RyanO

Haha, I'm actually drunk as I write this . Does that mean I have a problem? The rampant alcohol consumption in our (American) society fascinates me. It is true that much of my drinking negates many of my fitness and spiritual goals. At the same time, perfection and sterilization bother me. One can achieve purity and live a totally sober life, but what does that accomplish? It doesn't seem to engage the nitty-gritty of humanity. Alcohol seems to directly engage the part of myself that knows creation is meant to be enjoyed and played with. Everyone I've encountered who is anti-alcohol is too serious, and to be too serious about life is to be mired in delusion, IMO. I agree that 12 steps can be very useful. In fact, my mom is a veteran of CODA which is 12 steps for relationship addicts! Shit, this might be more useful for most people than AA! But does that mean people shouldn't be in relationships? It seems AA might be useful for SOME people, but not all. Vaj, I'm surprised you're admitting a potential alcohol problem, as your posts seem to indicate significant spiritual advancement (I'm being serious). However, when you have people like Chogyam Trungpa being alcoholics, I guess that shouldn't surprise me too much.

Gerard, beautiful photos! Emeishan is particularly awesome.

Not sure about Chinese Medicine's take on cigarettes, but I'm sure it harms the lungs and the lungs' related functions. Also, I'm not sure it's false, but I think it's quite hilarious to say that cigs have Vitamin D.

Actually the thread is "Celibacy for eight MONTHS !!!"

Interesting idea, haven't thought about that before. Good call.

I hear New Zealand is gorgeous, and great for hermits.

Nice thread! One of mine is at Heavenly Mountain in the NC mountains where I worked this summer. There was a swimming hole nearby called the "Blue Hole", it was gorgeous. Water was cold but man it felt good! You could get a great kidney massage from the waterfall

It is important to take objective facts and experiences into consideration. But like statistics, experiences can be used to legitimize pretty much any view. "China For Jesus" doesn't exactly seem like an objective source of information, to say the least.

Haha I heard this too...strange

Haha yep! Sex Magic

I'd also like to point out that much of spirituality is overcoming our corporeal limitations and becoming more than an 'average' person. So 'studies' and such that suggests humans need companionship to be happy don't necessarily apply to a monk, for instance. Feeling connected to the whole is much more important than being physically next to someone. Connection to the Divine, spirits, etc. Universal Love. Even materialists can feel connected to others by realizing that we are all made of stars. Or connecting to all the other people who throughout the ages have sent out love to all conscious beings.

Hey Ryan, cool to have you on this site, good advice! I remember visiting your site a while back and getting your ebook, great stuff, very cool you give it out for free. Good luck with your endeavors and welcome! Cool name btw

I've thought about this scenario. The difference between his situation and one who is happy in solitude are: 1) He did not choose to live in solitude. For example, people who are single/celibate by choice are much happier than those who are single and desperate. Sort of a 'duh' one. 2) He did not have any kind of spiritual practice/goal. If he had knowledge of meditation/qigong/spiritual techniques etc., his 'stay' would have been much happier. So these are two reasons why using this movie to support that solitude will lead to unhappiness doesn't follow.

Haha I like this post. And a lot of the other posts as well for that matter. I think the animal thing is interesting. One thing that separates us from animals is our incessant mental chatter. It is what creates illusions like low self-esteem. An animal doesn't feel need until he feels it in his body, then seeks to fulfill that need. If in someway he fails, he doesn't sit back and compare himself to other animals or feel he's worthless. He just goes on until the need arises again. Of course in the animal situation there are preferred outcomes, but humans tend to make situations much worse by analyzing and judging instead of allowing ourselves to have a quiet mind and flow with nature. Thus many 'spiritual' practices not only lend themselves to whatever metaphysical goals they have, but are practical in the sense that they offer a way to harmonize the 'down-time' of solitude, loss, and not-doing. So when they doing comes, one is in a much better position to act.

Nice Apech and Hagar!

Very true. Western magicians often use hypnosis to get into a trance state where effective magic happens. I didn't mean to imply that it was the result of magic.

I dig your vibe

So true.

I also tend to think it is important to be cautious and virtuous. But I'm not a big fan of ego language, as if I need to deny myself of something. In your opinion, is it wrong to try to use a spell to get something material? Maybe a new job or lover? What specifically, in your opinion, is black magic and what's so bad about it? Chaos magicians use black magic to break through the duality of good and evil.

Remote healing, very cool! I wonder what the mechanism is, how much is placebo/your own energy vs actual energy from the healer. Does it transfer through the video, or is it like a vibrational resonance beyond the bounds of space/time? I realize things work even though we don't know how, kind of like how a car engine works. But I would love to know more about the mechanism of such things.

Nice. You follow Crowley's work? Not sure I believe we can do things like change red light or use our concentration to create parking spaces. The Silva people and Christopher Penczak both use the Three fingers technique to find parking spaces an they say it works! Hey worth a shot I guess Though I will say I've tried it and have had good results, but nothing to make me believe it had any 'real' effect.

Yup, I'm right there with agnostic attitude. I have great respect for the possibility that there are real entities but haven't personally experienced such things. I've studied some Bardon and Crowley, some Chaos Magic, etc., but mostly work with Healing Tao stuff which I consider a kind of Taoist magic. And I've benefited greatly from it. But again mostly internal and nothing that would confirm any power I have to 'change' external reality.

Beautiful. What is the source of that or is it an original of yours?

Using some potent necro-magic to revive this thread Seriously its badass. All I can say is that I agree with the thread's consensus. Any other thoughts?