RickyFitts

I know this has been a significant and really challenging aspect of my spiritual journey, and I imagine it's something that's pretty common in spiritual communities generally, so I just wanted to share this video that I thought was very insightful in the hope that it might be helpful for others who are experiencing these sorts of energetic shifts:

@Preety_India Oh excellent! I know he's been a God-send for me personally, his teachings have helped me so much in the last few years.

Yeah, exactly - what we seek is eternally present, it's just a matter of perceiving clearly.

I like that, never heard that before! You're right, though, best not to put too much emphasis on the words. I like how Adya suggests to approach the whole question of enlightenment, he says that rather than asking, 'How do I become enlightened?', instead we should be asking ourselves, 'How do I UNenlighten myself?'

I think of it more in the way Adyashanti talks about enlightenment, he refers to it as the 'natural' state. Whereas human egoic consciousness is a bit fucked up, not to put too fine a point on it.

Ooh I like that a lot, thanks for sharing! What's amazing to me about the video (and this is going to be really random, so I apologise in advance ) is that I saw 'Pulp Fiction' advertised on one of the movie channels the other day, and it got me to wondering - Lord only knows why - what else I'd seen the guy in that video in (he's in the famous 'I dare you to say what again!' scene with Samuel L. Jackson), and wouldn't you know it, here he is in another film! So random.

Phil Foden too, he's some player (slightly sticks in my throat to say that, as a United fan). I'd say we've got about as good a chance as anyone, yeah, Gareth Southgate's done a great job.

Rashford wouldn't (or shouldn't, anyway) get into the England squad on current form, he's been awful. Maybe the new United manager will change his fortunes before the World Cup rolls around, I don't know.

This is what puts me off about psychedelics, you might see more obvious results much more quickly with them but I imagine it could take a long, long time for you to integrate the mental and energetic effects of it. The more gradual approach of practices like meditation might seem more arduous and slow, but I'd personally much rather go down that route, seems to me that it's much less destabilising and less fraught with complications in the long run. I get why psychedelics would appeal to people, particularly in our culture of instant gratification, but I think you've got to be so, so careful and responsible with them, seems like it could be a very slippery slope.

Just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year... oh man, that's the line that really devastates me...

@Gianna

That's so lovely... making me pine a bit...

@Gianna Great advice. Funnily enough, I was rereading 'The End of Your World' by Adyashanti the other day and he was making the point that it isn't so much about finding the right answers, as asking the right questions, and I think that's exactly right. I think a great question to ask yourself is simply, 'What's most important to me, what's my heart's desire?' And then, rather than trying to figure it out intellectually, you just listen - listen to what your heart's telling you. Because whilst we're very much thinking beings, we're really driven by our emotions, ultimately, and our thinking often clouds the reality of our feelings.

With thanks to ZenSwift, who shared this one elsewhere on the forum - I'm loving this piece of music

Eesh, I cannot imagine how painful that must've been, it was painful enough for me and I'm English. Bloody Germans, I still haven't forgiven them for beating us on penalties in the semis at Italia '90.

I always had a soft spot for Argentina, not quite sure why. Probably the Maradona effect as much as anything, that was one cool mo-fo (even if he did knock out England with one moment of sheer brilliance and one moment of utter devilry).

@modmyth Ah man yeah, fantastic soundtrack, so atmospheric. Just FYI, 'Ivan's Childhood', 'Andrei Rublev', and 'The Mirror' are also available on Youtube, too.

Just putting this out there for fans of arthouse cinema, the full film came up on my Youtube feed just now and thought others might be interested (it's been put out by the company that owns the rights to the film, so it's completely above board). Here's the Youtube description, for those who aren't familiar with the film: 'Based on the novel "Roadside Picnic" by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The Zone that arose on Earth for unknown reasons attracts attention with inexplicable phenomena that occur there. A rumor has spread that in the center of the Zone there is something that gives a person everything he wants. But staying in the Zone is deadly, and therefore it is strictly guarded. There, each for their own reasons, the Writer and the Professor go, the Stalker leads them to the mysterious center, feeling and understanding the Zone...' It's quite a slow-paced, quiet film, and you might find it a struggle if you have a short attention-span, but it's thought-provoking, beautifully shot, and it has a hypnotic quality to it (it could be a good film to watch whilst high ).

@Happy Lizard Think it might have been my first too, funnily enough! Absolutely, yes.

@Asayake Yep, very interesting film! I haven't seen it in a few years myself, I'm going to rewatch it too.

Ooh yeah you should, you won't be disappointed. The performance of 'Comfortably Numb' in particular is amazing, particularly that second solo, holy fuck:

@Waken Very welcome, glad you liked it - the songs you posted were lovely, too.