eskwire

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Posts posted by eskwire

  1. Posted

    3 hours ago, Space said:

    The majority of your focus should go into noticing experience. In response to one of the other comments here, you absolutely can actually whisper the label physically, as opposed to just saying it in your mind. Shinzen Young advocates this if you find your concentration is low. I find it's very effective and usually start out by quietly whispering the labels with my mouth. If you've got good concentration though you can just say them mentally. 

    This is fair, but not Vipassana. Don't do this if you are trying to practice Vipassana exclusively.

  2. Posted · Edited by eskwire

    @PsiloPutty No labels. Don't whisper anything ever. Always come back to awareness of body/breath when the mind has wandered but don't work in labels. Remember the mind is learning through the body not the other way around. Vipassana involves no labels whatsoever - other meditation styles do and your mind will do it regardless, but remember that it is not desirable for this specific practice.

    Yes you can do it at night. Ghoenke recommends it. 

    You will learn everything at your retreat and it is best learned there. 

  4. Posted · Edited by eskwire

    11 hours ago, nahtanoj said:

    Can you explain the details of your meditation? 

    It's Vipassana. Have you heard of the free 10 day retreats? It is best to learn the technique there rather than try to read instructions or learn it second-hand.

    It's essentially a concentration practice, followed by a body scan. The method is taught in layers at those retreats and they put you in an environment where you make huge changes and get established in the practice.

    I met a lot of people from Florida at the Southeast Vipassana Center - Dhamma Patapa - in Jesup, Georgia. Have you ever considered going?

  5. Posted · Edited by eskwire

    ....and here is a story about being free.

    I was "bouldering" today (walking and climbing around on big rocks) in a pretty controlled environment. Like the spazz that I am, I slipped and SHATTERED my ankle.

    It took the ER a little under 2 hours to give me pain medication. Meditation (Vipassana specifically) worked like a CHARM during this period of intense Hell - when a nurse, doc, or administrator interrupted my meditation to ask me the same 5 questions 16 times, my entire body shook in pain. It looked like a seizure. While meditating, nothing like that. I was contented.

    I continued to meditate throughout the day. My roommate commented a few times on how stoic I was through all of this, including being told I needed surgery and having huge needles stuck into my crazy swollen ankle. The hospital staff was happy to joke and laugh with us, and thanked me for my patience with them. 

    This practice of Vipassana has done incredible things in my life, for my former alcohol addiction, and now the ability to look at this event as a series of mental exercises. I am so grateful for Vipassana and wanted to express that to y'all. I hope that if you have ever considered going, you will take the plunge and do it.

  8. Posted

    @Nathan Don't clam up. You came here to talk to us.

    Here's what I think you said happened...

    When you left your house, you were sober.

    You ended up with a lot of drugs in your system, arrested. 

    Now you are back home and taking hella benzos.

    If you're faded, you're faded. You're not going to have sharp insights or good memories. 

    So, why did you do this? Why did you wander away from home?

  9. Posted

    16 hours ago, Mighty Mouse said:

    Yes but that different way of living doesn't hinge on enlightenment, so it's not evidence of enlightenment. Enlightenment is not the natural state

    People always assume it is because that's what they've heard, but it's not in and of itself. It's just something you pass through along the way.

    This is where the difference between growth and truth becomes crucial.

    Neti neti...

    I don't think we are talking about the same "state," but thaz ok. Have a nice weekend!

  12. Posted

    @Sartanion I have a Master's Degree and looking for work with it is degrading and shitty. It's not instant credibility in my experience. 

    If I were young, I would study philosophy as cheap as possible - to think, enjoy that age, and also get to study abroad. Then, an ashram. Then, I would have started my own business or at least learned the art of hustling contract work. 

    I am 31 now with a degree I don't care about, a lot of business acumen, and nowhere to direct it. I am essentially starting now where I wish I had started 10 years ago, but with a ton of fucking student debt. 

  15. Posted

    21 hours ago, eskwire said:

    Such confusion on this forum. It was nice to see you smile, Leo - feeling no difference between the body and the world is ineffable and I cried a little bit sharing that with someone. It's not like it sounds and we don't get to talk about it with loved ones. That is why this place is special. ? I am holding questions and observing my own judgements.

    I withheld and observed - and now I've seen the beginning of the follow-up. While watching the enlightenment experience video, I noticed judgement in my mind about the repetition and consolidation of ideas previously discussed in other videos. It seemed peculiar to phrase things in the exact same way. Perhaps experiences vary, but during awakening for me, it was too stunning for words, let alone the same words forged in the previous paradigm. While we can discuss stages of awakening, the process of awakening and integration, the value of learning from psychedelic trips vs just tripping balls, and misunderstanding about abiding enlightenment - this all comes down to whether or not you believe psychedelically induced enlightenment is equivalent to "old school" enlightenment. That does appear to be a belief, and a fundamental one to the discussion at hand. I personally do not believe they are the same. I can't say that I am disappointed, because he appeared pretty clearly to be tripping, and it was nice to see him smile. To me, psychedelics are medicine, and one should not lean too heavily on them.

  18. Posted

    @Revolutionary Think Why does something become impossible simply because an individual actor isn't "doing" it?

    Actually, now that this is brought up, enlightenment is the perfect example of reality happening to you.

    Look at how people work on enlightenment but they don't even know exactly what it is. They aren't putting a jigsaw puzzle together following the picture on the box. Nobody gives you a picture. Nobody can help you really do it, they just give exercises that correlate with it occurring in some people. 

    Cool huh?

  20. Posted

    4 hours ago, Nahm said:

    @eskwire I was born, I’m alive, I will die, there is a God, I am a seperate entity, God is a seperate entity, the laws of physics are consistent, I am alone, I am not alone, the laws of quantum phycsics are consistent, anything exists beyond my awareness, something is real, something is not real, something exists, something does not exist, I am God, I am not God, I am judged, I am the judge, there is no judge, there is an objective reality, there is no objective reality, I am conditioned, I am not conditioned, my expression and experience of love is filtered, it is unfiltered, my happiness if contingent, not contingent, I love conditionally through self, I love unconditionally. That would be a good start. 

    Sorry, I'm confused about the exercise. Which column do these go under, experienced or belief? What are some examples of what you would write under "experienced"? Thanks!

  21. Posted

    On 11/3/2017 at 7:20 AM, Nahm said:

    @phoenix666 make two columns on a piece, or 1000 pieces of paper; experienced, and belief. Be Uber honest with yourself, and start putting everything in those columns. This is an easy way to surface many ah ha’s! I found it shocking - the things I thought were true, but realized were not at all. The conditioning of this world is very deep. Very very deep. 

    Can you give some examples of what you would write in each column?

  22. Posted

    18 minutes ago, Damir Elezi said:

    And to anyone who is reading this who is feeling desperate or suffers in any kind of way at the moment - don't worry too much. There is always somebody to help you, always some way to get through. If you really look, really want a solution, you will find it. I truly believe in you, no matter who you are. Because I believe that anybody has the potential to create the life he/she wants - in fact everybody does create the life he/she wants anyway, either consciously or not. You are a powerful being, my friend. Keep your head up and just keep working on yourself. 

    Needed that, thank you! ?

  23. Posted

    @aurum I like your new picture. You look happy and seem to have made some big strides!

    @kieranperez My last name is Perez, too. Hope we are cousins!!! ? I believe you are 22 if I recall correctly from another post. You must go through your terrible twenties like we all did/do. It's an incredible developmenal period and very much an odyssey. There is so much idealism, confusion, and doubt. This is your time to figure out how to make money and what you want in a partner. You are going to fall on your ass and make mistakes while you do that. So, don't psych yourself out about getting to your end goals from where you are now. A lot is going to happen to you in 8 years. A lot. Like, a lot. Don't even try to conceptualize it. Just start taking some action, one thing at a time. 

  25. Posted

    2 hours ago, Wormon Blatburm said:

    The only thing I disagee with is that a good thing to do is to make self actualization the primary goal of your life and run around like a chicken with its head cut off thinking there's something you need to "fix" about yourself 24/7.

    Nobody is telling you to think about it this way. That is your interpretation of it, likely filtered through your own neuroses.

    I think about it that way from time to time, but then realize I don't have to. The insights, techniques, and motivation are here for me as I go through ups and downs, interest and disinterest. 

    If you are feeling like a chicken with its head cut off, you are at an early stage of development, doing all of this from a negative place. Step back and regroup. Make sure you are growing from a place of joy.

    Good luck! And you were being pretty disrespectful to someone who has changed your life so much. Why are you so angry? Why does one perceived contradiction about should statements make you fly off the handle? You're not in Leo prison. Nobody is forcing anything on you and you obviously keep coming back here. Shit, it's free content you can stream anytime!