Jacobsrw

A friend Iv been living with for several years now has made a major shift in lifestyle over the last year which has seen things with the household and surrounding experiences change. Specifically my intereactuin with him. He has converted to Islam to my knowledge. I do not see a problem with this, though I am cautious in conversation as sime things are not taken as lightly as others. He use to produce music and be heavily into the hip-hop scene, drink, party etc. and now doesn't touch a drop of alcohol, listen to music or dance. Rather he now has very structured morale and ethics on society. I'm happy for him but also concerned as it can be hard to conduct conversations at times. I have had beautiful conversations with him and very dysfunctional ones. His nature can be so kind and caring one moment then so hateful and domineering not long after. I steer away from debates, though his heavy political ideologs that he brings to almost every conversation urge me me to respond and make unnecessary comments at times. I still feel heavily ego influenced in conversations and experience triggering in some conversations. The main issue here is that I've been finding quite a debilitation on my sense of self recently and how I perceive things and interact. Usually this would not be of so much concern but recently things have changed. I sometime notice his strong morals and views have rubbed off on to me when I initiate in conversation with others and do certain activities. I feel like my sense of self is being manipulated into questionsing my own processes too irrationally. I usually have clear trajectory on my views but of recent it's been a little unstable in interaction with my friend, which is harming many other areas. I would lastly like to note I am dealing with health issues on my immune system which is causing fatigue anxiety and chronic bowel issues. my question is how does one interact with individuals highly dogmatic and irratic? He is quite smart in conversation and can use manipulation in language well, I feel compelled to respond when I know I shouldn't. Sometimes I feel the urge to deconstruct his views but I know that is ego so I avoid this at all costs. Should I make grounds clear on no unnecessary conversation for now or is there a method of conversation with highly ethical, political and moralistic individuals?

I just was curious if anyone has experimented with Leo's Shamanic breathing exercise? I did it earlier tonight, only lasted around 10 minutes, but wow I was quite surprised of the physiological sensations. My mouth went tingly, the muscles in my lips kept tightening and relaxing,. Arms and legs went tingly, and my body sort of stiffened when moving. I didn't notice any psychological differences except for a short period of calmness 5-10 post breathing. Although the breathing was only 10 minutes I checked my timer at 6 and a half minutes due to the sudden sensations and anxiousness that rose. I'm considering doing tomorrow at 10 minutes and then breaking it up weekly like Leo suggested. I see large potential in this excercise, after having explicit experiences in a minimal time period. any tips or shared experiences would be great as I would like to improve time duriatiob and continue this practice.

@Truth Addict did you find anything significant experienced after it? Or reckon you will do it again?

@Leo Gura do you believe this could be used before meditation to help initiate a more extensive session? If so, could it be done daily before each meditation session? For example 5-10 minutes before a 20 minute meditation session.

I did it earlier tonight, only lasted around 10 minutes, but wow I was quite surprised of the physiological sensations. My mouth went tingly, the muscles in my lips kept tightening and relaxing,. Arms and legs went tingly, and my body sort of stiffened when moving. I didn't notice any psychological differences except for a short period of calmness 5-10 post breathing. Although the breathing was only 10 minutes I checked my timer at 6 and a half minutes due to the sudden sensations and anxiousness that rose. I'm considering doing tomorrow at 10 minutes and then breaking it up weekly like Leo suggested. I see large potential in this excercise, after having explicit experiences in a minimal time period. any tips or shared experiences would be great as I would like to improve time duriatiob and continue this practice.

@Prabhaker the problem is he didn't understand the inflection point of passing through the ego process. He thinks Identity from the outside world is necessity for the entirety of ones life. He doesn't believe in a journey from the ego because identity from the outside is all he thinks there is. There fore in a paradigm of never understanding the self but from outside stimulus.

Hi Everyone, This is my first post here. I've been in and out of personal development over the last few years but more recently the last few months I've been taking it on more regularly. As I am aware it is a long journey in this work. My question is how do we deconstruct the ego? So basically I keep coming back to this topic of the Ego being the soul deriver of all emotional issues. The reason it keeps surfacing for me is due to my continual awareness and consciousness growing and making it easier to see where the ego is at fault for day to day circumstances. I feel a lot of guilt and sometimes shame after preventing any of my ego affiliated issues. Even though deep down I have this clarity that it is doing my inner level benefit it doesn't remove the negativity immediately afterwards. I've been trying to install a meditation habit to help build consciousness towards my negative egotistical behaviours. But so far I haven't been able to tap into it as of yet. I feel more then just being aware and building consciousness I need other infrastructures to help reconstruct my ego. Im minimising social media and trying to give my self adequate time of an evening for reflection, reading, meditation and so on. It's just so distracting when working a full time job, having a relationship and being in an environment that doesn't coincide with my mental movement. It's not that I have certain individuals attempting to push me off course it's just the mundane societal issues that make it continually hard and distracting for progression. any suggestions or onsights would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

@Prabhaker Due to your ambiguous insights previously on this thread. Just would like to ask a question on identity. I have recently spoke with a friend on identity, he can't see beyond conventional perspectives that the outside world like culture, religion, science, society define our identity. I was trying to explain to him that these things are visual descriptions and accumulations and can help us to operate in the world and maybe give insight to biography but do not constitute who we are. He seems to think, as many do, that if it were not for these things you would be lost and unable to operate. I was trying to explain identifying with the outside only causes limitation to well being potential consciousness, that many identify with their thoughts and learnt knowledge causing blindness to what is undescribable. could you please eluducate on identification and the issues within it? And how society should operate with identity?

@Prabhaker due to your ambiguous insights previously on this thread. Just would like to ask a question on identity. I have recently spoke with a friend on identity, he can't see beyond conventional perspectives that the outside world like culture, religion, science, society define our identity. I was trying to explain to him that these things are visual descriptions and accumulations and can help us to operate in the world and maybe give insight to biography but do not constitute who we are. He seems to think, as many do, that if it were not for these things you would be lost and unable to operate. I was trying to explain identifying with the outside only causes limitation to well being potential consciousness, that many identify with their thoughts and learnt knowledge causing blindness to what is undescribable. could you please eluducate on identification and the issues within it? And how society should operate with identity?

Does anyone doing personal development feel experiences of unsatisfaction within their environments and circumstances and ego battle? I've been for the last year largely cutting down on materialism and deceptive activities. Although I continue to come back to this place of inadequacy with humanity and ego battle. I feel Humanity is so over privileged, deceptive and over prioritised and fuels ego. I feel being amongst humans and the saturating interactions harbours the beauty in experiences. Being so conditioned from birth to over look other things and orientate around humanity I feel blinds the potential beauty that can be witnessed and felt every day. I don't think humanity is evil or not necessary, I just feel the immense euphoria cannot be embodied merely by orientations around humanity conventionally. My trajectory is towards holistic appreciation and gratification in the most simplest things possible and the ability to interact amongst humanity with as little deception as possible minimising the fuelling of ego. But the human saturation makes this so difficult. How does one prevail to hit this inflection point and go beyond when so induced by human involvement?

@Nahm I see where you are coming from. I do agree think having a good infrastructure while doing this work is fundamental. Just not getting lost in the outside world is the difficult part. Finding that balance that works is important for every individual. Thank you for your feedback ??

Yes definitely. I feel these sensation are most present amongst nature but once back to the infrastructures of humanity I feel this becomes harder. Realistically speaking one should feel such ectasy in all experiences due to nature being involved in everything wether the conventional technology, buildings, machinery or ourselves it's all connected. I feel silence and nature are the two gateways to deep unconditional, appreciation, and gratification.

For quite some time I've been getting a pull towards Indian culture, philosophy and existentialism. I am very interested in reading some books on Indian mindset and transcendence. If anyone knows any books of this critea, it would be greatly appreciated ?

Just a disclaimer: My views are merely inandated insights of my own studies and self reflections. I do not look at them as sheer facts. Just personal perspectives. As I am young and have much to learn, thankyou. For me It depends on the context of their unconscious behaviour and the extent. I'm in a relationship at the moment which exercisises unconscious behaviour but at the same time you have to put this into context. Realistically speaking a small portion of societies in my opinion are highly unconscious or at the very least partly which means the chances of meeting an unconscious being at first is much higher, especially in western demographics. It's something that should not be rationalised too quickly. Due to actualisation being a personal endeavour, from my perspectives of learning. if you enforce your growth on someone else who doesn't see need to it they will never see the beauty of it, although if you have a sense of unconditional and unsubjective energy around you they may follow by their own accord. If they do, enjoy the experience. If not, respectfully continue yours. The ambiance that should be coming from you should be enough of an invitation so you should not need to ask. Most importantly two individuals should be connected by much more then on a level of personal interests and metaphysicality. If not your intentions may be ego and outward based. I feel the biggest obstacle is the ego. Due to the sheer factor that human connection is largely outward bound, unless brought into existential and conscious context. Be careful because when your ego says something is good or something is bad, it's drawing distinctions which can be signs of self delusion. If the ego sees little clarity of something similar to its movements it over rationalises it. It draws boundaries between things that aren't of its same nature. This is the nature of the ego. So when you deeply grow a larger understanding of life it is all deeply interconnected. This can bring down the barriers of dichotomy. From the earths elements that constitute all our material objects and infustructures to the ecosystems that incubate our very being. I feel this one of the most undermined thoughts on life. Such beauty in what we walk past and overlook. Everything is deeply connected, even the things or those who put such tremendous havoc upon the world. They contribute to the environment to similar extents as you do and there fore are necessary to co exist and be part of in many ways. This is a very liberating way to look at life. Try to empathise and look at things larger then you currently do it will amaze you how deep you can go. As for personal experience. I have deeply contimplated this due to my circumstances. Within my situation my partner is very respectful and understanding. Although there is a age gap in my situation, herself twenty myself twenty five. I have to expect these kinds of low interest in this this type of lifestyle. Along with being nine months into the Relationship, quite early. Plenty of growth to be had. Though we have little interests that align and are in different stages of life that can be expected with largely different ages and influences. Those things can change in a maturing relationship. Communication is key. We have spoken on our direction and understand it may be the only thing that parts our paths individually but hope to see our seperate paths continue next to each other. So if you can speak to the person deeply on the possible disalignments and establish clear lies between you I don't see the reason for escaping. If the person is respectful of your journey you shouldn't need them to follow. Chances are they may in the future the more relevancy this material is put within society. I personally find my relationship a pleasant experience mostly even though the large differences. The more I become aware the more I enjoy everyday experiences along with my relationships. I feel closer and more inter wedded the further I progress. If you feel more separation the more you develop, you should consider your methods of development and consider is it serving you justice or not. It should be a liberating experience I feel. A powerful quote I truely see truth in "Two beings that truely love each other, can live without each other but choose to be together" I also feel these days people have such an expectency on a relationships wether intimate or not. From cultural demographics to personal influences. We draw so many unnecessary dichotomies and assumptions. This gives us a very narrow perception of that which we perceive and interact with. Rather then inspect that which is not of our nature we push it aside and focus elsewhere. I feel this to be a delusion. Everyone is individual and unique so in categorising that in turn ignorantly dismisses the space for authentically learning about them. Take good time to listen to others, you can lean more then you may first intend. It's a beautiful and unconditional way to live life I feel. Apologies for the long post, such a deep topic and much that can be covered. Would love to hear more views on this ?

I would advise places like Peru and India, if you were wanting to experience some very existential and mystical experiences. Europe and Vietnam, Peru and Indi are on my lists of interests ??

Thanks guys. Much appreciate the feedback. Been now using a timer which helps. Along with trying to focus on something. I'll move to no manipulation meditation overtime ?

I've been on a meditation journey over the last 6-7 months, although only being more regularly of recent. I've been struggling with patience and time progression during meditation sits. Even though the time spent is quite pleasant I the have tendency to keep meditation quite short and interrupted due to time checking and slight position rearrangements. Interruptions ranging between every 5-10 min averages. All up sits are roughly 20 min durations. Along with a fairly cluttered mind. I understand the importance of embracing the experience rather then trying to control it. I would like to get to a place of less mind clutter and a lot longer sessions. I'm just curious if there is anyone who has had the same troubles and how they improved their progression? Techniques or good habits to apply? Thankyou in advance!

@Viking thank you for your insight. I have been aware of concentration meditation for a fair while now but was worried it may orientate too much mind while meditating. I thought that may be a more advanced technique for one who has first understood the "no manipulation" meditation that I first spoke of? Have somewhat tried repeating a mantra. Definitely have been interested in diving into the technique properly.

@Prabhaker I like that metaphor. In addition would one have to be consistently building awareness to know when a moment of the ego creeps up? I think because it is a difficult perspective conceptualise I'm becoming over whelmed. I will continue to try build awareness

@Prabhaker thank you for you deep explanation and insight. From reading I gathered that the ego will disarm it's self through growth of awareness and consciousness. Question to you though. I feel though deviating through society whilst doing this will still be difficult. That may be a given. But how do I better position myself to decipher when the ego is at cause for circumstances? Good and bad. I understand the ego is subtle and quite an esoteric concept, although when should it be acted on in awareness is the tricky question.