cetus

@Ilya Even rarely is a good start. It takes time and practice to override a well engrained response. For example. Warning: graphic content!! I went to the dermatologist last week to have a cancerous growth from the sun removed from 'my' arm. When I seen the DR. heading at me with the scalpel in hand I got a little apprehensive at first. A perfectly natural response of course. But than I override that automatic response and it became 'just an arm'. I than watched as he carefully removed the tissue in a detached manner. His assistant actually asked me 'How can you watch that?' 'Are you going to be O.K?. I guess she was afraid that I was going to pass out or something. I just replied 'Yea, I'm fine. it doesn't bother me'. I even made a little joke about my dog scratching my leg with her claw, just to reassure her I was fine. But what I was actually doing was putting practice to the test by overriding the natural response that it was 'my arm'. I than watched as he sown it back up again. It was really cool to remain so totally detached from 'my arm'. It was almost as if I was watching a mechanic working on a car.

What is a genuine answer? Does such a thing exist? Will a genuine answer today be the same in a week. Or a month?

I keep mine on the pillow next to me..

@ShanmugamA tree resides in bliss because it doesn't know it's a tree.

@The White Belt I think the pictures of teachers are there to represent the teachings beyond the physical.

@Shrek_Of_Justice You've got that right! It's like living in a bubble of thought. I remember the my first 'escape' from the bubble of thought and concept. I sat there for hours silently observing people running around, going from one place to another. Doing their scheduled chores right on schedule. I gotta do this. I gotta do that. I gotta be here now. I gotta be there after. On and on and on. And they're all running over each other just to keep their schedule on schedule. It looked like absolute insanity from where I was standing. It was so alien because I couldn't relate to anything that was happening at that moment. Like I was in a totally different country with a totally different culture, and I totally didn't fit in. haha That's why I say you don't see it happening until you actually step out of it and view it from the outside. I remember thinking 'Holy shit, that's me too!. I've been literally sleep walking through life.

@Not a shaolin monk Well let's step back and take a good look at this. First there is the labeling of 'weird' and 'regretful'. That's ego creating judgement. And your concerned about that hampering 'spiritual progress'. Were you bought up in a Catholic background? Never mind. That's me. haha I say find a partner who willingly shares to explore all the same avenues as you. -and who knows, maybe both of you will reach Nirvana Tonight.

@TJ Reeves Have you ever felt the collective consciousness of the planet and it literally bought you to your knees?

@WaterfallMachine I have some advise. Don't play into the hands of the ego. Let the truth slowly integrate. It takes time to settle in. Hopefully your still young and discovered this at an early age. If you are, that is very good. If your not too young, that is good too. Better late than never as the old saying goes. Here's a thought for ya. You could go through your whole life watching the sun cross the sky from sunrise till sunset and mistakenly think it is the sun that moves across the sky. But that is a misconception of reality. What you discovered about yourself is a lot like realizing this for the first time. Reality has not changed one bit. You've only awoken to the truth as it has always been and dropped the misconception.

@Brody You are allowed to do anything once you see there is no you to do anything.

As far as mental masturbation goes, it could be a form of resistance to truth. Other times I think it's done to keep the ego stroked. And as for others, it may be a form of escapism. Ego substituting one habitual obsession for another.

All joking aside though, it's not only the forum by any means. I see myself working within this conceptual framework along with society at large. It's like a well oiled machine than seems_ _ _ scheduled? or something? Maybe that's it? Conceptual schedules within conceptual borders. Whatever it is, it's a real framework for sure. When your in it you don't realize it's even happening, unless the perspective is changed by some means.

@Shrek_Of_Justice Now that your LSD trip is over, welcome back to the forum for some serious hallucination.

A pig and chicken head to a restaurant for a bite to eat. The sign outside reads 'Todays Special Ham and Eggs'. The pig says to the chicken, Oh no, I'm not going in there! The chicken says to the pig, 'Don't be afraid, I'm not'. The pig says, 'That's easy for you to say. From you they only want a donation. From me they want total surrender.

Could you use a good laugh along the spiritual Path? If so this would certainly do it.

@Visionary Try this. Open both B-beats above at the same time. It takes on more of a surround sound with both playing simultaneously.

@The White BeltBefore the waterfall there is turbulence. After the waterfall there is calm.

I like what the questioner said- "everything felt very unreal and outputting, I was glad to be back'. It is like that for the ego. I said to someone on the forum just last week "when the ego sees true reality as it is, it usually turns away from the raw-stark truth. Only in the absence of ego do we truly realize how much the ego colors reality. As Rupert put it so well "the solidity of it is gone'.

@John Iverson *I tried Binaural Beats for a while but stopped because they were too programed or something. I prefer just sitting in nature and dissolve into what it offers. Here is an experience @All_Around_Me had with B-beats. I was meditating using binaural beats and at one point, when I felt `emptiness` in my head and lost the sense of my body and my eyelids began to twitch very fast, I became really scared. I noticed (if I can say so) my own horror, though it felt quite distant. Also I felt an intense pressure in a forehead zone. I stopped to meditate, however the feeling of floating didn`t disappear at once. Also when I came up to a mirror I had a strange feeling that I am looking at myself not from my own eyes. I had a feeling that I expanded. All that scared me a lot and I had a panic. However the next day I felt quite okay. I didn`t meditate for two days (because of fear), but at the same time I wanted to, so I meditated yesterday. Even though I did it without any music I felt that floating sensation and `empty head` once more. After that I panicked as well. That night I woke up after 90 minutes of sleep and couldn`t fall asleep again. I have a high pulse rate and high blood pressure right now. Can anybody explain me what actually is going on with me and what should I do? Or can you tell me about techniques that can stabilize my condition? I would be very thankfull.

One of the hardest things when your trying to effect change is that_ _ people like this gentleman_ _ are right- In some cases. Steve Jobs

@Prabhaker I read that. Interesting. This is a bit off the subject, but what is the spiritual significance of 108? *2)Chanting Gayatri Mantra 108 times during the Sunset will keep you away of Black Magic Always.

@Amit @Prabhaker Could the hair be valuable to someone? Maybe for high priced wigs sold on the black market or something? Just a thought.

@Dodo You gotta love Adyashanti. What I said about whether nothingness is conscious awareness or not has a lot to do with how I feel theses days and I'm questioning what is true reality. I could throw out knowing all together. It's ran it's silly course.

Watch what happens @10:15