Birch

Ok, I read the second one:-) I agree that once you've explained the setting (the house) nothing else has to be explained (that he is of modest means becomes obvious). Same comments on explaining the women's meal. You could put some of the explanatory cultural things somewhere apart from the story to educate people if you wanted.

I read the first chapter. I will read the others. The one suggestion that sprang immediately to mind was to elaborate on some of the villagers' dialogue rather than saying such and such said this, I'd have fun reading what each said. Otherwise only a couple of the characters say anything. I guess the words that aren't known could be changed for a US Edition.

I can almost guarantee getting paid to read would stop my book habit:-)

Yep, a bunch, not just spiritual but lots of different stuff. I realized that books were how I got rewarded as a kid as well as being a convenient escape from the shitstorm around me (and within, but who knows?) Anyway, when I figured out I was rewarding myself as I had been rewarded (and punishing myself as I had been punished) then I got to the decision part. Do I want to keep spending this much on books? How about looking at other uses for my money? ----opinion etc---

Sorry you're going through some trying times. I don't know if there's a 'proper' way to do any of it (and I certainly wouldn't caution the Kubler-Ross 'stages') I dealt with it just at the end of last year and it's been very mixed. The person was very ill, very loved by me. I felt I had to 'support' a lot of the other people and didn't really get a chance without them there to do it 'my way'. Practice was helpful in dealing with the other people but not with myself. I can understand the 'indulgence' of sadness but there's IMO/IME a clear difference between that and the actual grief. At the time he passed, I had some very strange experiences of being in communication with him in a dream. I might get around to sharing that in the PPF at some point.

Try without the lizard word

Do a search on Kunlun. I'm pretty intrigued by it as a practice and I have the book. I haven't met Max or Jenny.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2001034/

Void chakra dude?

I reckon it might often take really 'out there' ideas to get people to look differently at the way things are. But then the people still have to have some kind of momentum after all the 'WTF aliens and lizards???' stuff. Otherwise it's just like going to church, albeit an entertaining stadium of a church.

Taomeow, you nailed it!

Aha! The oldies and the pressure rear their ugly heads again:-) ? I'm not going to try to guess or suggest they just 'want the best for you' (although they likely do, but through their own lense). I can't help much, I caved to them.

I didn't think it was useless at all!

I think it's quite a good summary of most of the stuff 'out there' concerning money and wealth creation. Online, seminars etc are a LOT about what Sinan has mentioned. But guess how the people running these 'wealth seminars' or writing the books or the blogs make money? Right, by getting people to sign up and pay for 'instruction' on how to create wealth and money and all that. In other words, a big old pyramid scheme. I'm not knocking your writeup Sinan, it was rather good, but perhaps there's more involved?

Been a while since I read anything on the forum about them.

On the rare occasions (2) when I suspected something might be 'up' with an entity. I took to shapeshifting (spontaneously) myself. Dr Morris refers to something like 'becoming visible' to folks in 'other worlds' after a while. The advice I've more often used is 'don't pay attention to scenery' but I like the emptiness stuff, I like Quan Yin and I like a couple of other things that are just me:-)

Various writings. Some are about past events and experiences with people (this is for therapy). I find writing and then waiting and writing more forces me to be truthful about the events and people. It's not the sort of journaling I occasionally dabbled in when I was 16 and left out the truth. Some are letters to people that are not going to be sent to them. These are more exorcism-like. They tend to be hate-filled angry things. But they also have to be true. Some are 'want-lists' and get sealed in envelopes (different 'areas') have different coloured paper and put in a box in a corner. They have a bit more of a 'magical' thing about them. I've come across a few of these and been able to cross off everything on the list after some time has passed. I can't remember what's on them at the moment. To do lists (sometimes an item from a want list ends up here:-)) Fire letters. Random writing to be burned. Not as insistent on truth in these. Scribbles in notebooks, phone notes, things I have to remember:-) I'm thinking I should force myself to 'gratitude-journal' but it smacks of New Age annoying to me (yes I know the colored paper sounds kooky but I don't see it as the same thing)

http://www.amazon.com/The-Sufi-Lighthouse-Illuminating-ebook/dp/B001AFBU5I/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1358120608&sr=1-1 Really great book!

So sorry you're having a rough time with it. The bums is very useful to learn grounding lessons and practices that can cool all this down. My experience is that Kundalini doesn't play well with substances ( could get into conscious use of enthogens but I'm referring to recreational substance use or 'self-medication' which isn't very conscious IMO/IME) so might be worth cutting all the way back on the pot until things settle down. Are you having a 'full awakening', 'just' an experience, is something else going on? I think time with it clarifies things. You can also ask the guys at KAP about it as they've taught a lot of people how to raise kundalini and know its many faces. I would just give you an example based on what I've experienced and read, which may or may not be helpful to you personally. I preferred to call it kundalini and then deal with it in the manner suggested by people with experience. Here is my 'laundry list'. You might find something in here helpful In the very beginning of it I learned: - relaxing belly breathing technique - eating 'grounding food' which tends to be heavier, more protein, meat even - physical exercise - microcosmic orbit to distribute energy rather than having it 'stuck' somewhere - heart-centred exercises and meditations cool it off - BK Frantzis' water method And I did a bunch of acupuncture and more recently found a therapist to work on 'stuff'

Great info, thanks Jetsun!

Jetsun, that's one of the reasons I didn't go for a G group. I didn't have faith that the people running them would be able to do this skillfully (and I've read a few horror stories about this type of setup).

Or just lots of prejudice and a tendency to stereotype:-)

%?

What 'is' 'spiritual' Aaron? I agree that relative to the detailled gun stuff it probably should go to OT. However, relative to discussions on questioning, perceptions (per Ralis) and open-mindedness (per some others) I think it does have some of that 'spiritual' about it. But as usual, this is a personal opinion.

I doubt you're alone.