9th

eats brains - Halloween hack the heads off little girls put them on my wall

Why not just go ahead and do what you feel is best? Then see what happens. Dont be a chickenshit. Step up to the plate. Hit that homerun - be a hero!

Everyone loves to look for or try to give descriptions of the way of wu wei... but its generally less than productive in my opinion. Its not really possible with our style of language because the level of mind that invents (and uses) human verbal language is lesser than (and not equal to) the way of wu wei, which is essentially prior to this aspect of human mind, and is even specifically its source in the first place - as well as the source of many other states and realms and beings and so forth. It is indeed "superior" to the human mind, and as such cannot really be grasped from that side - only retroactively discussed from the side of wu wei, in essentially "broken" human terms because the totality of the tao cannot be contained by human terminology or description. This takes one back to the idea of "silent knowledge" where there is conceptual thought and symbolic understanding that is above and beyond the basic human mind. This would be a "superhuman" language, in other words - and the closest source for us is literally our DNA. The information encoded in the DNA inside your body spans millions of years. This could be considered the "earth mind" as opposed to the "human mind"... although it is splitting hairs to some degree because even these terms such as "earth" and "human" are in themselves limited in scope and (as already said) cannot encompass the totality of reality itself in all its various interpenetrations and codependencies with their holistic functions and so forth. So when you are speaking of wu wei you are speaking about a way of being that is based in a mind that is fully saturated with such "silent knowledge". There is no need for internal discussions or thoughts of that nature, because the knowledge which is used to apprehend the world is prior to thoughts of that nature, and is superior in terms of accuracy and depth of understanding regarding the relativity involved in any given situation. Wu wei is therefore sourced from a level of consciousness which is literally greater than the "human mind". That is why it is so difficult to describe the way of wu wei or how it operates, when using this same human mind. It can be referred to after the fact, but in my opinion only poetically - with an eye towards investigations of a multidimensional nature rather than anything like a scientific analysis. People who are looking for a scientific analysis and/or simplistic breakdown of living in wu wei are just out of luck - its not going to happen. The best thing is to just follow your nose as much as possible, like you seem to be doing - and what Im saying is that almost all discussion surrounding that level of practice is pointless until you have a good number of actual working materials, and at that point you can "get serious" about it in any number of ways. Yes there are traditions that specifically address such a level of functioning, but ultimately this may or may not be necessary depending on your personal being and nature and so forth. I will say that making the most out of such traditions would require a lifelong level of commitment involving countless sacrifices of an extreme nature... to the extent that 99% of the population cannot achieve, in my opinion. However, again - that may or may not be necessary according to your personal being and nature and so forth. Some people seem to just spontaneously arrive with no practice at all whatsoever, of which there are many documented cases - and there are many other things possible in the intersection between this and the standard idea of a practice or path that is followed with discipline and proper efforts and all that. Ultimately any kind of system (or "form" of any sort) will not be able to contain the raw potential of what has been described as the tao. It is so far beyond them that you may as well strike out on your own as soon as you are able, because that is how you will personally make the most of it - however the point at which this occurs in terms of formal training and so forth will be different for everyone. Some need none, some need it all the way, some need something in between - and then there are plenty of strange situations beyond this... so many very, very strange things are possible. But ultimately, we are working with results - not possibilities - this is the crucial key that must be understood before anything whatsoever can be achieved.

I pay homage to my gracious Guru— Pray make everyone here think of the Dharma! As he said once, “Like bubbles is This life, transient and fleeting— In it no assurance can be found.” A layman’s life is like a thief Who sneaks into an empty house. Know you not the folly of it? Youth is like a summer flower— Suddenly it fades away. Old age is like a fire spreading Through the fields—suddenly ’tis at your heels. The Buddha once said, “Birth and death Are like sunrise and sunset— Now come, now go.” Sickness is like a little bird Wounded by a sling. Know you not, health and strength Will in time desert you? Death is like an oil-dry lamp (After its last flicker). Nothing, I assure you, In this world is permanent. Evil Karma is like a waterfall, Which I have never seen flow upward. A sinful man is like a poisonous tree— If you lean on it, you will injured be. Transgressors are like frost-bitten peas— Like spoiled fat, they ruin everything. Dharma-practisers are like peasants in the field— With caution and vigour they will be successful. The Guru is like medicine and nectar— Relying on him, one will win success. Discipline is like a watchman’s tower— Observing it, one will attain Accomplishment. The Law of Karma is like samsāra’s wheel— Whoever breaks it will suffer a great loss. Samsāra is like a poisonous thorn In the flesh—if not pulled out, The poison will increase and spread. The coming of death is like the shadow Of a tree at sunset— It runs fast and none can halt it. When that time comes, What else can help but Holy Dharma? Though Dharma is the fount of victory. Those who aspire to it are rare. Scores of men are tangled in The miseries of samsāra; Into this misfortune born, They strive by plunder and theft for gain. He who talks on Dharma With elation is inspired, But when a task is set him, He is wrecked and lost. Dear patrons, do not talk too much, But practise the Holy Dharma. - Milarepa

Nobody knows shit. Dont be a pretender.

No - you read into it way too far and got hung up on terminology. Im only interested in the meaning, not the words. If that causes issues for people, so be it. Concentration as I refer to it above is exactly the same as "one-pointedness", as I stated above. No need to consult the oxford or websters dictionary. Here is some more word study for you: If you are unfamiliar with this, then perhaps that is the problem here.

I doubt everyone can personally relate to your situation, profounded - but some of us here can. I am one of them. I know what it is like to be predisposed to intensity, thrills, extreme emotions and sensations and so forth. Along with this is usually something described as an "addictive personality", because obsessiveness is also a key facet of this mindset. There is a much stronger element of fixation involved in such people, because that is simply required to hold on or continue with such "extreme" activities, which are disruptive by their very nature. When you mix in codependency, its a superbad combo - incredibly volatile. People like us gravitate to each other because we know that our combined forces will further amplify the whole situation in an exponential way - as in, the sum is greater than the parts. It all fits together like that. I know a handful of guys that always attract "crazy" girls, much like myself, and being able to observe them has given me the space to see things I would have liked to avoid seeing in myself. Eventually I came to realize all sorts of things about myself and my situation, and by then I had created enough objectivity in my personal situation that I could step out of myself to a certain degree and move on with life by choice, as opposed to by impulse (or reflex... in other words, automatically). This is may help you proceed as well. Perhaps we should go back a bit and relive some of the madness... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cn1Y_XF4E4 I don't think I am what I was before I never watched anyone die before I wish I'd never left home I wish I'd left it alone Temptation is a disease You can never do as you please Your body takes over and your mind don't care Never think twice what might happen... out there Go straight in for the ultimate sin nobody else ever seems to care So I took what I thought was mine And I waited for a very long time And I thought I knew what happened to you you told me exactly what to do I did it right, stayed up all night I Felt like killing myself for you I don't think I think like I did before I never watched anyone die before I felt like I died as well The look the words the smell The way you looked at me As if I'd never be free I remember the words like a favorite song 'cause I cant forget the way things went wrong Faked a picture of perfect health Then I realized I was killing myself I don't think I am what I was before I never watched anyone die before I dream in slow motion and I wake up screaming

I dont see you simplifying anything here. You are just presenting your own "overcomplication" instead. Its much more accurate to say that this is just your perspective, informed by your subjective experience - which is quite a bit different than mine, obviously, for a number of reasons. Who is to say which description is "better" in terms of which is more "simple" to understand and/or implement as advice? Thats not rhetorical - the answer is: the person in question who we are attempting to communicate with. Only the original poster can say for sure, because that is who I was directing the response to. My response may very well be "overcomplicated" for you and yet far more "simple" to Shad282 - or it could be the other way around, as you suggest. If you are speaking of something more specific, please elaborate. Again, your response seems no less "overcomplicated".

I made a talisman amulet during an extended period of "heightened awareness" a few years ago... heres a picture of it:

You are conflating an idea of "the now" to the standard, very common result of aversion. You are right in that what you describe is a type of escapism - in other words it is "avoidance". That has nothing to do with "the now" as a reality - which is the totality of experience, the inescapable fullness and emptiness of infinity, the potential of all things. In other words, when you are being present in "the now" you cannot avoid or deny any thoughts, emotions, sensations, etc. but at the same time they do not control your actions or dominate your identity. You are overlooking the aspect of "being present" when it comes to "the now". It is of course much more common to avoid any kind of uncomfortable experience - and you can use whatever you want to avoid it - alcohol, drugs, books, movies, meditation, martial arts, or "the now". The act of avoiding can take any form whatsoever. All you have to do is set out with that intent, and any behavior can serve that purpose. At the same time if you set out with the intent of being present, any behavior can serve that purpose as well. If you are not able to use intent to this degree, you may require a set of guidelines or precepts to help you - but eventually you have to drop the training wheels and get serious with your own life, your own experience. Then there is the idea of "indulgence" as well. Sometimes people actually become more comfortable repeating the same unpleasant emotions and thoughts - they become "comfortably numb" in their little subjective world and effectively retire from any sort of possible growth or evolution in an objective sense. So, it is also possible to "dwell" on the past or future to a degree that is certainly detrimental - but this is more about the phenomena of "dwelling" on anything in general. Another word for it is "indulging". Its too much, its over the line, its not necessary - its like a hamster wheel where you are constantly running but getting nowhere. This is related to the idea being discussed in another thread where you either work to make yourself happy or work to make yourself miserable - but the amount of work is the same. You have a finite amount of energy in this human body in this human life, and you can use it any number of ways. Most people have no idea of this concept and therefore they serve only the civilized human world with its civilized human concerns. However the natural world is much greater than humanity alone, and if you wish to take part in this greater reality you must utilize your finite energy in another way besides the standard civilized model. The reason I am bringing this up is because most of the standard ways people "waste" energy can be easily transplanted to esoteric systems, philosophies, occult practices, meditations and so forth. In other words, intent always overrides the practice, whatever it may be. These tools can be used simply to further serve the same rat race, just with a different mask, a different background, a different setting. Its something you should watch out for. Trungpa called it "spiritual materialism". You will be lucky if you find the kind of practice that wont let you go when you encounter such a dissonance personally - its very challenging to deal with, but a damn good omen in the end. Thats when it gets "real", as they say.

Sounds like you had a dream that crystallized a specific insight for you.. those are pretty special

Therefore the ancients said that after Adam had eaten the apple, the tree of paradise withered. Your life needs the dark. But if you know that it is evil, you can no longer accept it and you suffer anguish and you do not know why: Nor can you accept it as evil, else your good will reject you. Nor can you deny it since you know good and evil. Because of this the knowledge of good and evil was an insurmountable curse. But if you return to primal chaos and if you feel and recognize that which hangs stretched between the two unbearable poles of fire, you will notice that you can no longer separate good and evil conclusively, neither through feeling nor through knowledge, but that you can discern the direction of growth only from below to above. You thus forget the distinction between good and evil, and you no longer know it as long as your tree grows from below to above. But as soon as growth stops, what was united in growth falls apart and once more you recognize good and evil. You can never deny your knowledge of good and evil to yourself so that you could betray your good in order to live evil. For as soon as you separate good and evil, you recognize them. They are united only in growth. But you grow if you stand still in the greatest doubt, and therefore steadfastness in great doubt is a veritable flower of life. - Jung

All of the most ancient civilizations of the East (egypt, sumeria, india, china) are related to each other by way of the so-called "lost" civilization that came before the global flood catastrophe, and the survivors that passed on their accumulated knowledge. Eventually there will be enough publicly known evidence to connect all the dots, but at the moment there is too much resistance to make any real progress in this field - which is based on a need to uphold the status quo for various reasons. There is a great deal of evidence already out there that is more or less suppressed, as well as plenty of necessary research that is consistently denied by various authorities.

Plenty of times, in various forms. Ive found it sometimes very easy and serene flying through the air, sometimes quite wild and crazy like a jet plane or something, also times where its the rising up into the air with a more "liquid" feeling - like it seems you are describing. I had a lucid dream once where I became lucid as I was flying way high up, above clouds and so forth so I was looking down on the tiny houses below and all that - I was thinking to myself, "wow Im flying - thats pretty odd, I dont think that is normal" and BOOM, then Im lucid in the dream and (as usual in a lucid dream) it all becomes much more real seeming, basically as real as the "normal world", then I got really freaked out because of how high I was off the ground, just flying there. I got a bit startled, thinking "whoa!!!" and due to this I started to drift back down, not fast but not too slow. I immediately realized this as a mistake and was calming my emotions and so forth, and that seemed to correspond with the descent back to the ground getting slower and more gentle. I touched down to the ground softly as if stepping down from a stair, and by then I was fully back into a very calm state, and feeling like I was rising again, which I did - but not before I came face to face with some kind of creature that is extremely hard to describe. It looked like a giant cat (lion or jungle cat sized) but it was also very wolf or dog-like as well - it was a strange looking animal for sure. Except it also had these very large, extremely intelligent seeming eyes - kinda like when you look into another persons eyes and how different that is from looking into a frogs eyes. However as it looked at me I got the impression it was even way more intelligent than that - much more intelligent than people, and me as well. We had a brief and mutually curious non-verbal greeting before I floated back up into the sky. It was a super weird dream.

There is quite a difference between concentration and naked awareness. Both can be a path to arrive at the recognition of the unconditional reality at the source of all phenomena, but it is not the same methodology. In particular the practice of concentration is at the heart of all "occult" or supernatural and mystical activities which currently defy the most common and mainstream scientific understandings. Concentration is another word for focus - it is like narrowing down the light of perception into a laser-like intensity, also referred to as "one-pointedness" in some traditions. It is incredibly effective at holding obscurations of the mind at bay, keeping them down for the count and rendering them effectively non-existent as long as such a concentrated state is maintained - but it does not remove them. It is essentially the power of active ignorance. You actively ignore everything except the object of concentration. This is the basis of a hypnotic state. The vast majority of people are wandering around in the state of passive ignorance - they have no control over this function, but it is the same thing. Either you are "using" your mind, or your mind is "using" you - but ultimately there is no escape from ignorance except to drop it completely. Concentration can also be used in many ways beyond self-hypnosis. Many many many ways. Naked awareness is a bit more difficult to describe because it is simultaneously the fundamental origin of perception and yet you could say it is effectively "obscured" by the content of perception itself, or to put it more accurately it is hidden by the identification of the mind with the contents of perception. Naked, original awareness is never abolished or destroyed, only covered up. Many traditions speak of this in different ways, perhaps the most technical I have found is that of dzogchen and its inclination for very precise descriptions and elucidations of rigpa and all the teachings surrounding that term. However it is not a concept exclusive to dzogchen by any means. It seems most traditions tend to focus more on the preparatory methods and so forth that lead a practitioner along the path until they reach a point where they have effectively crossed the stream and the boat is left behind - this metaphor refers to the dawn of such naked awareness, which cannot be systematized or structured in a generic way as a practice per-se, because it is both prior to as well as far beyond all practices. Once you are established in such a position of naked awareness, you are effectively existent before any obscurations of mind occur, which means they dont need to be removed because they were never there to begin with. This kind of reality is impossible to talk about without a direct experience of it yourself - and that is why we have the idea of "transmission" and so forth. Its also worth noting that the results obtained through the practice of concentration are directly related to the idea of "personal power" or just "power" in general - the power of mind - and eventually can result in the power of "mind over matter" as it is commonly known. Therefore it ultimately has nothing to do with so-called spiritual advancement or evolution of being in the sense of a harmonious relationship to all things. Rather, concentration is specifically involved with the ability to manipulate things, which is often at odds with a greater harmony in terms of the "big picture". It is not an absolute, black and white kind of situation, because this kind of power may be necessary for a particular person in a particular situation, or to achieve a particular objective that ultimately will serve the harmonious balance of all things as opposed to an upset of such balance. Yet these judgement calls are not able to be generated through the ideas of man-made morality, ethics and so forth - and that is why you have concepts such as wei wu wei. Of course it has always been attempted, and one might say such attempts are the glue that has held society together since the dawn of time - either as religion, legal proclamations, codes of honor, etc. The discrepancy between concentration and awareness also explains why there are plenty of so-called "masters" who are capable of various kinds of supernatural feats and possess all manner of siddhis - and yet remain incredibly flawed and even outright despicable people who live only to exploit others for their own imagined personal gains. However such situations rarely last very long (on the cosmic time table), because the ability to bend the world to your will is explicitly the creation of vast amounts of karmic activity - which will rebound eventually, like anything else in the physical realm that is bound by physical laws. The only way to bend the world to your will and yet remain totally free of it is to possess (or be possessed by) the will of the absolute, which again returns us to the source and origin of all things and the concept of acting-without-acting, not-doing, and so forth.

Co-dependency is a bitch. Sometimes literally. It takes two to tango, this is the lesson that comes far too little and far too late in such situations. The involvement of romantic emotions and sexual intimacy is certainly the most classical form of this and also seems to be the most difficult to extricate from due to these specific attachments and entanglements. Sometimes you want to be entangled.. to a diligent sadhana, for example - sometimes you dont... and that is what you are experiencing. It may be a required phase to initiate a real sense of discernment in you, before the point arrives at which all is for naught - where the door to making the most of this life effectively closes for you in a permanent way. It may (or may not) surprise you to know that the traditional "guru" and "disciple" dynamic is often exploited to enact exactly the same kind of end results, and is also probably one of the oldest known examples, going back much further than the invention of those terms and quite possibly language itself. The idea of the "god-king" was not a novelty or social advancement. It may have even served a definite (some might say beneficial) purpose in those times to some degree, which we cannot fathom today as modern peoples. This documentary is a good example of an extremely lightweight version of such a scenario, and as you can see it is still amazingly destructive and complicated. (make sure you have "adblock plus" or "ublock origin" installed in your web browser before visiting this link)

"We are a blinded race. We live only on the surface, only in the present, and think only of tomorrow. We deal roughly with the past in that we do not accept the dead. We want to work only with visible success. Above all we want to be paid. We would consider it insane to do hidden work that does not visibly serve men. There is no doubt that the necessity of life forced us to prefer only those fruits one can taste. But who suffers more from the tempting and misleading influence of the dead than those who have gone wholly missing on the surface of the world? There is one necessary but hidden and strange work - a major work - which you must do in secret, for the sake of the dead. He who cannot attain his own visible field and vineyard is held fast by the dead, who demand the work of atonement from him. And until he has fulfilled this, he cannot get to his outer work, since the dead do not let him. He shall have to search his soul and act in stillness at their behest and complete the mystery. Do not look forward so much, but back and into yourself, so that you will not fail to hear the dead." - Jung

Like sands in the hourglass, so are the days of our lives. As the world turns, we know the bleakness of winter, the promise of spring, the fullness of summer and the harvest of autumn—the cycle of life is complete.

Soliders would be prescribed amphetamines to stay awake and so forth, as well as weirdo cocktails or mixtures. There was also a number of drugs that were tested on soldiers without their knowledge, or labelled as something else. Pretty sure it is still happening up to this day. The movie "Jacobs Ladder" is actually based on a true story, insanely enough. The US govt tested a drug known as BZ or 3-Quinuclidinyl benzilate on a bunch of guys during the widespread "MK-ULTRA" program and it didnt go well (to say the least). Drug use (illegal or otherwise) happens almost everywhere there is a sufficiently large enough group of people. Its human nature to seek consciousness alteration - and plenty of other animals are known to seek out fermented fruits (alcohol) and other such things that have such effects (cat nip, etc.). (then again lemurs seem to be quite diligent in their meditation practice, both with and without substance use)