silene

Perhaps the healthier ones don't have nicotine? But worth researching by the sound of it.

How does vaping compare to smoking? Never tried it myself (I gave up smoking well before vaping was invented) but it is advertised as a healthier alternative.

Maybe you're spending too much time on Leo's theory and not enough on your own practice? Try picking just a few practices, spend more time looking at the reality around you, and drop Leo's theories until you can see the truth for yourself. Who knows, Leo may be wrong, but you need your own direct experience to actually find out By the way, Iif you want a regular life, what's stopping you?

That may be the intention but the future outcomes of present actions are bound to be uncertain with something complex like human society. The problem with a revolution is, if it does go wrong, it's much harder to rewind back and try something else. That's why big new ideas are often piloted in a small scale first to see if they work well, you can learn lessons and make adjustments before rolling out across the whole country. A whole society contains citizens at different stages of development, so the change strategy (fast or slow) needs to be very sophisticated to fit us all. This question is a bit generalised, are there any particular issue(s) you are interested in @Amit Which context is your priority for our development? Otherwise, we are just left with Leo's reply that it depends on the situation.

"wasting your vote is not gonna help change the 2 party system." I don't think my vote for party C is wasted. It is counted for the party C which I prefer so that everyone knows how much support they have, and encourages them to continue to exist and have good policies. If, on the other hand, I vote for party B which I don't agree with just to try and keep the even more disagreeable party A out, there's no data to record why I did that. Party B will take my vote as if I was a full supporter and agree with their manifesto. Then I will be complaining about them for the next 5 years or so but only have myself to blame. It's worse than not voting at all IMO, or spoiling your ballot paper, because at least that sends a message that the system is failing me. Party B has as much interest in maintaining the 2 party system as party A, why should they change it?

@See I hadn't seen that proposal, thanks for the link. Sounds a great idea, and I've got a couple of my own. How about extending the Freedom of Information to private corporations, PLC companies, to improve transparency of where they spend lobbying money & other info? Also extending the Right to Buy to private tenants to help make housing more affordable and secure. But that's all for the future. I'm only voting on one issue this time, Brexit, to get that out of the way, as it cuts across political parties, the main ones are divided. Then I would say we need another general election in Spring to get to grips with the other issues. Actually I've already voted, I think postal voting is great!

This video clearly explains the problems with first past the post. I used to do what we call tactical voting here in the UK, but that just reinforces the two party system, so I stopped and now just vote for who I mostly agree with, rather than who I think will get in. Mind you, we've only got ourselves to blame, back in 2011 we had a referendum for a slightly more proportional system, which was rejected.

"From what i learned yesterday and today it can be wonderful experience, and used for spiritual purposes... Have you? " @EddieEddie1995 Interesting question. I've only had them spontaneously, unpredictably, and not recently. So not easy to use for my spiritual practice. The sleep paralysis was a bit unpleasant for me, especially one time when I had slipped down the bed under the duvet, it felt like I was suffocating and couldn't move, until I used will power to wake myself up. It's like my mind wakes up but my body is still asleep. Astral projection is, at a first level of understanding, about the mind or spirit becoming separated spatially from the body, travelling around independently for a time before returning. Both these sound like dualistic phenomena, pointing to mind and body bring distinct but connected units. I think there's a second level understanding which I haven't discerned yet, that reconciles the astral projection etc with a nondual perspective.

Hi @EddieEddie1995 , there are some related experiences such as astral projection, lucid dreaming and sleep paralysis. Wikipedia is a good place to start as any. Other people here have described them too. I've had a few experiences of astral projection and sleep paralysis when I was younger (up to my 20s but not recently). I know what you mean that this type of stuff is scary if you don't know what's going on. Is it still a problem for you now, or are you researching it for knowledge of what happened when you were younger? I'm just trying to see if you need some immediate help dealing with it, or just looking for an understanding of this subject in general.

Greetings @SunCat and welcome to the forum Yes it sounds like a spontaneous OBE, I can understand how it was a bit disconcerting if you were young and didn't have any context or knowledge about this experience. I'm not an expert on this subject, but I think they're fairly common; I have had them a couple of times when doing intensive retreats; but I don't look for them either. If you don't want to have any more, that's perfectly fine. It may help if you do some reading around the subject so you can know what to do / not to do, to avoid it in future. There are some similar things like lucid dreams and sleep paralysis, which can be a bit scary if you aren't prepared for them. There is certainly more to life than the 'normal' level of consciousness which most of us are brought up to have. But it sounds like you have a very healthy attitude of not chasing these 'occult' type of experiences just for the sake of it. Some folks on this forum are into them, others not. Love and Compassion are the highest values IMO. Your heart and intuition are the best guide; you don't need to have OBEs to be a loving person, but for some people this is part of their path. Others not. It's about learning what's the right path for you to help raise your consciousness. We're a diverse bunch in some ways, but Love and Compassion are what unites us.

Bless you. Well done for reaching out, compassion and love from here. At 20 you are still learning your potential and talents. Just being young is a risk of feeling self-doubt and anxiety about your future. Do you remember how you felt as a young child, were you happy, carefree and confident at trying new things? It's a common pattern for childhood exuberance and joy for life to be drained out of us by society as we grow up into youth. But please believe me, it is possible to change and move into a place where you can release your potential. I agree with the other advice. Also suggest that you try to turn your doubt back on itself. Instead of believing your negative thoughts, just see it as an open question. Instead of saying "I can't do this, I'm no good ...", try "I haven't tried this before, maybe I can do it. I'll keep an open mind and give it a go and find out what I'm capable of. I don't know until I properly tried." In other words, can you let go of assumptions and judgements, and create some space for new possibilities to develop. It will take time, you may be a beginner at something, so remember to celebrate small achievements, and don't be perfectionist. Take your time, Rome wasn't built in a day. Very best wishes, life has stops and starts, twists and turns, but in the end it's all impermanent, this bad patch will end and you can move on. There's always a chance to let go of the past and move on.

So far, we've focused on globalisation of the public sector. But just as radical would be the true globalisation of the private sector too. Not just companies operating across national borders, but dissolving the borders between the companies themselves. How about if all the oil companies merged? Or, Google and Microsoft, or Huawei and Apple joined together? It would be a very different world. @Angelite fixed borders recognised internationally are a relatively recent thing. Originally, borders were more fluid and vague areas of military strength depending on what you could manage to defend.

Yes definitions are a bit vague, I sometimes end up with wires crossed because I have a different understanding to the other person I'm talking to. I've come across internationalism as a progression of nationalism, where nations work together while still being sovereign. Also where movements work across nation states, such as socialist groups. Or religious groups co-operating. I suppose nationalism is a developmental stage which made sense as we moved on from city states, to kingdoms (or dictatorships), to democratic nations. But what is the best next stage, which preserves democracy at a local level, while also developing co-operation and peace at an international level? The backlash against the EU here is based on the belief that local democracy is being sacrificed. For example, the decisions about whether to approve a new Brexit deal or an extension to deadlines has to be approved by a vote in the UK parliament to avoid the Prime Minister ruling by themself. But the EU (as far as I'm aware) has no such vote in their parliament, the ministers can decide among themselves without consulting their MEPs. Globalism is seen by many people as simply domination by powerful countries over the less powerful. Which isn't true globalism of course, which would see a blurring and then deletion of national borders. But I doubt if our species is well enough developed for that yet, there's still too much ego desiring to promote it's selfish interests. This is the real cause of all borders and boundaries.

I am looking for a good definition of nationalism. I live in the UK (a union, not a nation), which has been described as increasing in nationalism in the last few years. However, from another perspective, there's actually very little nationalism here. The alternative to nationalism is usually unionism, and most people here favour either the UK or the EU, or both. Very few people suggest leaving both unions and creating a true independent nation. Even the Scottish Nationalists (SNP) are really unionists, as they are pro EU. It's the same with Irish and Welsh nationalists. Am I looking at this too much with a local focus in the UK? What's other people's perspective? The USA is also a union rather than a nation isn't it? Or am I being misled by the country names? Also I don't know what other alternatives there are to nationalism, apart from unionism?

I would say it depends on the individual monastery how traditional/conservative it is. Eg some Zen, Tibetan & Theravada ones are linked to the Buddhist hierarchy which can be stage blue and steeped in Asian culture, if that's what you want. Similarly with Hindu monastics. Then there's more modern and liberal ones, like Plum Village in France (founded by Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Zen master). Or here in the UK we have Gaia House which is more Insight meditation based https://gaiahouse.co.uk. On their website it says they want people to join: "Join our residential coordinator community! We’re on the hunt for a Kitchen Coordinator, a Reception Coordinator, a Maintenance Coordinator and a Household Coordinator! Serving as a coordinator can be an incredibly special and unique experience, offering the chance to practise and work within a Dharma community setting and providing a rich base for deepening practice. " However this isn't a traditional monastery with celibate monks & nuns in robes etc. So it depends what you actually want. What is your spiritual path, if you have one? You sound very open minded. Most centres you can join are quite focussed, eg if you join the Hare Krishna community it will just teach their approach. A year is quite a long time to commit, so my advice is to prepare yourself, try out and research the huge variety of spiritual paths first, and find what rings true for you, before joining a monastery.

@mandyjw yes me too, (the female not the middle-aged part) I've tried to understand why; perhaps I was subconsciously confusing the name Nahm with Naomi. @exhale @Eugenio I relate to this. It's tempting to present our conclusions as fact, and minimise all the work we've been through to get there - including all the times I've changed my mind! I do it too. But then I remember Krishnamurti's teaching which stresses seeing truth freshly in the moment, free of memory. As someone still on the path, I regularly need to remind myself to observe what's actually happening with an open mind. This (hopefully) avoids me chasing an idea of what the truth is and make it easier to see the actual truth, whatever it is (map vs territory). Not that hearing other people's ideas is wrong, I do it all the time and it's very helpful, but when I put it into practice it is one more thing to let go.

Forgiveness of sin = Letting go. Both in the sense of letting go of the resentment of past immoral actions; also letting go of the relative truth into the absolute (and reconnecting with God).

December is nearly here, time for a review. MEDITATION Daily body scan not working so well for a whole month. It does help my concentration and body awareness, but doesn't give me deep insight and awakening like the letting go (being) practice. So plan for December is to practice 3 weeks letting go (being) and 1 week concentration (body scan or navel contemplation) per month to find a better balance between insight and concentration. The other issue is I'm currently only sitting for about 20 mins in the evening. This isn't enough, I could do with ideally 30 mins morning + evening. I need to challenge myself more on this. MINDFULNESS This is what I used to call 'daily life practice'. Things like awareness of the present moment, doing one thing at a time, pay attention to my mind before reacting on autopilot. And this is where self-enquiry practice works better for me, rather than in formal sitting sessions, because I have more sense of self to work on. I can move into brief moments of nondual awareness in daily life, which was a bit disconcerting at first - how could I cope with practical tasks like walking down the pavement if there is no self/other - but the body-mind still copes without the ego to control it! And I only get short glimpses then back comes the relative, dual state. It's as if my mind can flip between relative and absolute states by itself as appropriate. Stop trying to control it and chase the nondual Mr Silene! WEIGHT Stable but I haven't lost any more (too many binges) so I need to push myself to achieve that last 1/2 stone loss!

@VeganAwake Greetings, and many thanks for your reply, great explanation and video I'm still left with a slight quibble about the word enlightenment, although I get the idea that we're already enlightened, but there's still some veil or illusion to clear out. Sooo, a bit more light is needed to fully awaken? I'm still clinging onto the idea of Two Truths Doctrine - relative and absolute truth. Relative truth being my comfort zone of course!

Holy communion = common union with the whole. God loves you even if you don't believe in him = Christian equivalent of 'you're already enlightened whether you realise it or not.' Sin is separation from God = ego consciousness throws us out of nondual awareness, ie the Garden of Eden)

" In the most cases i make them regret for what they confrontet me because i am big and strong playing very rude and arogant against them." Sport is full of egos rubbing up against each other in a physical way. Just observing it all can be a good insight onto yourself. What's the motivation behind all this confrontation and oneupmanship? Perhaps the ego is in a habit of thinking it's in a zero sum game, I can raise my status by pushing you down. Winners and losers. " Soon after that when i got home the sadness and regret in me is coming. Sometimes i just want to cry for what i did, dont get me wrong not that i beat them up, i just start play very rude. So what would be the best option, to quit play football. " If you feel bad about the confrontation then I suggest changing your response, try experimenting with something different to break the cycle of aggressiveness. Humour is a good alternative, if you can think of a good reply. Humour has a way of deflating the egos (yours and theirs) and levelling us, if it's said without putting the other person down. Sometimes just smiling at someone is enough. Also work on your conditioning, meditation and mindfulness can help you to respond to a situation rather than react. But please don't quit football over this if you love it, just raising your consciousness is all you need - like the rest of us

Even the experience of oneness comes as a package. I don't think I can understand one without also understanding two, three, four, even zero and infinity. Is that what Being is doing through us, exploring all possible facets of possibly? Then, if I can drop the whole package to see what lies beneath it all ... is the actuality still a noun called oneness, or a paradox where unity = diversity? That's what I'm trying to find out.

I'm not a Christian now, but was raised as one. A bit of artistic licence perhaps but here goes: Holy Spirit = Spirit of Wholeness. "I am the way, the truth and the life, no-one comes to the Father except through me" = Self enquiry, ie realise God through your own "I", not Jesus'. "I and the Father are one" = Nonduality. "I am that I am" = I am That, I am (cf Thou art That, or Tat Tvam Asi from Hinduism). This leads me to think that God the Father symbolically represents the absolute reality, Brahman. Jesus represents the individual relative self (I'm rejecting Jesus is uniquely the son of God), and the Holy Spirit represents that which reconciles the relative and absolute realities together. Therefore there's a threefold image, like the pre-Christian Triskelion.

I would just echo that it's generally not a good time to be making life-changing decisions like dropping out of college / university, or ending relationships when you're feeling depressed. You may regret it later, so please try to address the depression before quitting, so you will be in a better place to make big decisions on your future. I would suggest opening up to your tutor or pastoral support as this type of problem is unfortunately quite common and if it's a good college. they should have a support system to help you and take off some of the pressure.

@Nak Khid Thanks for the explanation, I'm taking off my devil's advocate hat now I think we need to read Spinoza in his historical context, when there was a big dualistic divide between the natural and supernatural worlds. He was revolutionary enough to collapse the duality into a monistic or pantheist view. Nowadays, if you come from an essentially stage orange materialistic atheist culture (as I do), supernatural God is already out if the equation, and we have a material form of monism. Therefore, the relevance of Spinoza today is to bring back God / Nature / Consciousness as equal to physical matter, so we can transcend all these limited ideas. @Leo Gura you're right, I haven't reached this level of consciousness in a stable way yet, but I have had brief glimpses. I'm working on it (just started a journal), and however good the philosophy is, I know it's a pale shadow of the real thing.