An young being

The most important aspect of nature is that it is not man-made. We can look at intricate patterns of nature only in awe, and not with pride , like we do for human creations. This in turn makes them beneficial for our happiness.

Thank you for the compliment! ( My mind's subtle expectation mechanisms doing the work here) Like you have said, spiritual practices also can create the need for more and more, when the desire is very strong and the desire is due to curiosity or a thirst for knowledge, instead of a search to escape suffering.

You have misunderstood me here, maybe because of the word 'geared'. I meant the activity, not the person doing it. What you are talking about here are expectations, and there's no doubt having expectations is egoistic since you are desiring something to happen in a certain way. What you have to notice firmly here is that although a person initially may do these spiritual activities like mindfulness, spending time in nature, meditation, being selfless etc. with the desire or expectations of happiness or freedom from suffering, the experience of doing these activities itself gradually reduces your expectations, mainly because of the sense of fulfillment or ego less nature associated with such activities. This in turn makes you less egoistic. A lot of Hindu and Buddhist techniques focus on reducing such expectations in life.

Two different views for the same word, burning 🔥 both are interesting, one sounds like pointing towards karmic reaction that creates and ends suffering, the other points towards physical death due to body not being able to handle excess energy. I don't know which is correct, but the second one sounds a safer bet lol.

You are right in the sense that both desires arise due to a craving for good emotions like pleasure and happiness or to get rid of bad emotions like pain and suffering. Both materialistic and spiritual paths are taken to feel good. What is to be understood from this insight is that people pursuing both desires are not different in any moral sense, and hence people should not be judged for taking a materialistic path. But what creates the opposite polarity between materialistic and spiritual paths ( here materialistic can be assumed as geared towards pleasure , and spiritual as geared towards bliss) is the ego. Any activity geared towards pleasure is egoistic in nature. For example, take a car. If you buy a Mercedes to showcase yourself as rich before others, it is egoistic in nature. If you do it for the sake of enjoying the experience, it can't be termed as entirely materialistic, kindly note the difference). Any activity geared towards bliss is self less or ego less in nature. For example, relationships, kind and compassionate activities, enjoying nature, being in a flow state, mindfulness etc. If you're in a spiritual path and you are meditating with the intention to become a powerful god, it's still egoistic, please note the difference here as well) There are not assumptions here, as plenty of scientific researches point out to these as a more long lasting forms of happiness. Also, karma is a formidable force that rewards effort but punishes egoistic activities, if you believe in spiritual traditions. Why does the universe or God differentiate between these two qualities? That many of you I believe know the answer. For those who don't, the answer lies in the direction towards which the universe moves.

Looks like there's no way to stay blissful and pleasurable at the same time!

What do you mean by burning? A burning physical sensation?

Spirituality comes in various degrees, it's not necessary to teach everyone about advanced stuff like awakening, infinity or even meditation. Having faith in a higher power, having hope in difficult times, developing selfless habits, kindness , compassion, being mindful, spending some time alone etc. are all important aspects of spirituality. If one starts life's journey from level 0, he has the potential to go to higher and higher levels till level 10, and hence an opportunity for wider experiences. if one starts from level 9, he can go only upto level 10, but still he can feel happy for being at a higher level. That's how life gets balanced, someone's life journey can start from level 0 and finish somewhere in between, which is also an equally beautiful story.

It's not necessary to be completely free of desires. What's necessary is trying to reach the point at which you will be happy and contended with your suffering.

Looks like you have somehow switched off recording of the memories and also connections to other memories in waking state! The loss of time might be due to a cue from your environment or body clock. Glad that it led you towards Spirituality!

Most are seeking experiences of different forms, while the remaining are living the experiences.

If you don't have any memory of being not aware, what else made you think that there was no awareness? Was it similar to waking up after sleep? Or a black picture during the experience is registered in your memory?

Great! We take the world for granted, but there are uncountable number of stuffs like this which make the world interesting and enables us to be in awe at creation.

When it becomes addictive, yes!

What do you mean by awareness here?

There's a condition which causes blood colour to appear green : sulfhemoglobin

All human beings will die one day

You can always share it here, most of the people here like it !

Meditation itself on it's own can arise a lot of inner demons and reactions when not done with the right intention. That's why most Spiritual practices emphasize to follow lots of moral and disciplinary activities to keep the ego in check.

Great, thank you for the detailed explanation!

One kind of resource which in my opinion can encourage suicidal tendencies are resources having or sharing bleak or nilhistic viewpoints, or those leading to having no sense of purpose of existence, including sollipism. Discussion of such beliefs should be done with moderation and positiveness, as such can easily to lead to loss of sense of purpose in life, especially when consumed by people in lower conscious states.

Why does Wikipedia say cessation mean the stopping of the craving or desire? Is cessation same as ego dissolution or something else? In Buddhism, nirodha, "cessation," "extinction," or "suppression,"[1] refers to the cessation or renouncing of craving and desire. It is the third of the Four Noble Truths, stating that suffering (dukkha) ceases when craving and desire are renounced.

Here's one such crumb: https://bigthink.com/mind-brain/we-now-know-what-a-spiritual-awakening-looks-like-inside-the-brain/

It's true that most don't care about things like how the universe works, why do I exist etc. It might be because people are afraid to know certain truths. For example, if I am doing lots of selfish things because of my ego,( which most people do), I wouldn't want to know if God really exists and he would punish us for them. But what many people would like to know is a way to end the suffering they are undergoing. That's why they are getting attracted to spiritual leaders in large numbers, to find a source for happiness. That's what most people seem to care about, a way to be happier or to be in heaven.

It maybe because you haven't provided enough bread crumbles for them to reach that place called awakening. You can't say heaven exists ( not saying awakening is heaven though), and expect people to believe in heaven. You will be regarded as another guy who is a religious fanatic. Instead, you should build steps for them to help them see it for themselves. For that, you should break your own beliefs and become more open minded. You can't regard awakening as something achievable through only specific means, and not reachable by a rational mind. For example, if you wish to explain awakening to a scientific person, you should point them towards researches that deals with awakening, such as researches on long term meditators, psychedelics etc. and point to the fact that no conclusive evidence exists which suggests that it's simply a mental phenomenon. In that way, you'll be able to establish such spiritual experiences rationally to a scientific minded person.