oildrops

The past and the future comprise the present and vice versa. Anything I fight away comes back stronger, such as the past (depression) and the future (anxiety). They have already happened and this is when they will happen.

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I read this question as "What if you had an abnormally long time to live?". Perception might shift in a way to compensate for a longer future life. Think about flies for example, I don't believe it feels to them that they are only living for a few days.

if someone slaps you, ideally, don't ever let them see either one of your cheeks again. If that's not an option....cut their hand off. out of love of course. I just discovered metta meditation, which I think was called loving-kindness when I read about it. I have been doing it regularly, and it feels really good. I think developing compassion for "evil" is an important step in the evolution of our society. We are collectively responsible for the wellbeing of eachother, and the sickness that pervades our culture. I believe in punishment, and that love can be a driving force behind justice. Yes, I love the people who have done terrible things. A lot of the time it is a lack of genuine love that put them on that path to begin with. Society needs to start taking care of itself, we need to love the strangers and neighbors around us, before everyone becomes an enemy.

My first thought: John Lennon and Yoko Ono My second thought:: We are all immortal lovers (taoist or not)!

I have been able to get free, or very low cost ($10 a session) counseling almost everywhere I have been, so I don't buy that you can't afford it. When you are on an internet forum you are not required to get specific about your problems, and the ways that you can make a little bit of effort toward your own happiness. Generally, a little bit of effort goes a long way. If you feel helpless, then help someone else and you'll see you are not.

While a spiritual perspective can help you, when you are dealing with serious mental health concerns such as extreme depression, alienation, paranoia, you need to ignore extremists who will tell you that you should just meditate and keep practicing energy work. Meditation will help, but we are social creatures. You need to become proactive in your own mental health- go talk to someone. It really helps. I have had counselors that I completely disagreed with on every point, but I would feel like a better person before even walking into the office, because I was *making an effort towards health*. And I was living in a truck, had 0 friends, and no support system whatsoever. You have to sow the seeds if you wish to reap the harvest.

Try to spend a few minutes of each day NOT thinking about your problems, and just LOVING yourself, and giving some gratitude for the things you have. A warm bed to sleep in, a family that will listen to you. Think about the millions of children who are born into abject poverty and will never know anything else. Think about them, and give them your love as well. This is the internet, but we are real people trying to give advice. I suggest you connect with people around you, those who you can look in the eyes. If you feel like the internet is your only personality, then leave the internet. Put the computer away, and see how you really don't need it to survive. Go walk around. Volunteer yourself at a local soup kitchen, and you might meet people out there who are kind and generous. Don't take stock in what the majority of people think of you, everyone has their own craziness going on and everyone is so caught up in trying to just keep it together. Very few people in your life will really know and judge you, and they will either be people who love you or those that you need to be very wary of.

I've been exploring the depths of my conciousness since I was very young. I have explored lucid dreaming, auras, mind melding. I've long moved beyond drugs and pop culture spirituality, and into serious yoga and energy practice. I believe and connect with a deep sense of purpose (most days), and meaning in the apparent meaninglessness and beauty of life. I have never had a "spiritual" experience. Never have communicated with guides, or have purposefully left my body. I don't really care what happens to me after I die, and I have no interest in immortality or knowing what's next. I have a cynical belief that our biological rejection of arbitrary existence has driven us to intellectualize and philosophize too many complicated belief systems. I am happy with uncertainty, and that's good, because it's mostly what there is. Of course, certainty is possible, as all possibilities are. Have you had a "spiritual experience" that has solidified any ideas, truths or beliefs? Have you been able to shoot ghosts out of your head that tell you what color car you should buy? Have you astral surfed the cosmic waves of love energy untill your heart chakra exploded into all encompassing emptiness and nirvanic bliss? Has your dead cat contacted you to tell you she hated fancy feast?

I had a girlfriend who was scorpio and we used to melt into eachother, it was very intense and frightened both of us. I have not experienced anything like it with another lover. I hope that someday I do because I realize now that it was a very special connection.

Sometimes after doing one thing, other things that are more commonly done become much, much more intense. Also certain brain chemistry can become erratic for a while, especially after a long one (re-upping). I would suggest taking a short break, get some st johns wort and exercise if serotonin is an issue. And get plenty of sleep. I don't know what you took, but there is some general advice.

offering a hand to everyone who is near thought I was unique

No worries about being rude, maybe I have been approaching it in the wrong way. I see them as "worth a shot", but I still would rather just have good energy -enough to "manifest" positive change in my life in a way that I am responsible for.

Enjoyed the presentation, thanks!

I meant it in it's most unadulterated form.

I guess my tongue-in-cheekiness was lost in translation. But then your name does say "ghost cat" above it....Bootsie? Sorry about the swimming lesson when you were a kitten. My personal definition is evolving second by second, I think that is why it is confusing for me.

I have tried using sigils, and they have not done anything. I am starting to believe that our physical life is magic in itself.

I was just reminded of a time that I had finished the last book in a series the night the author died.

I'm sorry, I meant "Cayenne pepper full lotus man". Just teasing. I find it amusing when I am freaked out by synchronicity. It's like I know it exists, and I want it to exist, but I'm still surprised when it does. Maybe because we acclimate into a world, where it is not suppose to. Then is is a shock when we realize we are all more connected than we are comfortable with.

that's some pretty serious stuff full lotus man. I better stop doing full lotus, I can't handle strange co-incidences, they raise my blood pressure.

Sounds familiar to me! My post above was a rant, not really responding to your excorsism dream. I have been reading "the Tibeten yogas of dream and sleep" I will make a post in the book section once I am finished with it. I have effectively practiced guitar and studied for a class in my dreams. Depending on how lucid I am, I can make real progress in something I am familiar enough with while in conscious life. Maybe you can now rid people of demons? I had some pretty intense visualizations before sleep the other night that I couldn't seem to stop, and they were very frightening, I felt like I was being attacked. It's sometimes good to get that stuff out into a visual field I Think. I think.....

Interesting dream. It gave me an idea that if creative energy is enhanced with "spiritual practice", and if someone is not accustomed to it, it would have a profound effect. If we are infinitely connected inside and out with the universe, then any experience, not just a supernatural event is a manifestation of creative energy. I have come to the idea that life is subtle, the way it is lived by us humans, and that sometimes the patterns experienced are the closest to consciously realizing the divine nature of all. When we realize that we are floating on a giant mass of matter that has been here for billions of years, it makes it almost a spiritual experience to wake up in the morning. It's sometimes fun to visualize dragons and spirit guides, but I'm convinced they are a creation of the mind. I just don't know how it is possible to have an experience to solidify a belief system without already wholy subscribing to that belief system. It's a catch 22 for me, and I'm not trying to be obtuse, or exercise dialectics. Some people "find" jesus, or experience the buddah nature, or they realize they have a soul and leave their bodies, changing and forming a belief. But doesn't that attachment further a dual nature? It's as if the experience would give a foothold to climb higher, and I have seen the effects of those who became attached to a natural event or thought process leading to a belief system only to later realize that a tree can have the same effect on the energetic system as a bible. ^another thought, I think group behavior can lead to someone having a spiritual experience, think of the energy produced in a southern baptist church, or pagan ceremony with very intense individuals.

Storms are like natures rock concert, just have to groove along. Some of my best memories growing up are sitting on the back porch during a summer lightening storm. I have a fear of being struck by lightening, as I find myself often exposed on a mountaintop.

I think you understand the meaning of my post. I was struck by overhearing a conversation and realized the phrase is used often, and I have never understood it. When I close my eyes and I am consumed by a kaleidoscopic vortex and a mask begins to tell me a story after doing yoga for several hours, I don't categorize it as "This is a spiritual experience. Before was not". I don't know what that means. I don't talk about my practice to anyone anymore because I am bad at explaining my interests in a way that doesn't make me come off at someone "on a spiritual journey", which makes me cringe a bit.

First problems is that you need a specific chemical to test that has known effects on the physiological system. Second, the main proponants of retention claim chi, prana, energy benefits, which are not test(icle)able.