was one of my favorites. I love what he has to say about the connection between Shamanism and "psychosis", in which I deeply advocate. Here is another great one:

Even the "Enlightened one" continues to have fresh insights, experiences & fresh epiphanies until their departure arrives. It's a never-ending adventure. Never stop exploring. ♥

@Serotoninluv ? ♥

I believe that even once one becomes "Enlightened" it would only be wise and only natural to continue these practices simply because we love doing them and because we do it out of passion and eternal self-exploration. Each time is always a new, refreshing & illuminating experience, no matter how "Enlightened" one gets... Perhaps it would even sustain your 98% results. Even the "Enlightened one" continues to have fresh insights & epiphanies until their departure arrives. There are countless forms of meditations to experiment with or to master as well. It's wonderful to consider meditation as a lifelong journey and endless learning expedition rather than something you no longer need once you reached a certain level. One is always learning and gaining more wisdom.

The world is a beautiful mess. To love, not to hate.

@kieranperez Oh my goodness, I've been in the exact same boat bro. ❤️ Thank you for this post. I currently am blessed to work in a couple of places in which allow me to pursue one of my deepest passions, which is a traditional spiritual/mystical method for personal development & spiritual healing. I am reluctant to even share what I do on this forum because as significant and respected as it is in the mystical community, there are still many people to this day who do not understand what it is or what it's used for. They only make wild assumptions as to what it is even though they've never actually tried it out for themselves. I discovered this past 2 years that what I'm doing is actually helping people and people are coming to me for spiritual and psychological guidance. This makes my soul shine so it has been inspiring me to continue doing it and perhaps make it into an actual career. But I am also in the same pickle of whether or not I should acquire a "certificate" or "badge" or degree in spiritual counseling/alternative therapy if it means validation of its legitimacy and avoidance of underestimation. What I do is totally common and ubiquitous in the spiritual community however to the masses it is still controversial and misunderstood. So I am wondering if acquiring a certificate or whatever would be of a good advantage or not if it means general respect and courtesy and generally being taken more seriously. I've been studying psychology, mostly Jungian, on my own since I was a kid just out of pure curiosity, but that doesn't necessarily mean everyone is going to listen to what I have to say about it or believe in my knowledge if I don't have it fucking written down or something with my signature on it. So I'm not even sure if one requires a basic psychology degree before being approved for spiritual therapy. But that would take an awfully long time and amount of money to study pretty much most things I've already studied on my own and hopefully not a waste of time when I am already on the path of healing others spiritually without a degree. So it is quite the dilemma indeed. I'm glad you created this post dude because it's been running through my mind a lot lately and honestly could use some advice myself!

@Leo Gura Have you read much on existentialism and Albert Camus? If so, what are your thoughts on this and also his philosophy of Absurdism? It almost seems quite related to the liberation of fear & anguish over death one ultimately acquires from a place of Enlightenment and awakening. The search for meaning as a cause of suffering and once becoming conscious of the absurdity of life and confronting that, avoiding ignorance, and eventually unchaining ourselves from a mental prison cell which ultimately unravels us into a sense of Nirvana & acceptance. When I read The Myth of Sisyphus for the first time as a teenager, it had a huge impact on me. Choosing philosophical suicide (or "leap of faith") over physical suicide healed me. I also thought the concept was strikingly similar to samsara. I find both existentialism and Buddhism, though both from different worlds, sort of come to some of the same conclusions. The act of mindfulness, embracing the inevitability of death, and seeing suffering as part of existence. It's not "bad" or negative because it implies to let go but never to give up either because suffering can indeed be overcome and provide the greatest meaning we search for by becoming a happier person and creating a happier life. The only way to seek "meaning" and find God is by embracing the Absurd which I think is the solution of facing the eventual reality of termination. “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer." --Camus

@SFRL Your Nirvana collection there had me geeeeeking ?

What the hell why not, I'll wing it and give it a shot. For Beige I suppose the entire "glam rock" hairspray scene and poster boy bands. Perhaps Disney pop singers as well. Red- AC/DC-TNT That One Hit Wonder "Cherry Pie" by Warrant? Blue/Orange- "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" Many Boomer music and repetitive negative/shallow lyrical content in some Southern rock caucasian blues bands. Green- ^This one was a tricky one..after all, they are Living Colour "California Dreaming"-Mamas & Papas, "San Francisco"(Scott McKenzie), Going To California (Led Zeppelin) Green/Yellow- Yellow/Turquoise- Björk! ?

@lmfao Thank you! I'm so glad it was!

Through great inescapable suffering blooms the radical acceptance for anything that happens or anything that could happen to you. Having the willingness to recognize: "There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in." Through this great opportunity of metamorphoses comes intense inner peace, balance and beautiful liberation from an internal cage. For me suffering has ultimately eliminated misery, grief, & all fear of suffering because once you suffer tremendously, you are awakened to deep levels of empathy, unconditional gratitude for all inherent aspects of life, (and not just temporary thrills) and the unpredictable change/possibilities that inevitably rise with it. Pain brings the recognition that something must be released & healed. Suffering has only brought me to a deeper understanding of myself and my life to the point of truly appreciating it for all the wonderful transformation, spiritual evolution and purification it has given me. "Those who have suffered understand suffering and thereby extend their hand." -- Patti Smith

All greatest evolutionary ideas & scientific discoveries stems from imagination and creative insight. ? From surprise and wonder and deep curiosity, which is only metaphysical, blooms evolution. "Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world." --Einstein I was convinced time was not real when I spent hours just staring at a ticking clock one night as a kid questioning the accuracy and validity of "time" and contemplating how a simple object could define and measure the vastness of "time." It seemed too mechanically simplified and synthetic to me. I would ask myself "Who's to say time was always flowing at the same steady pace? Couldn't it have slowed down or accelerated before?" Then I melted into expansive void/emptiness and into the gift of presence and time just dissolved... (Also I kept experiencing cases of "Stopped Clock Illusion" which ultimately stopped me from looking at clocks which was a wise decision.) Time was all just in my head. Now it is merely a fictional term.

Santa Clause is a fantastical devilish archetype, am I right? I've said it once and I'll say it once more. Santa ==> Obvious anagram==> Satan. The ego (Santa) proceeds to wear his hat like a cloak.

Hey now, can't we all just get along? ? I thought this forum was supposed to be about emotional support & inspirational guidance not an egosystem of eager monkey nitpicking & troll gratification. What's even the point of trolling anyway?

@Rilles Wow dude...feeling the frequencies of synchronicity like mad today.. I just got off the phone with a lovely mystic woman, studied religion/metaphysics and practiced spirituality for decades. She is a sincere friend of mine whom just mentioned 432 hz to me about 20 minutes ago!! We had a wonderful in depth conversation about this and about the divine energies of music and how it lives within us all..also about its relation to our chakras/emotional centers..why we get goosebumps and how powerful it is. Wonderful.

???

@CreamCat "Maybe Martians will do better than we've done."

@Rilles Thank you. ? The human race has been trying to complicate and recreate unnecessary products & ideas for years and it almost always ends up with foolish consequences and disadvantages and people are ultimately unsatisfied and unfulfilled. We should be focusing more on the quality of our emotional intelligence over artificial intelligence I say but the possibility of a future "evolving" where we wouldn't have to do anything anymore is what seems to be stimulating people the most. We are a tad too immersed in the mechanical world.

@now is forever Erry'day AI? Google and Siri, the invasive Hello Barbie and other unsettling AI figurines/dolls. All I can ponder is Twilight Zone.

@Eric Tarpall Exactly, love the chills! Learning to love the cold as much as the comfy warmth. I love just sitting in the cold sometimes, embracing and surrendering to the sensation and challenging myself to see how long I can take it. She said.

@Serotoninluv I do think we will definitely evolve and heal eventually as well. Many more people are waking up each day and this is so0o wonderful to see! ? I try to focus on this rather than the ones who stay asleep of course.

If robots begin to work for us, wouldn't we be more inclined to laze around and not put any effort into anything? ? Will potential decline or progress? I suppose it all depends on how inspired people are to live life to its fullest extent. Many rich citizens commit crimes. Honestly I'm not too sure if having excess free recreational stuff would create global strength, love and happiness. Many times acquiring the most goods leads to destruction. I think even if we were rewarded with all these things that are mere distractions, and had robots do our unfulfilling work, we would still find something to complain or worry about because happiness comes from within right? Not from the internet or external aids and insatiable novelties. The human species is never satisfied.

Most people struggle with exploring unseen/untouched sensations or empathizing and remotely experiencing moments that have not happened to them yet. Until it is actually experienced directly one will either avoid it or will not be able to grasp such a thought, concept or realization, except only contradict or try to debate it which isn't worth it and waste of time when they could be using this time to potentially experience it at any moment because it's always around us and winking at us really. I've noticed even sometimes on the outside looking in, when someone experiences something highly significant in their life in which you'd think would flick a switch or get them to wake up...they still remain the same person, totally stagnant or ambivalent and in misery/denial. I've come to many personal realizations in my life in which I cannot even muster or arrange into words the best possible way to describe what has blown my mind. Perhaps some things can only be understood internally as well and through personal experience. These things cannot always be defined or explained but at the same time there is such vastness of Truth and understanding to it that it is impossible to underestimate it once you do, all you feel is divine honesty and absolute truth. But it's difficult for many people to try and imagine and experience something without encountering it visually or holding it in their hands so to speak.

@PsiloPutty Exactly dude, right on ? We are missing such important beautiful aspects of life. Squirrels are such adorable little creatures and clouds don't get enough attention. So many symbols and picturesque meanings are dancing along floating clouds! Can it not hurt for someone to put down their devices and look up for once? Simply engage in radical awareness and the inter-connectedness of everything that is happening in the now and all around them? So glad it resonated with you, you're very welcome ?

So I've been partaking in something rather fulfilling for years but especially more recently and I thought I'd share this with my fellow self-actualizers. ❤️ One of my most favorite things to do in life is to look out the window of a moving car or vehicle and study the world. Does anyone else here like to do this? I absolutely love just sitting alone on a bus, traveling somewhere long distance or leading to nowhere (not always necessarily knowing where I am heading) and just scanning every erratic thing that passes by, every fleeting moment, just quietly witnessing these random ephemeral scenarios in real time, contemplating and excitedly embracing the exquisite evanescence of life. It's one of my most sacred things to do for myself really because it's so meditative and always leaves me feeling so rejuvenated either through tears or jaw-aching smiles with fresh momentum and exhilaration towards life and all of its perpetual possibilities and wonderful opportunities for more and more insight. By the time I get off the bus I'm telling you I'm as high as a kite. I find myself receiving some of my most profound realizations, insights and synchronicities when I'm simply just looking out of a window, through calm observance and internal guidance. When I am not worried about a map or a clock or "finding my way" or searching for a hidden answer/message to something, but instead just consciously noticing everything occurring as it is out of mere curiosity and love for everything (seen and unseen), I then undoubtedly receive these unavoidable signs as they miraculously and naturally appear. I believe there to be many of winks from the Universe (or inner cosmos, if you will) constantly twinkling around us (or within us) or tapping us on the shoulder, so to speak. But not too many people pay enough attention so instead they choose to remain confused or doubtful or cynical when they can't solve their life's greatest questions or when things aren't going their way. Instead to them what occurs through their peripheral vision or beyond their imagination is only to be underestimated as "illusion". I can't stress enough how important and helpful I've found it is to simply look around you, and you will see. I think there's something truly powerful about the combination of experiencing kinetic energy whilst remaining still, and also being actively present and lucid of what's spontaneously happening around us, so kind of like a method of public open eye meditation. Sometimes I get so lost and enthralled in simply focusing on what's occurring outside of the window that I don't even want to stop anywhere. . .I don't even want to approach my destination because I'd rather it be like this unlimited, never-ending ride and just remain comfortably lost in this observant trance-like state of mind, perception, thought and curiosity, with no exact, over-arching explanation. I find there to be a massive sense of arrival in the act of departure itself. But then again, before the cord is pulled and the bus stops I must remind myself that now I must escape my momentary inner-Utopian space and bravely confront the outside world, behind the glass. I must also remind myself that indeed nothing is permanent and this is exactly what I admire, the transportation of continuous greetings and goodbyes.