Erlend K

Epistomology is a profoundly complicated and confusing topic. My advice is to avoid getting too attached to any particular definition of Truth like your "The only true is direct experience", and accept that our concept of Truth has more layers and subtleties as any such simplistic definition is able to capture. You should perhaps try to reformulate this in more precise and concise language. I'm not sure if I understand exactly what you are trying to say.

@QandC Excelent post. Thank you for writing this!

Time is a great mystery. To understand "The present moment" I think you have to distinguish between physical time and psychological time. At any point in spacetime, subjective experience always lags slightly behind physical time. According to the theory of relativity time at one point in space can lag behind time at another point. Two events that occurs in sequence from point A can happen in the reverse order observed from point B. Some share the view @QandC describes, where all of spacetime is just one single block, and nothing really happens "after" something else. In this view all of space and time from the big bang to infinity (or big crunsh/big rip) excist "simultanious" (in lack of a better word") as one multidimential entity. In psychological time anything appearing in your stream of counciousness in a way happens in "The present moment". Your brain needs a few miliseconds to process sensory data. This means there is a lag between something happening and the mental representation of it. The world is never experienced as it is "NOW", it is experiences as it was a few miliseconds ago.

The EdX course on the science of happiness, from UC Berkley is the only truely life changing course I have taken. For me it had the perfect mix of academic studies from fields like psychology, biology, neuroscience etc. and practical activities documented to increase happiness.

Sorry for my first post. I now feel like it was way too sceptical. It actualy does seem interesting. Im just really put off by anything that seems to promise too much. I will check out the method.

Are there any specific statements made in the series you believe were lies? And btw netflix is not government owned. It is a publicly traded company with a bunsh of institutional and private investors.

Advertising your method as a miracle cure for any ailment that will "turn your life into a paradise" is rediculous bs. Any rational person can see that. Has there been any studies on the effectiveness of this method, or is it arguments for it purely anecdotal? The way you advertise it makes me wonder if you are its originator or otherwise have something personaly to gain. Our time is limited and valuable. There are several powerful methods that have been advocated by sages for millenia and have scientifically documented effects (through rigorous double blind placebo studies). These include mindfulness, loving kindness, prayer and yoga. What reason do we have to chose your particular method?

Krishna is a literary charachter. Shu was talking about actual living teachers/leaders. Many spiritual leaders claim enlightenment. It is impossible for anyone else to say for sure if this is self engrisement or legitimate. @okulele dalai lama has actualy claimed not to be enlightened. He probably have a far more traditional notion of the term "enlightenment" than most members of this forum tho, who seems to label any mystical experience as "enlightenment", as a way to stroke their own spiritual egos.

This is a disappointing response, Leo. I kinda agree that Source_Mystic's rhetoric, including use of the word 'obsession' was uncalled for, and perhaps even a projection. However, your response was cowardly! This video was clearly based on faulty/insufficient research. You could have acknowledged your mistake, and correct it. Instead you choose to protect your own ego by ridiculing the weakest part of his post (the word 'obsession'). That's an obvious ad hominem attack meant to protect you from having to face the real point hes making, and admit and deal with your own error. Any serious seeker of truth should be grateful for having a mistaken view pointed out like this. Source_Mystic offered you an opportunity to correct a misconception. Every time that happens that's another step towards truth. The mature way to handle this would be to admit your research for this video was flawed, and thank Source_Mystic for pointing it out. Then do some serious research into possible negative side effects of the practice, ideally contact medical professionals to get their viewpoint. Then edit the video, to avoid spreading misinformation. That is, potentially dangerous misinformation

Dissociation/depersonalization is often called the evil twin of enlightenment. In more traditional Buddhist terminology you could call it the near enemy of liberation. It is a risk that anyone on this path should take very seriously, and a topic that is much discussed on the buddhist forums I frequent. If you want to learn more about this just do a quick google search for "depersonalization + enlighenment".

Sometimes it sucks, but you really have to just embrace your struggle. There is simply no good alternatives to it. And remember that the core of this path is not blind acceptance of some mental model/thoughsystem or practice of the correct techiques. Rather it's an uncompromising persuit of truth, wherever it may lead you. If you have been meditating for a long time and see no improvements, it might be time to ask yourself whether or not meditation is likely to be an effective tool for dealing with your particular issues. To keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result becomes unwise after a while. For many of us meditation can become the hammer that makes every problem seem like a nail, but remember: it is not a magic pill that can solve any problem. It might be an idea to ask yourself what alternative strategies you might follow. If you are not currently seeing a therapist, finding one that specializes in anger management sounds like a good idea. Aditionally you should ask yourself why you assume spiral dynamics to be a useful model. Is it possible that you accept it simply becourse you like it, and want it to be true? Is viewing yourself as "stuck in stage red" in any way useful for you? When evaluating a model like this I think a good rule of thumb is to check whether it is supported by academics or healthcare professionals, or is it mostly pushed by people who want to sell you something? If so, that should be a red flag. Not necesarily sufficient reason to dismiss the model, but enough of a red flag to make you question it.

I think wisdom has to do with ones ability to navigate the messy complexities of real life with all it's twists and contradictions. It is about sound judgement and discernment. “Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.”

Buddha, Socrates, Ghandi etc had enemies. It seems like anyone who challange the socialy accepted ideas and values of his culture will get hated on.

Being an experienced meditator does not free you from old age, sickness and death.

This is a very serious time investment. We are talking 700+ houres of meditation and yoga over a year. If possible for you, I think it would be more beneficial to spend something like 400h of this time investment in one single bulk, going for a one month silent retreat. Then devide the remaining 300 houres over the rest of the year, meditating/doing yoga 45-60 min a day. Most people will see more progress from a one month retreat than from increasing their daily meditation/yoga practice from 1 to 2 houres pr day.

That is one possibility. Another is that you have fallen into the common trap of making spirituality into an identity. This can lead people to blindly accept what is "spiritually correct", or anything a certain teacher says. Lets look at the assumtions of Hypothesis A. Iq is normaly distributed among the population. Work ethic is strongly correlated with the personality trait industriousness, wich is also normally distributed. Creativity is hard to quantify, so one can not empiricaly prove how it is distributed. Do you find it unreasonable to assume that there are some varance among people when it comes inate ability for creativity? The second assumtion: A person with high inteligence, creativity and work ethic will normaly come up with more usful, novel ideas, over his lifetime than someone with less of these attributes. This seems almost self-evident. Do you find this assumption unreasonable? The assumtions behind Hypothesis B, on the other hand require some unreasonable leaps of faith. Both Hypothesises are in theory possible explanations. The question is witch of them require the most unfounded assumtions.

I always had the feeling people like Darryl Anka (aka "Bashar") are scam artists and snake oil salesmen. They seem like smart, charismatic businessmen who have found a way to swindle gullible newcomers to the spiritual path. They sell extensive seminars and private counselings where they teach New Age Mysticism/Law of attraction mixed with ridiculous misinterpretations of the findings from quantum physics.

Instead of accepting our first intuition about a question it is useful to propose multiple alternative hypothesis. Two alternative hypothesis about how geniuses gets their ideas: Hypothesis A: They get their ideas by taping into an Akashic record due to open chakra sand channels. Hypothesis B: They get their ideas through a combination of exceptional intelligence, creativity and work ethic. Hypothesis A assumes -The existence of Akashic Records -That one's ability to tap into these depend on depends on how open ones chakras/channels are -Access to Akashic Records can be used to find creative ideas. (Something like this. I don't really like my formulation of this assumption, so please don't get too hung up in this one) Hypothesis B assumes -One's ability to find novel ideas depends on intelligence, creativity and work ethic -Intelligence, creativity and work ethic are randomly distributed among the population (Most likely a normal distribution, but that is not important). With a sufficiently large population one should expect a tiny minority to be creative geniuses, who come up with a lot of novel ideas. Hypothesis A seems to fail ockham's razor. Is there some other reason to favor Hypothesis A over Hypothesis B, that I'm missing?

Are there any plausible reason to assume channeling is real?

Well, standing on your head is dangerous if you struggle with high blood pressure. Otherwise it's mosly safe. I think Sadguru might be committing a post hoc fallacy: Since the bursts of anger began after this guy spent this time standing on his head, Sadguru just assumes standing on his head was the cause of the anger. I'm not sure if your first sentence was meant to claim that energy work has nothing to do with yoga. But if so, it's plain wrong. Several yogic traditions/schools focus heavily on meridians (subtle energy chanels)

Do you mean internal/eneretic or external/physical movements? If you mean internal movements of energyflows this is perfectly normal and not something you have to avoid. If you mean external movements I'm not sure what this is. Doing yoga the wrong way can damage your joints, but as far as I'm avare that is the only risk.

No, enlightenment will not necesarily heal your traumas. Are you currently seeing a therapist?

Be very careful to avoid spiritual bypassing. Social anxiety is usually a mental issue, not a spiritual one. You overcome social anxiety through progressive exposure to social situations. Slowly habituate yourself to taking small social risks, feel the anxiety and learn to tolerate it, thereby reducing your anticipotary anxiety of anxiety. If you are not currently working with a therapist I would advice you to seek out one who specialize in social anxiety, who can help you develop your plans for social exposure, and support you through the hard, painful work that lies ahead of you. There are certain methods that can reduce the magnitude of your symptoms, thereby making the process less painful, and speed up the progression of exposure. The main one is physical excercise. In particular heavy weightlifing like 5x5 deadlift, squats, bench, militarypress etc. These reduce cortisone levels and boost testosterone and endorphines, making you feel a bit more at ease. Other methods like progressive muscle relaxation, and to some degree meditation and yoga can help reduce cortisone levels and help to reduce your resitance to the emotions.

I'm not sure what an "Enlightenment experience" is. Is it the same as Path/Fruit/Streamentry? Or is it more like the higher Jhana states where you experience unification of awareness and feeling at one with all nature and existence? If you want interesting experiences like Jhana, this is easier acchieved by samatha than by vipassana. Like Leo mentioned if these intense experiences are your main goal you might be better of doing some psychedelic. If your goal is Path/Fruit/Streamentry, Vipassana is probably your best choise. 45 min/day is not an effective way of reaching it tho. Most householders who reash this point do so in retreat. For most people, 45 min/day will not result in the extreme level of concentration and mindfulness required to reach stream entry.

I don't like capitalism, but in the short-mid term I view it the same way Chirchill viewed democracy: It's the worst system ever deviced, except for all the alternatives. There are a lot of unknowns about the future of the global economy, but barring any major unexpected shocks (like nuclear war/major revolutions) we can expect the current trends to continue in the short term: -Increased concentration of whealth among a few companies and individuals. A decade ago the richest 60-80 people or so in the world owned as much as the bottom 50 %. Today the number has shrunk to the richest 8 people. The trend seams likely to continue for a while. -Automatication/robotication will lead to mass unemployment. Experts disagree on how fast this trend will be, but most agree that most jobs will be taken over by machines sometime by the middle of this century. The only plausible results of this seams to be some kind of universal salary, assuming liberal democracies will have the income to provide this. If most of the cutting edge AI tech is owned by Chinese state-owned companies and a handfull capitalists with residency in tax paradises, I'm not sure how most governments are going to afford this universal sallary. -China will complete it's "One Belt One Road Initiative", and take over as the major global economic power. This might lead to a spread of it's model of totalitarian mixed-economy, as liberal democratic capitalism will be shown uncapable at competing with the chinese model. For instance the chineese government has set a strategic goal of becoming world leading in AI, and is investing massively it. At the same time the US government is cutting is funding of AI. China is expanding it's foreign networks at the same the US is withdrawing from the global stage and slashing funding for its state department, etc. The jokers here are chinas massive dept and real estate bubble, but as long as the governent avoid mass unrest, these might just be speed bumps. -Renewable energy will gradualy replace carbon based energy. In the mid-term this will likely result in a price war between the major oil producers, as each oil producing country want to make sure that as little of their own oil/gas is left worthless in the ground when the oil age ends, by the mid 21'st century. Crashing oil prizes will likely lead to an economic boom in most non-oil producing countries as the cost of manufacturing will drop. -Global warming will pass 1,5 degrees sometime in the 2030's, and 2 degrees in the 2040's, and it's most serious effects will start kicking in. This will lead to major costs for western governments that might already be under economic strain form the transfer to a post-work society with a universal sallary. In addition it is expected to result in one of the largest reffuge crises in history. The UN estimates about 100 million climate reffugees by 2050. Commin on top of the other major economic transitions of the period this wil be massively disruptive. -A massive technology boost in what is expected to be the three major tech areas of the 21'st century: Nanotech, Biotech and AI. It is really impossible to predict how thech disruptions will transform the economy in the mid- to long term. The long term: The mid-late 21'st century and the 22'nd century: Completely is impossible to predict. Genetic engineering and AI-brain integration will transform our descendants into a different kind of creature with different desires and abilities than us. What kind of economic system these creatures will form is impossible for lower creatures like us to predict.