ajasatya

@Mart From personal experience, you'll be fine if you manage to allocate some time in your weekly schedule to silence the mind and recharge your batteries. Of course I'm not talking about crutches like playing videogames, drinking alcohol or smoking weed. I'm talking about genuine yogic practices that will cleanse your thoughts and alleviate the tensions in your body. If you're able to do that, the outcome will be a stronger version of yourself, which, alone, is worth a thousand times more than the material/intellectual outcome if your hard work. In other words, find your internal source of energy and channel it. Do it.

My beard just grew like 1 mm just from reading the words above. Thanks!

Amazing question! The answer is... test it out Try staying away from contents related to self-actualization and give up on contemplating deep aspects of Life for a while. Good luck!

@reves Nice! Keep it up Just be aware of the movement of the mind quickly trying to make sense of everything right after the mystical experience wears off. It may take a few months/years until the mind finally gives up and accepts the mystical nature of Reality. A deeeeep dive into the Unknown!

@Chumbimba Beware. Toxic attachment can be easily confused with Love. Would you be happy if her happiness did not depend on you? If she suddenly decided to let go of you and were sincere about it? A major symptom of attachment is emotional codependency. A great signal of Love is authentic autonomy.

Because the goal is not to be better than others. The goal is to be the best version of ourselves, offering the best of us to the world. I like the idea of being an average person (a lot). An average person in the sense that I don't fantasize about being superior or inferior to anyone. But It doesn't mean that my work needs to have the same quality as the work of an average professional. I experience higher levels of satisfaction on my job when I feel that I'm working on my peak.

Fundamentally speaking, the "real world" is a mystical experience, but we have a hard time noticing it unless we cultivate an extremely disciplined and sharp mind. However, in order to address your question more specifically, the short answer is yes. Enough well-integrated mystical experiences can provide the foundation to deal with real world issues. The whole package of wisdom that the OP was talking about (tenderness, temperance, patience, justice, willpower, compassion, forgiveness etc) can be attained without the need to rely on cultural baggage (religions and such). Rather, it's possible to comprehend why a virtuous mindset/behavior is a noble goal just from understanding who we truly are. This is where I come back to the OP's topic. A hand connected to a sane mind will not harm the other hand that's connected to the same mind. Going up a few layers of abstraction, a human being that's deeply connected to the source of BEING will think twice before causing any harm. Virtue/Wisdom can be derived from genuine experiences of oneness.

Your children will copycat your ways of thinking, speaking and acting. Being an exemplary human being is the first huge step. Most parents can't get this done.

@Soul-lover 2020 The problem is that reading is not enough. Watching videos is not enough. Thinking heavily on this matter is not enough. Only visceral mystical experiences can aid the thirst of true seekers. This is why some of us go to retreats, some take psychedelics and some do both.

Hello @Soul-lover 2020! I understand the place you're speaking from, but this is a community of seekers. By "seekers" I mean that we don't take what others say as granted. None of it. The words of Leo should be taken with a grain of salt. Even the words historical figures such as Buddha, Jesus Christ and Krishna are mere references and should be taken with a grain of salt too. Gospels that were validated by Christian authorities are just as valid as gospels that weren't. By sincerely seeking, we can't be fundamentally right or wrong. We can just follow our thirst. There's nothing to prove or disprove. It's not about being an intellectual or debunking others. The path of the seeker is the path towards what feels True, which is not an easy task because what feels True may contradict with what sounds true. And this is why we're together... we're here to share our experiences, which may help others to understand what they're going through. I wish you the best and I hope that you, as a believer of the words of Jesus Christ, attain a better understanding about the way of the seeker. Good luck!

It depends on what you mean by "genuine". I'd say that you can have feelings that are less intoxicated by the experiences of the avatar you're living. True existential contemplation is prior to "I'm a man/woman", "My name is X" or "I want to be Y".

Thoughts manifest as mental words, sounds and/or images. Emotions happen in the body and are triggered by thoughts. For instance, the thought "I am late" can trigger anxiety and accelerate your heart beats.

@Peter124 Build and publish a first class portfolio that shows who you are through your art.

@sausagehead If you were someone else, would you ask the same question? See, BEING is prior to the feeling of "I am this person, this is my body and this is my name". It's not the other way around.

Lack of thirst, I'd say. Are you really uncomfortable with your current state of being? You may think "Yes, I am" but I recommend that you stop and consider the following food for thought: True discomfort is so annoying that it makes the process of changing require no discipline. That's obviously not an absolute truth and I am not trying to disempower you or anything like that. I'm just saying that maybe you haven't formalized your reasons to do what you want to do.

The polarization across India is a very old story. I don't know what you're talking about. If anything, he was the main hand behind the creation of Pakistan, a country designed to be inhabited by Muslims as an attempt to mitigate the religious conflicts. Gandhi also worked really hard to free India from the exploratory practices of the England's crown. Do you know what it takes to gather hundreds of millions of unarmed individuals to fight against the power of rapacious strangers?

If you're aware of the consequences, then do it. This is my 2 cents.

I think you're missing a broader perspective. First of all, "shallow" and "joyful" people are not that joyful. Get closer to them and inspect their patterns. You'll notice that they're very neurotic, fearful and anxious. It's to be expected that most people on an online forum of personal development talk from a place of anguish, bitterness, guilt, shame etc. Healing is a long process that requires bravery and a strong commitment. This is not an easy task. But if you stay for long enough you'll notice that people grow up and heal (slowly). Full healing may happen in a few years, a few decades or may not happen in an entire lifetime. It is rare but it exists.

@SQAAD Engage in a serious yogic practice. Unblock the flow of sexual energy in your body. Don't allow it to get stuck in your abdomen area.

The problem is hypocrisy. There are a lot of men who are still unable to experience a good intimate relationship with women and yet they preach their words as if they had some kind of superior knowledge on the field. This issue is not limited to this forum. This is just general human behavior. Hypocrisy is one of the worst poisons of mankind.

@UDT You can do things just for the sake of doing and enjoying the process. How come does listening to music and appreciating it has anything to do with surviving?

@electroBeam Then what's the difference between you wanting and God wanting?

Do you want to change that? Where does God end and you start?

Where is "God"?

Make your heart beat, transform food into energy and body parts, absorb fuel from thin air with your lungs, transform thoughts into understandable words, wake up in the morning several days, generate a new human being etc. There are many magic tricks that you can perform