roger

NOT GUILTY!

I attended a retreat in '94, held by a man named Tara Singh, who was an Indian and used to be a monk, and he said he thought that a monk probably stood less of a chance of finding enlightenment than somebody living out in the world. I strongly believe this man had found enlightenment, based on my perception of and experiences with him, but I think he could easily be mistaken about his opinion. Personally, I imagine that a monk would stand a better chance. My view on the issue of desires, lust, sexuality, worldly activities, etc., is to enjoy them without suppression or guilt, and to integrate them into one's practice. I see the traditional view of "renouncing pleasure and the world" as archaic, Old Age, and probably even potentially dangerous for seekers these days. One way to approach it is to look into the desire and see what it is one is really and truly wanting. My opinion is that it's not really FORM we want, but CONTENT. What we really want is love, our worth, our divine nature, freedom, power, and so on.......the forms our desires take are just the particular way we experience our desire for content at a given time. That's why, when you've really accepted your worth and divine identity, attachments naturally subside, because the essence of your desire is already fulfilled.

I just wanted to add that part of the reason no one is "guilty" is that lack of love and attack are only ILLUSIONS. The truth is no one ever wrongs anyone, in actuality, in ultimate reality. There's only an APPEARANCE of lack of love.

I've never learned Flying Phoenix, but I know there's more techniques to it than SFQ. And my opinion is that, as with even the simplest of spiritual practices, you can go to the heights of spiritual experience with SFQ, or again, with ANY technique (such as sitting and observing the breath).

Most people know that Lucifer's rebellion from Heaven involved his desire to replace God. He said, "I will be like the Most High." Also, when Satan tempted Eve to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he told her that eating the fruit would make her "like God." These are allegories imo. But they're metaphors for something real (or perhaps, illusory). A quote from A Course in Miracles is, "Sickness is a method, conceived in madness, for placing the Son of God (that's you) on his Father's throne." Now, imo, the whole thing is part of a divine plan - the whole thing was SUPPOSED to happen. But here's the thing. There's a HUGE misunderstanding that underlies and gives rise to this "method, conceived in madness, for placing the Son of God on his Father's throne." This is the truth that healed me completely of the imagined need to replace God, or whatever: God didn't "create" us out of NOTHING. We ARE God. We are FORMS or MANIFESTATIONS of God. We have ALWAYS existed - always been the "Universal Spirit" that is God. You see, neither the soul nor the ego are satisfied with the idea that they were once non-existent, and then God "created" them - AND RIGHTLY SO - that's an unloving, unjoyful idea. I will tell you all that I've experienced the healing I'm talking about, so my words come from my own experience.

How much more courage it takes to love than to attack!

That's very wise imo. I just want to add something to my saying, "So much so that most people are totally impotent to do so (to withhold attack)." The thing is, and this is really a profoundly negative thing, people almost always only "withhold attack" when it WORKS FOR THEM, when they see some benefit to themselves in withholding attack. Oh people will withhold attack in a heartbeat, piece of cake, no problem at all - when it seems to them to be in their best interests to do so, and usually ONLY then. I can guarantee you that 99.9% of the time, when a person sees some gain for themselves in attacking - they'll attack. We live in an insane world. I just hope it's not too late for humanity to find the healing and make the changes necessary to not destroy ourselves.

I was trying to make a point. I was pretending. I had a concealed intention, a loving intention. You see, it's so easy to hurt other people, to attack, to aggressively defend yourself at the expense of others. The truth is it DOES take great courage to love, and particularly to withhold attack. So much so that most people are totally impotent to do so. Very few people have the strength necessary to consistently be careful with others' feelings. I sincerely apologize.

Whatever Karl. I've learned to disregard your absurd opinions.

You're okay, Lino. Bless you.

And mercy the law.

I guess you could say that the world has always been a place of great strife and conflict. Unfortunately, the difference these days is that we're militarily powerful enough to destroy ourselves completely. Neale Donald Walsch said (supposedly God revealed this to him), "When a civilization's technological development surpasses its moral development, the civilization destroys itself." Supposedly, that's what happened to Atlantis. The question is, what can be done about this? If it's a matter of "moral development," then we must find a way to evolve, and help each other evolve, in that respect. Krishnamurti seemed to teach that only the individual, through "finding out what love is," can truly save the world. The non-physical entity Lazaris said that when a person frees themselves from darkness and lack of love, there is less darkness in the world - he said, "not just ONE person less, but LESS." It might be that it will require enough people to accomplish that for humankind to survive. LOVE IS THE ANSWER!!

I feel that until one deeply realizes that they are consciousness itself, rather than the contents of their consciousness, true freedom is impossible. As long as one is identifying with their experience, past, thoughts, emotions, beliefs, and anything that's considered "form," the reality of their divine Self will remain hidden. We are the life within us, which is pure, absolute consciousness and love, not the endless flow of changing experience that creates so much drama in most people's lives. Btw one of the reasons I'm saying this is because it's what I, myself, need to learn and understand. Expressing ideas helps one to clarify those ideas for themselves.

Smilingone, You might want to get Roger Jahnke's book, "The Healing Promise of Qi," which my brother has and he told me it's very good. The reviews of it on amazon say it's amazing. I planned on ordering a copy but I've got a few books I want to read first. The only thing is it's a book, not a DVD, so the instructions might not be as easy to follow.

Your words remind me of something Chogyam Trungpa said: "The enlightened mentality is the inspiration for the samsaric mentality; the conflict between the enlightened mentality and the samsaric mentality is the inspiration for the bohdisattva mentality; and the samsaric mentality is the inspiration for the enlightened mentality." It seems that you're a true bohdisattva. The conflict between truth and illusion is your inspiration. Ultimately, you have to see truth as truth, and illusion as illusion. You will still be aware of the illusion, but you won't believe that it's real. Btw I'm not implying that I've accomplished this yet, just saying what I feel the solution to your problem is.

Maybe "Qigong for Self-Healing" from Jenny Lamb. Visit easterninternalarts.org to order it. Or possibly "Spring Forest Qigong" by Chunyi Lin, which OldChi mentioned above. Of those two, I've only practiced Spring Forest, and I do find it effective and easy. But I've heard from others that Jenny Lamb's techniques are also effective and easy.

This is imo an absolutely necessary understanding if one is to find healing. As long as people think something other than themselves is the cause of their problems, there's no possibility of true healing. YOU create your own experience; YOU choose either love or fear; YOU create either a happy or unhappy life. If you blame something or someone outside of yourself, you'll forever see yourself as a victim and never find salvation.

That's a beautiful quote. People constantly help others to fulfill their purposes by giving them opportunities. Those opportunities are the will of our shared divine nature imo.

Thanks, Nungali. In total honesty, I fully agree with you. Peace.

I recommend keeping it simple. Too much non-essential information can engender complications, distraction, and even confusion. You might try learning Qigong from Jenny Lamb's DVD "Qigong for Self-Healing." Visit easterninternalarts.com if you want to order a copy. Also, one of my favorite techniques is non-meditation. The teaching for non-meditation is: no effort, no technique. Just sit there, like a dog or cat. Just BE. Don't TRY at all. You might naturally begin to breathe more deeply and start to feel at peace. But don't TRY to be at peace. This form of meditation releases energy blockages naturally and effortlessly- illusions just slip away without "doing" anything at all. Another thing it does is give you your natural, effortless state of being. Ramana Maharshi said, "The true state is effortless, and must be if it is the true state." You can practice being in that "true state" with non-meditation. Good luck and have fun whatever you choose to do.

What I've heard (and of course, I'm aware that this information could be false) is that the citizens of Atlantis became very egocentric and destroyed themselves. They were very advanced technologically, but lacked the moral maturity to responsibly handle their technological advancement. REMIND YOU OF ANYTHING?? I just hope that won't end up being the case with humankind. Another thing is that (and several channeled entities have said this) there have been civilizations on planet earth that have "completed" their work, and transcended their physicality. The civilization became an enlightened utopia, and no longer needed physicality.

I have some thoughts about controlling the breath. Don't worry about it. It doesn't matter. You said, "Is that a problem?" My opinion is, no. TRYING not to control the breath is just another form of controlling it. Just do whatever you're comfortable with. Do whatever is natural.

Taoway, I once saw a guy in a gym, in the men's locker room, who was about 10 inches soft, and thick as hell. Biggest I've ever seen or even heard of. I could hardly believe it. The reason I'm saying this is because, well, I guess it made me a little insecure, and I ordered some enlargement pills. The pills did absolutely nothing. My dad is a urologist, and I asked him if the pills work, he laughed and said no. Then I asked him if he thought the urologists who create and endorse the pills know that they don't work, and he said of course they do they just want money. My attempt to make myself bigger only lasted the month or so that I took the pills, then I basically forgot about it. I think if I hadn't seen that gargantuan guy at the gym I never would have worried about it at all.

The reason we fear death is because we're afraid of what might happen AFTER we die.

You might need to understand the MEANING of your worthiness if you want to feel worthy. The Universal is worthy, you ARE the Universal, therefore YOU are worthy. That's HOW and WHY you're worthy. Nothing can make a person either more or less worthy than they already are. We are all equals.