doc benway

Here is a study on some commonly used remedies and the bibliography should be useful.

It is biased towards Western medical paradigm so take that into consideration.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7309662/

3 hours ago, NaturaNaturans said:

@steveid like to lurk around If possible

You should now have access.

Enjoy

3 hours ago, idiot_stimpy said:

So 'current events' sub forum is the place of the TTB secret society? I never knew...

It was started when feathers were getting ruffled during Covid as a way to preserve some freedom of discussion without polluting the other forums. Access available, you just need to ask. All political discussion is limited to that area. Enter at your own risk but forum rules still apply. 

The developing tangent was moved to the Current Events forum as requested -

29 minutes ago, Apech said:

 

You know what they say about people who reply to their own posts?

They’re not two?

21 hours ago, stirling said:

While "self" has gone, there is no limit to how deep non-dual perception or understanding  become, it just keeps deepening. 

I really appreciate your sharing.

I’d like to offer my perspective on the subtle point of “deepening” of “non-dual perception or understanding” fwiw. I propose that deepening, understanding, and perception are unrelated to non-duality but are related to the self, as the nature of mind is beyond all such concepts and is unimputable. What this sense of deepening of understanding and perception represents is the continual release of subtle remnants of self, which are never completely gone in this lifetime with, perhaps, very rare exception. Even when we feel free of the constraints of self, it is there in increasingly subtle forms. It is that very release of these myriad aspects of self which give rise to the equally varied experiences of awakening.

Just my $.02, ymmv.

2 hours ago, Elysium said:

Hey Mark, how did you reach the Lotus position? I can barely do half-lotus and how good I do it is a matter of question. I did notice however, that meditation quality is increased with half-lotus compared to good old cross-legged.

While waiting for Mark to respond, here are books and websites that offer guidance in stretching to achieve lotus.

One of my fav books is Becoming the Lotus by Martin Faulks.

Here is a brief video guide - 

The key is patience and perseverence.

Good luck!

16 hours ago, Nungali said:

 

Some guy asked me to do  that in a public toilet -  but I decided   ..... nah , just leave , now .

 

 

.

My “Eiffel Tower” was once in the Guinness Book of World Records!

The librarian made me take it out…

🥴

In the beginning was disorientation, my sense of "reality" was tickled by entheogens and reading Castaneda excited my spiritual curiosity. Later, the horrors of Rwanda and Yugoslavia caused me to investigate what humanity means and helped me to begin looking for purpose.

A transmission through the writings of Jiddu Krishnamurti, got me to orient - to actively turn the light around, to look at my own condition, my subjective experience and interpretation of it. To see that I need to actually do the work rather than think and talk about it. To see the primacy of my personal perception in creating reality and to investigate and ultimately broaden that into empathy based on perspective.

Anthony Demello's admonishment to WAKE UP. To be aware of my own patterns, drives, and tendency to label experience rather than open to it. To be aware in order to give oneself the possibility of choice, expressing values rather than conditioning.  

And Ramana and Nisargadatta who reminded me to continually ask 'who/what is this sense of I?' with perseverance and openness.

From the precision of attention and transformation of Daoist practice to the simple suggestion of the Bönpo to "leave it as it is."

To simply being here, sharing this path and experience with all of you and to continue to observe and learn and course correct when I stray. 

4 hours ago, Taomeow said:

 

I own a vintage scarf with the map of Paris printed on it.

If there was no difference between the map and the territory, the Eiffel Tower would be poking me in the neck. 

I once read of a koan in which the master demanded the pupil pull the Eiffel Tower [sic] out of their pocket! The pupil was enlightened on the spot.

A potentially unpopular opinion - 

There has never been, nor will there ever be, any separation in any sense between wuji, taiji, and their limitless manifestations.

All such distinctions are inaccurate yet useful for purposes of analysis and discussion.

On 3/12/2024 at 8:46 PM, NaturaNaturans said:

I have heard hunther gatheres only «worked» (hunted) for 2-4 hours daily.

I read a very powerful autobiography called The Falcon by John Tanner.

It gives a first hand account of what it was like living as a hunter gatherer in the Great Lakes region in the late 18th century.

Highly recommended. 

On 3/12/2024 at 5:46 PM, NaturaNaturans said:

Very interresting. How did you come to this realization?

 

Edit: for me, early hindu texts like the bhagavad gita and upanishads changed my perception of myself. I think they are brilliantly and clearly written. Few  other texts... no other text (I have read) acctually, has been able to do that so masterfully for me. They also happens to be the only hindu texts ive read, so I think I should read more

It was spontaneous and unexpected. It was also preceded and succeeded by lots of reading, energy practices, martial arts, meditation, self-investigation, even entheogens, … so many things going back to ‘my’ beginning that I can see connected to the web and can’t point to one thing or a particular group of things really. Ultimately it’s a perspective, nothing more or less.

17 minutes ago, liminal_luke said:

It would be a better world, imo, if AI was forced to strip for scientific experimentation and spiritual masters were allowed required to keep their pants on.

Fixed it for ya

😉

On 3/8/2024 at 12:52 AM, idiot_stimpy said:

This is a pitfall and should be watched for.

And it can come in many sizes, shapes, and flavors.

It can be obvious or extremely subtle. 

17 hours ago, idiot_stimpy said:

I admit, I am and have been guilty of spiritual arrogance. 

Me too, and likely will again...

I just want to take a moment and say that it's really nice to have you active lately, @idiot_stimpy.

The subject matter of your threads and sincerity of your posts have inspired me to engage a bit more in discussion.

Thank you

My experience is one of many voices, many identities that are present in relation to whatever circumstances are present.

Some are bold and clumsy, obviously rooted in patterns of conditioning and a slave to mundane desires and aversions. Others are far more subtle and sophisticated. They are more difficult to discern and thus can give the false impression of wisdom. For me, there is no single "true inner voice" that I have identified. In my experience, any voice is related to concept and language and is necessarily a product of conditioning. The true inner voice, or nature as I prefer to label it, is non-verbal. Connecting with this nature is not a matter of choosing between voices but more one of allowing all voices that arise to come and go without engagement, connecting instead to the openness and silence. Action is based on trust in the openness rather than trust in an inner voice. This distinction is subtle and possibly semantic but it's interesting for me to observe and explore this inner landscape and the ambiguous labels we attach to it for purposes of understanding and communication. 

I appreciate the words of support.

I’m doing fine and so as not to raise any alarm, this doesn’t involve any of my teachers. Some friends have been hurt and my role was mostly consultative. I appreciate the kintsukoroi metaphor, a truly beautiful art. And the process of healing is also beautiful if we are open to it. As silent thunder has stated so well, it is our wounds that open us to what is, the cracks that let the light in (Leonard Cohen). My own spiritual path started as a result of deep trauma and don’t expect to remain unscathed on this Earth, as comfortable and appealing as that might be. 

PS - the painting is magnificent!

5 hours ago, stirling said:

 

Faith in Buddhist practice isn't blind, it is intended to be generated by seeing that practice changes you and your life.

I have experienced this personally and agree with both your statement and the merit of the method.

48 minutes ago, manitou said:

Faith (or hoping that something external is coming to save us?) is replaced with Knowing at some point.  When you realize who the navigator actually is, there is no need for faith, blind or otherwise.  

In reflecting on these posts, I suggest faith is what is there before knowing, be that through seeing positive changes through practice or self-realization. Once we experience or realize, it is knowing that drives us, not faith. Knowing which engenders trust. Faith is no longer necessary.

It seems to me that all faith is necessarily blind. If one is not blind one would see, and know or not know, faith is unnecessary when knowing is there. I do not disregard or demonize faith. It is good to have faith in your cancer treatment or your buddy who’s got your back in the shit. Good to have faith in parents, partners, teachers, coaches, etc… 

Faith is only a problem when we are too identified so as to fail or refuse to see truth when it shows itself and act accordingly. The biggest danger of faith is that it can make us vulnerable, susceptible to influence and abuse. 

It’s OK to feel faith if it is truly there, it is simply already there, a feeling, an idea, a hope, or a dream. There is nothing wrong with any of that and it does not present a threat if we are aware and responsive. Disappointment is Ok too, if it is there. It is important, however, that it doesn’t become a fixed part of our identity. All of this comes and goes if we don’t hold on. I think this is the key or me. 

These three words - belief, faith, and trust are interesting for me to sit with and to investigate. What counts more than these words are the concepts with which we associate them and our relationship to that, I think. 

In practice, all three have a similar function in directing and motivating action, whether religious, spiritual, political, martial, material, and so on. Some words and concepts make us more or less comfortable as individuals, eg regular faith is Ok, blind faith not so much, or belief is bad but trust is good. At the end of the day, for me there is knowing and not knowing. In between the two are these shades of conceptual grey where I feel we often dance and it’s interesting to me to observe and explore. And as powerful as “knowing” is it is also always the experience of a fallible human not as different from faith as we might like to believe. 

So great to see you here @Otis.

I remember you fondly and am glad to hear you’re continuing your studies of consciousness and neuroscience.

On 3/6/2024 at 11:14 AM, liminal_luke said:

I try not to let people's "bad" qualities distract me from their "good" ones.

Cudos to you. I’ve been in a position recently of having to help deal with a “bad” one.  Not only is it distracting me from whatever “good” qualities they may possess, it has shaken my trust in an entire system. When these things touch us personally they can cut deep.

43 minutes ago, Nungali said:

And of course the biggest lesson in this one is my own failing in this regard

Amen!

This is real practice.

I think it was the Dalai Lama who said, “Being aware of a single shortcoming within yourself is far more useful than being aware of a thousand in someone else.”

3 hours ago, thelerner said:

Who indeed. Carlos Castaneda.  <so famous, the spell checker corrected me, then corrected me again on the word spell checker>   

I read him when I was younger.  Enjoyed his spiritual/adventure writings, great author for opening up the mind to the esoteric.  Certainly nowhere near as bad as Osho but kinda belongs, imo, in a similar category.  

Thanks for clarifying. I loved his books in my youth. Much like Osho, he helped open me up to new ideas and possibilities. Much like Osho, he was probably a fraud and possibly far worse than that if the stories about his later years are true.

20 hours ago, thelerner said:

Obviously controversial but I put CC into this category.

Sorry,  who is CC?

3 hours ago, old3bob said:

all systems and a teachers help are for preparation with some being more "complete" than others,  but making preparation's for a leap of faith into the unknown can only go so far or are not covered-  since doing that is up to us alone.  (and i don't mean blind faith)

I think this is an interesting distinction - faith vs blind faith. What do you, or others, see as the difference? Is it safe to say that all faith is blind to some degree?