Raptorsin7

@Leo Gura Does existential dread still come up as you go deeper into spirituality? Or is it one of those things where once you uncover it and accept it fully it stops arising?

@modmyth Isolation can be very valuable imo. These past 4 months i've been isolated a lot, and i've grown more spiritually then I have in my entire life. People don't even mean to do it, but if something or someone is changing in their immediate environment they will stifle it either consciously or unconsciously. Common sense sais it's bad to be isolated ,etc. But what you talked about is why isolation is so valuable.

@wesyasz What if it discouraged you from going further? You know how hard it is to improve yourself. Especially when you start it's hard to have resolve. People need to be met where they are at. The whole point of anything is to help people progress. You have to realize when you're hurting their growth or encouraging growth.

@cetus56 I can recognize happiness in the moment. But then i get caught up in distraction then i'm back searching for happiness again. I can bring it back to the present, but it's not consistent in the present.

@cetus56 Completely missed me with that. I don't get it

@Nak Khid I see very interesting. Yea it's all about what resonates to you personally. I understand why people emphasize the personal approach to spirituality more now. You gotta find what works and it will unfold in a way that is unique to you.

@cetus56 Do we need to be reminded over and over again. I understand the depth of what you said, but I feel like i can still get caught...

@perlita This guy's a gem.

@Consilience What does the book teach specifically? Is the whole book just about getting that samatha experience? Or does he cover other stuff too?

@erik8lrl what is self love? Is it just acceptance of whatever the experience is in the moment? Is there a degree of self love or is it you love your experience or you don't?

@Nak Khid Do you think Rupert Spira is not happy? These guys are saying the same thing. But I like Rupert Spira's delivery better. He is more direct.

@perlita I literally just found this today. Seems like a total game changer. I'm going to make this daily too.

@zeroISinfinity Facts

@Raptorsin7 Where does the joy and happiness come from in the sit? I notice it's hard to fully let go and surrender, i'm usually getting lost in a thought or some bad feeling then i bring my self back by saying quietly in the mind let it go. But what changed in your meditation from when you weren't experiencing a lot of happiness and joy from it to now. What is the difference in your sits now? Okay so I think I need to do a long session, like 4 hours you were talking about uninterrupted. Tomorrow I will try to do another 2 hour session and see how it goes.

@ardacigin I did 2 hours of meditation today, with like a 30 second break when i moved from my couch to a chair. I had a lot of resistance from thoughts around school and I didn't reach any state of effortlessness, joy, or happiness. But I have winter break coming up soon and i plan on doing a bunch of days of long sits. I will keep trying to find happiness and joy in my sits. Also, your content is awesome keep posting man!

@Lynnel @wesyasz Imagine someone commenting on your meditation journal and belittling you because you aren't meditating long enough. "Wow you're only doing 10 minutes you aren't going to make any major changes doing only 10 minutes, you need to do minimum an hour to notice real benefits. Might as well not meditate at all". All you're doing here is hurting her chance of being successful.

@Amandine Don't worry about people telling you what you SHOULD do. You know what you should do, and more importantly you know you what you can do right now. The long term goal is to quit alcohol or at least reduce the amount a lot. Keep it up you can do it.

@dimitri Dude i am loving your posts recently. I feel like i'm behind you follow your breadcrumbs Lol. Keep it up. Keep writing what's working for you and what you're doing, Super helpful

@lostmedstudent I have done it. It was not hard for me, and to be honest I have struggled with discipline and procrastination a lot during my life so i bet you can do it. I think it can be really effective to just create some perspective on your life because that day will completely shatter your routine and current mode of operating. Right now you have negative momentum so you're just feeding your own unhappiness and unsatisfaction with life. You have to break the cycle, and this can be a good way to break it. If it seems like too much to do then you have to start smaller. Do something you like, or listen to inspiring music. You have to get some momentum moving in the opposite direction, and to start it has to be something that you believe you can actually do.

This what I believe is true of reality: The voice inside my head. The person. Me. Tj. This person think it's controlling the experience. But in reality there is just an experience happening right now. And the real me, the feeling of me, is always present as the experience. You are the entire experience. Always. You just convinced yourself that you were the one directing experience. Eventually the voice in my head will lose control. Slowly but surley I must loosen the grip of the person, the thought story, on my life. The story needs to surrender to the present. The present is where I live. The real me lives in the present. I wonder if my intellectual understanding of non-duality is just beyond my actual experience so i'm misinterpreting things? This is consistent with what @Nahm said but i'm not sure.

I'm going to use this journal to deconstruct my beliefs about reality. I'm going to question everything i believe to be true of direct experience, and try to get at the truth of all my beliefs about reality. I feel like I understand the non-dual nature of reality. But honestly i'm not sure. Sometimes I feel like I get it then I get pulled into another thought story about my life and engage some weird procrastination behavior. I've realized everything is a distraction to understanding the truth, and there is a lot of resistance when I turn my attention to the feeling of me. This is actually a good thing. The resistance I feel when attention goes to my self is a sign that something important is happening there. When in doubt follow the resistance until I can learn the truth. This is the frontier. I'm about to take my first steps down a path that will change the rest of my life. I'm making a bold prediction then I will be enlightened or at the very least unconditionally happy by the time winter break is over.

@Raphael Ok sounds wise. Good luck friend

@Raphael Wow that's cool. Are you going for enlightenment?

@Raphael Why are you meditating? What made you start?