Koeke

Yeah I would love to hear more. If you could refer us to some other source that would be much appreciated as well.

I would love to see a talk with an Enlightened mystic.

Ok, fair enough. It wasn't entirely clear on the first read however. People are leaving the forum because of that.

@Leo Gura I don't wanna harsh your vibe, man, but could you please explain your take on the alleged "discrepancy" between these two quotes? God has nothing to do with these choices you make in comparison to any other potential choice, so any God-talk is irrelevant.

Why ? and what other meditations do you consider part of this category?

Nice ! @The Zen Viking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z3P-rWxcbc from 3:24 onwards. I have not achieved khechari mudra, only on weed a few times. It seemed quite powerful, but maybe that was just the initial excitement of achieving it. You don't have to do talabya kriya during practice time. Don't worry too much. A lot of kriya is about relaxation, developing a certain poise.

You also said this: "Anyone who claims other minds, or allows for even theoretical possibility of other minds is not fully awake." So you're saying there is an end to awakening and also that it is essentially unlimited. How do you reconcile that?

See other post and links It feels more peaceful, easy, honest, direct, simple, sane. I have not mastered what I am talking about but I am going in this direction although I don't always zoom out enough to see that. About seeing that Life and life are the same: read the quote from Marcus Aurelius again and also try to imagine what a person you know personally, who you consider balanced, compassionate, open-minded and authentic, but who has no idea of non-duality or metaphysics; imagine what they would think of you and your posts. So without them judging you.

@mandyjw again, an accident. Here is the post:

@mandyjw sorry. This @ is an accident. Can't remove it https://www.mctb.org/mctb2/table-of-contents/part-i-the-fundamentals/7-the-seven-factors-of-awakening/

There are not two yous. The mind creates that. Notice there can be an infinite amount of instances of finite self-reference. So you notice how your mind is perpetuating its tendencies, then you reference/include that by thinking that that is annoying, then you recognise/include that pattern and describe it like you do in the quote above. Go on... what do you think about the ego's expression formulated in the quote above? You see? You can go on forever. The better method is to FEEL into the ever-changing ego-mind's form that is more smooth and compassionate. You are expressing/creating/changing a limited human perspective right now and in your post. What does it (you) want? Dig into this some more. Very relatable, beautifully expressed <3 What process? There is only the Now. The sense of a process is at least partially produced by the feeling of lack you feel now. To deconstruct the sense of a process, you need to deconstruct the sense of lack, for that you need to FEEL into what you are lacking. These "addictive, impatient and self-serving tendencies" do not grasp the fundamental sense of lack, they serve to avoid the confrontation with it. They can't grasp the fundamental sense of lack because it is Infinitely Rich, Complex, Changing and Beautiful! Yes exactly. Again: you seem to be reacting to a reaction to a thought instead of merging with the whole dynamic of reacting. This merging is what I mean by feeling. Your sort of "dry", analytical ability to "see" the true nature of things seems to be strong (stronger than mine) (AKA mindfulness, investigation, energy), but you have not developed the qualities of joy, concentration, equanimity and tranquility. See the link I'll send in the next post. Writing this post was helpful for me, so I just sort of kept going and therefore I am sure I have projected a lot of myself onto you but cannot distinguish what is what, so please disregard the portions when you feel that is what's going on. Because of this and because I am on mobile I couldn't really make it more linear and easy to understand. Throughout this whole post I am trying to point to the same boundary you seem to create between thinking and feeling. I'll also send a link to a post of mine on this forum that describes sort of a similar situation. Someone there recommended me a book called "Seeing that frees" , which I haven't read yet but I like the title. You might want to check it out.

Does this knowing occur now? Who does the knowing? Does the knowing continually happen or only when not engaged in any activity or thinking? What is the boundary of this knowing? Look for the boundary between feeling and knowing something conceptually. I can only empathize. Personally I feel like I am attached to my conceptual knowing and want to apply that forcefully onto my being and feelings. Perhaps I am merely projecting myself instead of empathizing. For me, this quote from Marcus Aurelius was helpful: "Men seek retreats for themselves - in the country, by the sea, in the hills - and you yourself are particularly prone to this yearning. But all this is quite unphilosophic, when it is open to you, at any time you want, to retreat into yourself. No retreat offers someone more quiet and relaxation than that into his own mind, especially if he can dip into thoughts there which put him at immediate and complete ease: and by ease I simply mean a well-ordered life. So constantly give yourself this retreat, and renew yourself. The doctrines you will visit there should be few and fundamental, sufficient at one meeting to wash away all your pain and send you back free of resentment at what you must rejoin." - Marcus Aurelius Meditations 4:3 "dip into thoughts there which put him at immeditae and complete ease: and by ease I simply mean a well-ordered life." this inspired me to realize life and Life are the same. Go to yourself where the boundary of feeling and thinking is, so to speak. And let your insights adjust your nervous system and sense of a disordered life.

You don't value having a teacher around on a retreat? What else makes you think meditating solo is superior?

How long do these symptoms last? If it lasts more than 3 days or so, that is quite unusual I believe. It's good you take it seriously.

@Vincent S or @Igor82 could you sent a link to the spotify playlist please? I don't have spotify so didn't add it there when i first viewed it on Chris' site. The reason I ask is because the site is now password protected.

with "true Christianity" do you mean the original culture of Christianity or the Christian teaching that points to the Absolute Truth and other valuable timeless lessons? If the former, I'd say we can't rely on a 2000 year old culture to get us through new challenges, so then of course it is not compatible. Meaning and significance is not objectively derived from words and we shouldn't have to fully endorse a valuable resource to use it. We can't exclude LGBTQ people anymore and we shouldn't. If the latter, then why wouldn't it be compatible with certain parts of modern culture and values and modernity?

? What material of Peter Ralston is about shadow work?

By keeping it a secret in this way you are effectively saying to yourself that you can have no integrity regarding this matter. You need to reflect on your progress every once in a while because how else do you know you are progressing? There is and isn't such a thing as spiritual progression. Talking to people is actually great for evaluating and reflecting on it. You find out a lot about what was inside you all along that you weren't aware of, you can talk about struggles you have and get feedback, someone else can see patterns of self-delusion you might not see, someone can be more knowledgeable about certain models of progression and apply it to you or teach you them. But you're right in the sense that you shouldn't obsess over it, you shouldn't talk to people that aren't interested in it or are prone to jealousy and competition and you need to stay humble.

Is the chakra system holonic? Meaning that every chakra transcends and includes the chakras below it.

Beautiful post @Thought Art ! Respect man. Also, I respect that you can admit that you wanted to move too fast with your business. You can channel that energy into pushing your boundaries a little harder when working on your foundations. Btw: shouldn't relationships be part of your foundations list?

@Thought Art Cool. Would love to read about your experience!

@Igor82 thanks man! I just sent him an email asking him about it

I don't understand the point you're trying to make here. That belief can be powerful and provide effective results? Yes, will do. So in your experience, how does Cheng Hsin compare to these more secularly orientated institutions in Zen and Advaita? What is the baby that Peter and Brendan throw out with the bathwater?

But not if they understand the context of the video. Then they would reflect on the hurt caused by the word, hopefully.