Beginner Mind

@Guru Fat Bastard Thanks for sharing!

@Shin I know what you mean, though I find it's much easier to be aware of being aware when sitting in meditation, easier to go more deeply into the peace.

@Osaid Happy to help.

I should also mention: in this practice it's extremely helpful to relax the focus of your attention. Allow your attention to sink inwards; when you do so, it becomes very easy to notice that you are experiencing anything at all.

@Adamq8 My pleasure. @Shunyata I still feel fully embodied. And no I cannot perform any siddhis, nor do I desire to.

I was thinking something similar this morning. It takes seeking in order to realize that there is nothing to seek. For most of us, it's not enough to be told, "Let go of seeking." One must go on their little spiritual journey and discover for themselves that the peace they are seeking is already here.

It is so obvious to me now: there is absolutely nothing to be gained from this life. All possessions will be lost, all relationships will be lost, everything will be lost. So, we might as well let go now. Let go of needing anything. There is nothing to seek, nothing to find. I'm not suggesting that one should abandon their goals; rather, just drop your attachment to outcomes. If you have a particular outcome in mind, if you think you need a certain outcome to happen in order to be happy, that's a recipe for suffering. Approach your goals playfully, without attachment. Always remember that anything you acquire or accomplish in this life will be taken from you in the end. When you realize there is nothing to gain from life, a natural surrender occurs. God willing, it may dawn on you that you need absolutely nothing in particular to happen in order to be at peace right here right now; a peace that is always available in the simple relinquishment of resistance to this moment. Peace, and much love to you all.

This. "Not even a leaf moves except by the will of God." -- Ramakrishna

You can't escape natural biological impulses to eat, drink, sleep, etc., but it's definitely possible for egoic seeking to dissolve.

There is no doer in you or anyone else. Each human organism is simply acting out its genes and conditioning, without choice, without free will. As you alluded to, even breathing is not in our control. So, best to just sit back, relax, and see what life presents to 'you' in each moment.

The seeking energy is indeed suffering. When the seeking energy within you has died, there is peace.

I've never taken psychedelics so take my words with a grain of salt... Nonetheless I'm fairly confident that the best you can hope for from a psychedelic is a temporary glimpse of your true nature.

@snowyowl Yes, allow EVERYTHING to be as it is, including monkey mind.

I would say they are distinct techniques; both bring you to the same destination ultimately. The two methods that have worked for me are: (1) Being aware of being aware, and (2) Allowing everything to be as it is. Being aware of being aware may be the easiest to do, if you can recognize the experience of being aware (some people struggle with it--I certainly did for a long time). The alternative is to allow everything to be as it is, also known as 'surrender'. It may just be my imagination, but I seem to experience more bliss when I am aware of being aware, whereas allowing everything to be as it is is felt more as peace. But no, I wouldn't say there is anything 'better' than letting everything be as it is. All these different methods bring you to the peace of your true nature. Just go with whatever you feel drawn to.

Bump. I can't be the only one here who meditates with music...

Sup people? I'm looking for suggestions for good meditation music. If you know of anything good, please share it here. I'll get things started with this gem:

@Shin Yezzir!

Perhaps the most obvious, most well-known spiritual teaching around is the teaching on allowing everything to be as it is. In fact, it's so obvious I debated whether it was even worth writing this post, as I'm quite sure 99.9% of you are well aware of this teaching. I was first introduced to this pointer about ten years ago, and at the time I thought to myself, "Sure, whatever, allow everything to be, that sounds nice and spiritual." It was basically ignored, put on the back-burner in favor of sexier, more complicated spiritual teachings. It was only recently, after becoming exhausted from suffering, that I finally decided to put this teaching to the test. And so, sitting in meditation, listening to a guided meditation from Adyashanti, I let go of trying to meditate well, let go of the meditator himself, and simply allowed everything to be as it is. After a few minutes of doing so, the miracle of this practice was revealed to me: a spaciousness, an open, empty, peaceful presence made itself known: Myself, my true nature as Spacious Presence. Surprising at first, this peace. A peace that has always been available, but was simply neglected due to ignorance, due to a steady underlying resistance to the flow of life. Everything we have ever longed for is totally available to us in the relinquishment of resistance. From Rupert Spira, to Adyashanti and Eckhart Tolle, this teaching on allowing everything to be as it is has been echoed throughout the spiritual landscape. If you haven't tried it out for yourself yet, my invitation to you is to do so at your earliest convenience. Just sit down in meditation and simply allow everything to be as it is. Drop all efforts to meditate well, all efforts to achieve a certain result, and simply let things be as they already are. This is the miracle I have discovered. The secret to peace and happiness. The secret to life itself. Peace. And much love to you all.

@Moksha Sanity is where it's at brotha! And yes, at least for me it seems there needed to be just the right amount of suffering to bring me to this place of surrender.

@The0Self Indeed. @Mason Riggle Yes, it seems it's actually the trying and asserting that creates the veil to our Self.

@Preety_India Firstly, allow yourself to feel whatever you are feeling. This is important. Don't resist anything you're feeling. Secondly, it might be helpful to realize that each human being is simply acting out their genes and conditioning. Your ex-boyfriend didn't choose the parents he was born to, which gave him certain genes, certain traits, a certain personality. And from the moment your ex-boyfriend was born, life started to impact him: everything he was taught by his parents, his schooling, his childhood experiences, etc., all of that is his conditioning. He had no control over either of these factors; no control over his genes and no control over his conditioning. My basic point is: free will is an illusion. Your ex-boyfriend behaved exactly the way he was designed to behave. When you realize this, forgiveness comes naturally. Much love to you.

"Groundhog Day" is not only the best movie ever made, it's also very spiritual. It can be seen as a teaching on acceptance and surrender.

Alan Watts was one of the primary 'can openers' for me on the spiritual path; made spirituality interesting and even entertaining. Absolute legend.

Agree to disagree.

@Mason Riggle I guess it depends on your definition of the law of attraction. If by LOA you mean a tool that can help you gain clarity on what you'd like to have in life, then yes that makes sense. But I think many people have the false impression that they can simply use their imagination to manifest things, which is just silly. (No offense intended to believers of this stuff.)