Practices

[Erixoon50]

What are the practices that beginner can take to have first mystical experience/raise your conciousness? Is it only meditation and yoga? What about some extreme things like starving yourself for a few days or spending whole day on just sitting and doing completely nothing, something like that. Unfortunely I don't have access to psychedelics right now ;( 

[V-8]

First,...if you are serious about Self-Actualization, forget about Mystical experiences.

As Adyashanti said, "the mystical experience is the highest form of a "Me" experience."

You want to let go of your Me Stories and Personal beliefs,...because they are all lies.

Second,...you want to forget about meditation,...meditation is a fabulous tool for training the mind to interact with time in a different way.  Non-meditation uncovers that which is beyond time; the Present,...  Heart-Mind,...to place yourself in unfabricated present awareness. 

"Do you think you can clear your mind by sitting constantly in silent meditation? This makes your mind narrow, not clear."  Lao-Tzu  Huahujing

“If your purpose is to medicate dukkha,...then meditate. If your wish is bodhi,...practice absolute bodhicitta.”  a Chan  saying.

Hui Neng said that meditation is unnecessary, and warned that such practice can easily become a narcotic.   

"Free yourself from meditation, practice non-meditation" - Kyergangpa Chökyi Senge

One of my favorite Non-Meditation practices is the Supermarket Activity.  

The Supermarket Activity is one of the 'JUST BECAUSE CLUB' activities to bring pause to ego.   Allow yourself 1 hour to go to a grocery store,....the kind you typically purchace something each time you go.   Search: Just Because Club Strange Experiments in Perception

Instructions:
Inside the store, which you enter and leave without contacting or handling a door, you touch nothing, neither a cart, nor a basket, nor any item. While inside during your 60 minute visit, you read nothing (no lables), speak to no one, and avoid allowing anyone to speak to you. If any of the above stipulations are compromised, then immediately pick up something, which does not have to be expensive, purchase it, and leave. Then try the task again at another time.

There is plenty of time for discussion and analysis after your completion of the task. If you have to abort the task, simply consider it as an unaccomplished task, without any thought as to what it is, or is for,...but just something on your to-do-list.

“Truth lies in the depth, where few are willing to search for it.” Goethe

There are also ways to do this through 5Rhythms practice,...which will take one beyond the simulation stage,...when pathways are open,...through which transformational triggers can precipitate for us an uncovering of tremendums, that is, direct ecstatic experiences,...because ego, beliefs, "me Stories," personal truths, and attachment to the past are brought to a pause , and thus, being free of preconceived references, engage us, if just for a "taste", in the absolute Present,...which means, stepping out of horizontal time.  Actually,....from all I've read,...this was Gabrielle Roth's intent.

McKenna wrote,...."Many people can build nuclear reactors, compose symphonies, conquer nations, or can perform brain surgery, but very few can see what is.
Spiritual awakening is about discovering what’s true. Anything that’s not about getting to the truth must be discarded. Truth isn’t about knowing things; you already know too much. It’s about unknowing. It’s not about becoming true; it’s about unbecoming false so that all that’s left is truth."  

"The real seeker of truth never seeks truth. On the contrary, she tries to clean herself of all that is untrue, inauthentic, insincere."  Chandra Mohan Jain

"in my regard there is no view on which to meditate" - Kunje Gyalpo

Edited January 2, 2020 by V-8

[Inliytened1]

11 minutes ago, V-8 said:

First,...if you are serious about Self-Actualization, forget about Mystical experiences.

As Adyashanti said, "the mystical experience is the highest form of a "Me" experience."

You want to let go of your Me Stories and Personal beliefs,...because they are all lies.

Second,...you want to forget about meditation,...meditation is a fabulous tool for training the mind to interact with time in a different way.  Non-meditation uncovers that which is beyond time; the Present,...  Heart-Mind,...to place yourself in unfabricated present awareness.  No practice can create the Present,...because all practices are in the past.

 

That is a misunderstanding of @Adyashanti if he said that.  It means it is the ultimate Me experience - meaning me with a capital M, AKA the Absolute.  It is the dissolution of the illusory small me.

So yes you want to get rid of all the small illusory me stories - and transcending the illusion is the way.  Mysticism is that way. It cannot be reached through logic or rationality.

Your point about meditation i must also clarify.

Meditation itself is within time, yes- but it is tool that can shift consciousness via mysticism to the timeless or the becoming of the present moment.

It seems like you are not properly grasping these quotes.

 

 

[VeganAwake]

❤

[V-8]

8 minutes ago, Inliytened1 said:

 

That is a misunderstanding of @Adyashanti if he said that.  It means it is the ultimate Me experience - meaning me with a capital M, AKA the Absolute.  It is the dissolution of the illusory small me.

So yes you want to get rid of all the small illusory me stories - and transcending the illusion is the way.  Mysticism is that way. It cannot be reached through logic or rationality.

Your point about meditation i must also clarify.

Meditation itself is within time, yes- but it is tool that can shift consciousness via mysticism to the timeless or the becoming of the present moment.

It seems like you are not properly grasping these quotes.

 

 

From a Spiritual POV, in contrast to a Sentient POV, the quotes used were meant to breakthough the paradigm that "Meditation can shift consciousness via mysticism to the timeless or the becoming of the present moment."

I can understand that you appear to have invested much in Mystical and Mentational group thinks,...sentient beings can get quite upset when anything threatens their beliefs. 

As for me,...have not come across a single example of someone who realized the Absolute Present through mysticism or meditation.

For example,...Historically, Siddhartha Gautama was near dead from meditation when a young girl named Sujata (likely a dakini) offered him some food (perhaps rice cooked in milk). Some say a state of appreciation filled him from this meal, and others as he recovered his physical strength, through a state of appreciation, he realized the nature of Dependent Origination from which suffering arises.   The bottom line is that he was not "Awakened" through meditation or mysticism.

"After Buddha's passing away, monks and nuns only emphasized meditation; there was no interest in studying the teachings."  Anam Thubten

I totally laugh every time I see an image of Buddha meditating,...what reason would a Buddha have meditating?

AND NO,...one does not "get rid of all the small illusory me stories"....one gets rid of ALL THE STORIES.  All personal truths are lies. 

 

 

[Inliytened1]

5 hours ago, V-8 said:

 

As for me,...have not come across a single example of someone who realized the Absolute Present through mysticism 

 

You won't come across it.  Because you are in the realm of the relative - or form - or thought.   When i speak of mysticism or the Absolute i can only point to it from my finite vantage point.  Because to be it, i must cease to be.   That is dying before you die - which is a mystical experience.  (Again i am still pointing to itl    No one can show that to you.  Nor can language take you there.  I'm merely trying to point you in the direction.

Meditation is still the relative - it is thought.  Meditation itself is not the Absolute in the Absolute sense. (It is a part but not the whole)  But through meditation one can dissolve the self.  It is merely a tool.  The Absolute itself transcends meditation, as it does all that is finite.  That is what that quote truly means.

[Inliytened1]

@V-8 Mysticsm = Infinity

[Forestluv]

@Erixoon50 If available, you might want to try a spiritual retreat - they often contain yoga and meditation. For some, having an instructor and participating within a group can relax the mind and allow Now to reveal itself. I would choose an event that is not dogmatic to an ideology. 

Also, solo retreats can be helpful. Getting away from conditioning of society can allow space for insights to arise. I like solo time in nature. 

Also, I would let go of ideas about what a mystical experience *should* be like.  This can be a distraction to more subtle mystical experiences. For example, if I’ sitting in nature thinking “Ok, here I am in nature waiting for a mystical experience to happen. What’s supposed to happen next? Maybe I’m not doing it right. I should read more spiritual stuff to find out how to do it”. Those types of thought stories are a distraction to the actual beingness of now. For me, it would be better to simply observe and to pay attention to the small gaps between the thoughts. Also to be in tune with subtleties. Mystical experiences aren’t just razzle dazzle stuff like astral projection, OBEs, collective consciousness, other realms, glopping around on a forest floor etc. For example, while sitting in nature a crow may fly near me and squawk at me. If I was immersed in a thought story I may miss it. In presence, there can be an energy. A connection with that bird. A communication. A knowing. An essence. It is a subtle glimpse. The mind may start a new thought story of “Was that it? Was that mystical? Maybe that was my spirit guide and it’s trying to tell me something. How do I know if its a mystical spirit guide and what it means?” . . .Those thought stories are fun to contemplate, yet they are a distraction to that subtle mystical glimpse of Now. It doesn’t need to be dramatic. It can be as common and subtle as watching a falling leaf float down to the ground and making a perfect landing. To resonate with that moment and “see” the perfection in it. Yet the mind will often re-enter with thoughts trying to figure stuff out - ehich can ruin the connection, because there is an “it” that comes prior to thoughts. 

Also, exploring lucid states can help relax a mind allowing space for those “what just happened?” moments. 

You’ve already had glimpses of mysticism, it is all around us. It is around you right now. It’s about relaxing into it, observing, sensing and being - without getting swept away by thought stories. Yet, if the thought stories are exploring what’s happening Now, thats better than personal thought stories not now. For example, being curious and thinking about of the essence of a crow squawking in front of me Now is much closer to Now than a thought story about my ex-gf. 

For me, nature is one of my favorite settings for mysticism because nature has no judgement, expectation or agenda. It is simply Aliveness freely expressing itself Now. For me, it’s easy to relax into and let go. 

[Inliytened1]

6 minutes ago, Serotoninluv said:

 

Also, I would let go of ideas about what a mystical experience *should* be like.  This can be a distraction to more subtle mystical experiences. 

@SerotoninluvThat's a great point.

@Erixoon50  it's important to note that chasing the idea of a mystical experience can actually be counter productive to actual Being or mysticism itself.  It has to happen on it's own, and over trying, over thinking, and "over seeking" can counterintuitively move you farther from Truth.  Truth is hidden in plain sight and it is said to find Truth one must no longer seek.

[VeganAwake]

"Every solution that comes from the egoic mind is driven by the idea that there is a problem, and the solution becomes an even greater problem than what it was trying to solve. What you resist persists. 

In today's world, the vast majority of people who are engaged in religious or spiritual practices, such as yoga, prayer, meditation, chanting, or any kind of ritual, are practising techniques which are conditioned. Which means they are just part of the ego construct. The seeking and the activity isn't the problem; thinking you have found the answer in some external form is the problem. Spirituality in its most common form is no different than pathological thinking that is going on everywhere. It is further agitation of the mind. More human doing, as opposed to human being. The ego construct wants more money, more power, more love, more of everything. Those on the so called spiritual path desires to be more spiritual, more awake, more equanimous, more peaceful, more enlightened"

- Samadhi (Maya illusion of the self)

[LfcCharlie4]

@VeganAwake Meditation, Yoga, Inquiry when used effectively can still be amazingly useful though bro, however the common person meditating isn’t looking for much more than something like reduced anxiety for example. 
 

A meditation I love is “Natural Pure Awareness” meditation, essentially it’s sitting there and allowing everything, and welcoming all your thoughts, emotions etc like a guest house.

Essentially what you’re doing is allowing the natural background of awareness to come forward in your experience, as you know, awareness is forever present yet 99.9% of people are completely oblivious, why? 
 

Obsession with their thoughts, emotions and there “content” so they miss the most obvious thing of all. 
 

and, the most beautiful thing of all.

The Self is all there is, yet, many still believe them self is all there is, 1 extra letter, huge difference.