awake

I'd like to hear your all perspectives on the opposite sex and if it is a hindrance or enabler to the practice. I am specifically a male interested in females, and although I have not been with one yet sexually, I already notice my attachment to them and desire for them, physically, and perhaps to their personality. I have had some pretty meditation-like feelings with girls while we touched or shared touching moments (physically or emotionally) and moments of openness.. But I think that it holds potential to lead me astray from my practice of mindfullness by a. having to listen to them talk and interact with them and b. the attachment I feel to them. But Bob Marley said every man needs a woman, every woman needs her man, and even Eckhart Tolle has a girlfriend/wife (whatever they are now) that teaches with him. But he is supposedly enlightened, and I am not. So my question is having a love & sex relationship with a female a hindrance, an enabler, or irrelevant on the path of spiritual practice (mindfull/less/ness) Thanks

Bulgarian, don't care if there's a subforum, as I'd ratehr type in english, and would not moderate it. Can you see any implications, positive or negative, of this change? Good luck!

Talkted to him again today.. Gave him 2$ he said thank you and shook my hand, asked how I've been, anyway I asked if I could follow him he said no he was really tired he walked a long way today, "not that he didn't want to talk". Then I said we didn't have to talk and he said he just wanted to get some sleep, and that somoene asked him something similar where he had been before earlier. He described the occurance of someone asking him that as " a problem" "I had that same problem up at..." he said. Anyway afterwards I felt that same feeling in my chest/a little in my stomach. Its sort of a pain, but a very dull one. The first time I felt it was one night after I woke up and the night before I had just smoked. I woke up with that feeling - not really hurting but a very slight, dull pain. And I could make it stronger @ that point, now I cna barely control it and it isn't getting more powerful. Eventually the first time, I let it go, and afterwards I felt a deeper pain that felt to me like sort of a "loss" in how it actually felt, if that makes sense to anyone. It was a while but this feeling crept back (not the loss pain but the very slight dull pain combined with feeling of nothingness while still something) and is currently in my chest - sorry got distracted there, it started coming back since maybe a few weeks ago - it's been a little bit but my notions of time are slowly slipping away anyway. I do hope to see him again, I don't think he's "haunted by evil spirits" as you say, because he'll do things like put his fingers to his head - he did so after he asked how I was, I though "my mind has been quelling" but I actually said, good, Been in my house.

wing chun gum fun yum ig nuun paak a ree oom dah ah rey oh fah gii

I actually recall now whil ebeing stoned people speakin garound me (not to me)'s conversation directly turning in the direction of my thoughts, often and powerfully so - such that theyll not only finish my thoughts but sometimes say the words I was thinking of or finish my thought sentences. But that also sometimes happens sober, much more rarely though. When I asked him why he did what he did, he said "motivation" When I did speak to him (the only one time was before I made this thread) he seemed perfectly fine and regular of a person to speak to - not insane. After speaking ot him, I got a powreful feeling inmy chest, which was again repeated today (i was just walking in my area I don't think he was there) I feel positive energy coming from him, could I be wrong? I also have tested this theory. I try and force thoughts to him, but it does not work. Only when my thoughts are involuntary or reactionary and genuine. The more powerful they are, the more of a reaction. If there are spirits this powerful around him, and their nature is such that makes me feel as good as it does, is it not worth exploring? Also want to add that he walks sort of weirdly.

This thread is dedicated to methods that one can employ to create gaps in their thoughts. Much of what I have learned from religious and spiritual doctrine and teachings, old and new, point to a place of no thought, and awareness on the present moment and inner body without labelling, judging, or other mental processes. But as I'm 100% sure many of you will attest to, its impossible to stop thinking. You must either accept your thinking and the suffering that comes with it, and be patient along the path, as the buddha said, or develop your own ways of intentionally shifting your attention. The former technique being complete in and of itself, this thread is dedicated to the latter. I will start off with two very powerful techniques I have learned: -Hypnosis works great to decrease the minds constant talking. However, most hypnotists have very limiting beliefs, and so will put you into a "trance" where your outward attention is decreased. This is a fine practice in increasing awareness, only if you remember that after your thought is gone, to maintain what the hypnosis developed within you, while increasing your awareness of the outside world, or getting the hypnotist to install that belief in you as well. -Identifying your mental processes generally and out loud. Thank you Eckhart Tolle for this one, it works great and gives an almost instant sense of peace, and an even more instant gap in your thought. What you do here is identify the patterns your thoughts follow (every thought is part of a pattern) out loud the moment you have it. For example I will stop typing now and provide you with how I would do this process. The first quote is my mind, the second quote is me. If you are not comfortable doing this out loud, then you can do it internally. I also don't know if this process is perfect, there may be various things that you can change, such as the pronouns, etc. Anyway: "Abagale, the dinner is ready", "I have a random voice" | "I have a random voice", "I repeat things unnecissarily" | "Abagale, lunch is ready", "I have a random voice" | "Doing this makes you become aware of the ego", "I speak as if I have an audience when I do not". Do you understand? The last quote had some relevance but still, in this practice, no thought goes unidentified. It is profound and powerful, try it for yourself, and ask for clarification if you don't understand. I may also recommend listening to some Eckhart Tolle to get examples of thought patterns. What will happen is eventually the amount of thoughts you are having will decrease and the space between them will increase. I am excited to practice this. Now please share your methods of creating gaps in thought streams! For example, paradoxes you have to ponder without thought, methods like the above, or other ways to focus your attention. But please note: Please do not come here with the stupid non-dualistic acceptance-only debates. Please leave if that is what you are going to say, perhaps make your own thread. Yes, everything is one thing, yes, form is emptiness, emptiness is form. But there is also purpose in those forms, and meaning as well. And especially before you physically begin to see that buddhist sutra is true, form plays an especially important role in removing your attachment from it. Thank you.

Are you saying Yichaun/Taiji is a grounding exercise? And bring what down to earth? Also, I think I have felt that way before, gorunded, confident but lighter, it was after some profound thinking one time after I got off a bus, but quickly gave way to social pressures and old negative concepts - as with all of my minor awakenings. Could you explain this further please? I had shivers on my whole body for 30 seconds nonstop after reading this.. Then my head ached for a few seconds, after which my eyes began to tear up to the point where there were tears coming down. And does anyone have soem views on this - its really gotten me interested.

I had shivers on my whole body for 30 seconds nonstop after reading this.. Then my head ached for a few seconds, after which my eyes began to tear up to the point where there were tears coming down.

Thank you all for the advice so far. Its gonna suck always having to carry money around in case I see him.. Anyway, I will definitely approach him, and perhaps ask him first just to follow him around a little before I ask him more stuff. I will be careful though, I know the area so I kno where to go and not to go. Maybe I will ask him if he ever visits the buddhist temple nearby.. Haha no but I look forward to watching that video later. Ground myself? Also, I have only had an effect of non-verbal people's reaction to how I feel. Like physical actions, and not just from him.

I presume into more thoughts or feelings or actions. This is just his mind saying "don't leave me" Just sit in it.. Be in that emptiness for a while. Yo've been thinking all your life, where has it gotten you? How good do you feel? Give this a shot. All will come.

Just be aware of it. This is the "faith" part of spirituality. Try turning back, just try. You're on a path that won't let go of you. Better embrace it. Just watch. Those moments of transformation come when we are least distracted by concepts, including expecting to be enlightened.

he forgot the stake rhymed it with the name awake this line doesn't rhyme edit: shoot yes it does

Hey everyone, Last night was the first night I tried sleeping while listening to binatural beats/beta/theta/alpha/etc frequencies. This is the product I used (the second tape of): http://www.mind-tek.com/html/ultra_meditation_system.html#UM A lot of things happened in my dreams last night. I usually fly around worldly places (i.e. up the stairs instead of walking) in my dreams. While dreaming, I was flying down some sort of open hallway, and I tried landing down to walk. I didn't like it, so I tried teleporting to the end, which seemed to be my destination, and there was a large podeum there (not sure if that's what its called, its the thing that people who are giving speeches stand behind and put their notes on) but it was on an elevated surface. I tried teleporting there, and went there, but the picture wouldn't render 100% and it switched scenes. Three weird things about this were that 1. I've never tried landing from fleight before I got to my destination before 2. I've never tried teleporting before and 3. When the scene changed, it did not simply change on a dime, like in my dreams before - rather it faded into the next scene, which has never happened. Anyway, in the next scene, I was renouncing all my worldly posessions, giving my parents back everything they had given me, all I had. Then, I was on my bed at home crying face-down. I cried a lot, and then I woke up, and i was face down (which NEVER happens to me) and crying in real life. Then I went back to bed after realizing it was pretty weird. Another weird thing, and why I posit this has a religious meaning is well, because the Buddha renounced his worldly posessions, and I passed by a church down a very heavily populated road that had a two-sided sign up. On the one side read: "His coming forth is prepared as the morning -Hosea" - this I attributed to perhaps this being a special day in my life, due to the content of that dream. The other side said "Jesus Christ will come as a bridegroom for his bride" - which i thought was especially weird! People who ascribe to the Christian bible will note Jesus did not have a woman bride - though there is a lot of controversy around this there is a lot more information here: http://www.google.com/search?q=was+jesus+m...amp;startPage=1 Anyway, the reason I attribute meaning to the second one is because I actually do have a belief that I am of some similar role as Jesus, as our stories match up very well and a lot of miracles and "coincidences" have been happening in my life recently - especially coincidences of my dreams coming true - among which is my overcoming of various negative past influences affecting my views of women and interacting with them. One time not long ago I went to a chinese buffet that gives fortune cookies (also, most of those come true for me as well) with my parents, and we got 3 fortune cookies (the server brought 4 but kept one). My dad's was "Good day for business contacts and material gains" Mine was "Someone you have been admiring may suddenly become aware of you." and my mom got two saying the same thing "This person may be especially attractive to you." Which also was weird because on its own that fortune doesn't make a lot of sense, but makes perfect sense appended to the end of my fortune - I figured yeah it could just be meant for when there's just two people dining but that is a very long shot. Anyway soon after I conquered my long time fear specifically relevant to my high school crush, and called her asking her out. But I digress, the point of the previous few anecdotes was to try and give you an insight into my frame of mind regarding this situation. I'd really appreciate if you guys could help me try and figure out/analyze what's going on to help reveal what may be going on.. Thank you.

I had a dream last night that ended with me and a bunch of people trying to summon satan onto a mat. I recited some of what they were saying with them, but they were very unorganized and saying random things, I was focussed on laying what I perceived to be traps for the thing,should it come. The dream ended with one of my friends who wsa there saying something along the lines of "we should get more organized and find something on the net to chant together" When I woke up I looked in the mirror and noticed a "deep and mischievious (with slight beed of deviousness)" look in my eye. I have been noticing a number of shifts in my perception lately, to "nothingness" and "non-meaningful" or "non-dualistic" feelings from identification with forms, but only very slightly. I've been listening to this overnight the psat few nights: http://www.mind-tek.com/html/ultra_meditation_system.html#UM and during the day as well. I didn't really know what doing those things meant, and it made me feel more weird than happy. It is slightly happiness-inducing though to hear your interpretation of them. But it's quick to subside in lieu of the dream I had last night. I am also becoming much more aware of my feelings, and the effects my thoughts have on them. I also notice a lot more attention from other people coming to me - like if I am with people, or if I am in an area with lots of people, the attention of people who newly look in my direction is immediately drawn to me, and I notice people are going more an dmore out of their way to look at me.. Odd...

it's like i'm always flowing along carelessly as if i'm a god

There's your explanation in hidden messages.

Thanks for the input so far guys, but I definitely want to hear more. I have few urges in this world, To think, to bone, and (recently) to make money. I wonder what draws me to each of them, but I do notice wanting and attachment towards women - correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't becoming attached to concepts draw you away from the path? What makes you think they're enablers, Mal and taijilee? I believe that I have issues to be worked out/through, and having a woman (physical thing) from which to get positive feelings takes away from me cultivating those from myself, and I think it may take away from my potential to be able to be self-reliant for emotional stability and et cetera. On the opposite side, my feelings for them are also shortlived, and seem to be based solely on their physical presence there/physical beauty. Defienitely more feelings when I am looking at/touching them. Though sometimes thoughts of them do infiltrate my mind after they are gone. So I wonder, are they a necessity, or a distraction/dilusion/not real in the sense that what draws me to them is fleeting? From "the opposite side" on was added after thepost below me was made, and I agree man. So many things in so many different opposing directions, and even within some of those directions there is oppositition like what I just mentioned. It's all so confusing, but I worry if I take the path of inner peace through meditation, mind-exploration, etc, that I may miss out on an important time for socializing in my life. If I take this time to socialize, I may miss out on an earlier chance for less dependance on the external for happiness, etc.. It's all so conflicting and I don't know what to do. When I'm out, I feel a pull towards women, but it isnt as strong as what I've felt during meditation, and when I'm not out, I don't get a pull to "go out and meet women" I also have no women in my life I see on any consistant (or predictable, or semi-blue-moon) basis besides my mother.

Hi, I understand that SereneBlue has already qualified for this offer. I found JJ Semple's website goldenflowermeditation.com a while ago, where I had already been meditation for about 7-8 months actively. His mentioned energy opening occurred within me in a few days, and has been growing in energy ever since. He, however, recommended that I find a teacher to help me harness it, as he mentioned Kundalini energy awakened can be a powerful thing. I have been unable to find a qualified teacher where I live (Toronto) and I think this is a fantastic opportunity for me. In fact I just went to the doctor to see about the energy I am feeling (as it feels like "nothing", not "not anything" but "nothing") and he could not explain it - claimed it was something muscular, however the only thing that changed after hearing about JJ Semple's method was that I began to control my breathing through my stomach and felt it in my air canals as he mentioned. I understand that your offer is for one person. I find this in and of itself to be very generous of you. Recently in my life a lot of things have been coming to me for free - as I haven't the means to pay for them - to help me out, such as a hypnotherapy session and a dating coach to help me with my social anxiety. I would love if your offer could be extended to one more person, but I understand that even asking this may be too much of me. However, I appeal to your compassion, hope it is indeed not too much, and also hope for the best. So I put this out there for the sake of trying. I would be very excited to have an experience with a live teacher who knows more about this area to help guide me onto a right direction and possibly facilitate the further opening of this energy - and checking the schedules, these courses are for a great amount of time, that makes me even more excited! I look forward to any response you may have for me - akin to my wishes or not, I have trust everything will work out fine. Though I shall not decide which course I am interested in so as to not get my hopes up - I do understand the very notion of asking this from you is great and a long shot - but worth the attempt, in my opinion. Also feel free to PM me if you would like to help me in discretion, i have a masters degree in keeping it Sorry if I have wasted your time. Thank you and all the best, Chris

You're full of it. Go, do it. This is your mind using a good decision you made against you. "Watch all and be all like all is nothing"

IRC has all those features and more. (I'm in there right now)

Also FYI your commands don't work It's /server -n irc.freenode.net then /j #TaoBums Not what you said. I'm in there, waiting for others, though I'm prbably gonna be in Live Chat until this becomes popular. You can also use mibbit.com to connect to the IRC. Just fill in the details, like any IRC. Server: irc.freenode.net Channel: #taobums

You know that tiny corn they sell usually in cans? Thats its real size, the big stuff is modified to be such. Also lots of other "regular" fruits and vegetables are so. I remember hearing something about KFC genetically modifying their chickens to be born without beaks or feet.

I've got a paper to write (no, not on religion, already did two of those this year) so I'll make this brief. Does anyone else notice the parallel between changing BC/AD to BCE/CE and the misunderstanding (literal vs metaphorical/wisdom) teaching of Christianity? Its still the same thing, we still use the date surrounding Christ, but we label it differently. I think a lot of the popular movements nowadays are just suckering people intobelieveing there's change going on when really its the same human-made garbage repackaged and taking away from the greatness of life.

Good posts so far guys, thanks for the input, I look forward to learning more about those techniques and trying them out, but please try to be as descriptive as possible so people dont have to go google these things. @Zhuo Ming-Dao, I experienced multiple instances of feeling bliss after Richard Bandler's DHE 2000 program. Its avialable on sites like demonoid, the pirate bay, thevault.bz and theplace.bz Its a very very good program that teaches you how to control how you feel. I strongly recommend immersion into guided hypnosis before self-hypnosis, and the program I mentioned is excellent. Richard bandler is often touted as the world's best hypnotist and I know he's very good. He is also very smart, and the inventor if the psychological field of NLP, which he uses extensively in his teachings and sessions. I would consider almost anything by him to be gold, as everything I've listened to by him so far has been, I only say almost to cover the slight chance that he may have released something subpar, which I honestly doubt though. I also wanted to clear up as I noticed what I said about non-dualism sounded sort of harsh, my actual meaning was that that approach is already completely covered in the "accept everything" approach. Though sometimes that can be hard, its comforting and peace-inducing.

i lold