goldisheavy

Hehe... that's scary, isn't it? Rotting corpses, boo. Actually it's not that big of a deal. Above all I recommend that the person become familiar with one's own real condition. If he heeds that advice first and foremost, like I always advise, then this visualization technique will be harmless. I think we are all "Buddhist" in some way. I am also against basing one's identity on any group, and thus I don't recommend to formally become an -ist of any kind. So any Buddhist who considers oneself a Buddh-ist, should, if they like my other advice, consider somewhat disassociating themselves from the Buddhist movement, and stop being an -ist. You can still enjoy many aspects of Buddhist life and enjoy and benefit from Buddhist advice, but internally you may want to be free of the -ist. There is no way to regain the original freedom while still being an -ist of some kind.

I believe you understand me 100% correctly. You talk as if you're putting a slight correction on what I said, but actually you're just saying what I wanted to say but in a slightly different way. Silence is not useless. Attachment to silence is useless. You can even spend 99% of your time in silence, and as long as your mind does not close around silence in a tight manner, that's enjoyable, fun, and good too, but it's not good to the exclusion of other good things -- that's also the key. Prison is not necessarily exactly the same for each person. But basically what I believe this says is that people feel unfulfilled. Like there is something more "out there". Like there is more to life. Or "am I missing something?" Or the person feels intense suffering and just wants that suffering to end. So, for someone who feels intense suffering, to end that suffering is number one priority. But suffering is very tricky because when you get rid of intense suffering through a spiritual practice, a more subtle suffering may set in. If it doesn't set in, that's good, then you just enjoy yourself and enjoy your life and you have nothing to worry about, at least temporarily. I'm of the opinion that if something is not broken, it shouldn't be fixed. However, if the subtle suffering does set in, it may be of the type I mentioned above, like "I feel there is more to life... like I am missing something... this can't be it, like if I die now, I will feel I missed out on something important" Something like that. Now this kind of suffering is not exactly like a prison. While one has coarse intense suffering, it feels like a prison because there are obviously apparent things you'd like to be doing that you cannot do, so that's the prison feeling. But in this case, you feel like there is something you might want to do, but what? It's not obvious. It seems like you're free to do anything, like you are free, and yet there might still be a lingering feeling of emptiness (not the Buddhist emptiness, but like absence of something important). I believe this is a call to creativity. I believe the goal, ultimately, is not to get out of prison! You go to prison for being a "bad boy/girl". And by "bad", I don't mean to moralize at all, so don't take "bad" too seriously here. But just going with the prison metaphor further, does merely staying out of prison equal a good life? I say no, of course not. Staying out of prison is good, but that's not good life. You can have a pretty miserable life out of prison. I believe that the ultimate goal is not to merely get out of prison, but to have a beautiful, wonderful, creative, free, blessed life. And it's not enough to just get out of prison for that. One has to learn how to express themselves. How to manifest one's dreams into reality. How to make one's highest aspirations real. A man who is still in prison only wishes to get out (unless he gotten used to it and then he's "fine" and doesn't want to get out). A man in prison rarely if ever worries about one's highest aspirations. And to live a blessed life one has to master one's own mind completely, in my opinion. One has to be capable of the highest order of creative expression.

Jhanas are the Buddhist version of the 3rd eye and chakra nonsense. All phenomena are meditative already. All states are absorptions. All absorptions are distractions. If you don't understand this, you need more contemplation. And if you do understand this, you don't need to meditate at all. Basically Jhanas do not exist absolutely. They are very briefly described, with only about 3 lines of text per Jhana in the Suttas. On top of this, every Buddhist master feels free to add their fantasy to this, and sorry, but Arhats are still illusory beings with ridiculous flights of fancy at all times, so no, there is nothing reliable "out there". At best people can give you an interesting idea, an approach you can attempt for yourself. But it is yourself that will do the walking, the feeling, the thinking, the absorbing and so forth and not those other beings. If you are a unique being, experiences of others do not apply to you. But if you are the same as others, then if any being on earth has achieved Jhana, that should be sufficient for you as well, and you should be happy, because if you are the same, what serves one serves all. If something serves one person but not another, you're not the same, you are unique, go back to step 1 above. This line of thinking is not very precise, because for the same of simplicity I've indulged some extremist ideas here. For example I split the space under analysis via a clear same vs not-same divide. In reality such clear divide can be found to be simplistic, but this should still get your contemplation started so that you will become liberated from the yoke of others upon your mind and intent. Meditative absorptions are real. They are unique and not really repeatable. If you think any phenomenon is repeatable, then you don't understand what Buddha said about anatma, the lack of self in any and all phenomena. If something was repeatable, it would mean it had a consistent and abiding self-nature. This is clearly not Buddha's doctrine at all. To describe an absorption by placing a number on it, like 2nd Jhana and so forth is nothing short of idiotic.

Headaches are caused by unresolved concerns, like contradicting desires or fears. If you're not skilled in selfknowledge, it might be hard for you to know you own concerns. On the other hand, if you know thyself well, you will know why you have a head ache. Every time I have a head ache I know exactly its cause and I can stop it almost 100% of the time at will, because I know the concern that's causing it and all I need to do is to drop it. Alternatively I can realize that I just enjoy having my concern and accept the head ache as the price of my enjoyment. To become skilled in self-knowledge there is no trick and no shortcut. Just pay attention and from time to time you may want to enjoy doing some practical experiments to complement your contemplation. Without experiments your theory might get detached from your actuality and you probably don't want that. So play with things to test them and to examine them from time to time to make sure your understanding is decent. Simply relaxing in a chair can calm the headache. When you relax, feel kindness in your body. Don't indulge in mentally punishing or berating yourself or anything like that. Feel kindness in your heart and let that feeling suffuse your whole body as you relax in a non-formal, unstructured, playful mood. Forget dogmas about duty, responsibility and whatnot. Spiritual responsibility is nothing like the worldly responsibility you might have learned about. Allow yourself to relax completely... like there is no time, no past, no future. Let it be. Sexual tension can be reduced by visualizing women as rotting corpses. Load some high resolution images of women, but instead of focusing on what is beautiful about them, look at their warts, zits, imperfections, boils, rashes, ugly hair, and so forth. This will upend the tendency of your mind to instantly and reflexively regard women as desirable. It's a gradual process. If you keep at it, your desire for women will slowly diminish. This assumes that women are the main objects of your sexual desire. If you have other objects, you just need to focus on the undesirable aspects of those -- the principle is the same. Because this method gives only gradual results, and is reversible, you can adjust your level of excitement. You can for example contemplate what is beautiful about each women to cause yourself to see all women, even those conventionally thought to be ugly, to be beautiful. It's possible to bend your vision like that. You can make anything seem sexy or repulsive this way. The key is to be honest. In other words, don't pretend that women are ugly. Find something to honestly dislike even in the most beautiful woman and you will have results if you do this as a practice for some time each day.

I read this from start to finish with great pleasure. It's a brilliant essay. I could nit pick here and there, but the core of it is right on in my opinion. Thank you for posting it.

You're wasting your time. People just want your money and no one will tell you shit. Well maybe not no one. I can tell you, but my answer is so simple, I doubt you'll believe me. Here goes. Open your mind to this: Any experience is possible. If you want to know how to perform magic, you just need to know how you move your hands. How do you move your hands? How to you make your hand go from your hip to your ear for example? Are there steps involved? Is intent involved? If yes, does intent have a beginning and/or an end? Examine this very closely. Take your time. Move your hand as you examine the issues I hint at. If you can understand how you move your hand, you will learn how to move anything anywhere and turn anything into anything else. It's that simple. Then you will not have to beg others for knowledge. All knowledge is buried in you and you don't need to beg others. Slow down a little and pay attention. Ask yourself tough questions. Do you think you understand your current body? Do you think you fully understand your current mind? Can you separate mind from body? What is a body? What is a mind? Think this over, slowly, gently, playfully and constantly. Feel it. Don't just think it. Don't disconnect your thoughts from your feelings. Integrate. Be honest. Your goal here is to reach total honesty. If you become totally honest you are Buddha. Be simple and child-like in your honesty. Be direct. Don't play any games with yourself or with others nor indulge in any tricks. Just be down to earth and simple, almost stupid-like and ask tough questions of yourself. Challenge yourself. Ask yourself what you want to know and pay attention. How would this thing you want to experience be felt by you? Imagine feeling it. What does it feel like in your imagination? How is what you currently feel differ? Keep paying attention. Don't beg anymore, for to beg others of anything, is to spit upon the very heart of the soul of Lord who dwells right within your very own breast. Don't spit on your inner Lord by begging in an unseemly fashion. Pay heed.

I agree with this 100%, and I want to add this. What do you see when your 4th eye opens? How about 108th? What if you combine your two eyes into one and see like a cyclops? What can you see if you look with your fingers? Folks, there is no 3rd eye. The whole point of us being spiritual rather than physical beings, is that even 2 eyes are not quite true/real upon ultimate analysis. Even even 1 eye is not anywhere to be found, if even 1 iota of substance is not to be found anywhere upon examination, then what talk can there be of 3rd eye? 3rd eye, at best, can be a useful and playful metaphor. It can symbolize a new way of seeing things. And any attempt to try to discern in an absolute fashion what's deluded and what's real within the visionary realm is pure delusion from the start. We can, for ourselves, feel what is more and less authentic, but those are not absolute perspectives (nor is there any absolute perspective anywhere). Can you have visceral, and for all intents and purposes real paranormal experience? Yes! It's possible. You can enter into a magical realm where nothing you've ever known applies. It's possible. But there is no path to it, such as "step 1, raise energy to point X, then move it to point Y, step 2, open 3rd eye, etc." It's nothing like that. This is just worldly deluded thinking. We, in this realm, like to imagine that reality and action are arranged in layers and proceed in steps. Nothing is further from the truth. There are no steps and no substantial layers anywhere. There is no ultimate structure or substance behind phenomena. All phenomena are empty. But don't take my word for it. Try to find some substance, even a hair-tip's worth of substance anywhere. Be honest. What do you find? Do you find something other than experience? Is that experience distinguishable from a dream or a hallucination? If you think you can distinguish your waking experience from a hallucination, you've obviously never examine this issue, never tested it, never contemplated it. The goal of spiritual practice is to become disentangled from the specific of your apparent manifestations. In other words, what happens to us is that we get lost in the dream. We get so taken up with the details and specifics of the dream that we forget it's a dream. We begin to think only this realm exists. Only this version of events is real. Only this understanding is the truth. Only this experience is backed up by substance (and all else is either a dream or a hallucination), and so forth. We get caught up and dominated by the contents of our own minds. Instead of beings the masters of our minds we become slaves to our minds. Do you own your mind? Think about it. If you think your mind is yours, shouldn't you be able to even slightly control it? Yes? Then try to forget your name, or imagine you are a different species. Can you? For most people the honest answer is no, because they cannot control their mind! The mind out out of control. It's not that our mind is "monkey mind". That's stupid! Don't repeat this useless Zen fallacy. No. Your mind actually can be very quiet and very placid but still be out of control! For example, can you order your placid mind to become agitated? Can you become passionate at will? Thing is, if you are a "naturally" peaceful person, you probably cannot. Any kind of mind can be out of control. Having mind with little content in it is not a sign of master. Let me give you this metaphor. Imagine a man at the piano. He's randomly hitting the keys at a fast clip and produces a terrible melody. We would call this out of control playing. You tell this man, can you slow down? And he cannot. He just keeps jabbing the piano keys and can't help it but to jab randomly. This person is out of control. Many people wrongly believe that to achieve silence is the goal. So they practice non-playing. They eventually succeed in not hitting any keys at all, let's say. They get so happy... Then you ask them, wait... silence is OK for 10 minutes, now play me some Bach, how about it? The guy goes.... FUCK... shit... I can't play shit! I just know how to not play. So can this person be said to be self-possessed? No. Their mind is still not their own. The piano and the music is not theirs to play. They are a slave to a rigid form. Adhering doggedly to silence is rigid form -- it has no capacity for expressiveness. So what is good to see? What's good to see is a man who can play randomly and easily switch to playing Bach and easily switch to playing Mozart and easily switch to silence -- this is what I call "having range". You need to have range to have mastery. If you just produce one form forever, that's not range at all, that's called being stupid and stubborn. The goal is to become a creative divine spiritual player who can play any melody and silence plays only a minor role in that. We don't enjoy the ugly sounds we make so we foolishly think silence is the answer. The answer lies in the endless beautiful array of music and not in silence. Silence has its place too. So it is range that is prized. Experiential range. Being able to do "only this" or "only that" or "only in this way can this be done" -- all these are restrictions on range. These are not liberations if these are your absolute onlys. Any experience can be liberative the second it stops being only. All phenomena are wide open space, wide open possibilities. If you don't see endless possibilities you are wasting your time. So if you think like this, "only after I open 3rd eye will such and such happen" -- that's not seeing endless possibilities. That's putting a false limit on mind's power to manifest. Scientists are by and large materialists/essentialists/physicalists and thus they believe in limitations. But spiritual people should not try to mimic science in this manner. Essentialism is utterly antithetic to spiritual evolution as it leaves no room for life and for creativity -- it makes all phenomena seem hard, set in stone, predetermine, possible in only one way under only one condition, etc... It takes the endless array of possibilities and converts it into 1 real possibility and an endless number of useless hallucinations and it robs you of your creative power. So don't try to carry over the limits of the old thinking, the things that used to bind you, into your new life. The problem is not that we didn't figure out our spiritual structure, like which energy channels goes where and so on. The problem is that we believe in some absolute structure at all. Structures are visions and nothing more. Anyone who tells you, "I know how to open your 3rd eye" is robbing you blind, because they are implying that you need to open it and that there is only one way to do it, and many other limitations on manifestation are implied by that statement. Your inherent creative power is destroyed by this if you believe such people.

Yes. First of all the mind is very very powerful. We don't usually believe that it is, that's why we can get so shocked and surprised when we experience visceral effects like you describe. As long as those effects only appear in meditation, and you meditate as you describe here, the most likely cause of them is your mind's natural ability to concentrate plus the meanings you attach to the idea of concentration, to what it means to concentrate, and the meanings you attach to meditation and what it means to meditate. First thing I would suggest is to stop focusing or concentrating on any chakra or on anything at all. When you meditate, avoid making it too formal. Dress and act casual, like you're about to pick a booger out of your nose -- that casual. Sit down or lay down without getting stiff, just do it the same way you always do it when you're not meditating. Don't expect magic or anything weird to happen. Expect your meditation to be boring. Why? Because expectations are powerful. Sometimes when you expect something strongly, the mind does its best to manifest it. Relax and don't specifically focus on anything. Just sit or lay down however you are comfortable and just pay attention to your being in a gentle manner. Try to feel some kindness for yourself and everyone (but not pity), but don't try too hard either. Just a little. And spend about 1 minute like this, then do something else... Then do another minute and so on. When this becomes normal and easy, spend 2 minutes and so on. The goal is to increase your awareness of your inner life, of yourself, of your perceptions and so forth and also to relax at the same time. Relax. Drop the stress. Drop all your goals and designs and pay attention in a playful mood. Don't worry about chakras -- they are not real anyway. They are mind-made, like other stuff.

It's something that's been on my mind lately. I see people doing this. First the person has a real problem. The person looks for a solution. As a solution an entire way of life is being sold to them wholesale. The person buys into that way of life and forgets about the problem. The original problem, although forgotten, is not gone. And now on top of the original problem, a new problem of being sucked into an inflexible and seemingly mandatory life style is created. I find this predicament to be terrible, and I pray for everyone who is caught in this kind of predicament. People have real problems that they want to solve. Instead they get caught in some path and devote so much energy to the maintenance of the path that they forget why they even entered the path to begin with. The path takes a life of its own and the person is lost. To prevent this from happening, I suggest a reality check. Always go back to your problem. What is your problem? Is it pain? Is it fear? Is it an experience of limitations? If you enter onto a path of any kind, then every so often do a reality check: are my problems being solved or improving? Am I becoming free from pain? Free from fear? Are limitations ceding their hold? And be completely honest with yourself about these things. Since you don't have to share this kind of inner reflection with anyone, you must be honest, because if you lie to yourself, not only is there no good excuse for doing so, but you cheat nobody but yourself. If you do not experience a substantial improvement in 1 year, it's time to get off the path. This doesn't mean you give up your quest in the larger scheme of things, but you do have to recognize when certain things fail to give honest results. I so often see the person discuss some energy manipulation or this or that sundry technique, and I wonder, what are they trying to solve or improve? Sometimes it seems that the person is just doing some energy manipulation for its own sake. The problem is not even stated. So it's kind of like when someone says, "Gee, how do I change a tire?" But what's your problem? If you need to lift the toilet seat to take a dump, knowing how to change a tire is irrelevant to your problem, right? What are you trying to do? And I don't want to focus this on any particular technique. All techniques can sucker the person into them: praying, meditation, yoga asanas, zikr, dancing, or whatever fancy shmancy technique you got. This process of asking yourself fundamental questions like this is the process of contemplation. It can really save you a lot of unnecessary headache, unnecessary effort, unnecessary humiliation, unnecessary discipline and what have you. Don't get caught up in the techniques for techniques' sake. And I don't want to put the breaks on anything either! If you really had no problems at all and wanted to do something just because it's artistic or fun, more power to you. If your problems are being solved and you are not increasing your burdens in exchange for the solution, and in fact, if you are doing better than breaking even, again, more power to you. It would be a shame if you healed your leg and your arm fell off as a result. But if you had a problem you were trying to solve, then don't get lost in that which fails to yield results within a reasonable time frame. I trust in your own innate wisdom to know what is a reasonable time frame for you. P.S.: If anyone wonders about the broom, it is simple. Use the broom if your house floor needs sweeping, but don't fall in love with it. Don't have sex with your broom just because it does a good job at one task. Don't marry it. It's just a tool with limited use. Brooms are of no use in the forest.

Dzogchen Practice in Everyday Life Once in a while I do a search on "dzogchen" on google to see if anything "new" shows up. Today I ran across this link and liked it, so I wanted to share it. It's not too long and I think it is very clear.

One of my favorite sermons. It's straightforward, to the point, utterly bad ass, just how I like it. None of this "goody two shoes" mushy vibe that I can't stand. It's the ultimate truth for bad asses out there. For uncompromising people. For people who need to get to the bottom of things fast, without diversions. For honest people who can't stand lies and flowery language deceit or confused mysticism. Even a real moron can gain enlightenment after hearing this. You don't need training or further instruction if you understand this text. This text is a lot like Shodoka in spirit. Just "no bullshit" lightning bolt of truth.

You'd be surprised. People fear unknown. People cling to the old and familiar. That's the nature of conservatism. It's trying to maintain the old and familiar. To preserve. To conserve. To stuff reality into tin cans for long safekeeping. In case... Just in case. To keep it forever the same. Nice and safe. In the cans. Forever. Don't fuck with the cans.

Actually, upon analysis no assertion is found to be true. I mean, none. Zero. No assertion. Why is that? That's because of the groundless nature of phenomena. Indeed, when one looks for the basis and fails to find it many times, one builds an experiential confidence in the empty nature of phenomena. To say that we are individual mindstrreams is just as off base as to say we are one big mind. It's all extreme, which comes from elaboration. The very nature of the process of elaboration is to state what a thing cannot be, to delineate it, to describe a thing in terms of constraints. But the true nature of things is that things are not inherently constrained. We can experience, feel, see these constraints, but they are not real or lasting... That's what we mean when we say that phenomena are empty. Tao is a very complicated concept to understand. Tao is not "before". When it is said that Tao is ancestral to things, it is meant that it's the fundamental nature of things. their underlying reality. It doesn't mean that Tao existed as an entity before other things, in physical linear time. Tao exists now. It's not something that's gone now that the universe is here. Tao is a strange word, because what it's trying to describe is very hard to describe. It's a placeholder really. It's not a perfect label. "I don't know what to call it, so I call it Tao". The "don't know what to call it" is key. So to understand what Tao is, one has to spend a long time pondering everything that's been said about it, but even then, you will still see it in your own context, in the context of your own being, which is fine, just be aware of this. And what do you mean by that? I bet if you look into the details of your questions, you'll find it to evaporate on its own. Just look at what you mean to ask. In detail. I believe you'll see that question vanish if you do that.

I concur. Western medicine is great in emergencies when you need to control some symptom right away, especially if the victim is unconscious. In some cases, when you need to control pain, I think hypnosis is still better than anything anesthesiologist can come up with, but other than pain control, western medicine is pretty good. For example, if you swallowed some acid, you might be given some base to neutralize it right away, or vice versa. There are antidotes for venom that work right away and in, more or less, every case. Etc. However, when it comes to chronic issues, western medicine sucks. When it comes to subtle issues, such as auto-immune disorders, it sucks. Western medicine also has frighteningly little to say on how to maintain health if you are already healthy. Western medicine is concerned with diseases far more than with maintaining health when you are already healthy. It's obsessed with pathologies and fails to study healthy people as much as it should. Chronic issues result when the disease becomes embedded within a person's identity. The mind-nature of diseases is relentlessly denied and dismissed by the Western medicine. Placebo effect is considered between "bad" and "useless" rather than being considered a natural and healthy healing effect of the mind. This is a result of a physicalist materialism to which most doctors and researchers hold, either consciously or in most cases unconsciously. Antibiotics are overused. They kill gut bacteria indiscriminately as much as they kill the "bad" bacteria. The end result is that you can die from the medicine if not careful. It's like using a sledge hammer to fix your eye glasses. I will agree that sometimes antibiotics are useful and maybe even necessary, but doctors should not hand them out like candy. I also have a very strong suspicious that no one knows what the fuck is going on with all the mind-altering "medicines" such as Xanax and a ton of other varieties. (I'm going to ignore that they cost 2 cents per pill to make and are sold at many dollars per pill...) Using the happy pills people incorrectly suppress real issues that should be resolved in contemplation. This promotes laziness and lack of responsibility, and ultimately it promotes a state of victimhood and dependency. I don't blindly support any kind of folk medicine either. I suggest trial and error approach based on contemplation and intuition, combined. I don't like homeopathy. I think what homeopaths achieve should be done with hypnosis or certain types of contemplation. Let's drop the absurd idea that the more diluted something is, the more powerful it is. If that's the case, then I am sniffing some very powerful Napoleon farts right now, and so on. It's absurd and it's obvious why. Whatever good effects homeopaths achieve they all have to do with mind, so just approach the mind directly without the trap of homeopathy. Mind based healing is legitimate, unlike homeopathy, which is pretentious.

I think I know why. He's been reading Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra: "What is equanimity? It is the equality of everything from self to liberation. Why? Because both self and liberation are void. How can both be void? As verbal designations, they both are void, and neither is established in reality. Therefore, one who sees such equality makes no difference between sickness and voidness; his sickness is itself voidness, and that sickness as voidness is itself void."

Just in case anyone actually wants to contemplate this topic... Here are some questions to get you started: 1. What does "self" mean? 2. If you don't know what it means, what are you negating? 4. If you do know what it means, then what is the basis for that knowledge? 5. If no basis can be found, go back to 2 again. 6. What is the difference between any two words? 7. Do words have permanent meanings? If not, then can "not-self" have the same meaning tomorrow as the "self" does today? If meanings are fixed, then what is the basis of that fixation? Try to find it experientially and analytically. 8. What does it mean when we say something is "symbolic"? 9. Is what's considered non-symbolic, symbolic? Or vice versa, is what's considered symbolic non-symbolic? 10. Is there a basis for making a distinction between symbolic and non-symbolic? Try to find it experientially and analytically. 11. Is your mind in the world or is the world in the mind? 12. Is there a difference between mind and world? If yes, what is the basis for it? Try to find it experientially and analytically. Good luck.

Then explain your need for explanations. To yourself, not to us. It might be instructive to you.

There is no such thing as an indirect experience. Nor is there a direct one. This is just a flaw in contemplation to think that there is.

There is no such thing as "things just as they are". The whole point of the teaching on emptiness is that things don't have a certain state where they are true to themselves -- ever. Completely wrong. The aim is the same as the aim of the Buddhist path itself. Light body is just a side-effect, and not a very important one. It's of course drool-worthy and cool, but it's not what really matters. Oh yea, that's exactly what is happening. You got it all figured out, cause you see "things as they are <tm>".

He might be enlightened. Many enlightened men advocated homelessness as the ideal life, including Buddha. It's very hard to say. In these matters, what others opine over the Internet is not that significant. Use a combination of your own contemplation (reason, critical thinking, questioning attitude) and intuition. While no one can be absolutely certain, except ornamentally, you are the closest to your own situation. Trust yourself. Even if you make a mistake, your own mistake is better than someone else's correctness.

The coach is not always the best player. On the other hand, you also do have a point. We need more honesty than we currently get in the spiritual traditions. I am certain that long life is possible, even if no one currently can seem to be able to manifest it. The people that do live over 100 years do not look good on pictures, more often than not. Personally I think we need to focus on improving our quality of life instead of quantity. I think if our quality gets really high, the quantity will naturally follow as well. If we focus on mere surviving while our life quality sucks big time, then we're "doing it wrong", as people say.

I used to practice lucid dreaming to try to understand the nature of reality. One time I had this experience. I wake up, and take a shower and get dressed for work. I am about to go to work when I wake up again and have to repeat everything. Then I realized that there is no way to distinguish dreams and what we call "reality". The sky is the limit. If you can imagine it, it is possible. If you can't imagine it, it's also possible. Before this experience it was hard for me to understand that dreams and reality are the same thing. I thought that dreams were clearly different from reality. The only relevant question becomes now, "Do I want it?" And also, "Can I handle it, if it becomes my day to day reality?" That's the big one right there, at least for me. Also, since the present manifestation is one I intend as well, letting it go is not easy. It's like letting go of your favorite toy.

I don't understand you here. What do you mean "independently"? You can cultivate any effect. For example, weight lifters cultivate strength without the slightest idea of spiritual practice all the time. A spiritual weight lifter can probably have more success and a better understanding of the lifting process, but this doesn't stop anyone from going after the effect itself for its own sake. Now if you open your mind just a little, you can see that all effects are like this. You can go after any effects for that effects sake without being spiritual. Why should there be a limit to this? Of course there is not! What spirituality offers is a holistic view. It offers an all-embracing view, a way to easily and naturally relate all appearances/phenomena. It's very useful, perhaps priceless. But it is silly to say that some effects are side-effects of spiritual-practice and are only caused by spiritual practice and nothing else. If you understand emptiness than you can understand how there is no way to determine the cause from just the effect alone. That's because conditions are important. For example, if I strike a match, is the effect a fire? Well, not always! If I strike it in "good" conditions, it lights. If I strike it underwater, it doesn't light. Vice versa now. If you see a fire, can you conclude that someone was playing with matches? Is fire a side-effect of matches? Not exactly! A fire can be caused in many many ways. Infinite ways. Further, matches might fail to produce fire. So one shouldn't say that fire is a side effect of playing with matches in a kind of firmly-tied sense, where you firmly associate the two phenomena together (like the phenomenon of playing with matches and the phenomenon of the fire). This is why it is said that unlike other siddhas, Buddha has a siddhi of Dharma. Meaning that Buddha can explain the true nature of reality and guide a person toward the release froim suffering. The reason it is said like that is because in India pretty much every siddhi Buddha did was done by some other siddha, so none of the Buddha's siddhis were "Special" only to Buddha except certain ones, like the siddhi of being able to teach Dharma. The possibilities are endless. Is it possible that there is a realm where some government succeeds in controlling and exploiting psychic phenomena? It is. Is it possible there is a realm where the government tries to do so, in good faith, and fails and is never able to gain control and exploit psychic phenomena? It is. It is wide open. The possibilities are limitless. It doesn't have to be only this way or only that way.

Placebo effect is the mind's natural healing effect. Unfortunately the scientists dismiss it as "unreal", since most of the scientists hold to hard physicalism as their view of reality. It's actually deeper and more profound than Chi. Chi is one type of placebo effect, but placebo effects can cover an infinite range. One can even say that all effects are placebo effects. I mean ALL effects of any kind anywhere. Try to understand this implication.